ARES
“What the fuck is she saying?” I asked Marcel, crossing my arms over my chest and watching her burn in fucking hell. I hated this bitch so much that I couldn’t think of anything other than her dying pathetically.
Marcel opened and shut his mouth four times. Four fucking times. Then, he finally swallowed and looked at me. “It might be true.” He paced around the room and shook his head. “I’ve read about something like it in her library. When a god dies, whoever kills them will gain their power and their curses. I thought it was nothing more than a fable.”
“It’s true,” Hella gritted out between whimpers. “How do you think Nyx was able to control the hellhounds and the hounds from the Sanguine Wilds? Aurora … that bitch had complete control of all beings that were active during the dawn and dusk during her first life. When Nyx killed her, they followed Nyx instead.”
“But you have control of the hounds too,” I said. “Don’t fuck with us!”
“I can only raise them from the dead. I don’t control them!”
I glanced over at Marcel, unsure if we should believe her. I didn’t want to believe a fucking thing that she said, but I didn’t know the extent of her power. It would’ve been nice to be able to raise animals and friends from the dead, to give them a second life. But what if we really couldn’t leave the underworld?
“What are your curses?” I asked.
“My curses?” She gave a wicked laugh and shook her head. “My curse is that I can never leave the underworld for more than a few hours a year. I am bound to the underworld for eternity. And if you kill me, you will be too.”
Everything seemed to slow down. My stomach tightened and dropped. I clenched my jaw, memories and thoughts racing through my mind. If I couldn’t leave the underworld, then I would never be able to see my daughter grow up. I wouldn’t get to spend time with Aurora. My life as I knew it would be over.
“If that’s what you want, then do it,” she said. “Land a final attack on me and kill me.”
Jaw twitching, I clenched my fists. All I wanted to do was end her life right here and right now. But I … I couldn’t do that to Aurora and our daughter. They had both been through so much, and we were so close—so fucking close—to defeating Hella for good and getting back home.
“Do it!” she screamed. “Do it or let me go!”
I glanced over at Marcel, who didn’t look up from Hella’s pathetic figure once. His silver hair was in his face, so I couldn’t read his expression.
He shook his head, hands balled into fists by his sides. “You took so much from me,” he ground out to her. “Made me feel like nothing. Nothing!”
Marcel stepped forward, and I knew he’d kill her. I knew he’d end her life and be bound here forever, but he needed to think about Charolette. If I didn’t come back with him when we got home, she wouldn’t only hate me, but she’d also hate him for eternity.
So, I stepped behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist to hold his struggling figure back. “Think about Charolette! Marcel, don’t be stupid!”
But instead of listening to me, Marcel ripped himself out of my hold and sprinted toward Hella. “Everything I do is for Charolette. This”—he landed a blow directly on Hella’s face—“is to protect her from Hella’s wrath.”
And as his fist collided with her face, Hella’s body turned into small particles of dust. Her chains clattered against the stone ground as the dust drifted through the air and created a dark mist. It swayed back and forth like a spirit or a being for a moment and then rushed into Marcel’s raging body.
He inhaled the spirit, his blue eyes turning dark, black streaks appearing in his hair, and his lips turning a shade of gray. Marcel’s misty body became solid again, hardening and becoming stronger like it’d once been.
“Marcel,” I whispered, completely in shock, “what did you do?”
He clenched his jaw. “My mate isn’t as strong as Aurora. She can’t protect herself, so I did what I could to ensure that nobody will ever hurt her again. And if they do, then I will give them a death that everyone will remember.”
“But—”
“Now, leave,” Marcel growled, his hard eyes glaring right through me. “Go home with Aurora. Live your life in the Sanguine Wilds. See your daughter. And tell Charolette that I sacrificed myself for the greater good. Tell her that you couldn’t stop me. Tell her that I love her.”
And while I wanted Marcel to come up to the Sanguine Wilds to see Charolette with me, I knew that would never be possible again. Marcel was bound to the underworld forever. He would live like this forever.
“I’ll tell her that you’re the greatest hero I know,” I said, pulling him into a hug and trying hard not to shed a tear. Marcel had been with me since we were kids, and now, I’d have to live without him. “The greatest hero that I’ve ever fucking known.”