Hades and Seph by Eileen Glass

Author:Eileen Glass [Glass, Eileen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Glass Fiction
Published: 2019-11-13T16:00:00+00:00

Thirty-Six

I can’t believe I’m doing this.

Of all the people who have deserved mercy from him, Minthe is not one of them. Yes, Hades does feel some measure of guilt and sympathy for the being who did not choose to be born like this. But ultimately, that is Hades’s own personal problem. Those feelings barely made him hesitate.

He would have done it and grieved about it later. Briefly. He would not have blamed himself (not for the execution anyway) because in the end Minthe’s actions are his own. And Hades is the ruler of this place. He has to act in the appropriate fashion.

He will feel more guilty for the damage done to Seph. And in the following days, he will analyze his actions upon discovering Minthe and wonder if he should have done something different. Should he not have banished him the first time, but executed him instead?

What about the second time, when Minthe was sneaking around his palace?

That makes what he is about to do especially ironic. Bitter tasting to his sense of justice. But he made Seph a promise, and it was for a good reason. As with the relocation of the silly bunny, Hades does not want Seph to hate him. Not in this place, where they’ll be eternally bound to one another.

I’ve become… attached.

No. Looking at the boy now, just checking on him because it’s hard to walk away—seeing him so weak and desperate—it’s a lot more than attachment.

When Hades pulled the young man out of the pit, he felt like the heart had been ripped out of him. And now he feels like it was shoved back in the hole left in his chest and is struggling to beat.

With his magic, he dissolves the spear in Minthe’s body and heals him at the same time. Some. Enough to keep him alive and keep him from hobbling. Many of the lashes from the whip will stay.

Hades stands over Minthe with his scepter, the weapon’s true form. He holds a hand over him with his fingers spread out.

“Wake.”

Minthe gasps at once, turning over, grabbing his abdomen where the spear poked through.

“I-I’m still here,” he mumbles. “I thought I died.”

“You most certainly will die,” Hades says, frowning. He can feel his features being as impassive as stone. While he did not relish killing Minthe because of how they know each other, Hades has not changed his mind or altered his decisions in a long, long time.

“But it will not be by my hand, Minthe. You will die somewhere else. Not in this world.”

“You are letting me go?”

If Minthe were a regular man, he’d be running already. But Minthe only looks confused.

“What is wrong with you?” he says, one arm raised up as if to protect from another lash.

It is tempting, in a way. Hades feels compelled to enact some form of justice, and Minthe’s physical pain certainly would have been prolonged had he known he would be letting the nymph go instead of throwing him into Tartarus.

This is the worst thing I’ve done since coming here.

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