Neon Gods by Katee Robert
Author:Katee Robert
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2021-04-06T00:00:00+00:00
Chapter 16
Persephone
Iâm still chewing over the new information as Hades carries me out of the room. I protest being hauled around like this, but a small, secret part of me really likes it. I like a lot of things about Hades, truth be told. Heâs prickly and overbearing, but even after only a few days, I can see the truth of him.
âHades.â I lay my head against his shoulder and let the steady beat of his heart soothe me. âI know your secret.â
He heads up the stairs. âWhatâs that?â
âYou snarl and snap and growl, but youâve got an ooey-gooey center beneath the crusty exterior.â I circle his top button with my forefinger. âYou care. I think you actually care more than any of the other Thirteen, which is ironic considering the role youâve been shoehorned into in Olympus.â
âWhat makes you say that?â Heâs still not looking at me, but thatâs okay. Itâs actually easer to talk to him this way, without feeling like he can read my mind with a single intense look.
âYou want Zeus to pay, but not at the expense of your people. And they are your people. Iâve watched how you are with Georgie, and again with Juliette and Matthew. Itâs like that with everyone, isnât it? They would all walk through fire for you, and you protect them with your big, broody presence.â
âI donât brood.â
âYou are the very definition of brooding.â
He snorts. âSurely I donât care more than your mother. Sheâs the one who ensures the entire city is fed and supplied with necessities.â
âYes, she is.â Impossible to keep the bitterness out of my tone. âSheâs very good at her job, but she isnât doing it out of the charity of her soul. Sheâs chasing power and prestige. The feeling of enough is always over the next horizon. She was going to sell me to Zeus. She wonât see it that way, but itâs what that engagement wasâa transaction. She loves me, but itâs secondary to everything else.â
Hades doesnât immediately respond, and I look up to find him with a strange expression on his face. He looks almostâ¦conflicted. I tense. âWhat do you know that I donât?â
âA number of things.â
I refuse to be distracted by that half-assed joke. âHades, please. Weâre in this together, one way or another, for the rest of the winter. Tell me.â
The longer he hesitates, the more anxiety starts to creep in around the edges. He waits until we reach his bedroom and the door is closed between us and the rest of the house to finally answer. âYour mother passed along an ultimatum of sorts.â
I donât know why Iâm surprised. Of course she did. Sheâs no more happy with me fleeing than Zeus is. All her careful plans wasted because of a disobedient daughter. She wouldnât be able to let that stand, not if she knows where I am. I wiggle until Hades carefully sets me on my feet. It doesnât leave me any steadier. âTell me,â I repeat.
âIf I donât return you, sheâll cut off supplies to the lower city.
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