The Mad King (The Dark Kings #1)(15)

“And now?”

“Maybe two,” Danika said softly, her voice not as strong as it’d been earlier. Releasing my hands, she scooted back on her heels, sinking back down into the couch moments later and shaking her head. “But two is better than the nothing we had before. And if you can do this—”

Galeta nodded. “Then maybe we can fix them all.”





Chapter 6


Aphrodite


Asking forgiveness later was much better than asking for permission to begin with. At least that’s what I told myself as I forced my way through the locked gates of the underworld.

Bones secured together by thick bands of ice—a deterrent to most anyone, except a determined goddess hell-bent on fixing the happily-ever-after of her two best friends in all the worlds. With an angry flick of my fingers, I sprayed a neon-red band of my power at the ice, melting it instantly and causing the bones to drop with a plink to the hard ground beneath.

At the breach, Cerberus lifted two of his three heads and stared unerringly in my direction. I stilled; not even the gods liked Hades’s “pet.”

Once, Cerberus had loved me. I’d had no need to fear the mangy mongrel then. But that’d been another time and another life. He growled low, hackles rising, exposing his long and wickedly sharp canines.

I thinned my lips. Nothing was as it should be anymore. Even my beloved Hephaestus seemed cold and distant. He’d not forgotten me as Hades had Caly, but the pantheon wasn’t what it’d once been either. A giant part of that was the downfall of both Hades and Caly. I’m sure my bestie would have cackled to know just how important she’d become to us all.

Once, I’d thought my life had been perfect. And then I’d met Caly and finally gotten to know Hades, and it’d been that day I realized what it truly meant to love something. I’d always admired Hephaestus, but only after witnessing the love blossom between death and life had I learned how to love my own mate the way he’d needed me to. I was lost without my Hephy, but he no longer knew me, not as he once had. To him I was still a spoiled, rotten goddess consumed with lust, love, and all things beautiful.

I sighed sadly.

Holding up a hand, I rocked back on my heels, staring down the hellhound with a confidence I did not feel.

The dog heads slobbered, continuing to growl low in the back of his throats. He could not kill me, but he could hurt me. If I wasn’t so bloody determined to fix Hades and Caly, I would never have dared to intrude upon the Lord of the Underworld’s domain without an invitation first. I never had before he and Calypso had become a permanent fixture in my life.

“Cere, c’mon,” I wheedled. “You know me. Or you did once. I was your friend. Great mates, you and I. Don’t you remember?”

The massive beast with a shaggy coat of coarse ebony hair and burning red eyes tipped its centermost head, staring at me as though uncertain whether I was friend or foe. But the other two heads weren’t nearly as conflicted. The fetid stench of his breath punched me full force in the face. I curled my nose in disgust.

I never liked using my powers against those I considered my friend. Because I wanted them to love me for who I really was, not because of some magical compulsion to obey.

But Cerberus’s hackles were beginning to rise, and I was a little nervous at the moment. I might not die, but I could feel pain. Bringing my hand to my lips, I blew him a kiss. Floating, sparkling bits of glittering red lips shot straight through his nostrils, going deep into his lungs as he inhaled.

Instantly the beast stilled, one of his heads began to whine and whimper, and his powerful tail thudded roughly against the lava-rock hardness of the ground beneath him.

Blowing out a heavy breath, I scooted past him and took a moment to nod at the floating spirits who’d drawn close during the commotion to gaze upon me.

Many gasped, awed by the sight of a goddess among them.

My name echoed through the night, and I knew it was only a matter of time before Hades discovered me in his lands. Again.

Once, this would have been no problem. I’d known his palace as well as my own. I’d been a vaunted guest. Family in every sense of the word.

I remembered the parties Caly and I had thrown with some regularity.

The masquerade balls we’d put on for the newly arrived spirits. She’d been so beloved by them all. As had he.

But the world that’d once burst with beautiful magic was now cold and depressing. The trees that’d once been adorned with thousands upon thousands of jeweled leaves were now skeletal and barren.

The darkened sky that’d shone with the light of millions of silvery stars was now covered with thick bands of tight, black clouds. The winds howled, and fat flakes of snow drove through the sky.

The palace that’d once shone brighter than a full moon was now dank, gray, and foreboding. It hurt me deeply to see that, but I had hope it would not always remain so.

Somehow I’d make Caly and Hades remember each other. I would awaken their love. Because if I couldn’t, then no one else could.

Setting my jaw, I lifted my gown of sunlight and raced up the long flight of stairs leading to the palace landing.

I could have simply popped myself into existence right in the dark lord’s throne room, but I didn’t. Because I’d wanted him to know I came in peace. That I was here not as a goddess demanding her due but as a friend.