Thunder Road (Rain Chaser Book 1) (25 page)

I doubted he could hear me from all the way down here. Storms in the underworld were outside his purview.

It also meant my powers were basically useless to me.

Hades stepped onto the riser and lowered himself into his throne, his hands resting on two smoothly polished skulls, one on the end of each chair arm. Manea stood next to him, her elbow perched on his shoulder, playing with the collar of his cloak.

They were like night and day beside each other.

Hades was dark of feature with jet-black hair falling in waves to his shoulders. His skin was tanned, rich and coppery, and his eyes were so dark they might as well have been black. Even from where I stood I could see them glow red around the pupil, like stoked coals burned from within. He wore head-to-toe black, from his polished leather boots, to the unbuttoned shirt that showed a hint of chest hair on his muscular pecs.

Guess the underworld had a pretty bitchin’ gym.

His long cloak swept out on the floor in front of him, pooling down the steps like a fabric waterfall.

He commanded a very frightening presence, all without saying a single word.

Manea, her fingers toying with the fur on Hades’s cloak, smiled at me. She was his opposite in every way except how scary she was. She was beautiful, ethereal, and it was hard to believe she was real even when standing in the same room as her. Her hair was such a pale shade of blonde it might as well have been clear, and it cascaded down her back to her waist, showing no adornment or styling beyond the crown she wore. A crown made of teeth and bone.

I shuddered.

Her eyes were as pale as her hair, crystal blue that bordered on ice gray. Looking directly at her it was difficult to imagine her eyes ever showed any kind of emotion whatsoever, they were so cold. She wore a white dress cinched around the waist with a belt also decorated in bone shards, and at the hem were thousands of marigold petals, ranging in shade from bright yellow to deep crimson red, making it look as if her dress were on fire. Her skin was so pale the bone fragments looked dark in contrast. The milky whiteness of her exposed arms appeared faintly blue under the glowing light.

Manea looked like a ghost.

Fitting, considering that was what she turned people into.

She leaned over, her blue-white lips grazing the shell of Hades’s ear, and whispered something to him as her hand slipped inside the open vee of his shirt. The whole time her gaze never moved from me, and I squirmed uneasily. I felt like I was watching something I shouldn’t be seeing.

“
Come forward
.” Hades’s voice boomed through the hall, rattling not only the hanging bones but the ones inside me as well.

I didn’t realize I had whimpered in pain until the sound was already out. Leo instinctively put his arm around me, holding me up. I did my best to make it seem like I could manage okay on my own, but I was grateful he was there. Nothing was less intimidating than pretending to be a hero and falling face first onto a floor because my legs were made of Jell-O.

Not all gods had such commanding voices. Hades reminded me of Seth, the way his words would not be confused for anything said by mortal men. It was as if he were scratching each sentence directly onto my brain, every word hurt, and he wasn’t even yelling yet.

I tried to imagine him when he was angry, and my brain almost shut down.

Seth was frightening enough when a bad mood struck. The god of the underworld could probably make my head explode with one well-phrased couplet.

My contrarian personality wanted to stay put, but the more dominant part of me that actually wanted to live long enough to see sunshine again obeyed the command. I moved forward with slow, calculated steps. Anything faster would have betrayed how hurt I was, and I was hoping to show as little weakness as possible.

They’d never respect me, but I might amuse them enough to give Leo and me a chance. If they thought of me as an insect with broken limbs, it would be much easier for them to crush me under their heels. I needed to remind them I was human, and destined, and there were rules in place that should be upheld, even if their whims swayed the opposite direction.

My brain was working in high gear, trying to come up with a plan that might remotely work. I had some ideas—all bad—but everything hinged on whatever Hades and Manea had to say for themselves now.

Leo and I reached the throne platform after what felt like a ten-mile walk. Manea continued to smile at me with the kind of grim determination of a shopkeeper intent on selling me something I didn’t want. Her gaze traveled to Leo, and the expression shifted noticeably.

“Son of Seth.” In contrast to Hades’s booming voice, Manea’s was soft, like a whisper. It sent chills down my spine. Though her intonation lacked the snakelike sibilance of Mormo’s words, there was something eerier about her tone. It reminded me of wind blowing over ice. Like all empathy or warmth was gone from the room and I’d never feel whole or loved again.

A creeping chill settled in my veins, and I pulled my jacket tighter around me. In spite of the hot, billowing towers of flame outside, I was suddenly freezing.

“Hello,” Leo replied, meeting her gaze directly and not shrinking back from it.

“Do you know who I am?” she asked, like she already knew what she expected the answer to be.

“The evil queen from
Frozen
?” He smirked a little, the expression there and gone so quickly I might have been the only one to notice it.

I fought my natural urge to facepalm. “Leo.” Giving my head a stern shake, I glared steadily at him. “Not now.”

“No, no, Rain Chaser. He is the son of a god. If he feels so entitled to speak to me in such a way, that is his birthright.” Her smile was tight and forced. If she was actually okay with Leo calling her Princess Elsa, I would eat my own leg right here and now.

What I didn’t understand was why she was bothering to feign politeness to him at all. Her whole mission had been to kill him in order to piss off Seth. So why not try, now that he was here and relatively unprotected?

What were these two up to? Gods usually did what they wanted when they wanted. All these subversive machinations weren’t their style.

The goddess regarded Leo before speaking again. “I am Manea. Some know me as Freyja, Kalma, or Anput. I have a hundred names and a hundred faces.” With each new name she spoke, her form shimmered and changed slightly, showing her as her worshippers saw her. She could be horrific and monstrous, or beautiful and wondrous. Every version was equally awe striking, but she returned to the Manea face at the end, as if wearing it was like a favorite dress that she slipped into most comfortably. “I am the goddess of death.”

“Leo Marquette.” He introduced himself to her like it were the most normal thing in the world to be exchanging names with a deity.

Strange how only a day earlier he’d seemed so thrown off kilter by the idea of having a god for a parent, and now he looked perfectly at home among them. Was he faking it, or was his earlier uncertainty the lie?

I’d convinced myself Leo was trustworthy—in spite of his criminal dalliances—and now I felt like an idiot for not heeding my own advice.

Don’t trust anyone.

“Leo, do you know why I’ve brought you here?” Manea idly stroked Hades’s hair, twisting the dark strands like black ribbon around her fingers. She didn’t look homicidal, she looked…bored.

“Tallulah wasn’t forthcoming on the details, but I kind of put two and two together and figured you wanted to kill me.”

Another exchange of thin smiles passed between them.

This was the most peculiar thing, a standard chitchat, only we were in the underworld and the gods had us exactly where they wanted us.

“I want to punish your father,” Manea said matter-of-factly. “He had his pet human steal something from me, and I’m not pleased.” Her glare settled on me, like I’d peed on her carpet. “Since she no longer has the item, I don’t foresee that I’ll be getting it back any time soon. Such a disappointment. I liked it a great deal.”

I thought of what Sido had told me about who the skull belonged to. It must have been one of Seth’s other children, long, long ago. “You’re not getting a replacement from him.” I put my hand protectively on Leo’s arm, even though he was beyond needing my assistance. I couldn’t keep the growl of warning out of my voice no matter how calm I tried to stay.

“It can’t be replaced.” Manea sneered at me. “That’s what it means for something to be
irreplaceable
, Rain Chaser.”

“I didn’t steal it, either, by the way.”

She waved a hand at me, the boredom returning to her features. “Prescott told me you would blame this on him. Told me all about your little gambit and how you turned the idol into a prize to be won. But here’s the thing about that: it wasn’t his to bet. And so you stole it from me.”

“Maybe it was yours once, but it wasn’t yours to start with.” I glanced at Leo out of the corner of my eye, debating if I wanted to reveal what I knew. “And I think it’s back where it belongs now.”

“Seth took something that was mine.”

“He took
back
something that was his. Someone. And killing someone else he cares about isn’t going to make you guys even.”

“Even. You say this like it’s a game. Like I care for human things.”

Frustration bubbled inside me. “You want a skull? Look around. Take your pick. This is garbage. Leo hasn’t done anything to you, and he didn’t know Seth was his father until a day ago. You think Seth cares about you? You think killing Leo is how you make Seth feel your loss? Wrong.”

So much for my suggestion that Leo not talk back. A fine example I was setting.

“I don’t expect you to understand it, human.”

“I’m not trying to understand it. The only reason I’m here is for him. To protect
him
.” I pointed at Leo, moving to stand slightly in front of him so he wasn’t in the line of fire. What fire, don’t ask me, I was running on instinct and adrenaline.

“Mortal life is fleeting. His time is short. What does it matter if I end it sooner? All he has is a brief series of years.
Years
. What is that to me? No one will remember him once he’s gone.”

“Agree to disagree,” Leo interjected.

“Your opinion isn’t necessary here.” Manea didn’t bother to look at him this time. “You will live or die as I see fit, and mere words won’t sway me in my decision.”

Something clicked in my head, but I couldn’t have said what it was. I just decided to roll with it. “What
would
sway you?”

“What?” Manea went rigid, releasing Hades’s hair and dropping her hands to her sides.

Hades, who had thankfully not said anything since bidding us to come forward, looked at me curiously and kicked his legs out in front of him like he was eagerly awaiting my response. I followed the line of his boots down to the floor and noticed the platform the throne was on for the first time.

It was breathing.

A hand moved next to his foot, clawing out towards me, its nails cracked and bloody. Hades stomped down on it, and the hand withdrew. The platform went still, and I swallowed hard. Whatever was holding up his throne was still alive.

“I-I asked what would compel you to change your mind about killing Leo. And me. Without getting your skull back.” The idol was gone, and judging by what Sido had disclosed to me about it, the temple wouldn’t relinquish it any time soon, no matter the situation.

There had to be another way.

“I want what’s
mine
,” Manea snarled.

“And I want a vacation in the Bahamas with no fucking rain.”

“I want to date a Victoria’s Secret model,” Leo offered.

“
Shhh
.”

“What, like only one of us gets to have one-liners? I don’t think so.”

This guy was literally going to be the death of me.

“Insolent fools. Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you both right here and now.” She lifted her hand towards me, like she wanted very badly to do it no matter what I said.

“I will do
anything
in my power to get out of here alive.” My tone was adamant, and I wasn’t bullshitting. There wasn’t much I wouldn’t do or sacrifice to get out of the underworld with Leo in tow.

“
Anything
?” Hades sat up straight in his chair, leaning forward to get a better look at me. My lungs trembled as he spoke.

“Don’t lissssten to her,” Mormo said. “The girl liessss.”

“I’m not lying about wanting to live.” I flipped him off. I didn’t need to pretend to like Mormo, and I sure wasn’t going to act like his opinion mattered here. Hades didn’t respect him. Mormo was nothing more than a boot-licking sycophant. He hadn’t gotten what he wanted from Hecate, so he was trying to swim upstream with the bigger fish.

Manea’s focus had shifted from me to Hades, and she seemed put-off by his sudden interest in the situation. “What are you thinking?” she asked him.

“
If the girl likes to bet, I have a wager for her
.”

Oh mercy, I didn’t think I was going to like this.

“Yes?” She ran her hands through his hair. Admittedly he had pretty dreamy hair. Too bad the rest of him was so scary I wanted to poop just looking at him for too long.

“
The stakes are simple. I win, my ladylove gets both your lives. You win, you are free to go, and the balance is restored. She won’t come for you again until Atropos tells us your time is up. Agreed
?”

“This seems like an absolutely terrible plan,” Leo said.

“Better than letting them kill us.” Maybe. “Okay, fine. What’s the bet?”

Hades looked up at Manea, stroking her face and beaming proudly. “
It’s very simple. All you have to do is escape.
”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Escape.

All we had to do in order to live was get out of the underworld.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck
.

Leo glanced at me and must have seen a pretty stricken expression because he asked, “Is that bad?”

I nodded slowly.