wooden door to reveal a simple round room with a hearth on one side and a table in the middle. Dust gathered in the corners, and spiderwebs crowded the ceiling.
I stepped inside, warily checking the corners for an army of rats. “Very…rustic.”
He huffed a low laugh, seeming almost surprised by it. “I’m not sure what you were expecting from the underworld.”
“Well, you’re the king of hell. Perhaps a bit more luxury.”
He looked at me, seeming genuinely confused. “What would I do with that?”
“Never mind.” Hades was definitely the sort who would prefer to rough it, no question. His entire life was about duty, and that certainly didn’t involve fancy accommodation. Hell, this was a step up from the cave where we’d spent time before.
He waved a hand toward the hearth, and a fire burst to life, crackling with a warm and cheery light. Despite the festive nature of the fire, the extra illumination highlighted the many spiders staring at me with multifaceted eyes. They were slightly creepy, and I shivered.
“Do you want me to banish them?” he asked.
I frowned. I did want that, just a little. But I could also feel the life in them, my magic reaching out to touch them in a way that was becoming more and more familiar.
They meant me no harm. If I’d been a tiny fly, they wouldn’t have hesitated to wrap me up in their webs and eat me. But as it was, they were merely curious.
“No, it’s fine,” I said. “This is their home.”
He nodded, then strode to the fire, his movements stiff.
“Here,” I said, “let me help.”
I hurried to him and reached for the armor at his back. He stiffened and turned to me. “What are you doing?”
“Helping?”
“Why?”
“You were hurt protecting me.”
“I was hurt escaping.”
“You could have just flown out of there more quickly and left me to take the hit.”
“I need you for my plans.”
I frowned at him. “That’s true. But I think you’re just being a jerk to try to drive me off.”
He shrugged, his gaze impassive.
“Well, turn around and face the fire while I get this off of you.”
He heaved a sigh and did as I commanded, facing the warm blaze. It took me a moment to figure out the clasps on the armor, but finally, I had them undone. I pulled off the massively heavy metal plates and set them aside, then saw that his shirt was heavily coated in blood.
“Is there anywhere you can take a bath here?” I asked. “You’re absolutely soaked.”
He nodded, pulling the shirt over his head to reveal his wounds. Two gaping holes cut into his flesh, put there by the sheer force of the water. As I watched, they healed, closing up as if they’d never been there at all. They didn't leave so much as a bruise behind.
And yet, he still had the scars that I’d seen on him in the bathing chamber. The dark tattoos that decorated his skin couldn’t hide the long marks that had once been terrible gashes.
I raised a hand, helpless to stop myself, and ran my fingertips over the once torn flesh. He flinched as I did so but didn’t pull away.
“What made these, if Poseidon’s magic can’t leave a mark on you?”
His shoulders bowed slightly, then straightened. “Nothing.”
He stepped away from me.
“It can’t be nothing.” I moved forward, following him.
“It’s nothing.” He walked toward an arched doorway at the back of the room, heading down a set of stone steps that wrapped around the edge of the tower.
I trailed him, entering a room at the base of the tower that looked a lot like his bathroom back at his castle. The space was made up almost entirely of a deep bathing pool set right into the ground. Steam spiraled from it, and I watched him strip off the rest of his clothes. The sight of him took my breath away as he climbed into the water. It rose up around his calves and thighs, covering his muscular buttocks and waist. When he was deep enough, he dipped himself entirely in the water, rising up from the depths with his skin washed clean of blood.
I wanted nothing more than to climb in with him.
And why shouldn’t I?
Sure, I was angry with him. Mad as hell, in fact. He drove me insane, and he’d committed plenty of wrongs against me.
He’d also taken me to learn about my past. As a result, I had seen Nana again. According to her, I had the power to save him.