I can’t quite soften my tone into playfulness. I never talk back to Hades. Never. Partly because I owe him so much, and mostly because of the sheer dominance he exhibits without seeming to try. He’s got himself bottled up right now, but the man can send me to my knees with a single look. Not today. I feel like nothing can touch me today. “I need to do this.”
“You really don’t.”
“This is why I came to you to begin with!” I stop short and make an effort to modulate my tone. “Do not take this chance from me.”
He looks like he’s torn between yelling at me and coming around the desk to wrap me in a tight hug. “Malone will eat you up and spit you out. She will harm you.”
I shove to my feet. “There is nothing she’ll do that hasn’t already been done to me a hundred times over during my years here.” I laugh harshly. “You know me, Hades. I like everything. Pain and humiliation and degradation. Soft words and gentle touches and kindness. It all gets me off. Malone can’t harm me.”
“Aurora.” Hades stands slowly. I don’t know how he manages it, but it feels like his power unfurls through the room. “I would have thought age would make you less reckless.”
The desire to apologize bubbles up inside me, but I shove it down. I am not weak, and I am not a fool. All those years ago, I came to the Underworld with two goals: to keep my mother alive and to get revenge. I’ve managed the first. Now it’s time for the second. “I’m not reckless.”
“You are the very definition of reckless.” He sighs. “But you’re an adult who knows her own mind. I can keep you from Malone now, but the moment the bargain is done, I suspect you’ll be taking that contract.”
I will. Now that she’s finally made a move on me, I refuse to miss this opportunity. “Better to let me do this while I’m still yours.” I’m being cruel, but I can’t help it. If I do something to Malone, Hades might bear the price of it alongside me, but he’s more than capable of navigating the situation. He’ll be fine.
He takes off his glasses and pinches the bridge of his nose. “I dislike you attempting to manipulate me.”
“I’m just speaking the truth.”
“You are willing to say anything to convince me to agree to this. Don’t deny it.” He cuts me a sharp look. “But you do have a point.”
I press my lips together. Pushing him now won’t guarantee victory, and it might just backfire. So I force myself still and wait while he thinks about it.
Finally, Hades shakes his head. “I’ll allow it.”
Relief makes me a little dizzy. There’s no guarantee that Malone’s offer would stand in another few weeks once I’m free of Hades’s bargain. I won’t get another chance like this, to get close enough to her to strike. “When do I start?”
“Tomorrow.”
“You goddamn fool.”
I don’t look over as Allecto storms into the gym. I just increase the speed on my treadmill, feet pounding in time with my racing heart. “I’ll talk to you when I’m done.”
“The fuck you will. You’ll talk to me now.” She stalks to the treadmill and reaches past me to slap the bright-red Stop button.
I stumble as the track suddenly stops moving. “Hey!”
“What the hell are you doing, Aurora?” She’s practically vibrating with anger. “Why the fuck did Hercules just tell me that you’re about to go spend two weeks with Malone?”
“Because I’m going to spend two weeks with Malone.” I try to say it calmly, rationally, but it comes out spiked. “She offered. It’s an opportunity I can’t miss.”
“An opportunity.” She looks like she wants to strangle me. “An opportunity to do what?”
I could hedge, but the truth is that if anyone will understand, it’s Allecto. “Kill her.”
My friend stares at me for several long beats as if waiting for the rest of the joke. She finally shakes her head slowly. “No. Absolutely not. Your mother just died. You aren’t in your right mind.”
“My mother died twenty years ago. That wasn’t her.”
“Don’t try to twist logic with me now, not when the entire reason you bargained so much of your life away with Hades was to save her.”
Something cracks inside me. I didn’t save her. No one could save her. It didn’t matter what I did, how high I reached for assistance. My mother was lost to me the moment