my lungs. Even the water bottles beside me freeze into blocks of ice.
“Is it Draugars?” I whisper to the guys, shivering as my breath streams out.
Pitch shakes his head. “Something darker. Gage, Jonah, protect her. Ambrose, come with me.”
He steps forward, his entire body radiating with dark magic, but he stops when an even darker shadow appears in front of him. The smokey-black tendrils materialise into a tall, cloaked figure with burning gold eyes. He looks almost identical to Pitch only older with slightly longer black hair and sharper features. His gaze drifts lazily between us, pausing briefly on me, before landing on Ambrose. A smile curves the edge of his lips.
“Aeon. It has been a long time, my old friend.”
Every part of Ambrose’s body visibly tenses. “I am not known by that name here and I shall never again be fooled into being your friend.” He pulls his lips back into a snarl and his skin glows like it did when I first met him. “You betrayed me!”
“Betrayed you?” The Dark God scoffs, contemplating his black fingernails. “I kept you safe from my brother’s wrath. You should be thanking me.”
“Balle eis Korakas!”
Hades’ gold eyes snap up to him. “It is I who feasts on the flesh of crows, not the other way around. How disappointing you would choose to side with mortals.” He turns his gaze onto Pitch. “You, Alastair Pitch, are my son and heir. It is time to come home with me.”
I practically choke on my own spit at the statement. I mean, sure, they look alike, but Hades is the Dark God of the Underworld. Pitch is…the Dark Fae Prince… It isn’t a wild stretch now that I think about it.
“Pitch, is this true?” I whisper.
He shakes his head. “My parents died after I was born which is why I was given to Narah.”
The Dark God laughs scathingly, his features hardening. “I gave you to the fae queen until I was ready to retrieve you.” He holds out a hand and clicks his fingers. “Come. We have wasted much time already.”
Pitch stares at the proffered hand with large, unblinking eyes. “No.”
An even darker shadow gathers around Hades, oozing off him in waves. “You choose also to stay with the mortals, my son?”
“Even if what you say is true,” Pitch replies, his tone equally as firm and confident, “you are not the blood I wish to stay with.”
Hades’ hand falls by his side, his knuckles blanching white. He looks between Pitch and Ambrose for a long, awkwardly silent moment.
“Very well,” he says at last. “If this is your decision then I shall go and leave you with a parting gift.” With a wave of his hand, gigantic roots claw out from the earth into a monstrous shadow. “No need to thank me,” he sneers before disappearing into a dark cloud of smoke.
“What the hell has he done?” Jonah asks, pulling me protectively behind him.
The darkness bleeding from the roots snap and crackle like bolts of lightning. They merge together until a beast with matted black fur and three wolf heads snarl at us. Holy fuck, it’s huge. Much bigger than Echo’s giant pink Thumper.
“That is Cerberus,” Ambrose answers, the colour draining from his face. “He’s here to take me back.”
“You mean the three-headed monster who guarded the Howling Hollow?” Gage frowns at him. “Please don’t tell me it’s that Cerberus.”
“I’m afraid it is.” Ambrose swallows, his throat jerking nervously. “Nothing will stop him until he traps me with the Bonds of Chaos and returns me to Tartarus.”
The fear in his voice twists my stomach. He barely finishes speaking when the beast digs one of its paws into the soil. Chains covered in fire whip into the air around him.
“Well that ain’t happening,” I say, taking his hand and giving a reassuring smile despite the tremor of fear catching in my throat. “That crazy pupper isn’t taking you anywhere, Ambrose. We’ll make sure of it.”
He looks at me, his brows drawing together. “Why would you all do that for me?”
“Because you’re our friend.” I nod to each of my guys. “And we don’t abandon our friends.”
“Fuck yeah we don’t,” Jonah exclaims.
Gage pats Ambrose on the shoulder and even Pitch, who’s never liked Ambrose, nods in agreement.
“How do we defeat it?” he asks the god, his tone no longer scathing like it normally is when he talks to him. It’s also the first he’s spoken since the bombshell was dropped. I can’t wait until this is over and we