lungs. He tried to wiggle free, but Hades jerked his hand up, the strength of his power thrusting Zagreus twenty feet in the air.
Zagreus kicked and flailed, but before he could find a way to make his arms work, Hades yanked down, the force slamming Zagreus face-first into the hard earth.
Twigs and rocks stabbed into his flesh. Pain radiated through his body as he gasped in a breath. He pushed himself to his hands, but Hades was ready.
The god wrapped that invisible grip around Zagreus all over again, wrenched him off the ground, then heaved him to the left.
He crashed into the thick base of an old-growth tree with a grunt, bounced back, then free-fell to the forest floor. His head smacked against a rock with a crack that echoed through the forest. His back took the brunt of the force, knocking the air completely out of his lungs this time.
“You thought you could double-cross me again and I wouldn’t find out?”
Zagreus tried to push up, but before he could get his bearings, Hades lifted him once more and slammed him into a tree to the right, as if he were nothing more than a rag doll.
His face and torso smashed into bark and limbs. Something sharp stabbed into his side, making him groan. His body smacked the forest floor once more, leaving him reeling in pain and confusion.
“I know everything, you pathetic immortal,” Hades growled. “You’re nothing without me. Do you hear me? Absolutely nothing.”
Two things occurred to Zagreus as he pushed himself to his hands and knees and tried to suck back air. Hades must have tracked those daemons when they went missing. And since then, he’d been monitoring this forest, just waiting for Zagreus to show up.
Zagreus knew better than to give anything away. He wasn’t entirely sure why his father was after him—though he had an idea. At the moment, he was just thankful he’d opened the portal here instead of closer to Ehrendia.
He managed to lift his head. Sweat and blood dripped into his eyesight, leaving everything blurry, and the concussion surely wasn’t helping. But he could already feel his god-strength working to heal his injuries, and he knew showing weakness was a thousand times worse than being weak in front of his father.
He’d learned long ago never to be weak.
“You wasted both our time to come to Earth and tell me that? The toxic air in the Underworld is clearly messing with your head, old man.”
Hades growled and threw his arm out once more.
Zagreus wheezed as that invisible force contracted around his torso, squeezing out every bit of air, then his body was flying, not into a tree this time, but straight up, through the canopy and above the trees. So high all he saw were stars.
What goes up must come down.
Fuck me…
The thoughts whirled through Zagreus’s mind just before Hades’s powers wrenched him back to Earth. He crashed through limbs and leaves then smashed into the packed forest floor, this time so hard he knew bones cracked and shattered.
He lay immobile on his back, unable to move or even make a sound as he stared up at the broken tree limbs above void of greenery now, the stars beyond twinkling against a vast black sky.
It was beautiful. Quiet. Dark. The edge of a cosmic void he’d once craved. But he didn’t want nothingness anymore. He wanted chaos. And light. And the female who made him feel alive.
Footsteps sounded close. Zagreus blinked, unable to move more than his eyeballs, watching as his father moved around his right side and came into view.
Hades glared down at him with every ounce of hatred Zagreus remembered, his coal black eyes showing not a single ounce of mercy. “The Orb is missing from Olympus. There are only a handful of gods brazen enough to sneak in and out of Zeus’s realm and take it, and my money’s on you, seeing as how you tried to steal it once before.”
Zagreus didn’t answer. Couldn’t. But he wasn’t surprised his father was here about the Orb of Krónos. He’d been expecting a visit like this for some time now. His mistake had been being distracted tonight and not anticipating an attack.
Hades knelt at Zagreus’s side so they were face-to-face and perched his forearm on his knee. Then with a malevolent growl, he said, “I should send you back to the Fates for another twenty-five years of torment. But I’ve decided to give you the chance to prove your loyalty, instead. You