***
Casey sensed she wasn’t alone even before she came fully awake.
She sat bolt upright and stared into the darkness. A candle flared on the low table across the room, illuminating the man seated near the fireplace.
“Don’t let me interrupt your sleep,” he said in a deep voice. “I do so enjoy watching the innocents.”
Casey pulled the sheet to her neck in a protective move. That tingling from her birthmark intensified until it was a screaming roar up and down her spine, but she didn’t open her mouth. Some hidden instinct warned her not to.
The man slowly rose, and even in the dim light from the candle she saw he was at least seven feet tall, with enough power in his right pinky to decimate her and everything in this house.
He wasn’t an Argonaut. This person…being…was a god.
And oh, shit. That meant all of this was real.
He stepped toward the bed. “Yes, I am. Care to guess which one?”
She swallowed the lump growing in her throat and pulled the covers tighter to her chest. She was blindingly aware she was naked beneath the sheet. And had a horrifying thought.
What if…what if he can see through it!
His chuckle was low and menacing. “Of course I can. But don’t worry. I’m not here for your sex, human. I’ve plenty of my own sluts to choose from. Besides, the visitor who came to Tartarus to beg for your soul was enough Argolean for me.”
“Hades,” she whispered.
His evil grin widened, and he bowed once. “Alive and in the flesh. I’d like to say I’m pleased to meet you, but that would be a lie. And I never lie.” His eyes narrowed. “Now, ask me who my visitor was.”
Her heart pounded against her ribs. She glanced around for Theron, only to confirm he wasn’t anywhere near. She swallowed hard again as she looked back at Hades. “No one would go see you on my behalf.”
His black-as-sin eyes glinted. “No one but your sister.”
The door to the bathroom flew open. Theron, bare chested and wearing only a pair of low-slung jeans, with hair damp as if he’d just stepped out of a shower, charged.
With a flick of his wrist, Hades sent Theron shooting backward until he slammed into the wall and crumpled to the ground. Pictures and shattered glass rained down around him. Hades held his arm out, as if creating an invisible force that kept Theron from getting up.
The god’s soulless black eyes refocused on Casey. “Your sister bargained with me, so that you might live.”
“Acacia—”
Hades shot out another beam of energy so sharp, Theron’s whole body jerked.
“Stop!” Casey leapt to her knees on the bed. Hades glanced her direction, but she knew she was no match for him. She forced the fear from her voice, for Theron’s sake. “Stop. Just. Don’t hurt him. I…I don’t understand any of this.”
“Why would anyone expect you to understand, human?” Hades looked Theron’s direction with disgust. “As your Argonaut here omitted the real reason he brought you to this realm in the first place.”
If the tingling at Acacia’s back hadn’t already been going at warp speed, it would be now. She looked toward Theron, slowly easing himself into a seated position against the wall. “What didn’t he tell me?”
Hades actually smiled, and in the pit of her stomach, Casey knew he was enjoying all of this. “Should I tell her, Argonaut? Or would you like to?”
“Go back to hell,” Theron snarled.
He jerked and seized as Hades blasted him again.
“Stop it!” Casey tried in vain to keep the sheet wrapped around her as she held out a hand to stop the vicious god. “Please, just…stop. You tell me the reason he brought me here.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Theron whispered.
“To fulfill the prophecy,” Hades said plainly. “Established thousands of years ago, when Atalanta sold her soul to me in exchange for immortality. You are half of that prophecy, Acacia Simopolous. The marking on your back is proof. Your half sister, Isadora, the princess and future queen of Argolea, has the same marking. Like you, she’s sick and dying, but in her case, she’s losing her Argolean side, whereas you are losing your humanity. Alone, you’ll both die. Joined, the strongest of the two will survive to render Atalanta mortal once more and bring the beginning of the end of her war against the Argoleans.”
Hades inclined his head toward Theron. “Your Argonaut was sent by your father, the king, to bring you back to meet your sister. To save her life and end yours.”
Casey’s eyes slowly slid to Theron, slumped against the wall, eyes closed, with his arm across his abdomen. She waited for him to deny Hades’s words, to tell her they were nothing but lies, but he didn’t open his mouth. He didn’t even look at her.
“No,” she whispered. “That…can’t be true.”
“The truth is never a lie. Your sister even recognized how wrong these heroes were to try to mold your destinies. It’s why she came to me and bartered for your soul. And she did so against her father and her fiancé’s wills.”
“Fiancé?” Casey asked, having trouble following he god’s words.
“Oh, darn.” Hades snapped his fingers. “I guess your Argonaut forgot to tell you that as well.” His obsidian eyes sparked. “The good hero Theron here is scheduled to marry Isadora as soon as the prophecy is fulfilled.”
Casey’s heart slammed into her ribs as she looked toward Theron. He didn’t deny it. And he didn’t open his eyes, even now. The guilt-ridden expression across his face confirmed Hades’s claim.
Her heart shattered right there. Broke into a million pieces at her feet. The pain of betrayal in the center of her chest was as real as if she’d been stabbed with a blade.
Hades held out his hand. “Come with me and I will show you the truth, Acacia Simopolous. You will see, and you will believe.”
Theron shot to his feet. “No. Acacia!”
Electricity flashed out of Hades’s hand. Theron was rammed into the wall once more. He groaned and fell to the floor, this time surrounded by a pile of plaster.
“You will be safe while you are with me, human. No harm will come to you, I promise.”
Tears burned the backs of Casey’s eyes as she looked at the hand extended to her. Everything Theron had told her, everything she’d started to believe, was nothing more than a lie. Indecision warred within her. But one thing Hades said got through.
She had a sister. One who didn’t know her but who’d gone to hell to barter for her soul. There was still one person who needed her.
“I don’t have any clothes.”
Hades’s smile was laced with victory. “Taken care of.”
Instantly, she was dressed in a white billowing blouse and matching loose-fitting pants.
Casey dropped the sheet. And lifted her hand to slide her fingers into the palm of a god.
“No! Acacia!” Theron screamed.