Hades
I recalled the incident—the first eting we had after the throne had been left vacant. I thought he had been mocking . Maybe in a way he had, but I was starting to realize that he might have been trying to draw out the boy he knew from the monster that I had been shaped into. But that had not been the only ti I had lashed out because of the na I no longer bore. I had hurt Kael too that ti when I beca triggered concerning Eve all those months ago. He too had been trying to reach .
But when Sophie had called Uncle Luci, I felt none of the rage. Only that a na that Lucien would know and rember had slipped out from my mouth in the most natural way. "Little star" would have never touched my lips if a part of did not rember who I used to be.
My defenses were down, hackles lowered, and the—
A tear slipped down Cain’s face.
And the world screeched to a stop. "Cain..."
"Lucien died, Hades, and I mourned him for years. Lucien would never have hated his na, or hated , or forgotten his mother. Lucien was a kind little boy that saw as more than the illegitimate older brother—not like Leon. He was alive." His lips quivered as my elder brother cried. "I wanted to hate Hades. Because Hades took Lucien. But I couldn’t, so I stuck around like a tick that never let go no matter how much you whacked it." He chuckled, looking down at himself, still crying. "Fuck, I am almost forty, crying like a little girl."
I rose before I could stop myself and rounded the table.
As if on cue, he rose too and grabbed in a crashing embrace. "You’re back," he whispered. "You ca back, brother."
For the second ti this very day, I hugged him back.
"I wish your mother got to see this," he murmured. "I wish she..."
"Seraphina," I whispered, my whole body locking up as flashes slamd into like a tidal wave. But they were too many and too fast to discern. "Her na is Seraphina." My words were breathless. I did not see her face, nor sll her scent, nor feel her skin or hear her voice. I only knew her na because...
"SERAPHINA!"
My mind was ripped through with the sound of my father’s roar. I clenched my eyes closed but saw nothing—only the voices, like a phantom, incomplete mory.
"HE IS MY SON, MY FUCKING BLOOD, MY LEGACY." I could hear him growl, and the soft weeping of a woman. "You were nothing but his incubator! The next ti you try to steal my son, I will have you passed around my council like the backstabbing whore that you are!"
"He is mine to use, to carve, to wield. He is fucking mine. I am his Lord, his creator. You are nothing of consequence to him. And I will make sure of that."
Then there was the sound of choking, and a yelp from a dog—a puppy.
"Hades!" Cain snapped back to the present, and my eyes found focus again.
Relief bled into his features. "I thought I lost you for a second there." He smiled, still uncertainty lingering in his eyes.
"I’m okay," I murmured, clasping his tense shoulder. "Just felt sothing."
"Us too,"
Both and Cain ripped away from each other like we had been electrocuted, seeing Kael and Eve standing there, more shocked than we were.
"Two hugs in a single day?" Kael exclaid, his eyebrows climbing toward his hairline. "Should I alert the historians? This is unprecedented."
"We have a new record," Eve added, though her eyes were scanning my face with that concerned intensity that told she’d felt sothing through the bond. The flashback, the panic, the mory tearing through . She knew.
Cain wiped his face roughly with the back of his hand, that cocky smirk sliding back into place like armor. "What can I say? I’m irresistible. Even Hades can’t keep his hands off ."
"Please don’t phrase it like that," I muttered, though the corner of my mouth twitched despite everything.
Eve crossed the room to , her hand finding mine imdiately. Her touch grounded , pulled fully back into the present. "Are you okay?" she asked quietly, for my ears only.
"I will be," I said, and ant it this ti.
Kael looked between us, his usual levity dimming slightly. He’d been there. He’d seen at my worst, tried to reach when I was too broken to be reached. "What did we miss?"
"Just so overdue family bonding," Cain said lightly, though his eyes were still red-rimd. "You know how it is. Tears, hugs, declarations of brotherhood. The usual."
"The usual for literally anyone else," Kael said flatly. "For you two, this is apocalyptic."
"Well, we are in the middle of preparing for war," I pointed out.
"Fair point." Kael moved to the desk, scanning the papers we’d been working on. "So while you two were having your emotional breakthrough, did you actually get any work done, or—"
"We got plenty done," Cain interrupted, his tone returning to its usual cocky assurance. "No worries. I didn’t distract your Alpha. I helped out. My n are still in the archives sorting so things out.
"So," Kael said slowly, his gaze bouncing between Cain and with obvious curiosity. "What exactly prompted the... emotional watershed mont? Because I’ve known you both for decades and I’ve never seen—"
"Freddie has a big mouth," I said abruptly.
"Freddie told you sothing?" Eve asked, her Luna instincts sharpening.
"That I called Sophie ’little star,’" I said quietly. The words felt heavier now, loaded with aning I was only beginning to understand.
Kael’s expression shifted, sothing like recognition flickering across his features. "That’s what—"
"Papaaaaaaaaaaaa!" I recognized that voice anywhere, it was all thought just as Sophie burst through the office door with Elliot and Micah on her tail. I guess work was done for the day.
Cain looked at , giving a look that said we still had more to discuss at a later ti, just as I watched Eve pick up Elliot and Kael ruffle Micah’s golden hair.
Cain picked up his daughter and twirled her around, she shrieking in excitent as we all smiled at the reunion.
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