Hades waited in his office after the hearing had concluded. Hypnos tried to stay, but Hades dismissed him. This was their conversation to have, and he would not shy away from Persephone’s anger. The door burst open, and she stepped in as if summoned. The flowers in her tresses had shifted from what they had been earlier. Chrysanthemums had replaced the dahlias, but the crimson roses tarnished their purity.    

“How. Dare. You!” she enunciated each word as she stalked closer. Her palm slammed against the desk so hard that he saw her flinch. “She’s my mother! I deserved to know.”     

“You would have begged me not to,” he responded. “The decision was for your own good.”    

“You mean the best interests of your little pet?”     

“Careful, Seph. Let’s not break our tenuous peace because of cruel words.” He leaned forward in his chair and steepled his fingers. “This had nothing to do with her.”     

Her palm struck the wood again. “Explain it to me, Hades. As though I’m a child, since you want to pretend I am one.”    

He motioned for her to sit. With a reluctant huff, she complied. Then, she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. Her reddened cheeks darkened her sun-kissed skin. He waited until her foot started tapping with impatience.     

“You may enter,” he said, gesturing over her shoulder.    

The Fates emerged from a wall of fog, their faces hidden beneath heavy folds of cloth and nondescript masks. Clotho burned the brightest, radiance spilling from under her white robes. Darkness seeped from Lachesis. Her garments drifted like living tendrils. Atropos stood between them, swathed in layers of gray that blurred the line between light and shadow.    

Few had ever beheld the goddesses’ true forms. Hades had.    

They were beautiful lies, fashioned to convince everyone that their destinies were worth the suffering.    

They almost never were.    

There was no preamble once they appeared.     

“You have asked many times to be released from your curse with Hades. Consistently, we have told you no,” Clotho started.     

“We now present you the chance to change your terms,” Lachesis continued.    

“But this does not come without a sacrifice,” Atropos concluded.     

Excitement mixed with her agony. He could see it in the way her posture stiffened. Regardless of the cost, their offer appealed to her. He tried to bite his tongue. Feeding her to these wolves would be so easy.     

“It’s steeper than they’ll admit,” Hades cautioned. Whatever else he was, he wasn’t cruel enough to keep that from her.    

“Silence,” the trio snapped in tandem. “You told us to ask her. Your time for interference is over.”    

An invisible gag sealed his mouth, and his limbs locked in place. It had taken the combined magic of all three Fates to bind him. Breaking their restraints would have been easy. Weak points laced through their power like links in a chain.    

There was no reason to reveal that. Not yet.    

He would wait.    

Revenge was always sweeter when it ripened.    

“What do you propose?” Persephone asked, taking the bait.     

He couldn’t blame her; their offer had been tempting. He knew that better than anyone else.    

That was why he had implicated Demeter.    

Twenty years ago, they approached him with a promise: they’d adjust the curse if he turned his attention toward the Harvest Goddess. They didn’t have to force his hand. They only needed to give him hope.    

After they left, he’d look deeper. Demeter lacked the cunning to orchestrate something of this magnitude—not alone. If the Fates had known what he would uncover, they hadn’t moved to stop him.    

Yet.    

“You fill your mother’s position.”    

“By doing so, you may wander the Upperworld during the day. By night, you must return to Hades.”    

“You shall no longer be bound to the Underworld.”     

The sisters spoke in perfect tandem. They picked up where the last ended. It was impressive. As they spoke, milky light illuminated underneath each corresponding mask, where an eye would be.    

“What is your price?” Persephone had stopped fidgeting. Her grief faded from her thoughts. It would return when she felt the weight of the chains they would shackle her with. Nothing came free from the Fates.     

Triumph radiated from the triplets. Hades wanted to banish them. Stop them. Force them to leave. Anything.    

They had Persephone in their grasp, and he was powerless. He couldn’t halt destiny as it unfolded.    

“We want your firstborn son’s divinity,” they spoke in sync. Their voices melded and weighed heavily in the air.    

“I have no children,” Persephone said. She was considering it.     

Hades ached to jerk away, but the bindings reminded him to stay still. He knew what was coming. He had already accepted his side of the bargain because he believed Persephone would choose differently. She had a conscience, where he had desperation.    

He was wrong.    

“We know.”     

“Hades has agreed to participate.”        

Needing to sleep with him would change her mind. Right?    

He wasn’t sure anymore.     

“No harm will come to the child. His powers and immortality would remain.”     

“All we’ll take is his claim to Olympus. He’ll become an Unknown.”     

Persephone looked at Hades. Delicate flowers of sainfoin and sea bindweed grew through her hair, seeming to mirror her own mixed feelings and doubts. Then a single iris blossomed above her ear.    

Hope.    

Acceptance.    

The promise of freedom.  

She didn’t know what it meant to be Unknown in their world.  That’s why their offer seemed generous.  

His stomach lurched.    

She was going to agree.    

The Fates had never directly led her astray. It was his curse upon her. Not theirs.  

“He’ll be safe and alive?” Her tone was too confident, too bright. She believed every false promise. “Why do you need it?”     

The radiance underneath their robes flared, and the lights strobed. One heartbeat, the trio lingered behind Persephone’s seat. The next, they blocked the window overlooking Tartarus. Ominous red bathed them, turning them into little more than silhouettes. The display of power was almost laughable.     

“Do not question us!” They bellowed.    

“You either agree—”   

“Or you deny.”    

A crescendo of snapping electricity swallowed the room.    

“I accept!” she screamed.  Fear turned her eyes a vibrant purple as she sank into her seat. Too late.  

The words tore from her throat and hung above her–a tightening noose. Threads of molten gold wove through each syllable, stitching them into existence until they became a binding oath.    

The crackling of fire blazed through his mind. The roar deafened him as unfiltered horror washed through him, turning the flames blindingly blue.    

“So, it is spoken.”    

“So, it shall be.”    

“The Fates will rewrite Persephone’s destiny.”    

Three flashes lit the room. Violent bursts followed each exit. Those fragile bindings around Hades dissolved, and he folded atop his desk. His pulse hammered so violently he thought it might crack his ribs.    

“What have you done?” he choked out, unable to look at her.    

“You accepted their bargain before I did, Hades. Don’t pretend you’re better than me.” Her voice cracked despite the bite in her tone.    

He looked at her then.    

Tears streamed down her cheeks.    

“What did they ask of you?”    

“Does it matter? The price remains the same.”    

“It involves Pandora, doesn’t it?” She furiously wiped her face. “You sacrificed our firstborn for a gods’ damned mortal. A Champion, no less! Do you think she’ll accept you back when she learns you slept with me?”     

“You’re right. She won’t. That was part of the plan,” he whispered.    

That got her attention. Her fingers paused mid-swipe. “Hades, what did you do?”    

“What I had to do. For you and for Pandora.” His hands trembled as he pushed them through his hair.            

“Is she aware?” She leaned across and grabbed his wrists. Her silent plea for him to talk to her was so loud. So unbearable.     

“No,” he inhaled. “She’ll learn about the baby. Then, she won’t remember anything.”    

***    

The Sinner’s Club existed between dimensions, a haven for preternaturals, divinity, and everything in between. Humans could enter if they possessed the Sight, though such souls had become increasingly rare. From the outside, the structure resembled a gothic cathedral, its arching spires clawing at the sky while stained-glass windows depicted gods, monsters, and creatures of legend. Age had fractured the gray stone, and heavy oak doors guarded the entrance.    

Pandora lingered at the foot of the building, her blood thundering in her ears. She had never seen Hades outside the Underworld. It was foolish to meet him here, even with a disguise. She didn’t care.    

“Hey Pandora,” Thalos, the massive Minotaur bouncer, called from the top of the stairs. He wore his human glamor. Bald head, black eyes, tanned and muscled, and a huge bull ring through his septum. “Where’s your friends?”     

He had a thing for Helen, who had politely rejected him. He took the  hint, but  still enjoyed seeing her. It was genuine and sweet. His new belle was a vampire named Cecile, who showered him with smiles and flirty hellos.     

“Ah, they aren’t here tonight. I’m on a… date.” She said slowly, unsure whether that was true.     

“I’ll be damned,” he grinned and opened the door. “Have a good time and tell me if I need to kick anyone’s ass.”     

Music, unlike anything Pandora had ever heard, pulsed through the Sinner’s Club the moment she stepped inside. The main floor sprawled before her, packed shoulder to shoulder with bodies moving amidst the flashing lights. A sprawling bar lined the outer wall. Patrons pressed three deep as bartenders rushed to keep up with the orders. Beyond it, two more dance floors disappeared into adjoining rooms.    

A staircase descended toward the restrooms and a quieter, private bar. Another climbed to the second-floor lounge, where only the club’s elite were welcome. A water nymph watched at its base and offered Pandora a warm smile as she approached.    

“Panda,” she squealed, drawing out the last vowel. “It’s been so long! Ceci and Lucy have been working me ragged!”     

“Hello, Ardalia,” Pandora greeted and patted the girl on the head. She nuzzled Pandora’s hand, dampening it with her powers. Sea salt permeated the air, and a sense of calm settled over her. “Thank you. I needed that.”      

Another toothy grin, and Ardalia pulled aside the curtain that blocked the stairs. “See you later!”     

The throb of music softened as she ascended. A magical barrier drowned out the noise from below, despite the open balcony that overlooked the level below. In its place, the rhythm of her pulse rushed through her ears.     

In the back corner, hidden beneath dimmed lights, was a flash of rain- cloud purple and glowing bi-colored eyes. It was him. Her heart and soul. Her steps were slow at first before she broke into a run. He saw her before she reached him and rose from the booth. Arms encased her as she collided into him.     

“Gods below, you’re real,” he murmured into her hair. “I’ve missed you so much, my darling pixie.”    

“I’ve missed you too.” She reluctantly eased from his embrace before his name could slip from her lips. Calling him Hades here would be unwise. “What should I call you?”    

“Name me,” he whispered against her ear. “I’ll answer to whatever you choose.”    

She cradled his face between her palms. “Alerion.”    

His gaze searched hers. Those sinful lips of his curved into a delicious smile. Relief flooded her as heat pooled in the pit of her stomach. She would be mad at him later, after she relished his presence.    

“My wings.”    

“Always.”    

He gathered her into a kiss, his embrace tightening as if he feared she’d disappear again. Beneath the sweetness, she could feel his heart cracking. Whatever promises he made tonight would bring more heartbreak. 

Editor: Lucy Cafiero