The Curse of Hades *MATURE*

Chapter 14; spies and lies

*Waves* Another update so soon? :O Who is she??? Fair warning this is quite long :)

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"Bullshit," Hades snapped. "The Underworld has been riddled with this for years, long before Harper was ever here. Why target her now?"

Araneas arched an eyebrow, "Harper is young, yes, but Persephone was not."

Those words silenced Hades.

A lump formed in her throat at the mention of her previous life. It was difficult to think, to imagine that she had once talked, walked, and thought as another being, that she had likely sat in this very chair long ago.

"I died from the blight," Harper whispered, "I wasn't murdered, not like..." she trailed off, blinking back the memory of Clove's crumpled body, and the arrow sticking out of her flesh.

"The blight is what killed you, yes, but you were a Goddess. It shouldn't have touched you as it did and I believe you, brother, have suspected that for a long time," Araneas regarded Hades with a cool expression.

"The blight is a puppet," it was Harper who answered.

Araneas smiled at her.

"Why take her spirit, though?" She met his stare.

His eyes flashed in confusion. "Her spirit is gone?"

In a flash, Cerberus shifted behind her. "Don't lie, you filthy, spider loving, flea riddled mongrel," he snarled.

Harper averted her eyes as he sat next to her, completely naked, and tugged a hand through his blue hair.

"Unless she was meant for the forest of the condemned, I have no use for a spirit," Araneas replied coolly, choosing to ignore Cerberus's colourful insults.

Flea riddled mongrel was one she'd have to remember for the future. She bit back her smile at the thought of her mum getting her hands on that insult. That'd give the staff something to talk about.

Cerberus snorted, "you don't need to be an asshole and yet you are What's your point?"

Araneas' nostrils flared. The corners of Harper's mouth twitched into a smile. Perhaps that was a weak point for him, the way others viewed him. Some people were like that, pretending to be nonchalant about what others thought but deep inside, they cared. It could be nothing. But she didn't think it was, so she tucked away that piece of information.

He leaned back, the chair groaning at the movement, "come see for yourself, then."

Cerberus arched an eyebrow. It was impressive how put together he looked whilst not wearing a scrap of clothing. "Oh? And we need for your permission for that, do we?"

"Cerberus," Hades snapped.

"According to the treaty, yes, you do," Araneas replied coolly.

"A treaty which you broke!'

Hades' sigh silenced the two males. Harper refrained from the urge to calm her mate. She remembered his whispered words as they got dressed together, the quiet sombre of his words lest they were overheard.

Weakness is a weapon.

She did not think what they felt was a weakness. But she could see how Hades thought it so. After all, he had lost Persephone to a blight which he could not stop. He had suffered for his love, grieved for centuries from the loss.

No, it was not a weakness but perhaps, a vulnerability.

"I'd like to see," Harper's words were out before she could stop them. They were an overstatement, really, since she certainly didn't revel in the thought of overgrown spiders, but she did need that closure. She needed to know that Clove was safe, at peace, at least. The guilt would eat her alive otherwise.