Genesis [malexmale]

Chapter Forty-Six

Chapter Forty-Six

"He's safe."

I breathed out a quiet sigh of relief, stepping back from the bed and looking up at Hades. He stood on the other side of the bed, his gloves saturated in blood, sweat running down the sides of his face, causing the loose flying hairs from his tied back hair sticking to his jawline and nose. Exhaustion darkened the spaces beneath his eyes, the glow in those blue irises flickering faintly, almost like a candle preparing to go out.

Beside him, the machines had finished screaming and had lapsed into a steady combination of beeps and hums. The sound seemed to echo through the room, making my ears ring.

I looked down at my bloodied gloves, then shifted my gaze to where Zeus was laying quietly on the bed, unconscious and finally resting. While all his major, life-threatening injuries were now healed, scars lingered in their places, bruises and cuts still remaining. Anymore healing and I could damage his natural healing process, according to Hades. And thank fuck he was here to remind me, otherwise, I would've caused some major damage by letting my panic get the best of me.

Hades went over to the sink to strip his gloves off and wash his hands, and I followed him to do the same. Once we were cleaned up and had given Zeus a fresh blanket and pillow, Hades went to grab some supplies from the cupboards.

"He's stable for now," he informed me, studying the labels on the bottles and taking a few down, "Look, I can't stick around right now. I have to go figure out what the fuck that Titan bastard was thinking when he handed his ass gift-wrapped to Atlan. I need you to stay here and keep an eye on him, and contact me if his condition takes a turn for the worst." I frowned, immediately uncomfortable with the idea of being alone in the room with Zeus. Clearly Zeus would not want to see me upon waking, but rather Hades.

"You should let me go instead," I disagreed, making Hades pause and glance over his shoulder at me, "He'll want to see you when he wakes up. I can check in with everyone and see how things are going, and... And I'll tell Arikos the situation. It's the least I can do." Especially given it was probably my fault Menoetius had left in the first place. And Hades gave me a curious stare, and I could feel him attempting to probe my mind, but I slammed a barrier down and he cursed, reaching up to touch his head.

"I hate it when you do that," he ground out through clenched teeth. I gave him a flat stare.

"And I hate that you think you can just invade my privacy because you think you're all powerful."

"No," Hades said dryly, lowering his hand and cutting me a dry stare, "I was doing it figure out what the hell is going on with you."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't talk to me like I'm stupid," Hades snapped impatiently, shutting the cupboards and taking a few of the bottles over to Zeus's bedside and shoving the rest in a bag that he threw over his shoulder, "I know there's something else going on. Something that involves Zeus. Something that doesn't have to do with this war." I eyed him warily, wishing he'd just keep his nose out of my business. However, I was too tired to argue with him and too tired to put up with his attitude.

"Look, it doesn't matter," I started and Hades rolled his eyes, doing a superb job at making me wish I could sucker punch him in the face, "We screwed up. That's all I'm going to say on the matter. We need to figure out a way to retrieve Menoetius as soon as possible. Sooner or later, Atlan will use the same toxin on him that he used on you. And if that's the case, the Source's prophecy will come true, and Menoetius will help Atlan the way he was destined to." Hades glared at me. He didn't speak for the longest time, which I wasn't sure was a good thing or a bad thing. When his stare became too much, I finally scowled at him and he seemed to be snapping out of a thought process, one I didn't bother to delve into, because his thought processes already gave me a headache.