Hades Legacy (Hades Series #3)

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

I recoil back so abruptly you would've thought he slapped me. My throat closes up so much that I'm barely able to get two words out. "How long?"

He doesn't respond.

"How long?" I repeat, my voice rising dramatically in volume the longer he stays silent. Still, he doesn't respond. I step forward, my eyes blazing furiously. "I swear to god Eric, if you don't say something I will-"

"For a month." He interrupts me, his voice quiet. "I've known for over a month. More like two, actually."

"For two months?" I stare at him. It feels like I've been suckerpunched in the chest. Suddenly, everything starts to click into place. "You knew when you first met me, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"Then why didn't you say anything?" I whisper. "Even after I told you myself, why didn't you say anything? You knew how worried I was about it! I thought I was the only one up here who knew apart from Jasmine, I thought..." I shake my head, my throat suddenly feeling unnaturally dry. "I thought I was all alone in trying to figure it all out."

"Would you have let me help if I'd told you I knew?" He asks, raising an eyebrow. I open my mouth to reply, and he holds a finger up to stop me. "Or would you have still tried to push me away to 'protect' me?"

"The last I heard, you didn't agree with me pushing you away anyway, Eric." I retort. "That still doesn't excuse the fact that you didn't tell me. So why didn't you?"

"Because I knew that the reasons I knew would cause you to hate me." Eric smiles weakly. "I didn't want that."

"Why would they cause me to hate you?" A sudden, sickening thought hits me, and I recoil back even further. "Are you the one sending me the messages? Are you trying to blackmail me into starting the civil war?"

"What? No!" His eyes widen, and he shakes his head vehemently. I just keep staring at him, unable to trust his word anymore. "Ellie, god, no! I would never do that to you!"

"Then what other reason is there for you knowing, Eric? My parents and I are supposed to be the only ones who know about the prophecy, nobody else!" I exclaim, throwing my hands up in the air. "What other possible reason apart from you wanting me to cause the civil war is there for you to know?"

"Ellie!" Eric grabs my wrists, looking me dead in the eye. "I don't want you to start a civil war. I don't give a shit about that."

"Don't touch me." I snap, ripping my arms out of his hold and blasting him away with my power when he starts forward again. Eric folds his arms over his chest, his jaw tightening, but thankfully he listens to me, and stays put. "What makes you think I'm going to believe that, Eric?"

"Because I'm the same person you said you trusted ten minutes ago?" He says, and I narrow my gaze at him. "Ellie, I'm not lying to you. I literally could not care less about this civil war you're prophecised to cause, because I know you, and I know you'll do anything in your power to stop that from happening."

"That still doesn't explain how you know about prophecy in the first place."

Eric sighs, rubbing his jaw. I find it almost bizarrely laughable how uncomfortable he looks. "My mother told me."

"Aphrodite?" I frown. That wasn't the answer I was expecting. "How does she know?"

"I don't know."

I press my lips into a thin line. "Eric, if you think-"

"I'm not lying Ellie." He replies sharply. "I don't know how she came to know, and she hasn't deigned to tell me. Apparently I'm not important enough to her to know the logistics behind my 'mission'." He says this bitterly, his lips twisting up like the words themselves leave a sour taste in his mouth.