ONYX

Chapter Twenty-One

“Alessa . . .”

At the sound of her name, she was instantly calm. She’d known someone else had entered the room, and her even her body was in tune to his presence, but she hadn’t been sure until now. Opening her eyes, she stared into the depths of his deep cerulean eyes that matched her own and she was reunited with the man she’d met not too long ago on her balcony. “Hades?”

He smiled. He liked his name when she spoke it and had waited for over a decade to finally hear it. Her voice sounded so much lighter and different now that she weren’t so crazed with sadness. She looked vastly different from how she looked in the human realm where grief and bad fortune had stuck to her like a parasite.

Hades frowned. He was partially to blame for it. “Yes, it’s me.”

“Where am I?” She asked, even though she was already told before. Somehow she still hoped that she was in Evyon.

“The Underworld—my home.”

“No . . .” She closed her eyes and began to rock again. If she pretended he wasn’t here and this was all a nightmare then maybe she’d wake up.

“Alessa,” Hades reached for her.

“No!” She hissed. “I want to go home!”

That place was never your home, Hades started to say, but he refrained. She didn’t need anymore anguish weighing her down. “If you come with me then I will explain everything that’s happened to you.”

Alessandra stopped moving to look at him. “You will?”

“Yes.” 

Swallowing, Alessandra nodded.

Hades wasted no time. He took Alessandra’s hand in his and before she could question his sudden action, they were transported into another room. It was so quick and when it was over Alessandra was left gasping for air on the floor. There was no warning as the room shifted and morphed into a new room.

It was a study far bigger than the bedroom she’d occupied. It was very spacious with leather furniture and a grand desk as the centerfold. It was black and sleek and shiny from polish. A fireplace nearly took up one whole side of a wall while there was a built in bookshelf adorning another wall. A sitting area was decorated not too far from the fireplace with a cozy velvet covered single chair.

Once again, she was left confused. Alessandra didn’t know how she ended up in a new place even when she witnessed it. Slowly, she crept away from Hades. He’d done the same thing that Hypnos did. “How did you do that?”

Hades wanted to move as she did, but he didn’t want to alarm her anymore than she already was. “It’s one of my gifts, all of us can do it.”

“All of you? What are you?”

“I am a God,” He cleared his throat, “well one of them, I am the God of the Underworld.”

Alessandra scoffed. She’d put as much distance between them that she was comfortable with. “God? There is only one God and you are not Him.”

Hades gave her a look that said that she couldn’t be serious. He knew of the different religious views from different cultures, but that didn’t mean he accepted them. “Is that what your one-sided Priests have taught you?”

She gasped, insulted by the remark. “What you speak of is paganism and I do not believe you.”

“Not after everything you’ve seen? Take a good look around you,” Hades swept his arm around the room, “it’s real.”

“My mother, she said she made a deal with you. Explain that to me.” She should’ve read the books that her mother left for her.

He knew this was coming, and yet he was reluctant. If she knew then what would she say? Would she accept him? “Please, sit.” Hades offered her the single chair, his favorite chair, and waited for her to take a seat. She took her time, of course. “Can I get you something to drink, Alessa?”