Aiden chuckled, but he wisely stepped back and turned to Hades. “Okay. You have my soul when I die.”

“See?” Hades eyed me over Aiden’s shoulder. “Was that so hard?”

“I hate you,” I hissed.

“It’s nothing personal, Love.”

“Yeah, and the last time you said that to me you wanted to kill me.” My hands curled into fists.

The god of the Underworld shrugged. “Okay.”

“That’s it?” Seth asked, the hollows of his cheeks more pronounced. “You’re not going to even shake on it? He says ‘you can have my soul’ and you say okay?”

I shot Seth a glare.

Hades smiled again. “That’s all I need.”

Seth’s amber eyes rolled. “That’s anticlimactic.”

The god was unbothered by that as he settled his attention on Aiden and me. “You two will be responsible for Perses, meaning you will come with me and take him out of Tartarus.”

My spine stiffened. “We have to go to Tartarus?”

Static crackled around Hades’ eyes. “I think showing you two what could possibly lie in store for your pure-blood may incline both of you to work extra-hard to ensure that Perses sticks to the plan.”

I gasped.

“Wait.” Seth stepped forward. “I’m going with them.”

Aiden opened his mouth, mostly like to passionately disagree, but Hades cut him off. “I think that is a great idea. Then the three of you will be responsible for Perses and what role Aiden takes on in the afterlife.”

My stomach dropped, and I felt like I was falling. Before I could protest, Hades was already making plans. We would leave for Tartarus within the hour. He would take us straight there, no need for finding a gate or facing any of the guards. It was all happening too fast. Aiden was talking to Deacon in low, hushed tones, and Solos was with Marcus, surrounded by Olivia and Luke.

My unease about the deal settled in me like sour food. My heart pounded in my chest way too fast, and if I didn’t know any better, I would’ve sworn Phobos and Deimos were back, but they weren’t. Fear formed an icy knot under my breastbone.

Alex…

I didn’t turn to Seth. What if Perses doesn’t do what we need him to? What if he runs off and slaughters an entire nation? Hades will put that on Aiden. He’ll have his soul and—

We’ll make sure that won’t happen. The confidence in Seth’s words pushed through our bond. St. Delphi won’t end up in Tartarus, I promise you.

The fact that Seth would promise something like that didn’t go unnoticed. Either way, he’ll own Aiden. No matter what happens. Aiden will be like a half-blood, nothing more than…

Air leaked out of my lungs. Aiden would be like a slave, like every half-blood was now and would be, even after we took care of Ares. Aiden’s own words came back to me in that moment. This is bigger than us. Realization whirled, and an opportunity presented itself. Hell, the opportunity had always been there, but I’d been too self-absorbed to realize it, too caught up in my own problems to…

To use the power I held in my hands to change things.

“Wait!” I called out.

“Alex,” Seth said in a quiet voice.

I shook my head, breathing deeply. Apollo turned to me, inclining his head. I readied myself. “Wait. There’s something I want before we do this.”

Hades chuckled deeply. “What position are you in to bargain, Love?”

If he called me “Love” one more time… I reeled in my temper and focused on Apollo. “You want us to go down into Tartarus and fetch Perses, watch over him while he helps us, and then you want me to become the God Killer and take out Ares, right?”

Apollo shifted his weight. “That sounds about right.”

My heart turned over heavily. “I will only do this if you do something for me.”

Hades scuffed. “Again, Love, what position are you in to bargain with us?”

I slid my gaze toward Mr. Tall, Dark, and About to be Missing an Eyeball. “Without me, you don’t have a God Killer. You can’t make me become it, and you can’t make me fight Ares.”

“We can be very persuasive,” Hades growled.

“Yeah, and Ares tried to be persuasive, and I still didn’t give in.” I looked at Apollo. “I know you guys can’t make Seth or me do it. We could leave you guys to this mess. You need us willing.”

Apollo’s lips twitched as if he wished to smile. “What do you want, Alex?”

“I want you to free the half-bloods. I want you to get rid of the laws requiring them to either become Sentinels, or Guards, or servants. I want you to give them the same rights as pure-bloods. I want the Breed Order revoked.”

Silence.

It was so quiet that you could hear a fly run into a wall. Everyone was staring at me like I’d just pulled up my shirt and asked for some beads.

And then Seth chuckled deeply. “Clever, Angel.”

I ignored the nickname. I also ignored the way Aiden’s eyes went from the purest color of gray to silver in a nanosecond. “I know you can do it, Apollo. I know you can make the other gods agree. You do this for me, and I’ll be all about taking a tour of Tartarus.”

Apollo stared at me as he slowly shook his head. “There was so much more you could’ve asked for, Alex.”

My brows knitted. “Like what? What could be more important than that?”

His gaze held mine, and suddenly I knew what he meant. I could’ve asked for his protection, because once I took care of Ares, it would be open season on my arse. I knew Apollo would already do what he could to ensure that I walked away, but it seemed useless to waste this opportunity on something that Apollo might not be able to stop.

The god nodded curtly. “Okay. Once everything has settled, we will change the laws and the Elixir will be no more. You have my word, no matter the outcome.”

No matter the outcome. Meaning if Ares kicks our asses into the next generation. I wanted Apollo to do it now, because I had the patience of a hyena, but I could understand why he couldn’t. The last thing we needed was more half-bloods, thousands of them, coming off the effects of the Elixir in the middle of this mess.

My gaze traveled across the room, skipping over the shocked expressions of Luke and Olivia. I think, in that moment, they realized the same thing Solos must have by the look in his wide eyes. After all this was said and done, they would have something they’d never had before.

Complete and utter control of their future.

CHAPTER 14

Olivia hugged me so hard I thought my lungs would deflate. She held on, her lithe form trembling. It was a good hug, reminding me of the ones my mother used to give me. “The whole evil-twin god thing is so messed up. I’m sorry, but I’m glad they’re out,” she said, and then in a lower, hoarser voice, she added, “Thank you.”

I knew why she was thanking me—for the deal. I squeezed her back and then leaned away. I kept my voice low. “So what are you going to do?”

“After this craziness with Ares?” When I nodded, a far-off look crept into her pretty eyes. She dropped her arms, shaking her heard. “You know, I don’t know. I never thought about it, but now I do have something to think about, and it’s…”

“Amazing,” Luke said, dropping a quick kiss on my cheek. “I think I’m going to enroll in college.”

Both Olivia and I stared at him.

“What?” A flush spread across his cheeks. “I actually like school.”

“Freak,” I muttered.

Hades was growing impatient. Surly bastard. I said goodbye, giving my uncle a stiff and somewhat awkward hug. Tension and elation warred in the room. The agreement made with Apollo, who was actually going to remain here instead of popping back to Olympus, was obviously a big deal, but what the three of us were about to embark on could quickly become dangerous.

Perses could kill us all and make a run for it.