The Rogue Emperor (A Riordanverse Story)

Chapter 9: Nico Discovers Ranks of the Dead

"For someone who wanted so badly to get out of here, you sure do stop by a lot, most of the time unannounced," says Hades as Nico and the empress step into the throne room. On second glance, it wasn't Hades; the man on his father's throne looked like his father, but more stern and business like. For Livia's sake, his father must be appearing as Pluto.

"Augusta!" exclaims Persephone, jumping off her throne and embracing her. "My dear, it has been a minute! But what are you doing with him?" A bit of disgust was layered onto the last word.

Livia gives a casual wave of the hand. "Some quest business that I'll get to in a minute, but I have questions for you, mister." She points at Pluto and a look of surprise washes over his face before composing himself.

"You have a good bambino italiano, (1) why is he not a Roman? Why is your Italian son a Greek?"

His father stutters, the first time he'd ever seen his father at a loss for words. He was likely embarrassed to be called out in front of his wife about an affair that Persephone was still upset about, even in her Roman form. Pluto might not know either; what had Nico's mother done to evoke his Greek form as opposed to his Roman? What had Hazel's mom done to bring on his Roman form?

"Also your filius (2) looks exactly like Anubis, which I think is not a coincidence?" states Livia.

"Anubis?" asks his stepmother. "Who is this Anubis? Another one of your mistresses?" She gives his father a nasty look.

Nico looks at his father confused, but his face is displaying the same emotion. "Who do you speak of, Augusta?"

"That little Egyptian fellow, one of the gods of dead people. Sometimes has the head of a, I don't know, Doberman Pinscher? Gaius and I met him down in Alexandria when we went on a holiday to old Alex's tomb after quelling that problem with Caesarion." (3)

"Ah suppose I've heard the name, but never the pleasure to encounter him."

"You know him, such a recluse!" jokes Proserpina with a laugh that dies when her glance falls upon Nico. "I can hardly get him to go on walks through Elysium."

Livia smiles and looks at Nico. "Speaking of Elysium, bambino, now would be a good time to tell your father what we're here for before Proserpina and I get to talking about gardening and waste more time."

Nico snaps out of his trance of confusion and composes himself. He reminds his father about the problem that had occurred with the emperors over the summer, though he was keen to remember the influx of souls after the two big battles. Continuing, he recalls the timeline Frank and Reyna had told them about the lost Roman quest and the group of Hunters that went to look for them, that vanished without contact weeks ago. Livia has Nico recite his prophecy, gives him a round of applause for his oratory skills, and then explains her idea of how to defeat her son.

His father nods, slowly absorbing the information and thinking it over. He would know if Hazel was here, so the lack of him mentioning she was dead was promising. Nico wasn't sure what his father could do for them. It seemed like Livia had been able to get souls out of the Underworld for a day or two, but she also said it was for a party, not to vanquish their undead brother.

There was also the question of whether Drusus would help them or not. According to Reyna, Drusus died before Tiberius had shown any signs of being the twisted ruler he'd turned out to be. Why would he want to harm someone he loved and who, in his mind, wasn't evil? I would be a hard sell.

"I am inclined to believe my son is correct that Hazel is not here. Zeus also has not come thundering down complaining that Thalia is dead like he did with her brother. Tiberius isn't here either, come to think of it, and I can sense the vanquished emperors' fragmented souls. I'm also inclined to think your boy has by daughter captive, Augusta, unpleasant as he is," says Pluto with some malice, but wipes the anger off his face when Livia glares at him. "Drusus is on command at the moment, but I suppose I can convince someone else to take watch for say...48 hours."