the blood of hades

Prologue: Hades

I held the tiny bundle of a child in my arms, a girl, my daughter. She was on the brink of death, her fragile life slipping away. My instinct as the God of Death urged me to claim her soul for the Underworld, but I couldn't. I appeared before the only gods I trusted: Selene, the Moon Goddess, and Nyx, the Goddess of Night.

"Goddesses," I called, my voice cracking. I never showed weakness, but now I was desperate. "I need your help."

"Hades?" Nyx's voice held a note of surprise as she turned. Her long, jet-black hair framed her slender face, her hollowed cheeks accentuating her sharp features. Selene's smile vanished as she saw the child in my arms.

"Hades, what did you do?" she whispered, her voice barely audible.

"Please, I'll do anything for you," I said, looking between the two women who now seemed heartbroken. I had never felt this way before, never cried, never known such anguish.

Selene stepped closer, her silver eyes softening with empathy. "Hades, I sense the curse upon her. This is more than life and death—it's the essence of your power that binds her fate."

Nyx finally faced me, her eyes dark as the night. "You seek to defy your nature, Hades. To save her is to challenge the very fabric of what you are. Are you prepared for the consequences?"

"Yes, anything. She is my daughter, the last remnant of the woman I loved. I cannot let her go."

Selene and Nyx exchanged a glance. Nyx spoke first, her voice a low murmur. "There is a way. All three of us can place a sliver of our essence in her, but it comes with a cost. You won't be able to raise her."

"Ever?" My voice cracked again.

"I'm sorry, but until she's 25, you won't be able to even come in contact with her. It could tear the fabric of her being, and yours."

My heart shattered at Nyx's words. Not being able to raise my daughter, to hold her, to guide her—how could I bear such a separation? But her life, her precious, fragile life, hung in the balance. I had no choice.

Selene stepped closer, her silver eyes reflecting my sorrow. "It's a heavy burden, Hades. But it's the only way to ensure her survival. She will carry a piece of each of us within her, protecting her from your touch and the curse that threatens her existence."

I looked down at my daughter, her tiny face pale and still. She was so small, so helpless. The weight of my decision pressed down on me like the entire Underworld. "Do it," I whispered. "Save her."

Selene and Nyx nodded, their faces solemn. They began to chant softly, their voices weaving a spell that shimmered with ancient power. A soft, ethereal glow enveloped my daughter, tendrils of light weaving into her tiny form. Selene's silver essence, Nyx's dark energy, and a fragment of my own power merged within her, binding her fate to theirs and severing the deadly link to mine.

The glow faded, and my daughter stirred in my arms, a faint, fragile cry escaping her lips. Relief flooded through me, followed by a wave of grief and resolve. I would be absent from her life, but she would live. And for now, that was enough.

Selene placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. "Hades, we will watch over her. She will not be alone. And when the time comes, you will be reunited."

Nyx added, her voice softer than I'd ever heard it, "She will grow strong, Hades. Stronger than any of us. She will carry the power of the gods within her."

I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat. "Thank you," I managed to say, my voice raw with emotion. "Thank you both."

With a final, lingering look at my daughter, I whispered her name, "Cairo." Her mother had wanted to name her Cairo. I handed her to Selene, using every ounce of my strength to let go. As I returned to the shadows of the Underworld, the echo of her cry followed me, a haunting reminder of the sacrifice I'd made. I would wait. I would endure the years of separation, knowing that one day, I would hold my daughter again.