My Boyfriend is a Dead Roman Hero | Jason Grace

I Win an Argument

"Just who do you think you are speaking to, boy?"

Jason narrows his eyes, finally prying them away from Juliette's tears. Hades' face has hardened where he's now stiff upon his throne. This is the first Jason has ever met the King of the Dead, and he's doing so as one of his subjects.

The souls swirling across the fabric of his razor sharp suit release silent screams, their black eyes pleading with Jason for mercy. Nico's black hair is longer on his father, tied at the nape of his neck in a gelled ponytail, a neatly trimmed beard shaped into harsh angles across the god's strong jaw. He's so pale that Jason can see - feel the nectar thrumming with power in his veins. It makes the emerald flames in the sconces flicker. It makes the heavy purple curtains over the windows flutter with the echoes of lost lives, lost potentials. A chilling dread is soaking into the fabrics of the room, saturating the carpets, seeping into Jason's waterlogged dress shoes and sending him right back into that storm on Caligula's yacht.

Jason's grip tightens protectively on his girlfriend's upper arms as he meets the god's cold stare.

"You're the only other person here, right?" He challenges.

The colors in the room get four shades darker.

Juliette gasps in surprise, her hands flying up to grasp Jason's shoulders. He glances down to find her shifting in front of him defensively. It makes his heart twist. It makes him want to laugh.

Jason is dead, and she's still trying to protect him.

"Wait!" Juliette cries, sitting up so that they're flush together where they're kneeling before Hades' dais. The god glares at her, lip curled, and her voice goes shrill, pleading. "Just, hang on! I'm sorry. Just, please, hold on for a second."

Jason stubbornly stares the King of the Underworld down. Something irritable is slapping at his nerves, testing his patience. He's battle-ready right now, prepared for this situation to go sideways. Hades seems to be in much the same boat when it comes to Jason. He's honestly surprised to still be in one piece when the room slowly returns to its regular brightness and the god leans back once again in his throne.

His eyes are still narrowed onto Jason, but Juliette relaxes.

She's scorching hot against his chest, her knees between his, her hands trembling against his collar. She's never been too far behind him in height, which Jason has always found attractive, but right now she feels so small. Her cheeks are so sunken, the bones in her wrists so jagged that Jason worries she'll snap in two if he holds onto her too tightly. He checks her over for injuries, frowning at the Fury scratches on her torso, and his brow furrows. Concern swirling in his belly, Jason traces a thumb down a glowing gold vein trailing from her eye to her ear.

What in Olympus...?

The nervous breath Juliette lets out feels like the lick of a flame to Jason's dead skin. "What about our tether?" She asks Hades. "We're still tied together, right? I could...feel where he was. It lead me right to DOA Records."

The god rolls his eyes and mumbles something about withholding more Solstice bonuses. "What about it, child?"

Juliette huffs impatiently, waving her hand. "Can it bring him back?" She clarifies.

Hades groans, and Jason quirks an eyebrow at his sudden resemblance to his school's tired old guidance counselor. "How many times must I explain this until it penetrates that empty skull of yours? He cannot be brought back. Not so long as the Fates have finished spinning."

"Then how do I make them start spinning again?!"

"You cannot--"

"How?! Where are they?!"