Sovereign

Missing

Hades pov

"Pacing around isn't going to bring the news any faster you know." I stopped mid step and glared at my nephew, who was also seeing my wife. It had been weeks since Varda took her away and there has been no contact since, all we know is that she was taken to the temple for cleansing and no one- not even the fae king himself- has been able to see her.

I had no inside contact in Qostaria, there has never been any need to be concerned with what goes on there but now I was regretting it. Not knowing anything about what they were doing to her as worse then the feeling of betraying the woman I had loved for so long like a noose around my neck. I couldn't deny the obvious attraction I felt for Rossiya, she was my mate for crying out loud but more than that, she was beautiful, kind, intelligent and a warrior, one of the best I've seen. Killing a hecatoncheire is no easy feat. I felt as drawn to her as I felt repulsed.

However that day when she stumbled into the hall, covered in blood with poison running through her something shifted. Every second she spent in that death like state was torture and it was no better when she woke up. I was the stuff of her nightmares, while Ares and Luc were... i don't even know what they were. She loved them, that much I knew. The image of her holding a knife to my throat because she thought I did something to Luc was still fresh in my mind.

The whole ordeal of her losing her mind in front of me, trying to kill herself countless times had left me feeling many things, regret being the most potent. I had treated her harshly for no reason other than being paired with me in some cruel twist of fate. I loved Persephone but she was taken from me, for a thousand years I stayed in my castle, grieving. I promised her that I would learn to live without her but I never tried, not once.

The council had tried to marry me off after the first hundred or so years but every bridal candidate who ate from the tree didn't survive. The underworld was picky, and rightfully so. But for her... it had been strangely my quiet for the first time and when it sent the hecatoncheire after her to force my hand I knew it approved. That didn't make me less hateful of her, but it did make me curious. To her it appeared that I had no interest in her and would use any opportunities to put her down but in reality I knew all there was to know about her yet I couldn't even hold a civil conversation. I knew forcing her to go through with the second wedding was wrong but the thought of her with those two ate away at me.

The opening and closing of the door drew me from my thoughts, finally.

The envoy had arrived but something about his face made the hairs on the back of my neck stand. "The queen had been sent to the temple to undergo treatment for the poison and was under strict surveillance-"

"Get to the point," Luc spoke my thoughts aloud. The boy's eyes scanned everyone in the room before resting on me. I could see his throat flex as he swallowed, hard.

"The queen is missing."

The temperature in the room dropped several degrees as a deafening silence fell upon us. I was still trying to wrap my head around what he had said. Rossiya, my wife, the queen of the underworld was missing.

"What do you mean missing?" The words tasted bitter on my tongue while countless scenarios played in my head, none of them pleasant. Something settled at the pit of my stomach. What did he mean she was missing?

"The maid assigned to her had gone to fetch her majesty from her bed chambers in preparation for the day but she was no where to be seen. Initially she thought another maid had taken over for her as she was late but that wasn't the case. All that was found in her room were the shackles that the priests had put on her."

Shackles? The dread I had felt started turning into anger, and it was obvious I wasn't the only one. The subtle scent of lamia blood wafted in the air, I took a side glance at Luc; his fist was clenched and his nails were digging into his palm. The man was doing everything he could to not attack the messenger. Ares however, flew out of his seat and made a beeline for the poor boy.

He was a hairs breath away from him when I stopped him. I didn't need to look at him to know he was pissed, "tell me everything you know," i said through clenched teeth.

The boy was shaking like a leaf at this point and who could blame him? He was in a room with three people who could easily take him out of this world.

"After it came out that her majesty had not been taken by any of the maids the priests ordered for a search of the temple and the forest surrounding it but they found nothing. No footprints, no magical signature, no signs of struggle. It was like she just vanished into thin air."

"After that, they had no choice but to inform the king who was also unaware of the fact that they had shackled her and pushed her well past her limits. It has been three days since the queen disappeared and there has been no progress."

Rossiya was weakened, she couldn't have run away without any help and even if she could the first person she was sure to go to was Varda or Elis. I released my grip on Ares and called for Thanatos and Hypnos.

If she wasn't on Qostaria, she was going to be on earth. I needed to find her, I needed to find my wife.

A/N
How do you guys like this chapter? I thought we needed some time with Hades.
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Happy day of the dead🤍