The Oracle of Tartarus [malexmale]

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Noe slept the rest of the day.

I refused to leave his bedside. He was still running a fever, so I had a servant fetch a pack of ice that almost instantly melted when it touched his skin. He would whimper and squirm every so often in his sleep, then go still with a heavy sigh. My heart was heavy, watching him suffer like this. I wasn't sure what to do. Why hadn't Thanatos's spell worked? Did I do something wrong, or was it really that temporary? Had Phoebe caught onto what we were planning?

A spark inside me ignited, wanting to seek the Titaness out and rip her to shreds, bath in her blood and soak her soul into the river of fire, Phlegethon. I wanted her to suffer untold tortures for what she was doing to my Noe. However, attacking her out of rage would result in some dangerous consequences. It would send a fissure of released power throughout the world, alerting the Olympians, including my father and step-mother, bringing them right here. They would discover Noe and they would severely punish me, or possibly leave me to Zeus, who would take no mercy upon me in the slightest, be I the guardian of Tartarus or not.

I swallowed the rage down hard, reaching my hand out to touch Noe's hand as he slept on his side facing me. His hand felt like velvet soft flames, burning my fingers to the touch, but I refused to let him go, letting the heat of his fever sizzle and blister my skin. Noe panted in his sleep now, sweat mingling with the melted ice I'd had brought for him. He was soaking his sheets in sweat. I ached to take him into my arms to soothe him, but it would do nothing, except harm me and right now, I couldn't risk doing anything to get myself into trouble or harm's way.

Noe needed me now more than ever.

There was a knock on the bedroom door and I snapped my head, glaring at the door until it opened to reveal Abel. He looked a bit tired, dark circles under his eyes and his sweaty navy hair swept back from his face. He must be miserable in that black suit jumping from here to Styx, both of which were two of the hottest places in the Greek Underworld.

However, I knew why Abel was here and the look on his face told me his mission had been a disappointment. I had sent Abel out to contact anyone who Noe may have met on his way back home after the bar, but there was no such luck in finding out who had done it.

"Well," Abel said when I didn't speak, and he shut the door and came in to stand beside the bed, frowning with his arms folded over his chest, "I talked to everyone. I even tried to communicate with the vendor's imp, but the guy shooed me away. I don't think the imp knew anything, though. He kept sniffing at my feet. Dumb animals." I frowned, ignoring his racist comment and looking away in defeat.

It wasn't the vendor. It wasn't the imp. It wasn't the bartender. My thoughts kept returning to Hannibal, but Abel seemed to catch the look on my face and shook his head, waving a hand idly in his face.

"No way, Zelios. Hannibal may be a prick, but he wouldn't try to kill Noe. He knows you'll slice and dice him before the thought could even cross his mind. Not to mention, it'd piss his master off and Hannibal worships the lava he walks on. For some reason." He muttered under his breath. I still wasn't convinced, but I wasn't going to argue as I merely shook my head and took Noe's hand into mine again, the scent of burn flesh oozing into the air and making Abel grimace.

"Should that really be happening?" He asked. I didn't answer. We were silent for a while before Abel finally spoke again.

"Zelios, I don't know what's going on, but... Maybe you should call a healing god to check on him. Maybe they can figure out what's wrong." He suggested. I frowned, tightening my grip on Noe's hand.

"No." I stated. Abel raised an eyebrow, looking at me in surprise.

"But you're not a healing god. Sure, you can heal yourself, but you can't heal him. Don't you want him to get better?" He asked. I didn't answer. I didn't trust myself to answer. I didn't want the other gods to touch him. I didn't trust them, both with Noe's health and his secret. My stomach clenched at the idea as I brought Noe's knuckles to my lips, placing a gentle kiss across them, relieved that his fever seemed to be simmering down. Abel watched me intently.