Hades Rewound (Hades Series #2)

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

I stroll out of that room with my head held high, refusing to give into the urge to look over my shoulder. I bite my lip, chanting in my head, please take the bait, please take the bait, please take the bai-

"What did you say?" His voice thunders from behind me, and I can't stop the triumphant grin that ricochets across my face. Got him.

I turn around slowly, raising my eyebrows at him. "What?"

"What did you say?" He repeats, slowly walking towards me and finally stopping a few feet away from me.

"About what?"

"Playing coy with me will not get you anywhere." Hades replies, and although his tone is cool as ice, his midnight blue eyes flash dangerously. "What did you say about Tartarus?"

"Oh, they didn't tell you?" I ask, feigning surprise.

"Tell me what?"

"That you changed the key to Tartarus. After Poseidon almost killed us all trying to break out Cronus." I reply loftily, and from the way his jaw tightens, I can tell he knows exactly what I'm talking about.

"Apollo may have mentioned it." He says tightly. "I did not think it was true."

"Oh, it's true. I mean, if you really don't believe me, you can always go try open Tartarus yourself. But I mean, that would be really stupid, and I can tell from the look on your face right now that you know I'm not lying." I shrug lightly, inspecting my fingernails. "So, I'm not as useless as you obviously think, seeing as I'm now the only person in the entire universe who knows how to open Tartarus."

"Tell me."

"What, are you crazy? Of course I'm not going to tell you." I scoff.

"Why not?" He raises an eyebrow at me.

"Because, I know the minute I tell you, you're going to get rid of me."

"Would that be such a bad thing?"

I can't help it; I flinch as his words hit me. "I don't even want to dignify that with an answer."

"You are being ridiculously petty." He says stoutly, taking another step forward. "Tell me what the Tartarus key is."

I jut out my chin and cross my arms stubbornly over my chest. "I don't know exactly what you think is etiquette, but I can tell you right now that calling someone 'ridiculously petty' is a sure-fire way to make sure you never get what you ask for."

"I will call someone ridiculously petty if they are acting accordingly." He growls, the first signs that he's losing his temper straining through the cracks of his emotionless facade. "I am the King of the Underworld, and I deserve to know the secret entrusted to me by my brothers at the dawn of time. Tell me what the key to Tartarus is."

"Yeah, well, you know what Hades? I am the Queen of the Underworld, and I don't deserve to be treated like a piece of shit you scraped off your shoe." I snap, stalking up to him and pointing my finger in his face. "So, when you've decided to remove your head from it's position firmly up your ass and treat me with the decency I know you have, then I might consider telling you the secret you entrusted me with. Unless, of course, you get your memory back before then. Then I'll happily accept your apology and we can move on with our lives."

He narrows his eyes at me, not choosing to speak for several long minutes. Finally, he steps back, his expression smoothing out into one I haven't seen in a very long time. "Very well."

Then, for the first time in years, he clicks his fingers and I'm abruptly transported out of his sight and to the library.

I stumble against a bookshelf, taking several minutes to right myself and quell the violent lurching in my stomach. I glare hotly at the door, my fury exploding brighter than a volcano mid-explosion. I mutter under my breath. "Oooh, I'm going to kill him."