Dead Lines

29: State of Our Relationship

Unedited. Seriously.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

“Wh—what?” Schylar managed to stammer out and break us all of our stupor.

Hades squeezed my arm before dropping both hands, one sliding back into his pocket and the other resting on the stone. He didn’t step back or leave and I was hoping he was staying more for my support than to antagonize.

“Schy—” I took a step in his direction but stopped. “Are you ok?”

“He—he said—you died?”

Irritation radiated off Hades. “Figure of speech, I assure you. Why don’t you go back to the party so we can finish our conversation? She’ll find you when we’re done.”

The uncaring, cold demeanor had slipped back into place. We seriously needed to have a discussion about the way he talked to people, especially people he didn’t know.

I turned and glared. “Insensitive.”

“He can’t honestly believe you died,” he whispered so only I could hear. “Humans have a limited scope of reality.”

“Nat.”

I turned my attention back to my best friend and found he really did believe it. Was it horrible I felt a little relieved? One secret of mine he could know, maybe. He wasn’t allowed to have any real knowledge of the Elite but I didn’t think that extended to my previously unfortunate status of being deceased.

Or maybe it did. We were about to find out.

I glanced back at Hades and found him watching me, waiting as I decided what to do. He shrugged, looking rather nonchalant despite what we’d just been talking about seconds before.

It was my decision, he was making that clear.

Resigned, and knowing what I could and could not say, I turned back to my best friend who was still standing there in shock. I’d hoped we could work things out, repair the rift that existed between us but I knew, with the coming skating around the truth, it would never happen. He wouldn’t stand for it and I was fairly certain my world would crumble if I kept it up. Lying wasn’t one of my strong suits.

“Schylar. It’s not what you think.”

His eyes hardened as he glanced over my face and moved to Hades behind me. “Who are you?”

I swear I could hear Hades rolling his eyes. “We’ll finish this conversation later.” He knocked the knuckle of his pointer finger against my chin. “Deal with the human and then, if you have time, come find me.”

“Hades.” There was an unspoken warning in there and if he heard it, he didn’t let it show.

His lips brushed my temple as a gesture of reassurance. “If not, I’ll find you. Either works for me.”

And then he was gone, walking back into the mansion with a quick glare in Schylar’s direction. The Lord of the Underworld didn’t like being interrupted and unfortunately, my best friend had managed to do just that. For now, I couldn’t worry about the potential consequences. I had to make sure whatever was about to happen with Schy was done somewhere other than where we currently were or not at all. My vote was for the second.

I waited for him to look at me again as he’d followed Hades’ movements back into the ballroom. Happiness was definitely not the first emotion I would pair with his current mood.

“Schy.”

And suddenly, those sharp, hard eyes were back on me. “No. Before you even start, no.”