Hades {Book 1}

ten

"What's your favorite color?" Sephony asks as she leans back on her elbows and looks out at the water. Hades decided to set up a picnic for them by a nearby water stream in his gardens. Hades looks out at the water with a smile and responds to her question.

"Grey. What's yours?" He says as he asks another question. Sephony had the bright idea to play a game to get to know each other.

"Pink and White." She says as she takes another piece of the bread Hades brought along with him.

"What's your favorite food?" She asks as she lays down completely with her head on Hades lap. To say they were more comfortable with each other was an understatement. Hades laughs quietly at Sephony's question as she kind of already knew it.

"Pepperoni Pizza." He responds and Sephony giggles at him.

"I wonder why." She muses as she looks up at him with a grin. Hades rolls his eyes at her and groans.

"Why can't we just get to know each other without the game?" He whines as he plays with her hair making Sephony close her eyes. Whenever Hades played with her hair it made her very tired very quickly. Sephony laughs in response to Hades whines and shakes her head with her eyes still closed.

"Because this is the way I want to do it." She says as she lets out a yawn. Hades stops playing with her hair and grins down at her now opened tired eyes.

"Are you tired my love?" He asks cheekily as he knew whenever he did that her response would be the same.

"Only because of you." She says as she rolls her eyes at his response.

"I take great offense to that." He says with a pout as he holds his chest in fake hurt.

"You know what I meant." Was her response as she looks out at the water stream again with a small smile. Hades sighs as he watches her with a small smile. They had to leave soon.

"Alright sunshine, time to go. We've got to get ready to meet the fates." Hades says as he stands up and leans his hand down for her to grab onto. Sephony pouts but knows that this was important for her to do. She sighs as she grabs his hand and lets him pull her up. Sephony lets go of his hand to pick up the basket of food and push it into Hades' direction with a puff. She picks up the fuzzy blanket they were sitting on and looks up to Hades who is looking to her in disbelief. She rolls her eyes and starts walking up the path and back towards the entrance. Hades chuckles and follows behind her with a grin. He goes to say a sarcastic comment when a scream rings out. The couple freezes and they run towards the garden entrance and bolt through the doors with rugged breaths. Sephony looks around the hallway to see where the scream could have come from when Hades starts to walk in a direction. Sephony follows with a confused frown on her face.

"Where are you going?" She asks as she tries to keep up. Hades looks to her with a small smile as he keeps walking towards the end of the hall, where the staff rooms were.

"Love I know this castle like the back of my hand. I know where that scream came from." He says as he slams the door open and barges in with a look of worry. His eyes scan the room when they land on a girl being attacked by a huge beast. Sephony steps in when she sees Hades relax and her eyes widen at the sight. She giggles as she catches sight at who exactly the beast was attacking and she laughs louder making the figure under the beast freak out.

"Get it off, it's going to eat me!" The nurse who helped her at the hospital screams with wide eyes as she catches sight of the two. Sephony rolls her eyes as she calls the beast over to her.

"Cerby! Come here boy." She calls to him and watches as he bounds over to her with a slobby, puppy grin on his face. She pats his head as he sits down next to her with his gaze on the nurse on the ground with wide eyes. Hades holds a hand out for her to get up and she takes it gratefully as she dusts herself off.

"Are you okay...?" She questions as she trails off as she realizes she doesn't know her name.

"Eyra, and yes I'm alright, just a little freighted is all." She says as she calms her racing heart down as she skeptically watches the big dog stare at her.

"Well there is definitely nothing to be afraid of. Cerberus here is just super friendly." Sephony explains as she looks to Hades with a grin as he rolls his eyes at her.

"Alright, as your fine, your queen and I have somewhere we have to be." Hades says as he remembers they have somewhere to be. The nurse nods her head with a small smile in Sephony's direction.

"Of course, I hope to run into you again." The nurse says with a grin as her queen nods eagerly. She watches as the nurse goes into a room and shuts the door behind her. Hades grabs Sephony's hand and drags her out the room as Cerberus trots behind them.

"So who are these fates known for besides knowing peoples futures?" Sephony asks as she walks beside him as they walks to the throne room. Hades looks to her with a smile.

"The fates, Nona, Decuma, and Morta are known for seeing the futures of others, deciding their fates, making it happen, and then basically killing them after." He explains and Sephony freezes in surprise.

"Really? That's a lot of responsibility for them. That's all they do?" She asks curiously as they stop at the front door that is open, leading out to the carriage waiting for them.

"That's all they do." He says again as he watches her shoulders relax from the tension that was in her body before she heard his explanation. She relaxes as she realizes that they weren't as scary as she thought.