A Tale Before Two Alphas Series Book 2

“You’re mad. She’s mad,” Cerberus sang, his voice echoing in the room as we entered through the hidden door. I tossed my empty bag onto the bed, the door sliding shut behind us, courtesy of Cerberus.

Yus, a spider-like Faerie who had become a sort of second companion, was perched at my vanity, a tray of food beside her. She was sewing a dress, her multiple hands moving in a blur. At the sound of Cerberus’s voice, she paused, her lips pursed in concentration.

All week, I’d been wondering what Hades had planned for me. I’d hoped that maybe we’d move on to more physical things. Maybe I held a small piece of his heart that no one else did.

But Mynthe was a stark reminder of the reality. The name Persephone haunted me, a constant reminder that I was not, and would never be, his chosen one. It was foolish to even entertain the idea that he’d chosen me, even a little.

The thought was infuriating.

I’d never thought too highly of myself, but why not me? What was so wrong with me?

Was it because I was human? But I’d managed to make things grow in a place where nothing else did. And Fate had deemed me important enough to grant me an audience.

Me, a human!

Didn’t that count for something?

I’d even bested the Winter Queen within my first few weeks here. But as much as I wanted to let out a frustrated scream, I kept it in, staring at my bag and taking a deep breath.

I could feel the pressure building, the anger rising. The need to be “perfect” was overwhelming, and my newfound desires were screaming to be fulfilled.

“And why exactly is she so upset?” A voice purred from near the bed. I turned to see him lounging there, probably having been there for a while without me noticing.

He was stretched out next to the bag I’d thrown down. My eye twitched, and I was tempted to grab a rock and throw it at him, even though I knew he’d be gone before it hit.

“Cat,” I greeted him tersely. Wrath, who I usually just referred to as “cat,” was a cat sith who always seemed to have more riddles than answers. He always showed up when I was most annoyed or desperate. He’d been helpful at first, breaking Hades’s glamour over me, but he’d quickly become more of a nuisance than anything else.

His reaction was not what I’d expected. He hissed and arched his back, his black fur standing on end. He wasn’t hissing at me, though.

“Here kitty kitty,” Cerberus whispered, grinning like a fool as he hopped closer, brushing against me as he moved.

“You’re not supposed to be here, you foul beast!” Wrath hissed, backing up until he was flush against my headboard, his claws out.

It was almost comical.

“Let’s play chase!” Cerberus said, suddenly splitting into three identical copies of himself.

Wrath didn’t wait to reply. He vanished before my eyes.

To a human, he would have seemed to disappear. But to Cerberus? All three copies of him were headed out the door, all moving in the same direction. The door slammed shut behind them.

Yus tutted a bit, but continued to sew. “I told Wrath he was getting too comfortable here.”

I frowned, picking up the tray of food and moving to the fireplace. “So, you know Cerberus?”

“Hades’s most faithful servant? Who doesn’t?” She snorted, then looked up apologetically. “Oh, I suppose you wouldn’t know. Sometimes I forget you haven’t been here long. Sorry, dear.”

I tried to hide my annoyance as I uncovered my tray. As usual, it was filled with foods I’d never seen before, but I knew each bite would be as delicious as it looked. But even with the first bite, it wasn’t as satisfying as it used to be. “Has Hades ever taken a romantic interest in anyone?”

“Hades? Romantic?” She chuckled. “I think anyone brave enough to try would only be asking for heartbreak.”

Her words eased my tension a bit, and I took another bite of my food.

“Though that hasn’t stopped Minthe from trying for years. So I guess she’s proof that he’s at least had physical relations. Some Faeries can’t, you know. We’re just simply born impotent and simply come to be.”

The news made my heart sink and my anger flare. Even the Faerie food tasted like ash.

I’d been too hopeful.

I put my fork down, refusing the food in front of me for the first time in ages. I wondered if Hades would even notice. I hadn’t refused any food since the glamour had been broken. But after hearing such terrible news, I couldn’t eat.

Like all of Hades’s other wives, I would die. I’d known that when I made the deal, and I’d never tried to fight him or escape. He’d been kinder to me than anyone else had ever been, and this place was a small paradise. It was only growing more to my liking with each small bit of affection Hades showed me.

Others might see the small freedoms he’d given me as a curse, but they were everything to me. They were so much better than the life I’d lived before. Maybe his other wives had died, but now that I was free of his spell, I felt like I was thriving. This place had a cold beauty that I’d found small slices of heaven in.

I knew that the moment I found Persephone, his true love, it would all be over.

Hades would never have to kidnap another bride again. He’d never have to watch another face fade away or feel the need to distance himself from his wife. Maybe he could even grow to love this Persephone.

Me?

I was just fuel, something to be used and then discarded.

Maybe it was a cruel joke to have him try to find his bride in the human realm. But maybe that meant Persephone was really there. Maybe she was a Faerie who’d somehow bent the rules and lived in the human realm, despite the decrees in every court to remain separate.

Maybe she was what Yus had described as a rogue, a Faerie without a faction who could be hunted. Most Faeries, as Yus had explained, naturally belonged to a territory, either due to birth in the land or birth from the land. Only a handful of Faeries, like Hades, were born before the other Faeries. They weren’t quite like Yus or Hades’s other trusted attendant, Urel.

These special Faeries bonded with their respective territories, some of which were more obscure and less populated than others. Most Faeries resided in either the Summer or Winter Court. But that didn’t mean that each territory didn’t hold its own power, despite its population.

It wasn’t the population that determined the strength of the court, though the Summer and Winter Courts liked to boast that it was. Instead, it was all about magic. The other territories, like the Autumn Court, tried to hoard whatever power or territory they could.

They all seemed clueless about the game Hades was playing with his new rules. I couldn’t help but wonder how challenging Hades had made this new reality. If humans disappeared so quickly in this place, it stood to reason that whatever they could bring into the courts wouldn’t be enough to keep the others going. When they died, they all ended up in Hades.

Rogues were those rejected by a court in their homeland, cast out by its keeper—a special kind of Faerie. They might fade away or try to join a new homeland, but from what I gathered, they didn’t last long. They certainly weren’t meant to exist on the other side, and I wasn’t even sure if they could.

Faeries belonged in the Never Never just as humans belonged on Earth.

“You seem troubled. Is there something wrong with the food?”

“Not at all,” I replied, replacing the cover over the dish. “I’m just not hungry. I’ll be in the gardens if anyone needs me.”

I intended the comment for Hades alone, as court had been called off for the third time this week. Another crisis in the Underworld was my best guess, since he didn’t seem to leave the castle otherwise, or have any other means of transportation.

His absence only intensified my feelings of longing.