Chapter Twelve

Things were silent for three days.

Six didn't visit.

Of course, I was conflicted, because I was the one who told Six to leave in the first place. The idea that not only was he cheating on his partner, but that he lied to me and was quite possibly just lying to use me infuriated me. It was incredibly unfair and hurtful. I wanted to believe Six was real, I truly did. I felt myself falling for him every time I thought about him, even though he'd lied to me. Christ, he was trying to kidnap me and take me to his dictator of a Mother to use me for my abilities. I shouldn't be attracted to him at all. I should be trying to kidnap him and interrogate him.

And yet the very thought of turning this over to Hades and seeing what he was capable of, seeing what he could do to Six, broke my heart. It terrified me. I'd seen my grandfather pop the heads off demons for less. If he found out Six had tried to kidnap me, what would he do to him?

The thought chilled me to the bone.

Everything was happening at once. It was too much. I just wanted to shut it all off. I wanted to shut off my feelings about Six. I wanted to shut off the danger I was clearly in. I wanted to shut off my fear of my grandfather. I just wanted to shut it all off.

"You're awfully quiet tonight." I looked up from my drink at Wren, who sat across the table from me. We, meaning I and the Cousins, were meeting up again to discuss the progress of our so-called plan, but of course, got distracted by drinking and dancing. Wren and I, however, weren't on the floor for once.

"I take it things didn't go well with your guy," Wren said. I shook my head, running my finger through the condensation on my glass. Wren sighed.

"Look. I get why you don't want to tell Hades. The guy can be scary when he's mad, but do you think he'd really hurt someone with a history like Six? Being manipulated by the Mother into being a soldier? I think Hades would feel sorry for him."

"Not if he knew the guy was trying to kidnap me," I muttered, "You already know all the things Hades did when it came to me, or any of us." Wren looked down at the table for a moment in silence, probably thinking about his own experiences with Hades. His loyalty to Hades was beyond even that of my own. He'd clearly made a big impact on Wren's life. However, even he could see that Hades became irrational when it came to family. His anger was unnecessarily aggressive.

"What if we explained things to him beforehand?" Wren asked.

"He'll lock me away again. I rather be dead."

"Jesus, Hay, it wasn't that bad."

"You were allowed to see people when they locked you down. You were allowed to go to school."

"My lockdown wasn't because someone was trying to kill me. He was just protecting you in the only way he knew how."

"Maybe he should learn to do things another way," I muttered, bringing my glass to my lips and finishing off my drink with a couple of deep chugs. I waved the server over and requested another drink, which he ran off to fetch. I watched him go and briefly, I thought of going after him.

He was a cute thing. Small, leanly muscled, dark curly hair, deep brown eyes, a crooked smile. He was certainly cute, but I just couldn't... feel anything for him. Not like I did for Six.

I ached for Six. Despite my anger. I ached to feel his hands in my hair, his breath against my skin, those dewy hazel eyes staring up at me with utter love and affection. I wanted to hear his husky warm voice defy me, then immediately turn around and flirt shyly. I wanted to see him eat more, I wanted to see him eat new things, so I could watch his eyes light up and his life change with just one bite.

Gods, it hurt.

"You've been nasty all night," Wren said at last, making me glance at him after the server dropped off my drink, "Something tells me things didn't go right with your, uh, well, your attempted kidnapper." I looked down at my glass, swirling the drink around before frowning. I looked up as Keros and Seven came over to the table, laughing and hanging all over each other. A spark of anger went through me. Not at them, but at the fact that I couldn't do that with Six. I couldn't bring him out with the Cousins, couldn't dance with him in public on the dance floor, couldn't hold him in front of others.

No, rather than anger, it was just jealousy. Envy. I wanted that so badly.

"Seven," I said, making him look up from his drink with a smile. Damn, he was pretty when he did that.

"What's up?" He asked.

"Did you know Six was married?" I asked. Seven froze. So did Keros. Wren looked at me in surprise.

"Married?" He asked. Seven averted his eyes and my heart sank. So Seven had lied to me too.

"Why didn't you say anything?" I asked. Seven looked down at his feet, then looked at Keros, who looked at him curiously. Seven studied him, getting this... sad, desperate look on his face. He leaned his cheek against Keros's arm before he let go of him and sat down in the booth across from me. Keros took a seat beside him and Wren scooted over to make room for them.

"Marriage is different for us," he said softly, fiddling with his fingers as if the topic made him nervous, "It's... hard to explain."

"What does marriage mean for you? Isn't Hera the goddess of marriage?" I asked. Surely that should mean the marriage is what it's supposed to be. Full of love and affection and desire. I watched my parents every day. They were happy together, and even on the days when they fought, which were rare, they still ended up together by the end of the night, the bedroom door locked and a barrier put up for privacy.

"Marriage is... complicated, for us," Seven explained warily, "It isn't... See, I don't understand your concept of marriage. Yours is full of festivities and celebration, with family and friends, with so much... love."

"That's what marriage is," Keros murmured, "Seven, is this why you didn't... Why we don't talk about it?" Seven blushed and looked down at the table guiltily.

"I just don't understand your concept of marriage, because it's nothing like ours," he responded, "Marriages under the Mother are determined through battle."

"Battle?" I asked. Wren stared at him.

"What does that mean?"

"Battle between the two opposing parties. Only one person has to be interested in marriage in order for it to work. If that person wins, they get to marry their opponent. If the other party wins, they can decide to accept the marriage proposal or deny it," Seven explained. We sat in silence now and I stared at him, unable to wrap my head around such a fucked concept.

Doing battle to get married? What the fuck was this, ancient times? For a goddess of marriage, Hera had a pretty fucked up idea of how it was supposed to work. But, then, I suppose she had a very twisted idea of it given what happened between her and Zeus. Things had been bad and sour between them even before the divorce, but afterwards, I heard Hera had cut things off completely, not just with Zeus, but everyone else from the family. She'd gone to live with Persephone, disappeared, and now returned with an army and some pretty twisted ways of living.

"That is so fucked," Wren said at last, "So what are you saying, that it's... nonconsensual?" Seven frowned.

"I mean, that's what the battle is. If you don't want to marry the person, you'll fight to save your life. You'll fight hard and if you win, then you can decide not to marry them."

"What if you don't want to marry them and you lose?" Wren asked. Seven was quiet. He didn't answer. Keros looked at him, then reached out and took his hand to give it a squeeze.

"Is that why you rejected me?" He asked. Seven averted his eyes.

"It was mostly because I'm not ready for that kind of commitment. So much goes into a marriage and I don't even know what a pizza is, so marriage is just... Such a huge step. I need time to cope with all the changes in my life... But honestly, yes. I didn't realize you had different marriages until I talked to Akin about it the other day. I didn't realize you didn't, like, fight for your spouse."

"We do sometimes, just in a different sense," Wren admitted, then shook his head, "So in the end, it's nonconsensual. You have no choice, right? If the winner wants to marry you, he gets to no matter what."

"Yes."

"Is that what happened to Six?" I demanded. A renewed anger began to simmer in my blood.

"His situation was complicated," Seven said slowly, "He and Three were good friends growing up. It only made sense for them to be together."

"Three? He's married to Three?" I asked.

"Didn't you say he was kind of a dick?" Wren mused.

A horrible sinking sensation started in my gut.

Oh god. That night he'd come to me all bruised and bloody with a broken nose. Had his husband done that to him? I'd thought it was the Mother, for not completing his mission, but it made sense, if what Seven said was true about Three. He'd said the guy was aggressive. Surely he'd be twice as aggressive if he thought his husband was fooling around with someone. Had he seen the mark I left on Six's neck? Was I the reason his husband had beaten him?

Feeling nauseated, I rose to my feet.

"I need to use the bathroom," I said. Everyone looked up in surprise, but I left before anyone could say anything. I went in the opposite direction of the bathrooms and went outside the side door into an alley.

I sucked in a deep breath of cold air from the February winter air in Styx. It burned my lungs, but woke me up a little. I hugged my coat tightly against my body, staring down the alley at the street ahead where people bustled by, heading home for the evening. I stared at them, but couldn't quite see them. My brain was locked in chaos.

Six was married. To Three. Who could quite possibly be abusing him. And I told him to go home three days ago. What had happened in those three days? What if Three was hurting him? What if he was punishing him for sleeping with me? Gods, I told him to leave. I told him to go home. I'd been so self-absorbed in my own pain that I hadn't thought to consider his situation.

I couldn't have known, absolutely not, not with how private Six was, but that still didn't make me feel better. Just the thought of someone hurting Six infuriated me. I had never even met this Three and I wanted to find him and smash his head open on the floor. I shuddered at the thought, shaking my head.

I wasn't a particularly violent person. I knew how to fight, how to defend, but that's the only time I fought. I did not kill people, did not attack people, for fun. And yet right now, I wanted to find Three and destroy him until there was nothing left of his body or soul.

Gods, was this how Hades felt when someone close to him was threatened? Is this how he felt when I'd been threatened all those years ago? For a moment, I had complete clarity in Hades. I almost teleported to go find him to tell him I was sorry, but I resisted. I closed my eyes.

I needed to see Six. I needed to see him now.

Unfortunately, I had no way to contact him. I had no way to call him or mail him or anything. How was I supposed to--

"Hadrian, are you alright?" Lumen's voice made me blink and turn around to see her stepping out into the cold night, dressed in jeans and a thick fluffy jacket with a fur lined hood. Her boots squished in the slush gathered around the door. She approached me, her arms folded tight over her chest, her head tilted back to look up at me curiously. I stared at her.

"Have you talked to Five lately?" I asked. Lumen nodded.

"She came to visit last night," she murmured, "But no luck getting anything out of her about the Mother."

"Can you give her a message for me?" I asked. Lumen blinked, then nodded slowly.

"Sure. What's wrong?"

"I need to know if Six is alright," I said, and at Lumen's curious stare, I closed my eyes for a moment, then opened them to look at her desperately, "I said something very mean. I need to know that he's alright. That he's safe." Lumen nodded.

"I can do that for you... What's this about?"

"I don't want to talk about it right now. It makes me sick to my stomach."

"Okay. I understand," she said softly. I nodded in thanks and brushed past her to head back into the bar.

"Hadrian?" She asked. I turned to look at her.

"Hm?"

"You know Six loves you, right?" She asked. I stared at her. I wasn't sure what to say to that. I wasn't sure how she knew.

"How do you..."

"Five and Six are good friends," she murmured, "Very good friends. She tells me everything. And... and he does love you. A lot." I swallowed at that and gave her a nod before I ducked back inside. I returned to the booth, noting Keros and Wren were gone, but Seven remained, holding his drink in his hands and staring at the table. He looked up as I sat back down.

"Hadrian, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ruin whatever it is you may have with Six, I just..."

"No, you didn't do anything. Anything bad anyway. You just opened my eyes to what an idiot I was."

"Uh, what?"

"Doesn't matter. I'm just going to finish my drink and head home. I'm tired."

"Okay," Seven answered softly, then shifted a little in his seat before standing up and he started to go back to the dance floor where Keros was, then doubled back to the booth again to look at me, "I think Six likes you... and I think you like him. Like, a lot." I looked at him.

"What makes you say that?"

"Because when I told you Six was married to Three, you looked like you were ready to go kill Three, and frankly, no one would miss him if you did. Least of all, Six." With that, Seven turned and headed back to the dance floor. I shut my eyes tightly, then finished off my drink and teleported out of the bar, returning home to my room in Purgatory. I stood there for a while, looking around the room, waiting desperately to feel that tingle, but there was nothing. I sighed heavily and went to shower up and wash my face for the night. I retreated to my bed and laid there for hours, unable to sleep right away. My thoughts kept racing.

Six was married. To Three. In a marriage decided through battle. It made my skin crawl. Such a practice was barbaric and certainly nonconsensual. Why would the goddess of marriage condone such a thing? Surely there was something in her that knew this practice was wrong.

I groaned and rolled over, closing my eyes.

Stop thinking about it.

Hopefully Six would get my message through Five. I at least needed to know if he was alright.

Sleep came around three in the morning, except it didn't stick, because a strange feeling woke me up. Almost as if someone was watching me. I woke with a start, my eyes flying open and I shot up in bed fast, expecting to headbutt Six again, except the room was empty. Or at least, it was initially. I looked around and didn't see anyone, but I felt a strange prickling sensation on the back of my neck. I sat up further and willed the lights on. I saw nothing in the room, nothing in the shadows.

"Six?" I asked. I waited to see if I would receive a response. I swallowed thickly and climbed out of bed to stand up, looking around the room.

"Six, I can feel you here. I know you're there," I said. More silence followed before eventually the wall by the bathroom fizzled and sizzled, peeling away and revealing a very sheepish awkward looking Six standing there. He was dressed once again in that mesh shirt and black BDU pants and boots, his dark hair swept back from his face, probably from the wind outside considering how windy it was tonight.

"Oh thank gods," I said in relief, coming over to him. He looked up in surprise as I took him by the arms and brought him in for a hug. He didn't hug me back, probably because he didn't quite know how and that only made me hug him harder. He tilted his head against me, almost like he wanted to hold me back. I stepped back to give him some space after a moment, studying him for any kind of bruises or injuries, but he seemed fine right now.

"What happened?" I asked. Six swallowed.

"You told me to leave."

"You didn't."

"No."

"Were you here yesterday night?"

"Yes."

"And the night before?"

"Yes."

"You didn't say or do anything."

"No."

I pursed my lips for a moment, then stepped forward and cupped his face in my hands, leaning in and capturing his lips in a kiss. He moaned and stepped in closer, putting his hands on my hips and pulling me nearer. We pressed together, kissing with a kind of desperation you got when you didn't see someone for so long, even though it was only three days. It felt like eternity.

We finally broke apart, mostly for the necessity of oxygen. I stroked his cheeks, so soft and warm, with my thumbs and he leaned his head against the touch.

"I know about Three," I said after a few moments. Six stiffened and he immediately stepped back to stare at me.

"Seven told me," I added, making him swallow thickly and avert his eyes, "Is it true? That your marriages are determined through battle?" Six shut his eyes tightly, then nodded. I cursed and clenched my fists, then unclenched them and spread my hands out in front of myself to rein in some control on my anger.

"Is that how you got together with Three?" I asked. Six looked away. I expected him not to say anything. He was such a private person, of course he wasn't going to tell me. It was still frustrating, though. I wanted to hear it from him. I wanted to--

"Yes," Six said abruptly, making me blink and look at him to see him staring at the floor now, "He proposed and the battle was set. I had no choice in the matter."

"You didn't consent... You didn't want to marry him."

"No. I did not."

"But he's your husband now."

"Yes."

"Is he the one who hurt you? That day you came to me injured?" I asked. Six was silent, but his silence spoke volumes. I squeezed my eyes shut, then reached up to rub at my face before I went to the bed to sit down. Six stood across the room for a while, then came trudging over and plopped on the bed beside me.

"You can't divorce him?" I asked at last. Six looked at me.

"Divorce is illegal. The only way I could 'divorce' him is if I kill him or he kills me," he muttered. I stared at him.

"You've tried, haven't you?" I asked. Six looked at the floor again. I sighed and looked away, then looked back at him.

"I'm sorry," I said, making him look up curiously, "About telling you to leave like that. I just... I immediately made an assumption and didn't think about your side of the story. I just acted without thinking." Six shook his head.

"You have every right. It probably sounded really bad out of context and I didn't know how to say it without just blurting it out. So I apologize for how I delivered it," he responded quietly. I smiled a little, then looked down at my feet before drawing my eyes back up to his face.

"I love you," I said at last. Six blinked, looked away, then snapped his head around, like he wasn't sure if he had heard me correctly.

"Huh?"

"I said I love you," I repeated, making Six press his lips together tightly, "How long have you loved me?" He shut his eyes and turned his face away. I reached out and captured his face in my hands, turning him back to face me.

"How long?" I repeated.

"Two years," Six whispered, opening those hazel eyes to stare at me with adoration, "Two years ago I was allowed outside the compound for the first time. We went to Styx. You were performing at the Hellz Dome. It..." His voice trailed. I remembered that day, performing at the Hellz Dome for the first time in my life. It was a massive complex in the middle of the city, a lot like the Colosseum in Rome. I'd been so nervous that day. It was the first time in my life I'd been nervous, and I wasn't entirely sure why. So many eyes on me. So many more than usual. Reporters from every news outlet in the realms.

"You were there," I said softly. Six nodded, reaching up to put his hands over mine.

"I was watching from one of the exits. My trainer at the time had gone to track down our target, but I had stayed behind to make sure he wasn't hiding in the seats. And when I saw you come out, when I saw you dance, I just... I forgot everything. I forgot the mission, the target, the Mother, everything. All I could focus on was this tall beautiful dancer that spun and twirled on the stage like they were made of liquid, like they were made of the stars themselves. I couldn't stop watching."

My heart sang. I closed my eyes for a moment, then leaned my head in and touched my forehead against his.

"Six..."

"Hadrian... I..."

"Well, isn't this just fucking cute?" I froze at a voice I didn't recognize. Six's eyes widened in horror and he shot to his feet, spinning around and getting in front of me as I stood up to see who the hell thought they could walk into my room.

I didn't recognize the male, though there was something awfully familiar about him. His hair was a dark shade of blonde, cut short and styled fashionably, his dark brown eyes glinting in the lights, his jaw covered in a few days worth of beard. He wore a set of black BDUS from neck to toe, with boots that added to his height, making him almost as tall as me.

"Three," Six said immediately, "What are you doing? You don't have the authority to leave the compound--"

"Now I fucking do," Three answered sharply, "See, someone wasn't doing his fucking job, so they sent in someone else to finish it." Six glared at him.

"I'm not going to hurt him," he said angrily. Three snorted.

"Of course not. Hence why I'm here. Gods, you're stupid. Now move aside so I can get this done with before the Mother decides to kill us both," he said, taking a step forward. Six put his arms out and stood his ground. Three pulled up short, then narrowed his eyes.

"Move your fat ass, Six, before I beat it."

"I'm not moving."

"How fucking stupid can you be," Three demanded, "He is the enemy. I let you play for a little while, but the fun is over with. Now move your ass or I'm going to take you both down the hard way." I clenched my teeth tight, holding my arms down stiff at my sides as I summoned up the magic to get my swords in hand. Something sharp suddenly hit my throat and I gasped, snapping my hand up to clamp over my throat, feeling something feathery and soft there. I quickly yanked it out as Six turned to look at me in alarm.

"What did you do?" Six demanded, whirling back around as I took a step back and my knees hit the bed so I ended up sitting down. I started to stand up again to continue what I was doing, but suddenly my body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.

"Gods, that was easy," Three said in disgust, "It literally took me two seconds to do that and it took you what? Two weeks? Two months? To nail him down? I told them not to put you on the job, but no one listens to me, even though I'm the smart one." I started to get up again, but this time my bones seemed to turn to jelly, my muscles to pudding, and I hit the floor. Six dropped to his knees at my side and jerked his head up.

"Three, stop! You can't--" Three cut him off by teleporting across the room in front of him, grabbing him by the throat and hoisting him up onto his feet.

"You don't get to fucking tell me what to do, bitch," he sneered, making Six choke and squirm to escape his grasp, "You do what I say. That's how this works, remember? Now if you're not going to help me, move your stupid ass aside. If you are, grab his feet." Six jerked his head forward and slammed their heads together, making Three curse and take a step back before he swung his hand around and backhanded Six so hard he hit the floor like a ton of bricks.

The last thing I saw before my vision turned black was the image of Six laying there, blood dribbling from his nose, lips, and ears. And my heart... shattering...