The Things Gods Break (The Crucible, #2)

by Abigail Owen

“As far beneath the house of Hades as from earth the sky lies.” ~The Iliad, Homer

Fuck the universe. I knew it hated me. I just didn’t think it would be this petty.

Monsters Seriously. What the fuck is happening?

Then my god of death—a younger Hades, probably in his late teens, maybe even twenty—appears in front of me in a swirl of black smoke that evaporates from him in wisps, as if he brought a piece of the Underworld with him when he teleported.

He grabs me by the wrist. “Who are you—” His silvery eyes flare with what almost appears to be recognition, but that’s not possible, not when he was this young. Except his next harsh whisper proves me wrong. “…You.”

“I managed to get out of the room they put me in the first day,” she says in a voice that sounds as delicate as flower petals. “What’s wrong with you?”

To try to escape. To keep us from dying. And to save Hades from guilt and heartbreak.

It’s all fun and games until someone loses a Titan.

“You ate your children to keep them from overthrowing you next—” He straightens abruptly, growing larger and somehow darker as he does. “I. Did. Not,”

“Damn it all to Hades,” she mutters under her breath. “No water garden. This must be a while ago.” The fuck?

Make it make sense.

I hope she doesn’t freak out. “You’ve been glamoured.”

“She knows,” I hear Rhea say from nearby. And feel Cronos nod, then hear his whisper. “Things are going to be different.”

“I’m finding all the glamouring around here distracting.”

I twist out of his grip. “Is this some kind of alpha male thing? Because if it is—” “I’m not risking you.”

The monster of a human being I have to save this time is…me.

Past, present, future. It’s all a hot mess.

“Did you open Tartarus? Is that how you’re here?” He freezes for a moment at my questions. “I’m not him, my star. I’m from down here.”

“This entire thing just fucking sucks.” “That sounds more like my Lyra.” I don’t know who gasps harder, me or Cronos, to find the replica of Hades standing on the other side of the open doorway to his Lock, looking none the worse for wear.

But instead, she opens her mouth, and very different words come out. “Lyra and Boone are bound by a fated line.”

“Why in the name of the cosmos would you have faith in me that way?” The sunshine is real this time. “I told you. Because you’re my friend.”

Lyra will be the reason I burn down the world. If I let her get close, if I gave her more of my heart than I already did, if anything ever happened to her, all the control I’ve fought so hard to gain… It would snap. I know it would.

And…I nod. Not because it’s okay. I don’t know if it’s okay. But at least I know the truth now. If I’m certain of anything, it’s this… I am the one pulling my own strings. Or trying to. Our pasts…and our futures, whatever those might be now…are in my hands.

What’s done hasn’t been done yet. And all of it can be undone.

he cursed her baby—me, as it happens—that no one would ever love me. There. End of story.” The. Fuck. He. Did. I’m going to destroy him. Strangle him with his own dick and hope he chokes on that ego of his.

I think maybe she calls to me. Her lips form my name and then only two words. “Trust me.” Then she’s gone. Again. I was right before. I’m so fucked.

“Lyra, I don’t know how you think I have time to run the Underworld, keep you alive, and also track down Oceanus, but—” “After the Crucible, then. Promise.” “Fine. I promise—” Silence.

“Medusa?” I finally ask. There’s a smile in her voice when she answers. “I would clap if I still had my hands.” Oh. My. Gods.

“That bitch Athena should have thought of that before she fucking cursed me into one.” She scoffs. “Best friend, my ass.” I blink, eyebrows crawling up.

Fuck the Fates. I’m in charge now.

“Don’t worry, Alani. We will find the answers together.” “If there are answers,” I mutter.

I squeeze my eyes shut tight. Oh gods. What have I done to him?

“I don’t know about that. But you and Boone… You’re not fated in any way. It was all a lie.”

My chin wobbles, tears blurring his face. I dash my arm over my eyes. “But I need you—” I cut off the plaintive wail in my throat. Cronos puts his hands to my face, wiping my hot tears away. “I have always thought of you as a daughter.”

“One day, you’ll understand.” He glances past me to Aphrodite, who stands at my back. “I am the sacrifice.” “No!” I try to pull away. To whirl on the goddess and take his place. But he holds me fast, and behind me, I hear her end it.

“A father should always be the one who sacrifices for his child.” My knees give out, unable to hold the weight of my heartbreak any longer, and I fall to the ground. “No! Please, no.” “Tell Rhea that I will love her even in the ether.” One more step down. “Tell my children that their faces are the images I held on to when I died. That I always loved them.”

And I absorb it. I become it. It is my light now. To wield however I see fit.

“Behold,” she announces to the others without turning away from me. “The new goddess of time.”

I give her a pointed half smile. I’m a goddess of the Underworld, too, I silently remind her. “You misunderstand,” I say. “We will stay here to protect the Titans…from you.”

Go. With a swallow, I return my focus to Rhea. “I don’t know how.” “Just let him see you. Truly see you.”

I glamoured the immortal world thousands of years ago, and those effects are still intact on every face I see around me.

In the end, Hades nearly fulfilled the prophecy. He would have, if Lyra hadn’t stopped him. He is dangerous. He should have been killed as a child. Now he is no longer a threat—the world is safe from Hades. Maybe there is nothing else to do.

Except remain vigilant…and to do that, I will stay close to the one who matters most to Hades. Lyra. I will become the sibling she never had, her closest confidant. Perhaps even use her in the way I’ve used Zeus, if her mind is malleable enough. Too bad. I’ve always liked her.