Breaking Fate Read Along

Chapter One: Bounty

No sooner had I entered the Underworld was I put to work. And I found out the true cost of grabbing Hade’s crown of invisibility that fateful day of Poseidon’s fall. I remembered it as clear as it was yesterday. As soon as he told me what kind of favor he required for “saving” me from being a decoration of the ocean’s floor at the edge of the world. He had tricked me into thinking I was needed to help save Atlantis, and it was already set in motion without me. I was just there for the show.

Typical.

I should have known better. And I might have, if my family was a bit more clear on the gods being more than myth and legends.

“Medusa, you owe me a favor, and I’ve named it, Little Goddess,” Hades had said to me, “You see, I’m quite fond of the ‘monsters’ Zeus likes to send his mortal children to defeat in an effort to prove their worth to him… to earn his favor. You will protect the dark gods for me.”

“It’s Aless,” I corrected him. No matter who I might have been in the past that wasn’t me anymore. Little bits of my memories were returning here and there, but it was more like seeing someone else’s life, a kind of disconnection from knowing and feeling them. I was still me, whatever that meant now.

Hades grinned with amusement but didn’t acknowledge that he would call me anything different. With a flick of his finger, the crown of invisibility that was hanging from my elbow snapped against my bicep. I didn’t dare put the thing on when he gave it to me but kept it all the same, just in case I might have needed it. But that was when I thought I was needed at all to help save Atlantis. To help save Dion… I was just a witness to what would have happened regardless. My eyes had darted to Poseidon, standing there in Hades’ throne room, as if he would have the answers to what his brother had planned for me. My face contorted in shock as the crown of invisibility shrunk around my arm and embedded itself to my bicep like a collar. When the dark smog emanating from it faded, I glanced up to see Poseidon was gone.

Or more accurately, I was gone. Invisible. We were gone from each other’s perception.

“What did you do?” I could still hear Poseidon growl through the golden crab shells secured behind my ears. They were magically connected with him, regardless of what Hades did, at least for the briefest of moments before realizing those were the last words I’d hear from him without Hades’ permission.

“Fate is such a tricky mistress,” Hades began with a cool demeanor. He wasn’t talking to me, I realized soon enough. “I had a fated mate myself, brother. I followed my path and yet I was spurned for doing so. You avoid your own, and what? I’m supposed to congratulate you and hand her over without you proving to me your fate deserves to be happier than mine?” His haunted laugh still echoed in my mind as he finished with ignoring his brother that I could no longer see nor hear, then faced me to say, “I control who sees you, Little Goddess. Do a good job in your new role as protector and I will grant you time to do as you choose. Do you choose to see your fated mate? Or perhaps you choose to see someone else?”

It was clear what he meant. Would I choose to see Poseidon, or Triton, instead? Or my sister?

“Are you the only one who can see me?” I asked first, ignoring his interest in my love life.

“Of course not,” he balked. “It would grow tiresome. You’d become a pest that would never leave me alone. No, you have access to all of the Underworld, and of course any dark god you wish to extend your protection to. As for other gods… that’s a case-by-case basis. If they know what they’re looking for then I can’t say my protection will hold. But in the Underworld, the crown’s power is absolute. It is where you will be safest when the time comes that Olympus discovers what you are up to.”

“And what am I up to?” I wanted him to clarify my new role as an Underworld servant.

“My brother,” he said plainly before he lifted a brow and clarified, “the one you aren’t fated to, is overly obsessed with results. To the point that if there is even a miniscule chance that Apollo’s prophecy can be interpreted a different way, he will see to squashing it. Anyone with Tartarus blood will be hunted, and as soon as you start to protect them, they’ll begin to gather, growing in number. Well, I don’t need to spell it out for you, do I?”

“He’ll think I’m building an army for war,” I finished for him, my voice trailing off in thought.

“I knew you were clever,” he mocked and then yawned like he was bored with our conversation. What was needed to be said was already said according to him. “You can chat with Cerberus about the details, he’s been briefed and will help you acclimate to your new job. I don’t care what you call yourself, but I think he’s under the impression that you’ll be called the Fate Breaker Legion. Do tell him that a legion requires at least three thousand, and there is currently only the two of you. Follow the river to the cave. Cerberus will meet you there.” He lifted his feet up onto his throne of obsidian rock embedded with skulls and bones and then waved his hand once more. Even he disappeared from my view, and I didn’t know whether it was simply him using the Helm of Invisibility to control who I saw, like he did with Poseidon, or he was gone. I guess it didn’t matter, and I turned to leave the room, and find my own way out of this damned castle.

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Stevie