Winning Back His Queen

A talk with Hades

Chapter 4

Hades’ pov

My beautiful mate Claudia and I have tried throughout the years to make sure our son will be a good and kind mate and leader. Unfortunately, we have failed in that task. No matter how many talks and warnings we have given, it hasn’t sunk in.

He may be the future leader of the Underworld, but that doesn’t mean he has to live up to the false beliefs of it and our kind. Neither we nor our demons are evil people. Like any species, you will get the occasional bad egg, but on the whole, we are no different than others.

The Underworld is not like most people would think. Yes, we have some lost souls and also the torture dungeons for those who need to repent for their sins from when they were alive. The dungeons run for miles below ground. There are a lot of guests there.

On the surface, it is different. The sun shines, the people smile, and everyone goes about having a normal life. We work and spend time with family and socialise. The castle is gothic, but it has wonderful gardens with beautiful flowers.

The fire and brimstone is kept on the lower levels, with only a pit of hellfire in the castle that the reigning ruler controls. The rest of the dead who live a good life have their own utopia. At one time, each species were in separate sections.

When the world of Elysium started to change, the land of the dead was opened up for the first time, so all of the species could now mix even in death. It was an exciting time for them and a change from the old routine of their afterlife.

They knew that their future generations would possibly be hybrids, so they embraced the other species in death in a way that they couldn’t in life. The denizens in the land of the dead don’t need overseeing unless there is an issue.

Any issues that happen in any section of the Underworld Claudia and I can feel straight away so it can be dealt with swiftly. It is very rarely that something does happen that needs our attention, and it is usually an easy fix.

This latest issue is unfortunately not quite as easy to fix, and I am worried about how my stupid son’s actions are going to affect our people. It has to be done, and Ezekiel needs to know how his behaviour has affected everyone.

The final straw was when Lilith warned him at Angelina and Raphael’s crowning ceremony. This time, he had slept with her friends sister, who the girl hates. Calm as ever, Lilith said that she would be rejecting him when she turned 18.

My i***t son has now realised that he may have actually lost her this time and is worried. I warned him that he would be the one to disappoint our people as he admits to ruining his bond, and along with it, the hope that the demons will get a bond.

I was banned from speaking about it to him or Lilith unless things got to this stage. It was one of the conditions Selene set when deciding to give us the chance to have fated mates as well.

I sat him down the day after the crowning ceremony and told him exactly what was at stake due to his screw up. He was upset and annoyed that the fate of his people was in his hands and that he hadn’t known before now.

He had one more chance not to screw up any more than he had and to earn forgiveness from his mate. It wouldn’t be easy, though. My future daughter in law is a strong and stubborn girl.

I made sure that Ezekiel knew there was no way around this other than forgiveness. Selene had made his bite toxic to others if he tried to mark them. Only Lilith could wear his mark, and only she could mark him.

If he tried to mark another to force the goddess to issue mate bonds to the people, the person who he marked would die, very quickly and painfully. The same would happen to them if they tried to mark him. There was no way around it.

He was still hurting at the thought of losing Lilith for good when I called all of our people to the castle entrance and made him tell them what had happened. There was anger, upset, and guilt in the faces that were there.

Women who had slept with my son now felt bad that they had contributed to this loss of a mate bond that they had hoped for. They hated that their future Queen may feel so disrespected by their actions that she wouldn’t want to rule them.

Some blamed others, putting them at fault for sleeping with someone they knew would have a mate. While there were a few that were happy that they still had a chance of bagging a demigod. It was at that point that I stepped up and spoke.

“The one at fault is my son, Lilith does not put blame on any one of you. You are forbidden to talk about this to anyone outside the underworld or even bring it up where people may hear. Those of you who think you can become Queen put those thoughts out of your head. Only death awaits those who are marked by or try to mark him. There will be no Queen of hell other than Lilith, even without my son, she is the one that controls the hell fire, so she will rule with or without him” I say loudly stopping any arguments and making a few look on worried.

I hadn’t even spoken about that part with Ezekiel yet as I wanted to make sure he wanted to earn her forgiveness because he wanted to be with her and not just to get the title. I only mentioned it now because he had shown me he was sorry for the right reasons.

For the next year, Ezekiel tried to change himself in many ways. He stopped sleeping around completely, which made his hell hound Lucifer happy. He even entered the tournament to try and impress Lilith. It didn’t go to plan for him, though.

He was upset that she wasn’t impressed by his show of strength, and she didn’t cheer him on or acknowledge him at all. In the final battle, she cheered for his opponent, the lovely Raquel, who ended up winning the fight.

He went in a strop at that point, and I was worried about what he would do. It was his own fault for his arrogance, thinking just because he was part god, he could beat anyone without bothering to train at all, I had to collect his trophy for him.

Much to my surprise, he didn’t go sleep with someone or cause more trouble. He just locked himself away for a couple of days to lick his wounds before he resurfaced.

Now, I am yet again in a predicament. Lilith has shown no signs of changing her mind, and she will barely tolerate being in the same room as him. Her birthday is in a few days, so I have to find a way to get her to not reject my son even if he does deserve it in many ways.

It certainly hasn’t helped that he has basically moved into the magical kingdom under the guise of visiting Cassie and her newborn twins as their uncle. All his actions have seemed to do is to pi.ss Lilith off more as she tries to stay away from him.

As soon as I went to the Palace I sent my son back home, telling him to give her a couple days before her birthday to calm down at him, as his actions weren’t helping one bit then I asked Lilith for a chat in private and she accompanied me to a small room to chat.

“Lilith I need you not to reject Ezekiel on your birthday, there is more at play here than just your bond” I say calmly looking at her with concern as I don’t want to hurt her.

“I don’t know if that is a fair request. It isn’t just about my cousin, or that he tried to sleep with others close to me. He has openly disrespected me on several occasions, sleeping with others in places he knows I will be. He has also done everything he can to try and kill my confidence with words to me and to others, knowing I would hear his cruel words” she says too calmly. I didn’t know he had done half of the things she was talking about, I am even more pi.ssed off at him now.

“Lilith you know I love you like my own daughter, and I hate what my son has put you through. If this was just about him I wouldn’t even consider asking you to change your mind” I say to her making sure she can hear in my voice and see in my body language I am telling the truth.

I then go on to explain how the demons getting a mate bond depends on this union and how Ezekiel has been working to change himself. I need her to try just once to give my people a chance at happiness. I know it is not fair on her, but I have to try.

“I will give him more time, but I am not promising that I can or will forgive him and accept this bond” she says finally, not looking happy about it but resigned that she is doing the right thing.

I feel like cr.ap doing this to her, I knew she wouldn’t see others hurt or unhappy if there was something she could do about it. I then drop the other bombshell that she has to come to the underworld to train for her role as Queen, as she will be Queen even without Ezekiel.

It didn’t go down great, and she asked for a week after her birthday before she left. I have asked so much from her that the least I can do is give her this.