Half and Half

Chapter Eleven

"Wait...they're sending royals to the Isle?" Uma asked. "Beastie's one thing but his kids too? I think Uncle Hades has the right idea when he says that the sun melts their brains in Auradon. And I'm guessing Aunt Steph that you want me and Harry and Mal to look after the sunspot?"

"If you could Uma," Persephone said. "He won't have any friends on the Isle after all and he's already befriended Mal here so you won't have to worry about him having an attitude or anything."

"I'll believe it when I see it," Uma muttered.

Hades shook his head. "This place will eat those two alive...but I see what you're doing, mentioning the six months," he said with a sigh.

"It was my idea actually," Persephone told him. "Zeus told me about the news over the mental link as I was getting Mal to sleep and I went to the council meeting. Trust me it took some convincing. But those kids will need their father, Hades....and I know you don't want to see another child's soul in your Underworld."

"Aunt Steph plays hardball," Uma said, sounding more than a little impressed.

"Well you told me that she has to deal with Zeus for six months right? She'd have to play hardball with him," Harry nodded though Persephone could hear an impressed note in his voice as well.

Persephone sighed. "Hades, I know you hate him. You have every right to. I'm not exactly his number one fan right now either because if it wasn't for him creating the Isle we'd be together. But then I remember that if it wasn't for him creating the Isle, Uma wouldn't exist. Mal wouldn't exist. And if it really bothers you to think of yourself doing something for Beast, then don't think of this as doing this for him. Think of you putting Beast, Prince Ben, and Princess Abigail under your protection for them and for your own sake. Do you really want to tell Prince Ben that his father's dead before he's even six? Not to mention you'll have the added bonus of not seeing new children's souls in the Underworld."

"Okay forget about what I said earlier. That was hardball," Uma said.

Hades sighed. "Can you two give us a moment of privacy? You can go taste some of the other stuff that I said you couldn't."

"Oooh!" Harry and Uma lit up and raced out of the room.

Persephone chuckled. "You're getting the hang of unclehood there, Hades," she told him once she was convinced the room was truly void of young ears.

"I don't think that's a word, Steph," Hades said, shaking his head.

"If fatherhood can be a word, why can't unclehood?"

"...The fact that that makes sense unnerves me more than it should."

Persephone chuckled. "And you're stalling Hades. You know I'll have to give Beast and Belle an answer about whether or not their children will have your protection for six months out of the year."

"And why can't they have your protection? Since you'll be here too?"

"Because my protection won't extend to Beast."

Hades sighed. "If it was Beastie asking for this or even Belle, I'll probably say no the moment I heard it be proposed. But you raise a good point about the sunspots, Gaston wouldn't hesitate to hurt them since they're Beastie's kids. Never mind the fact that they're also Belle's kids....actually the fact that they're Belle's kids with a man who's not him would probably enrage him further."

"Does this mean...?"

"Yes Steph, it means what you think it means," Hades sighed. "But I'm not being nice to Beastie."