Prisoner

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Just fucking tell me the truth and let me go. That's it.

But it didn't matter. I couldn't leave the palace, according to Hades. I wasn't read for the outside world, much to my chagrin. So I was back to square one. Except to make matters worse, Hades made it nearly impossible for River to come visit me, even when the guy was in the same fucking building as me. Cypress refused to go home, insisting that Hades at least take a look at the proposal and see how he felt about it, but Hades kept saying I wasn't ready for this or that, that Cypress and River were just trying to gain status or have their land returned to them or whatever.

Who gave a shit?

Let me marry River so I can have his army and his family can have his land back. No problem.

Except Hades seemed to think it was a lot of a problem.

Asshole.

I sighed in frustration and shoved the covers back, climbing out of bed and heading to the bathroom to rinse off in the shower, even though it was like three in the morning. I wasn't in the mood to sleep. All I did nowadays was sleep and struggle to read stupid books.

The hot water felt fucking refreshing as I splashed my face and scrubbed down with soap.

For a split second, I thought about the other night at the bar. The unrelenting fear that tore through me, it was so foreign and intense. That immediate reaction to start hitting him. I wanted to feel his bones smash under my fists, and I had definitely felt at least his cheekbone give way under my knuckles. I wanted to make him hurt as much as he'd hurt me.

A shudder wracked me as my hands swept over my hips. I felt phantom hands gliding over my skin and started scrubbing with the washcloth. That guy's laughter echoed in the back of my head and I slammed my eyes shut, but it didn't seem to help because I could still hear his laugh, still feel those hands groping and grabbing.

Open up, bitch.

A sharp gasp left my lips and I threw the shower door open and scrambled out, running to the linen closet and grabbing a towel out. I dropped it over my head and leaned on the wall of the bathroom, taking in deep gulps of air.

He's not here. Nobody's here, except Hades. Just me and Hades.

Yup. No creepy guys with creepy laughs and creepy glowing yellow eyes.

"What are you doing?" Hades's voice made my head snap around to see him standing in the doorway, frowning at me as he rubbed at his rumpled hair.

"Fuckin' showering because what the fuck else am I supposed to do at three a.m.," I snarled abruptly turning on him and making him raise an eyebrow, "Because there's nothing else to do, but sleep because I'm trapped in a huge fucking palace full of shit you don't need and nobody to talk to because you won't let me see River!" Hades rolled his eyes.

"There's plenty of other people to talk to," Hades said without looking at me now as he went to the sink, "Ambrosius, Cerberus, and Theo are here, so go--"

"Go what? Get all snuggly and warm with more of your kids? I'm not your fucking son, asshole," I snapped as Hades patted his face dry with a towel, "I want to get married to River, get my own house, as far as fucking possible from your shithole palace. You'll never see me again, ever."

"Yeah, right," Hades said, pausing to look at a lock of his hair with a frown, "You'll be punching someone else in an alley and buying inappropriate shit." I glared at him, feeling heat rise to my cheeks because apart of the whole debacle the other night involved Hades finding the outfit I'd bought for River, which he then proceeded to burn, the fucking asshole.