Chapter 6 SERAFÍN IS PANDORA

AZREAL

I stare at her as confusion settles over her entire body, those beautiful caramel eyes filled with surprise and fear. I almost chuckle. ALMOST. 

She raises her head and regards me with a curious gaze, one that seeks answers and I can only oblige. I reach out and push a lock of hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ear. 

“Guess some things never change, Amirykal. You might not recall your past life, but you can still speak the tongue of the dead.” 

Her eyes go wide with disbelief, like she cannot believe this is truly happening. I know that the only reason she agreed to come with me is so I can help her find her mother – desperate people will do anything– and she doesn’t believe one word of what I said to her. Fair enough, if you ask me. I didn’t expect her to just believe she’s the reincarnation of the goddess of the underworld. 

I can tell she’s about to argue, to challenge me and tell me how crazy all of this is. But she seems to think it through and shakes her head. 

“Rise,” I say to the multitude that gathered to welcome her. “You may all return to your duties. Fera, stay back.” 

They all rise to their feet and disperse, each heading to get on with their assigned tasks. Fera, the red haired demon stepped in front of us and bowed. “Ra tse’uk, salir, saler.” (Welcome, my lord, my lady.)

I nod. “Where’s Agatus?” 

“No idea, my lord.” She responds, keeping her head down. “He went off to the tower of despair earlier to see how the newcomers were settling in. He should be back by now, but I am not sure.” 

“Hmm,” I nod slowly, then gesture to Rebelle. “Take the lady with you to her bedroom. Make sure that she’s well rested, given food to eat and shown around the place. She is in your care and I expect nothing to go wrong. Iryeth?” (Understood?) 

“Arryn, Salir.” (Yes, my lord). She nods, then raises her head to Rebelle. “Please come with me, my lady.” 

She turns to me, her gaze a silent question of whether or not she should trust the girl in front of her. She’s right to be skeptical. She might be my queen, but she still has no memory of this place, thus the need to be guarded. 

I step closer to her and gently cradle her face in my hands. “You can trust her. This is your home, Amirykal. No one will hurt you here. Everyone here will go above and beyond to serve you.” 

“You’re not coming.” 

I shake my head, dread washing over me that I have to be away from her for so long, after five hundred years of not seeing or being able to hold her. “I have some work to take care of, Amirykal. Stick with Fera and ask her for anything you might need. I will come to see you as soon as I can.” 

I reach over and gently kiss her forehead, even though the only place my lips would rather be right now is against hers. I turn to Fera and give her a nod. 

“Please, this way, my lady.” Fera says gesturing towards the staircase. Rebelle follows her up the stairs and with one last look in my direction, they disappear out of sight. 

I take a deep breath to calm the racing of my heart, before making my way up the stairs to my office. I step inside, take a seat behind my desk and pour myself a glass of whiskey. 

“Agatus,” I call out in my mind, leaning back against my chair. “Agatus!” 

“Jesus! What the fuck man?” He growls, his voice carrying a hint of pleasure. Fucker is not in the underworld else I would have felt him the moment I step in. “Can’t a guy get his dick wet in peace?” 

“You won’t have a dick to get wet if I do not see you here in the next five minutes!” I growl, my mood turning a hundred degrees sour than it has been for five hundred years. 

“Killjoy,” he grumbles. 

“Get your ass here, Agatus. Now!” I order before shutting him off, not in the mood to hear anymore of his whining. 

I take a sip of my drink and let the burn of the whiskey distract me even monetarily from the tornado going on inside my mind. But it is no use. Nothing is enough to keep my mind off the brunette that is upstairs with Fera. 

Five hundred years! Five hundred long years of waiting for her to be born, for her essence to deem it worthy to come into the world again and an additional twenty one years of trying to locate her even after I could sense her presence. Why it took that long for me to find her despite the fact that I could feel her presence everyday for twenty one years, do not know. 

“What’s this?” My eyes snap open at that farmillar infuriating voice that pisses me off to no end. “You’re sulking!” 

I glare at Agatus and the idiot just gives me a big smile and plops down in one of the seats in front of my desk, placing his feet on the tabletop and crossing them at the ankles. 

“Get your feet off my desk,” I growl and he does just that, but not without rolling his eyes first. 

“You are even more grumpy than before you left. I thought your mood would improve now that you have her back by your side.” 

I scoff. “Od what use is having her by my side if she does not recall who I am. She wouldn’t even be here if not for the fact that her mother was kidnapped.” 

He smirks. “Let me guess. You promised you’ll help her find her mother if she comes back home with you. You normally don’t care about trivial things like people getting kidnapped. You could have simply carried her and brought her here.” 

I shake my head, glad I didn’t do that. “She’ll hate me the moment she remembers what I did. I don’t need another reason for her to hate me more.” I explain. He raises a brow at me, one that tells me he knows there is something more.  “Her mother. I have reason to believe she knows about her. Who she is and what happened in the past.” 

His eyes go wide I’m suprised they do not bulge out of his head. “No!” 

“Yes,” I affirm. “They said she was kidnapped, but it doesn’t look like a kidnapping. There was no signs of any struggle nor was anything taken. She also mentioned that her mother called her sounding scared and begging her not to come home.” 

“So whoever kidnapped her mother wanted her, her mother was aware of that,” he finishes. “So if it wasn’t a kidnapping then that means her neither had been compelled…wait!” His eyes go wide with realization as he comes to th conclusion that has been ringing in my head ever since I heard about the kidnapping. “There is only one mortal capable of raising an immortal. Only one mortal who can interact with us.”

A smile tugs at the corner of my lips. Fucker can be pretty smart when he wants to be. It’s a mystery why he doesn’t put his brain to use very often. It’ll save me from a lot of stress and make my life so much easier. 

He gasps at the realization. “But Zeus has her in hiding.” 

I shake my head. “No he doesn’t. What Zeus merely did was have her change her name so it’ll be much more difficult for us to find her. But I know without a doubt that Serafín –Rebelle’s mother is in fact Pandora.” 

“That can only mean he knew all along where she was. Why do you think he never told you?” 

I shrug because I genuinely have no idea. But I intend to find out though. He might be the king of gods, but he still owes me an explanation as to why he thought it wise to keep my woman away from me. 

“Are you going to tell her?” He asks, grabbing the bottle of whisky and drinking directly from it like an animal. “Her memories, I mean. Are you going to explain to her everything that happened?” 

“And have her hate me?” 

He rolls his eyes like I just said something stupid. “She’ll hate you either way. What do you think she’ll do when she finally regains her memories and remembers that it was you? Throw you a red carpet or buy you a boquet of flowers ? Man she’ll gouge your eyes out and that’ll be her being generous and merciful.” 

Like I don’t fucking know that! 

I shake my head, rather than snapping at him. “Her memories will not come in a day. She’ll take time before everything can come back to her. Before then, I must have enjoyed some moments of peace with her.” 

He looks like he’s about to say something, but then thinks better of it and shakes his head. Hades is pissed.” 

“When is he not?” 

Agatus shakes his head. “It’s different. He heard you had info on the queen’s location and had gone to bring her home and trust me…”

He’s cut off by a loud growl from, probably from outside the castle. He shakes his head and sighs. “Speak of the devil.” 

Seconds later, a gaurd bursts into the officer panting. Forgive the interruption, my lord. But Lord Hades is outside and threatening to burn down the castle if you don’t show up.” 

Oh fuck my life!