Hades wasn’t just haunting me. He was breaking me.

  I could feel his touch in the cold air against my skin, in the whisper of shadows curling at the edge of my vision. He was in my mind, twisting my memories, making me question what was real and what was just his game.

  But he wasn’t finished.

  Not yet.

  Orion and I kept moving through the city, but every step felt heavier. The streetlights flickered above us, their glow too dim, as if the darkness was swallowing them whole.

  The weight of the encounter still pressed on me. Hades had dragged me back into my worst nightmare, pulled me into a past I had tried so desperately to bury. But I had fought my way out.

  For now.

  “Where do we go from here?” Orion asked, his voice even but edged with something wary.

  I didn’t have an answer. I had spent centuries trapped in stone, locked in silence, and now, even in my freedom, I was still chained.

  The gods had cursed me.

  The mortals feared me.

  And Hades?

  Hades would own me if I let him.

  I clenched my fists. “We find a way to make him bleed.”

  Orion studied me for a moment. “That won’t be easy.”

  “I don’t care.” The words left my lips sharper than I intended. “I am done letting gods decide my fate.”

  A flicker of something crossed his face—approval, maybe. “Then we need to strike first.”

  I nodded, but before I could speak, the air shifted.

  A pulse of energy rippled through the space around us, heavy and suffocating, like the air before a storm. My breath hitched. The serpents coiled against my shoulders, their hisses rising.

  Orion tensed. “Something’s wrong.”

  I opened my mouth to respond, but—

  Pain.

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  It was sudden, sharp, and all-consuming, tearing through my body like molten fire. I choked on a gasp, my knees buckling beneath me.

  The world tilted.

  The ground rushed toward me.

  Orion caught me before I hit the pavement, his arms steady around me, but I could barely focus. My vision swam, my breath ragged.

  What was happening?

  I clawed at my chest, my fingers trembling. It felt like something inside me was unraveling, pulling apart like threads cut from a loom.

  Then I felt it—the absence.

  The serpents had gone silent.

  No. No, no, no.

  I reached up, my fingers brushing against my scalp—against skin.

  The serpents were gone.

  Panic struck like lightning, violent and unforgiving. My breath came in ragged gasps, my mind screaming no, no, no—

  I was empty. Hollow. Wrong.

  Orion’s grip tightened. “Medusa—”

  I shoved him away. My balance wavered, but I didn’t care. My hands grasped at my head, searching, desperate—nothing.

  Hades.

  I knew it before he even spoke.

  A voice curled around me, dripping with amusement.

  “Oh, my dear. Did you really think I was done?”

  I spun around, my eyes burning. The shadows stretched, twisted, and from them, he stepped forward.

  Hades.

  He looked unbothered, as if he hadn’t just torn a piece of me away with nothing but his will.

  I could barely breathe.

  “You—” My voice broke. Rage. Fear. Despair. “What did you do?”

  Hades gave me a slow, mocking smile. “I took away what made you dangerous.”

  I staggered back. The weight of his words settled on me like a death sentence.

  No serpents. No curse. No power.

  I was nothing.

  I gritted my teeth, fists clenched so tightly my nails bit into my palms. “You can’t just—”

  “Oh, but I can,” Hades interrupted smoothly. “And I did.”

  I shook my head. “This is temporary. You’re toying with me, but I’ll get them back.”

  Hades’ expression darkened, his golden eyes glinting. “You think this is a lesson? A game?” His voice turned cold, sharp enough to cut. “No, Medusa. This is your reality now.”

  A chill swept through me.

  Orion stepped forward, his blade half-drawn. “Enough,” he growled.

  Hades ignored him completely, his gaze locked on mine. “You wanted to resist me. Fine. I can’t make you take my hand.” His smirk returned, slow and dangerous. “But I can make sure you crawl back to me when you realize what you’ve lost.”

  My stomach twisted.

  “No more petrification,” he continued, his voice a taunt. “No more hissing threats, no more monsters lurking in your hair. You are mortal again, Medusa.”

  The words hit like a physical blow.

  Mortal.

  Vulnerable.

  Alone.

  He stepped closer, his presence suffocating. “Let’s see how well you survive now.”

  Then—he was gone.

  The night felt emptier without him, but the damage had already been done.

  I stood frozen, my breaths ragged. I reached up again, as if somehow the serpents would have returned. As if this wasn’t real.

  But it was.

  They were gone.

  I was nothing.

  A broken thing. A relic without a curse.

  I didn’t even realize I had fallen to my knees until Orion knelt beside me, his voice low, steady. “Medusa. Look at me.”

  I couldn’t.

  I couldn’t.

  He placed a hand on my shoulder. I wanted to shove him away, to scream, to do something, but I felt empty.

  Hollow.

  “Medusa,” Orion repeated. “We will fix this.”

  I barely heard him.

  Because in the back of my mind, the truth was sinking in.

  Hades had won.

  I would go back to him.

  Not today. Not tomorrow. But soon.

  Because I didn’t know who I was without my monsters.