I leap to my feet, my hands covering my mouth in horror. I fly to his side, blood-chilling panic clutching my spine in a death-grip. Hades grunts softly and leans against the doorway, his fingers tightly clutching the frame as his knees waver like melted metal. His striking blue eyes stick out like they're too big for his face, his face a deathly shade of pale. A large, deep cut carves a bloody line across his face, from his cheekbone down to the bottom of his chin. Dried blood cakes the entire left side of his face as thick, maroon blood continues to ooze from the wound. It doesn't take a genius to know that he would have died from the blood loss already, had he not been an immortal deity. And even though I'm still new to the whole immortal-deity-deal, I do know that we aren't supposed to bleed this much. Not nearly this much.

"Evie." My name barely makes it past his lips as he tries to straighten, still swaying unsteadily on his feet. He tries to take a step forward and stumbles, crumpling into a heap.

"No!" I let out a cry and surge forward, barely managing to wrap my arms around him before he hits the ground. Hades groans quietly but thankfully doesn't resist, leaning on me as I help him over to my sofa. My hands shake as I slowly lower him onto the couch. Hades slumps over his knees, closing his eyes and breathing in heavily. I try — and fail — to stop the fear from tightening its grip on my chest.

"What the hell happened, Hades? You're gone for almost five days, and then suddenly turn up looking like death? I know you're the patron god of the dead, but don't you think this is taking things a little far?!"

Hades doesn't respond, growing paler and more subdued by the minute. A large, thick droplet of blood trickles down his cheek and splatters against the pristine white marble floors. I run my hands agitatedly through my hair, my mind racing.

What do I do? Oh my god, what do I do? I wasn't trained for this! What the hell does one do when their immortal boyfriend turns up looking like literal death? Hades didn't prepare me for this!

Okay. Okay. Breathe, Evie. First things first, stop the bleeding and get Hades cleaned up. Make sure he doesn't become the first immortal deity to die. Then we figure out what to do next.

"Hades, I'm sorry but you need to stand up. We need to pack that wound; you're losing too much blood." I say worriedly. Hades doesn't move, letting out a shuddering breath. I swallow hard and wind my arms around his shoulders, gently trying to help him to his feet. I try to ignore how much my hands are shaking, or how fast my heart is beating. "Hades, please. You've got to stand up."

Hades grunts, but nods. My heart wrenches in my chest as I helplessly watch him struggle to his feet. When he finally manages to straighten, a loud hiss of pain rasps through his teeth. My heart leaps up into my throat, tears pricking the corners of my eyes.

"I'm sorry. Can you take us to my room?"

He nods imperceptibly, and wraps an arm around my waist. I don't miss the way his jaw clenches as the marble walls around us recede into darkness.

As soon as the familiar surroundings of my room flicker into view, Hades collapses onto my bed. A dull thud echoes around the room as his head hits the bedpost, hard. His eyes flutter shut. My heart is beating so quickly by this point that it takes all my strength not to let the panic attack take me right then and there. Instead, I distract myself by trying to find something to press against his wound. After a few moments of desperate distressing, I decide that my t-shirt would be the best interim solution until I'd raided my bathroom supplies. I whip it off without a moment's hesitation and press it into Hades' hand.

"Here, use this to stop the bleeding. I'll go and find something in the bathroom; will you be okay to stay here?"

Hades nods, not even managing the energy to open his eyes and look at what I'd handed him. I hesitate, my hands uselessly wavering in the dead air between us. After a moment of deliberation, the rational side of me finally manages to convince the irrational side that I can't do anything helpful just standing there fretting, so I rush to my bathroom and frantically search through all the cabinets. After what feels like an eternity, I finally manage to find a medical kit stashed under the sink. Relief floods my veins. I grab the kit and a flurry of towels and throw them in the direction of my bed, before wetting a handful of face-cloths and finally flitting back to Hades.

Funnily enough, not once does it occur to me to put a top back on.

I kneel in front of him and drop the pile of face-cloths next to me.

"Hades, what happened?" I ask anxiously, gently pulling the blood-soaked t-shirt away from his face and pressing a warm face-cloth to the cut. Hades inhales sharply, his jaw clenching, but doesn't say anything further. Alarm seeps into my tone, almost as quickly as the blood seeping into the pearly-white face-cloth. "Stop ignoring me, Hades! What happened?"

"Nothing." He grunts. His eyes flicker open. I don't miss the pain shining out of them. "Nothing happened."

Anger stings my cheeks. I abruptly stand, and throw the bloody cloth on the ground in front of him. No reaction. Gritting my teeth, I swivel on my heel and head into the bathroom, yanking another face-cloth out of the cupboard and running it under warm water. When I'm satisfied it's been properly soaked, I shut off the tap and wring the cloth out, staring into the mirror for several long seconds.

Breathe, Evie. You can't lose your composure. You know this is what he does when he's vulnerable. You have to be the grown-up in the room. Even if he makes it really, really difficult.

I let out the breath I'd been holding and nod at my reflection. When I return to my room, Hades is still sitting, motionless, on the edge of the bed, but I'm relieved to see that he has a little more colour back in his cheeks. Wordlessly, I kneel back in front of him and press the wet cloth to his cut, narrowing my eyes when he hisses in pain.

"Oh I'm sorry, did that hurt?" I spit sarcastically. He scowls scathingly at me, but stays silent. "I don't know why, considering nothing happened."

Way to act like the adult, Evie.

"Evie..." Hades grits his teeth when I press a harder, a strangled groan of pain escaping his lips. His expression hardens.

"Don't give me that look, Hades." This time, I'm the one scowling at him. "I am sick of you shutting me out. You asked for space and I gave it, trusting that you would tell me if it got too much; you promised that you would. But when you arrive covered in your own blood, after five days of complete silence, I can't just keep looking the other way! This isn't nothing! You're not supposed to bleed; this is the point of too much!" My voice cracks, and my hand falls to my lap. "I don't like seeing you like this, Hades. I care about you too much to keep looking the other way. I can't pretend that I believe it's 'nothing' when you're obviously badly injured."

"Then leave." His tone is emotionless, empty. But I don't miss the agony that flashes through his gaze at those two words.

My heart drops. I fall back onto my feet. "Don't say that. Don't even joke about it."

"I mean it, Evie." Hades turns, so he can't look me in the eye. "If you do not like seeing me like this, then leave. I would not want you to stay here if you did not feel comfortable."

"Don't say that. That's not fair. I thought we agreed that you'd stop pushing me away. I thought that you trusted me." My voice trembles. "Don't you trust me? Don't you want me here?"

"No." Even though his voice is just as quiet as mine, that one word echoes throughout the entire room. My heart cracks.

"Stop lying to me."

"I am not lying."

I swallow hard. "Why? And it better be a damn good explanation Hades, because up until five days ago you were telling me you cared for me a lot more than I apparently knew."

Hades doesn't say anything, instead picking the cloth up out of my hands and pressing it against his cheek. I try to look him in the eye, and he purposefully avoids my gaze. My jaw drops.

"No! Don't you dare ignore me, Hades!" I exclaim, my frustration finally boiling over. "I don't deserve to be dropped like a toy you're sick of! At the very least, I deserve an explanation!"

"Because I can't protect you, Evie!" He explodes, throwing the cloth down on the floor. I startle, staring at him through wide eyes.

"What?"

Hades clenches his fingers tightly, staring at his fist as it slowly falls to his lap. His Adam's apple bobs up and down.

"The longer you stay down here, the closer you are to me, the more you are in danger. I thought that I could protect you if I kept you in the safety of the Underworld, but I was mistaken. I cannot protect you."

There it is.

"Protect me from what?"

"Kronos."

My face twists up in confusion. "And your solution is to push me away after everything that we've been through? To lock me out to protect yourself from more heartbreak?"

"Not to protect myself, Evie. To protect you."

"That's ridiculous, Hades." I stand up, folding my arms across my chest tightly. "You need to get it out of your head that I'm this fragile little flower that you constantly need to protect! I made a vow that I would stand by you, that I would help you rule down here, but how am I supposed to do that if you push me away every time there's a possibility of danger? You're the one who keeps saying that everyone thinks I'm the perfect person to be your consort, so why are you, of all people, suddenly contradicting yourself? I am not going anywhere, so stop pushing me away and let me help you!"

Hades frowns, and starts to shake his head. Before he can even think about getting a word in edgewise, I stick my finger in his face and narrow my eyes.

"And so help me god Hades, if you blink me out of here instead of letting me help, I will track down one of the other gods and cause them their own personal hell until they send me back down to help your sorry, ungrateful ass!"

"Please, Evie." Hades replies chokingly, his words catching in his throat. "I cannot survive losing you."

"Well, you know what, Hades? I can't survive leaving, knowing that you sent me away!" I shake my head, tears stinging the corners of my eyes. "Hades, I love you and I just — I can't fathom the thought of you sending me away. So please, just stop with all this toxic self-protection and start understanding that you're not the only one in this relationship that might get hurt. I'm not Persephone. I'm not going to hurt you. You need to stop letting your past with her affect your future with me."

Hades stares at me, his eyes wide. The smallest of smiles fleets across his lips.

"That's the first time anyone has ever told me they love me."

I can't help but smile back at him. "Well, get used to it, because I'm never going to stop telling you that until you believe me."

"No need. I believe you." He murmurs. His fingers reach up to skim his cheek, and he winces slightly. "Your... fervour makes it difficult to believe otherwise."

Sighing, I give him a look and gently pry his hand away. "I don't like fighting with you, Hades. But we're going to keep having the same fights until you realise that nothing you say is going to make me go anywhere. We're on the same team; I am here to stay, for better or for worse. So can you please just tell me what happened with Kronos so I can finally help?"

He hesitates. "I do not want you getting hurt, Evie."

"And I didn't want you to get hurt either, but look what happened." I gesture to his wound and purse my lips at him. He has no response to that. "Talk. Or I'm going to become very difficult to live with."

Hades sighs, defeat washing over his features. His shoulders slump.

"Kronos is trying to escape."

Frowning, I sit down next to him and pick the medical kit up off the floor. I open it up on the bed between us and start pulling out supplies. "Trying to escape? I thought we were the only ones who could release him."

"We are. But there is another deity trying to release him. A strong deity." He grimaces when I swipe an alcohol swab across the wound, his eye twitching for a moment. I mumble an apology, cleaning up the wound as quickly as I can. When I'm satisfied it's as clean as possible, I drop the bloody swab on the floor and search through the kit for a needle. Hades eyes me warily. "Do you know how to stitch up a wound?"

"No. But I know how to sew, so same difference, right?" I reply breezily, smiling what I hope is a reassuring smile. From the slightly panicked look he gives me, it clearly doesn't work. "Which deity is it?"

"I don't know." He doesn't move when I shuffle across the bed and lean in, only flinching when I bring the needle closer to his cut. I give him a look and grab his chin, holding his face still so I can focus on the wound better. Hades starts to grunt in disagreement, but when I give him a harder look and hold the needle up for emphasis, he quietens down.

"You were saying?"

He throws me a sullen look through his peripheral vision.

"My brothers and I have been trying to figure that out, trying to stop them, but whoever this is, they keep thwarting us. I do not know how they do it, but they are always one step ahead of us. All the while, Kronos is waking more, and growing more restless."

"Is that how you got this?" I ask softly. He nods, ever so slightly, taking care not to bump my work.

"Kronos used the time that I was distracted with you to muster up all his power and attempt to escape." He frowns, and I can practically see the guilt tearing him apart. He gestures to the wound. "This will scar."

"Scars are the new sexy though, right?" I pause and wink at him, trying to lighten the mood.

He smiles a little."I will make sure to thank my father, then."

"Ha ha." I roll my eyes. "But Kronos can't really escape unless one of us opens Tartarus, right? So we're safe, so long as neither of us opens Tartarus."

"Willingly." Hades says quietly. He watches me as I methodically, and carefully, finish up the last of the stitches. A small twinkle lights up his gaze. "Are you aware that you poke your tongue out when you concentrate?"

"Are you aware that you're poking at the bear who has a needle in your face?" I retort childishly. A chuckle rumbles through his chest, causing him to immediately wince in pain, and I gently chastise him. When he stills, I resume putting in the final stitches. "What did you mean, willingly?"

"That neither of us will open Tartarus willingly." Hades says. A cold tingle of fear shoots through my veins. "That is why I wanted to send you away, why I need to protect you. There is no telling what my father's accomplice would do to you in order to open the gates, and I will not put you in that kind of danger."

"You're an idiot, you know that?" I reply ruefully, shaking my head. I tie up the end of the stitches and cut off the end, wiping away the droplets of blood still peppering the edges of the stitches. "Has the past taught you nothing? If I'm not down in the Underworld, it's much more likely that someone will be able to get to me; you should know that from my break in Greece. At least when I'm down here, they can't torture me into opening Tartarus. They'd have to get through you, first."

He smiles wryly. "Well, now that you put it so logically..."

"Wait, you're agreeing with me? Geez, this wound has taken more out of you than I first thought." I tease. Then my gaze softens. "You need to rest."

"No. I cannot rest now. I need to help my brothers." He stands back up, his knees very obviously as structurally stable as rods of jelly. His face instantaneously pales.

"Hades, no. You're going to kill yourself if you go back down there in this state." I grab his hand, giving him a stern look. "Your brothers will understand that you need to regain your strength, especially because this is not a normal cut. Besides which, they're going to want you at your full strength if you're going to stop Kronos, right? So stop trying to be all brave and noble, and let me take care of you for once."

Hades sighs but obeys, sitting back down slowly. I study him carefully as I slowly close the medical kit.

"You're not going to blink away when I'm not looking, are you?"

"No. I know that will only make you worry." Hades shrugs off his trench coat and slowly lays down on the bed. He closes his eyes. I will be here when you return. I promise."

"Okay." I scrutinise him for a few more seconds, watching as his chest slowly rises and falls. When I'm convinced he isn't going to go anywhere, I pick all the bloody rags up off the floor and take the medical kit back into the bathroom. Placing the kit on the counter-top, I turn the tap on and begin to wash my hands. It's like the moment the water hits my hands, I finally realise what they're covered in, and suddenly, I can't clean them fast enough. Water droplets splatter the mirror as I scrub my fingers frenetically, too engulfed by the horror of the crimson water filling the basin to realise the water is boiling hot.

It takes a lot longer than expected to wash the blood off my fingertips, and the whole time I have to purposefully make sure I don't think about exactly who it is that the blood belongs to. When my hands are finally clean of any traces of blood, I shake them out and dry them on my towel. For a moment, I pause, my eyes flickering up to lock eyes with my reflection. I let out a long breath, blowing out my cheeks and trying to ignore the bags forming under my eyes.

Upon returning to my bedroom, I discover that Hades has managed to prop himself up against the head of my bed with several pillows, and is watching me with an unreadable expression as I gently close the bathroom door behind me. I cast a cursory glance in his direction as I silently head to my wardrobe, rifling through the hanging garments until I locate one of his favourite black shirts. I pull it off the coat hanger and throw it at him.

"Put that on. Your one has blood on it."

When I turn back around he hasn't moved, and is still watching me with that same indecipherable expression. I'm relieved to see that the colour has finally returned to his cheeks, and his cut has already started healing.

"What?" I tilt my head to the side, sliding onto the bed next to him. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Did you truly mean it?"

"Mean what?"

"When you said that you loved me."

I smile at him and wrap my arms around his middle. I lay my head on his chest.

"Of course I meant it. I love you so much it scares me."

A big, ear-splitting smile spreads across his lips. He winds his arm around me and pulls me closer, kissing the top of my head. I sigh and snuggle in closer, contenting myself with listening to the steady beats of his heart.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Hades doesn't respond.

"Hades?" I frown, glancing up at him. His eyes are closed as his head slowly dips forward, his breathing evening out. Cold shivers tingle down my spine.