The howl shook the palace walls.
Aria felt it in her chest—rage and betrayal and something else. Something that felt like heartbreak wrapped in fury.
"He's coming," she whispered.
Hades' jaw clenched. "I know."
"What's he going to do?"
"Honestly? I have no idea." He moved toward the door, positioning himself between her and the inevitable. "Cerberus and I have never been in direct conflict before. Not like this."
"There has to be something—"
The door exploded inward.
Not opened. Exploded. Wood and stone scattered across the floor as Cerberus burst through, all three heads snarling, eyes blazing with fury.
But he wasn't in his beast form anymore.
The man from before stood in the doorway—tall, powerful, those burning eyes fixed on Hades with pure murder.
"You kissed her." His voice was gravel and smoke. "You promised you'd stay away. You promised."
"I know what I said." Hades didn't move. Didn't flinch. "Things changed."
"Changed?" Cerberus stalked forward, fists clenched. "You mean you finally admitted what I've been feeling all along? That you want her just as much as I do?"
"It's not that simple—"
"Yes, it is!" Cerberus' shout echoed through the chamber. "For once in a thousand years, it's simple. We want the same thing. The same person. But you can't handle that, can you? Can't handle wanting something you might not be able to control."
Hades' expression remained calm, but Aria saw the muscle ticking in his jaw. "This isn't about control."
"Isn't it?" Cerberus turned to Aria, and the anger in his eyes shifted into something raw. Vulnerable. "He kissed you. Claimed you. Just like I did. But somehow when he does it, it's noble. Complicated. When I do it?" He laughed bitterly. "I'm just the beast acting on instinct."
"That's not true," Aria said, finding her voice. "That's not what I think."
"Then what do you think?" He moved closer, ignoring Hades completely. "Because I'm standing here, feeling everything—his desire, his fear, his jealousy mixing with mine—and I can't tell where he ends and I begin anymore."
His hand reached out, fingers trembling as they brushed her cheek.
"I've been locked away for so long," he whispered. "Denied. Suppressed. Made to be nothing but rage and hunger. Then you came, and for the first time, I felt something else. Something that wasn't just violence."
A single tear tracked down his face. It evaporated before it reached his jaw.
"Don't cry," Aria breathed. "Please don't—"
"Why not?" His smile was broken. "I'm finally feeling something real. Even if it's pain."
"Cerberus." Hades' voice was quiet. Careful. "We need to talk. Alone."
"No." Cerberus didn't look at him. "I'm done being sent away. Done being the dirty secret you lock in a cage." His eyes bored into Aria's. "If you want him, that's your choice. But don't expect me to disappear. Don't expect me to stop wanting you."
"I don't want you to disappear," she said honestly.
Both men froze.
"What?" Hades' voice was sharp.
Aria took a breath, then stepped away from the wall, moving into the space between them. Dangerous territory. But someone had to say it.
"You're both acting like I have to choose one or the other. Like you're separate people." She looked at Cerberus, then Hades. "But you're not. You're two halves of the same soul. And maybe..." She hesitated. "Maybe the problem isn't that you both want me. Maybe the problem is that you're both so busy fighting each other, you can't see what's actually happening."
"And what's happening?" Hades asked, his tone careful.
"You're coming back together." Aria gestured between them. "The boundary you created—it's breaking. Because of me, yes, but also because maybe it was never meant to be permanent. Maybe you were never supposed to stay divided."
Silence fell, heavy and tense.
Then Cerberus laughed—harsh and humorless. "You think we should merge? Become one again?"
"I don't know. Maybe?"
"That's not possible," Hades said flatly. "The separation was permanent. Irreversible. I made sure of it."
"Did you?" Cerberus turned on him. "Because I've been human for three nights now. Three nights when I should have been trapped in beast form. That's never happened before." He stepped closer to Hades, challenging. "Face it. She's undoing everything you built. Every wall. Every lock. Every cage."
Hades' eyes flashed silver. "I separated us for a reason."
"Because you were afraid." Cerberus' voice dropped to something dangerous. "Afraid of what we could become. What we could feel. So you cut yourself in half and called it strength."
"I did what was necessary—"
"You ran." Cerberus was in his face now. "You ran from your own emotions and left me to carry them. Left me to feel everything while you got to be cold and perfect and untouchable."
"Someone had to rule!"
"And someone had to live!" Cerberus shoved him. Actually shoved the god of the underworld. "But you couldn't do both, could you? Couldn't be powerful and vulnerable. So you made me the monster and yourself the martyr."
Hades grabbed his wrist. "You don't understand what it costs—"
"I understand perfectly." Cerberus' free hand fisted in Hades' shirt. "I understand that you're scared. That she makes you feel things you swore you'd never feel again. That loving her could destroy everything."
His voice cracked.
"But I also understand that not loving her will destroy us faster."
The words hung in the air like a confession.
Hades' grip on Cerberus' wrist loosened. "You love her."
It wasn't a question.
Cerberus' jaw tightened. "Yes."
"After three days."
"After three seconds." Cerberus released Hades' shirt. "The moment she fell into our realm, I knew. I knew she was ours. Mine. Yours. Ours." He stepped back. "And you know it too. You're just too stubborn to admit it."
Hades looked at Aria then, and the expression on his face nearly broke her.
"I can't," he whispered. "If I admit it, if I let myself feel it, the prophecy—"
"Screw the prophecy," Cerberus snarled. "You're so obsessed with fate and consequences, you've forgotten how to just be."
"Being isn't enough when realms are at stake!"
"Then what is?" Cerberus threw his arms wide. "What's enough? What's worth fighting for if not this? If not her?"
"Everything I've built—"
"Means nothing if you're alone!" Cerberus' shout echoed. "You built an empire on ice and called it victory. You buried everything that made you human and called it sacrifice. But she's here now. She's real. And she's making you remember what it felt like to want something more than duty."
Hades' hands clenched into fists. "You think I don't know that? You think I haven't felt every second of it? Every moment she's near, every time she looks at me, every gods-damned breath she takes—I feel it. All of it. And it's terrifying."
The admission shattered something in the room.
"Then be terrified," Cerberus said quietly. "Be terrified and do it anyway. Because the alternative—" His voice broke. "The alternative is watching her die when this realm tears itself apart. And I can't... I can't survive that."
Aria's throat tightened. "I'm not going to die."
Both of them looked at her.
"I'm not," she insisted, even though she had no idea if that was true. "We'll figure this out. The prophecy, the council, whatever's coming—we'll face it together."
"Together," Cerberus repeated, his eyes searching hers. "The three of us?"
"If you'll have me."
"Have you?" He moved closer, his hand cupping her face. "Aria, I'd burn this entire realm for you. I'd tear apart reality itself if it meant keeping you safe."
"That's not helping," Hades muttered.
"I don't care." Cerberus' thumb traced her cheekbone. "She needs to know. Needs to understand that this isn't some fleeting desire. It's—" He struggled for words. "It's everything."
Aria turned to Hades. "And you? What do you feel?"
He was quiet for a long moment. Then:
"I feel like I'm standing on the edge of a cliff, and you're asking me to jump." His silver eyes met hers. "And the terrifying part isn't the fall. It's that I want to jump. For the first time in a millennium, I want something more than I want control."
He stepped closer, standing beside Cerberus.
"But wanting isn't enough," he continued. "I need to keep you alive. Need to protect you from every threat in this realm, including myself."
"You're not a threat to me."
"You don't know that." His hand reached out, joining Cerberus' against her face. Both of them touching her. Both of them close enough that she could feel their breath. "You don't know what I'm capable of when I lose control."
"Then don't lose control," she said. "Keep it. But don't use it as an excuse to push me away."
The three of them stood there—god, beast, and mortal—caught in a moment that felt suspended outside time.
Then Cerberus spoke, his voice rough: "This is insane."
"Completely," Hades agreed.
"We're going to fall for the same woman."
"Apparently."
"The council will use it against us."
"Undoubtedly."
"And Hell might actually fall."
"Possibly."
Cerberus looked at Hades, something passing between them. Understanding. Acceptance. Maybe even forgiveness.
"Worth it?" Cerberus asked.
Hades looked at Aria. Really looked at her. And when he smiled—small and genuine and heartbreaking—she felt something shift in the realm itself.
"Yeah," Hades said softly. "Worth it."
Before anyone could move, before anyone could speak, an alarm shrieked through the palace.
All three of them jerked apart.
"What is that?" Aria asked.
Hades' expression went cold. Professional. The god returning. "The outer wards. Something's breached them."
Cerberus' form rippled, shadows curling around him. "How many?"
"Hundreds." Hades' hand moved, and armor materialized over his clothes—black metal that seemed to absorb light. "Maybe thousands."
"What's attacking?" Aria's heart hammered.
Hades looked at her, and the apology in his eyes made her stomach drop.
"Everything."
The palace shook. Screams echoed from somewhere distant.
"They knew," Cerberus snarled. "The council. They knew this was coming."
"Of course they did." Hades summoned a blade from nothing—obsidian and wreathed in silver fire. "They probably arranged it." He turned to Aria. "You need to hide. Now."
"I'm not hiding while you fight—"
"You don't have a choice." His voice was absolute. "You're the target. Everything coming through those wards is coming for you. For the Heart."
Another explosion rocked the palace.
"Go," Hades commanded. "Find the vault. Seal yourself inside. The wards there are strongest."
"But—"
"NOW!"
Cerberus shifted fully then—back to his massive three-headed form. He positioned himself in front of her, all three heads snarling toward the approaching chaos.
Hades pointed down a corridor. "Run. Don't stop. Don't look back."
Aria wanted to argue. Wanted to stay. Wanted to fight.
But the look in both their eyes—god and beast united in terror for her safety—made the decision for her.
She ran.
Behind her, she heard Hades' voice one last time:
"Protect her with everything. Even if it means protecting her from us."
Then the sounds of war erupted, and Aria ran faster, praying to gods she didn't believe in that they'd all survive the night.