A gasp escaped from my lips.
"Hades!" I tried to protest in his arms but he was not having it.
"No."
The answer came immediately. It didn't feel like I was talking to someone because he ignored me.
I was looking at him up close.
"What do you mean no?"
"It means no."
The response made absolutely no sense and somehow perfect sense at the same time.
"I can walk by myself" I whispered.
"I am aware of that"
"And yet you choose to carry me? I am not even injured." Hades looked down at me, one eyebrow rising.
"You were just attacked by a monster."
"That doesn't mean—"
"You also fell"
"It was just one fall."
"Doesn't matter, you almost died." His voice lowered. The words lingered in the air. For a brief moment, something flickered in his eyes. It was raw and vulnerable.
Fear
