The Darkest Promise (Lords of the Underworld #13)

Sent Ones—winged warriors; demon assassins.

Sienna Blackstone—former Hunter; current keeper of Wrath; current ruler of Olympus; beloved of Paris.

Siobhan—goddess of Many Futures.

Strider—Lord of the Underworld; keeper of Defeat.

Taliyah Skyhawk—Harpy; sister of Gwen, Bianka and Kaia.

Tartarus—Greek god of Confinement; also the immortal prison on Mount Olympus.

Titans—rulers of Titania; children of fallen angels and humans.

Thane—Sent One; mate to Elin.

Torin—Lord of the Underworld; keeper of Disease; engaged to Keeleycael.

Typhon—father of Lazarus.

Urban—son of Maddox and Ashlyn; brother of Ever.

Viola—goddess of the Afterlife; keeper of Narcissism.

William the Ever Randy—immortal warrior of questionable origins; aka the Panty Melter and William of the Dark.

Xerxes—Sent One.

Zeus—king of the Greeks; husband to Hera.





Bonus Scene

This snippet takes place after The Darkest Torment but before The Darkest Promise.

Hades threw open his bedroom door, nearly ripping the solid gold hinges from the frame. He stomped down the hall, his boots leaving cracks in the marble. Any soldier foolish enough to remain in the area would soon find the heart ripped out of his chest. Too bad, not sad.

Mystical blue fires blazed here and there with no distinguishable pattern; they were simply warnings for spirits and humans alike. Approach my quarters without my permission and die horribly. He stepped through each of the flames, welcoming the heat. While the infernos would agonize others, they only strengthened him.

When he reached the throne room, he dismissed the surrounding guard with a roared “Go! Now. While you still have legs.”

The men scrambled out as fast as their feet would carry them. Those who had witnessed the repercussions of his temper would do anything to avoid his notice. Wise. Most days he could control the all-consuming rage that was so much a part of him. On very rare occasions, he...couldn’t. Today was one of those rare occasions.

The only way to regain control was to purge. Meaning, he had to remove his own heart—or other people’s heads. Many other people.

Care to guess which way I’m leaning?

Though a door never opened, he suddenly sensed another presence in the room. Someone had flashed here, moving from one place to another in only a blink, and that someone was behind him.

His senses were highly tuned, even more highly trained, and he deduced the intruder’s identity without turning.

“What has your panties in such a twist?” a familiar voice asked.

He’d deduced correctly. His youngest son, William the Ever Randy. Also known as William of the Dark and the Panty Melter. Hades knew him as the owner of the only head never in danger of being removed.

Which was odd. Hades had been called the Keeper of Flames, the Monster Other Monsters Feared, the Lord of Death and the Heartless Foe, but damn if his hollow chest didn’t ache with love every time he looked at his son.

The irreverent womanizer reclined on Hades’s favorite throne. His favorite, because it was made from the bones of his victims.

Oh, there’d been another bone throne before his takeover. But he’d dismantled it during one of his rages and later built a new one...made with the bones of the first victims to die at the end of his claws. Among those victims? His mother and the male she’d sold him to—the male who’d spent centuries torturing him, a mere lad of five. The king who’d ruled a hellish realm long before Hades.

“Not what,” he finally replied. “Who.”

“So you admit that you’re wearing panties,” William said with a droll tone. “How very modern of you.”

The little shit. “Why should females be the only ones allowed to wear silk? As you know, I demand the best for myself.”

A roll of William’s ice-blue eyes. “Let me guess the source of your problem. Lucifer.”

William’s brother. The worst of the worst. The slayer of innocents, and the father of lies. Pride and greed, the most dangerous commodities in this world or any other, drove him to do despicable things. His soul was now so black it was nothing but an abyss. The original Bermuda Triangle, where happiness vanished, never to be seen or heard from again.

The day Hades adopted him was the day his own life—a life forged in the gutters of inhumanity—had truly taken a turn for the worse. But he’d done it for his own pride and greed. Because he’d wanted a family. Sons to stand with him against any threat. Instead he’d helped create a new threat. “He has declared war against me.”

“Well, this isn’t the first time,” William reminded him.

“I know. But this time, we will war to the death.”

“So? Kill him and be done with it.”

There was no love lost between the brothers, and with good reason. Lucifer had often tortured the once vulnerable William just for grins and giggles.

“There are...complications.” Only the Morning Star could kill him, but it was currently locked inside Pandora’s box, and Hades wasn’t in possession of it. Wasn’t even sure where to search. Every time he found it, it was somehow flashed to a new location.

“Besides, I had just acquired a woman I admired,” Hades added with a grumble. A beautiful, smart, bloodthirsty woman. Such a rarity these days, when so many felt they deserved a participation medal just for showing up, and everyone cried about their overly sensitive feelings. Shudder.

Taliyah had never cried about anything. In fact, she had challenged him about everything.

“I’m sure you have a woman on standby,” William said.

True. “I had to dismiss the new one before I actually wanted to dismiss her.”

In past wars, his women had been used against him. Either they had been captured and tortured for information, killed just to hurt him or paid to turn against him.

He was better off alone.

William pursed his lips. “Boo hoo. My heart bleeds for your travesty. I weep for your pain, blah, blah, blah. When the time comes, you’ll find a new woman.”

Hades arched a brow in a show of derision. “This from the male who’s been waiting for the human—what’s her name? Hillbillian...no. Sillian...no, no, Gillian.” As William sucked in a breath, he nodded. “Yes. That’s her. You’ve been waiting—drooling—for her to turn eighteen so you could pounce.”

Those crystalline eyes narrowed to tiny slits, black lashes fusing together. “That’s different.”

“How?”

“She’s mine.” William beat at his chest with a tightly clenched fist. “Mine.”

“And yet you haven’t kept little Willy in your pants.”

“Big Willy, thank you very much.”

“So, what does that tell you?” Hades insisted.

“Tells me I’m a man with very particular needs.”

“Or that you can, in fact, live without her.”