Read Prison of Hope for Free Online

yeah—Mordred and his plans,” I said with a forced smile.
    “Kurt once told me that Mordred used to be a good man. It’s a shame how he ended up.”
    “That was a very long time ago,” I almost whispered. “And he’s never going to hurt anyone else ever again.” Mordred had removed my memories while trying to kill me, but I’d managed to escape. I’d spent the next decade living a life that wasn’t mine. On the plus side, once I’d recovered my past, I’d taken a great delight in being able to put Mordred in the ground permanently.
    Petra watched me for a second, and then a smile spread over her lips. “So, why are you here?”
    I explained about the school visit and how there had been a few issues with one of the witches at the hotel.
    “Witches,” she said with a slight snarl. “I never understood them. Humans playing at being sorcerers, and angry because it doesn’t work out how they want.”
    It wasn’t the first time I’d heard witches described in that way. Even those who used to be human often saw them as humans with delusions of grandeur. “Well, apparently, this particular witch holds quite the grudge. Besides, not all of them are bad, Petra.”
    Petra snorted in disdain. “When I worked for Hades, I had the pleasure of dealing with Demeter and her damn witches on a regular basis. Their insanity gave me a bad impression of the whole lot of them.”
    “Demeter has that effect on people,” I said and finished off my burger while Petra laughed.
    “So, since you’ve been back . . .”—Petra rubbed her hands over one another—“have you . . . you know, . . . have you seen her ?”
    “Her?” I asked.
    “Don’t be an ass; you know exactly whom I mean.”
    “No, I haven’t seen Selene.”
    “I heard that when everyone thought you were dead, she was inconsolable.”
    “Bet that pleased her husband,” I said with slightly more anger in my voice than I’d intended. “You know—the man she left me for.”
    “She still loves—”
    I raised a hand to stop her there. Selene and I had been together for nearly thirty years, until the late 1920s, when she’d left me for another man. Despite many people at the time—Petra included—trying to explain to me that it wasn’t as black and white as I made it out to be, I didn’t care. Didn’t care then, and still don’t. She left me; end of story.
    “Whenever Selene’s husband or another of Hera’s cronies visits Tartarus, she always comes here. She’s always alone, and she always asks about you. Always , Nathan.”
    I shrugged. “She’s made her bed; she can fuck her husband in it.”
    Petra’s eyes narrowed. “If I thought you meant that, I’d slap you so damn hard.”
    “Whatever was once between Selene and me is dead and buried. It’s best that people leave it that way. She married someone else.” Petra opened her mouth, and I kept talking to stop her from interrupting. “I don’t care what the reasons were; I don’t care if she still harbors some unrequited love for me. If love were that goddamn important to her, she’d have stayed with me in the first place. So fuck Selene, fuck her husband, and fuck the idea of me seeking some kind of solace in the hope that she and I will get back together.”
    Petra slapped me.
    It wasn’t hard—more of a tap than anything. A true slap from a werewolf would have knocked me aside by a few feet, but it was loud enough that several of the other patrons stopped eating or talking, to glance my way.
    Petra stood up, fire in her eyes. “You can be a cold, arrogant man, Nathan Garrett. Maybe you’re not the only one who was a victim of what happened between you.”
    I glanced up at my old friend. “She’s not a victim; she walked out on me and married someone else. All because her dad asked her to.” My words were barely above a whisper. “I showed her how much she meant to me every single day. At least I did before she decided to run off with the jumped-up little prick who