********************************************************************************************

I am ushered to the large, cold doors that lead into the throne room.

I stare up at the steel hinges willing this to all be a dream.

Some sort of sick joke.

Willing myself to wake back up in my small cottage back home.

Safe. Away from all this madness...The reason I had escaped in the first place.

Yet...here we are again. And this time, the price tag it bears is one neither of us can afford.

One of the guards gives me a firm nudge and I burst through the room.

Time completely slows the second my vision pinpoints him.

Oh stupid, stupid Valentine. Why did you come?

He'd risked everything by entering Hades' territory, his life, his crown, his own kingdom. He willingly took the bait...for me.

Our gazes collide and shivers dance down the length of my spine. I want to react, to shout, to warn him to run, but my body is possessed again.

My face is contorted into a cold, unrecognizing glare, completely against my will as I pin him with my own shiny brown irises.

"You Bastard." spits Valentine to his brother.

"What did you do to her?"

His eyes gloss over and he turns back to me. "I'm so sorry Papillon. I love you." he whispers. I want to cry. To answer. To apologize and tell him I love him too, but my body refuses to give in.

"You've lost, brother" admonishes Hades from his throne on the alter. Valentine bares his teeth and clenches his jaw so tight, it seems his veins might burst. He struggles against the chains restraining him and spits back: "The God of Thunder NEVER loses."

At that, Hades lets out a dark, menacing chuckle.

"We will see about that, dear brother."

With this, he turns to me. "Will you do me the honors, your highness" he grits out, never breaking eye-contact with Valentine. Watching him closely to gauge his reaction. He was clearly enjoying watching his brother suffer.

Instantly, my body jerks to life, marching me over to Valentine's chained figure below. I want to pull back but as usual, I can't.

My body makes it all the way down the dais before coming to a halt right before his knelt form. He peers up at me, his sky blue gaze swarming purple at the edges as he inspects me closely.

"Did he hurt you?" He whispers up at me, his voice wavering. I yearn to touch him but I can't. He lets out another sorrowful cry as my hands move up to his head. Tears flood my vision as the rest of my face still refuses to break way to my true emotions.

My trembling fingers wrap themselves delicately along the length of his crystal-smooth crown.

Slowly, they pry the crown from his head, just like that, dethroning him. As I do it, he peers deep into my molten gaze but nods.

"It will be okay. I will take you home, papillon." he whispers again. A promise I'm almost certain he wont be able to keep. This tears at my heart and for the second time in months, something inside me breaks.

The moment is up too soon before I am spun around. I march back over to the dais, ascending my way up to Hades with the fate of Olympus now resting in my mortal hands. Meant to serve it to him on a platter.

My body comes to an abrupt halt short of the throne as I seize Hades with my torn glare.

He offers me a brooding smile as he rises from the iron seat. Carefully kneeling before me, his cruel eyes peer up to me as he speaks:

"Go ahead. Coronate me, my Blood Queen" he commands.

As I hover the crown over his head I force a thought through his mind-link, knowing he is listening. There shall be no rest for the wicked.

At this, his brooded smile grows in size when he retorts. 'I don't intend to do any resting.'

I want to reach out and slap him, but I am still under his complete control, and was to remain that way until...

My stomach drops for the hundredth time today remembering what was to come after this. I feel the weight of the dagger in the hidden pocket of my robe.

I can do nothing but watch mortified as my steady hands gently settle the sky crown onto Hades' head. His smooth locs press against his cranium as I tighten the crown onto his skull.

It was done.

The first part was done.

I barely have time to avert my gaze when a soft glow arises from the crown as it sears onto him. He lets out a low, god-like growl as a deadly wind picks up, reverberating against the sturdy walls of the castle.

His grey eyes blanche completely as white sparks start traveling all throughout his body.

"I've waited too long for this moment" he revels as a powerful, bright beam engulfs his levitating body.

My body trembles as his hold on me is temporarily released and I stumble, regaining control of my limbs.

Wasting no time, I take a split decision and break for the door, praying that he stays distracted long enough for me to put as much distance as possible between me and this throne room.

I make it off the final step of the dais before I am seized on the arm by a familiarly strong grip. Valentine.

"No, Valentine stop-listen to me-" I warn pulling away from his iron grasp around me despite the metal chains fastened at his wrists, but he doesn't let me fucking finish.

"I won't let him hurt you, I promise. I've already lost you twice, I won't lose you again!" He yells over me. The commotion is enough to pull Hades' attention back to the throne room.

'You. Idiot.' I swear to myself as his command seizes my body again.

'You know what needs to be done' taunts Hades' command from the depths of my mind as the nauseating bloodlust from earlier returns, curdling in my stomach like sour milk.

It's too late. I missed my window, and now he would pay...with his life. I would pay with my sanity. And Olympus would pay with its existence.

Mechanically, I spin into Valentines hold and peer up at him, my face once again an emotionless mask. That growing feeling in me beckons me forward and I take another step closer to him. I want to throw up. Inside, I am a mourning, sullen, gaping mess. But on the exterior, I am the picture of composure.

"You got what you wanted. A deal is a deal. Now release us" commands Valentine at his brother.

'Oh you stupid, stupid boy' I think to myself as I will more tears to my eyes.

The manacles bounding his arms glow a bright, white hue before disappearing, freeing both his hands.

Immediately, he envelops me into a tight embrace. He draws back and observes me as if to be sure I am really there. As if this is also just a dream for him. I want to tell him to get as far away from me as he can, but my body won't let me do anything until the curse is fulfilled.

Still furious, he glances towards his brother and spits. "You can have all every last crown in this universe and the next, Hades, But you will NEVER be a true king."

With that, he turns back to me.

I don't notice when I do it, I'm too enveloped in shock and dejection to process how and when I'd managed to extract the dagger from my gown.

My heart pounds and my ears ring as tears finally flood my eyes to the brim, my wavering hand now clutching the blade just behind my back.

I try my hardest to fight, to resist, but the curse is too strong.

I am tortured by the reminder that nothing lies ahead but the scathing certainty of doom.

I stifle soft sobs as Valentine seizes my head in his soft hands, his relief-crowded eyes inspecting me once more for any scratches.

"I thought I would lose you" he whispers to me, his own eyes watering as well.

I will never forgive myself for this. Never.

As I try to stall as much as I can, I can feel Hades' command seizing my body when my free hand reaches up to caress Valentine.

I am a trembling mess.

I take in his features one las time, tangling my hand in his beautiful, snow-white locks, as if it were going to be the last time.

Though he seems a little thrown off, he does not protest.

This is it.

"I-I love you" is the only thing my soft voice can muster before drawing him close to me.

Slowly, I bring my lips up to his.

'Kiss him as you once kissed me.'

I gradually deepen the kiss as that bloodlust oozes from the pit of my stomach and takes over, dousing my bones in an irresistible hunger.

There is nothing more I can do.

As I push more ferocity into the kiss, Valentine begins to pull away but I don't let him.

My grasp on him tightens and I draw him in even closer.

I can feel it. It is time.

'You will drive this dagger through your lover's heart.'

A second goes by.

'You will drive this dagger through your lover's heart.'

Another second goes by.

And another. And another.

'You will drive this dagger through your lover's heart.'

As his words play over in my head, a dark, dark realization surfaces. Haunting me. A secret I willed myself to renounce, but brought forth only by the shackles of the curse.

My eyes flicker open as the dagger-wielding hand comes up from behind my back.

Shaking, it slowly but steadily guides itself towards the center of Valentine's back.

My gaze wavers over to Hades ahead on the throne, watching carefully as the sky-crown rests atop his fluorescent figure's head.

I let out a shaky breath before shutting my eyes and mustering up the last of my strength.

Memories of us in the garden flash across my vision. That care-free look on his face as we laughed the evening away.

I take another deep breath.

Memories of us in his chambers, with his gentle lips pressed flush against my skin.

I sob into Valentine's kiss. I sob at my predicament. I sob at my helplessness. But most of all, I sob at my revelation.

'You will drive this dagger through your lover's heart.'

Very well.

A lone, icy tear escapes and rolls down the full length of my cheek as I push Valentine out of the way and turn the cold, pointed dagger towards Hades: Aiming. Straight. For. His. Heart.

It isn't until the dagger leaves my grip in a ferocious lunge that I realize...

...realize just how much I underestimated...

...my love for the wicked.