Daughter of the Earth and Sky by Kaitlin Bevis

he was trying to solve.
    I shrugged. I wasn’t going to mention that I couldn’t kill just any god. Killing Boreas had been a stroke of luck. He’d sworn allegiance to Zeus, pledging his powers behind Zeus’ mysterious cause. Gods pass on a portion of their powers to their children. Since their children were once a part of them, gods are only vulnerable to their kids. A strange and messed up system that had allowed my mother’s generation to kill the Titans. Since I was Zeus’ daughter, Boreas had been as vulnerable to me as he’d made himself to Zeus.
    “Hades, talk some sense into your young bride. You see what that creature is. You know how dangerous she can be.”
    “Creature?” I demanded. “It? That girl is one of us!”
    Hades hesitated. “I can’t justify her death for something she could do.”
    “Fine.” Poseidon shrugged. “I wash my hands of this. She’s your responsibility now.” He met my eyes with a level stare. “If the world crumbles, you’d better hope Boreas wasn’t a fluke.”
    Hades moved forward, eyes flaring. I grabbed his hand holding him back.
    “Poseidon, you’ve lived this long, so you must have a healthy sense of self-preservation.” I kept my tone light. “So let me get this straight. You’re a god. You sent me a message to deal with this because you know I’ve killed a god before. You also know in the event of your untimely demise, my husband would determine where to send your soul…”
    “Is that a threat?” Poseidon growled.
    “As subtle as yours,” Hades retorted.
    Poseidon grinned at me. “You are spirited.” He shook his head and stepped into the water. He made a sharp motion with his hand, and I saw the shield around the girl fall. “Enjoy the family reunion.” He vanished before I could blink.
    “On a scale of one to ten, how badly did I just screw up?” I asked.
    Hades shrugged. “I’d never want that scumbag for an ally anyway. I forgot how much I hate him.”
    The girl in the water met my gaze and made her way toward us. I chewed my lip nervously. How were we going to handle this? If she was a danger to everyone around her, the safest place for her would be in the Underworld, but she couldn’t go to the Underworld like I had. Hades had marked me as his bride to make it possible to travel between realms, but gods only get one spouse.
    I bet he regretted that now. She needed to be down there more than I had. And she would make a much better queen. She was so regal, even dripping wet and trudging through waves.
    She was prettier than me.
    She was taller and thinner, looking every bit like a supermodel. Her hair was a gorgeous shade of red. She flashed Hades a beautiful smile, and I felt a pang of envy. It was a strange sensation. I’d never really experienced jealousy before. For all the trouble my appearance had caused me, I’d never felt ugly or plain like I did right now.
    Hades watched her approach. Of course he would be watching her; she was a freaking vision of beauty standing before him. I bet he’d look past their age difference. When she reached the shore, he extended a hand to help her out of the water, and something in my mind snapped.
    “Don’t touch him!” I shrieked, flying at her.
    Hades intercepted me before my clawed hands could reach her perfect face. She stepped back into the water, eyes wide.
    “You whore!” I yelled. “Stay away from him!” I struggled to get out of Hades’ grip. Scratching and clawing at him, trying to get to her through the red haze of anger filling my mind. I was dimly aware that he was speaking, but couldn’t focus on anything but her.
    Hades swore and let me go, pushing me behind him as he reached for her. I gave a wordless shriek when he grabbed her arm, pulling her roughly onto the shore.
    “Turn it off!” Hades snapped at her. At her blank stare, he swore again. Hades tightened his grip and pushed her toward the tree line. She cried out, some part of my mind heard the terror in her voice and