I stopped thinking about escape.

  That was the first thing I noticed. The thought used to linger at the back of my mind like a whisper, a stubborn ember refusing to die. But now?

  Now, it felt distant.

  As if it had belonged to a different version of me.

  I told myself it was because I was recovering. I was getting stronger. Building myself back up.

  That was the lie I had to believe.

  And Hades?

  He was making sure I did.

  He didn’t lock me away. He didn’t demand my loyalty.

  Instead, he made me want to stay.

  “You were never a monster, Medusa.”

  He said it often. Sometimes in passing, sometimes in the quiet of the throne room, when my thoughts threatened to turn against me.

  “You were something else entirely. Something the world feared because they didn’t understand it.”

  At first, I pushed against the words. I told him I knew what I was. I had seen it reflected in the terrified eyes of men who had met their end at my feet.

  But Hades was patient.

  He never argued. He simply let my own mind do the work.

  Let me question myself.

  Because if I wasn’t the monster, if I wasn’t the curse…

  Then who was I?

  Who had I ever been?

  One night, he brought me to the edge of a great cavern, where rivers of molten fire burned against black stone.

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  I knew this place.

  It was where souls were forged into weapons.

  Hades stepped beside me, watching the fire. “You’ve spent so long wielding your curse like a blade,” he murmured. “But I wonder—do you even know how to fight without it?”

  Something stirred in me at the challenge.

  I turned my head slightly, meeting his gaze. “I don’t need a curse to survive.”

  Hades smiled. It was small, but it sent something twisting through my chest. Satisfaction.

  “Then prove it,” he said.

  And I did.

  For the first time since I had lost my serpents, I fought—not with my eyes, not with fear, but with my body.

  And Hades watched.

  Not like a teacher, not like someone waiting for me to fail.

  He watched like he was waiting for me to realise something.

  And I did.

  The power I had once wielded wasn’t gone. It had only changed.

  I wasn’t weak. I wasn’t broken.

  I was becoming something else.

  Something stronger.

  Hades never said it aloud. He didn’t need to.

  But I knew.

  This was what he wanted.

  Not a pet. Not a prisoner.

  A weapon.

  It was nearly a week before Orion returned.

  He found me at the edge of the underworld, standing at the banks of the river of fire, my muscles sore from training, my hands raw from the hours of combat.

  He didn’t speak at first.

  He just stared.

  And when he finally opened his mouth, his voice was hoarse.

  “Medusa… what are you doing?”

  I exhaled, rolling the tension from my shoulders. “What does it look like?”

  His expression darkened. “It looks like you’re—” He stopped, his jaw clenching. “It looks like you’re losing yourself.”

  I frowned. “I’m getting stronger.”

  Orion shook his head, his eyes sharp with something like pain. “Stronger for what?”

  I hated the question.

  Because I didn’t have an answer.

  For what?

  For him?

  For Hades?

  Or for myself?

  I turned back to the flames, my voice quiet. “I needed something to fight for.”

  Orion inhaled sharply. “And Hades gave it to you?”

  I didn’t answer.

  I didn’t have to.

  The silence was the answer.

  His expression hardened. “You think he’s helping you.” His voice wasn’t angry. It was something worse. Desperate. “But he’s only making sure that when you finally realize the truth—there’s nothing left of you to save.”

  Something cracked in my chest.

  A moment of hesitation.

  Hades would have noticed it. But Orion? He only saw the girl he used to know, the one who had fought beside him, who had hated the gods and their cruelty.

  And maybe she was still there. Buried beneath it all.

  But I wasn’t ready to find her yet.

  So I looked away.

  And when Orion finally spoke again, his voice was tired.

  “I hope, when the time comes, you still remember who you are.”

  Then he left.

  And I didn’t stop him.

  That night, I didn’t sleep.

  I sat by the fire, my thoughts tangled, my hands still raw from the hours of combat.

  Orion’s words echoed in my head, carving wounds I didn’t want to acknowledge.

  He’s only making sure that when you finally realize the truth—there’s nothing left of you to save.

  No. That wasn’t true.

  I wasn’t losing myself.

  I was becoming something else.

  Something stronger.

  Something the world couldn’t take from me again.

  And if that meant standing beside the god of the dead?

  Then so be it.