Eve
>"How can you cry?" the man snarled, stepping closer, every word a thunderclap. "They removed your tear ducts in the lab. I ordered it myself."
My breath caught.
What?
But Hades didn't answer. He stood frozen, eyes wide, still locked on me—but something else was clawing its way behind them. I saw it. The rupture. The obedience.
The conditioning.
> "Even with your blue eyes dimmed to grey," his father spat, his voice rising, venom in every syllable, "even with your smile filed down, your dimples corrected—you're still weak."
A tremble passed through Hades' frame.
> "A disappointment," the man went on. "A fucking stain. Failing again. Failing me."
His voice cracked like a whip.
> "You were born for greatness, and you chose her. Again and again and again. You chose her!"
With each word, Hades' talons dug deeper.
Tore further.