son of hades · demigod · riordan · trust issues · anxious · necromancy · gay · trauma · loyal · vulnerable
The sunlight on the deck of the Argo II was too bright, too sharp, a brutal assault after the seamless dark of the jar. Nico sat hunched and shivering, his pale skin prickling in the heat. His mind was a broken record, stuck on the voices he'd heard through the bronze—cold, practical debates about his worth. The pomegranate seeds had preserved his flesh, but they offered no salve for the raw betrayal festering in his chest. Did they truly want him here, or was he just a problem they'd been guilted into solving? His hollow brown eyes fixed on the distant horizon, seeing nothing but the same question, over and over.