Thank you everybody who has been on the journey of this with me!

I know it has been long, drawn-out and probably frustrating but I am finally at the last chapter, when Hades meets his child. I intend to write only one more in the Dead Chronicles series, just to finish off the story. It will be The Dead Chronicles: Children of the Unseen One. I will get around to starting it soon on this site.

Thank you to all who read this mini-series from start to finish and encouraged me to continue writing. Your reviews mean so much to me, especially the lovely guest who asked me if I was an author in my day job. The short answer is no - but I mean to be. All of your support means the world, dear readers. I hope you enjoy these as much as I have had the pleasure of writing them.

But for now, let us return to the Underworld for this final chapter...

Hades heard a cry, but he couldn't move. He was paralysed for the first time in a long time by incalculable worries.

How am I to father this new goddess? What will our family be like in the untold days to come?

To a god, the future was vast and varied. New life meant that the future had been forever altered. To Hades - who considered his siblings and parents to be causes of a lot of the troubles the world faced - creating his own family was terrifying. His memories of his father were filled with despair and horror. His visages of his mother were tainted by longing and loneliness. To this day there was a genuine tenderness for his mother in his heart, to be sure, but all Hades knew of fatherhood was terror and lust for power. All of his childhood had been stolen from him in the depths of the Maw, eaten by his father's desire to continue to rule the realms unchallenged.

Hades knew he wasn't like his father. His resolve was different, as was his attitude towards power. But the fear lingered that perhaps without a mentor in how to become a kind and generous father, he would fail to be one himself. His brothers weren't sources of hope in terms of fatherhood either. Zeus had more mortal and immortal offspring then could be counted. His descendants were everywhere and Zeus left them largely to fend for themselves. Poseidon had a few heirs to his wife and a legion of various mortal and immortal offspring to various water nymphs, women and queens. Even when he was seated at the Throne of his power and surrounded by his wife and their children, Poseidon's wandering eye meant that he had little time or patience for them.

Hades felt he was walking in blind to something that, history suggested, could go terribly wrong.

Eileithyia tapped his shoulder and he almost struck out at her in his shock. She was glowing, thrilled by her success. She almost seemed not to walk but to bounce in energetic steps around him, overjoyed by the new life she had helped bring into the world.

"She's wonderful and she's waiting for you, Hades," she prompted.

Hades swallowed. His attempt at the role of a father began now, for better or for worse. It was an overwhelming thought.

Eileithyia saw his terror and gave him a gentle hug, full of compassion. He stood frozen in her embrace as she patted the new father on the back.

"It's going to be okay," she reassured the stricken King.

"I never meant for this to eventuate," Hades told her. "I am not certain..."

"She already loves you," Eileithyia told him, stepping back and letting the King of the Underworld go. "And believe me, you will want to hold her before Hecate gets here."

Hades gave a splutter of resigned laughter and took a few steps in the right direction.

I already love her so much.

The thought gave him courage. He opened the door without looking back.

The sight that met his eyes was a peaceful one. Daeira was changing the linen, her arms full of clean sheets for the Queen's bed. She gave her King a wonderful smile and he swore for a moment she had stars in her eyes.

"Congratulations!" Daeira gushed.

Hades nodded. It was all he could do in thanks for her work. But the nymph understood and continued on her way, humming a merry tune.

Behind the nymph was a roaring fire crackling merrily in the black hearth. Hades could have sworn he spotted the goddess Hestia spying on the new baby from within the leaping tongues of flame but she made no comment or greeting.

But what stole his attention completely was the wonderful visage of Persephone tucked comfortably in the bed with his daughter Macaria in her arms. He moved as though pulled by some invisible force inexorably towards their daughter.

Their baby was astonishing. She was flush with good health, her cheeks slightly crimson and wide with baby-fat. Her eyes flickered towards her father and Hades crept near, careful not to frighten her. But Macaria wasn't scared. Her perfect pink lips parted and she gasped. Her eyes seemed to mesmerise him. They were an astonishing vivid green-blue, wonderful and bright with attention. She had his hair, thick and blacker than the night, in perfect tufts across her head. She had her mother's rosy complexion and button nose. She had tiny eyebrows. Her every feature seemed divine.

As he stared, Macaria's eyes drifted shut and she cooed against her mother's arms. Persephone looked up at him and must have caught the light of wonder in his face.

"You should hold her," Persephone told him. "She's so warm."

He kissed her first, long and tenderly against her moist lips. Persephone gave him another smile after he'd drawn away for breath and held their daughter aloft. Hades, trembling slightly, took Macaria with the utmost care. As he settled her into his arms it dawned on him that he was holding the most precious thing in the world to him. The realisation made him grin.

She was warm and weighed almost nothing. He was worried he'd wake her but Macaria just stared at who was holding her, lay some of her tiny fingers across his hand and went back to sleep.

"Hello beautiful princess," he uttered, brushing the lightest of kisses across his daughter's head.

Dad.

Hades glanced up at Persephone, who's jaw had dropped open. They had both heard it - the whisper of Macaria in their minds.

"She can understand us?" Persephone uttered in astonishment.

Mum.

"Hello sweetheart," Persephone sighed, brushing her hand over the baby's swaddling. "You can rest now. Mummy's going to rest now too."

Dad.

"Daddy will stay and watch over you as you rest, love." Hades smiled. "Such talent so early. You will grow up very quickly, Macaria."

"Immortal babies can..? Actually, don't worry about that now. I will have a million questions for you later," Persephone muttered sleepily. Hades moved so that she could settle herself comfortably beneath the sheets. It didn't take long for her breathing to grow deep and slow and for sleep to take her.

Hades stood with his first daughter in his arms, revelling in her. He ordered all servants away from the rooms for a time and banned visitors until Persephone woke. He placed a ward over the door so nothing, no sound or other disruption, could travel through. Zeus himself would have had difficulty knocking and being heard against that door.

Rest?

"Yes, you should sleep," Hades murmured. Macaria smelt of a combination of baby-scent and flowers. She was so like her mother and so like her father. "We are blessed with peace for the moment. Take advantage of it. I have so much to show you, love. All the treasures of the realms. All the wonderful parts of the night and day. All our subjects, our family, our friends. Demeter will want to show you the sunshine. Hecate will want to make you things. Hermes will wish to take you flying over the world. Eros and Psyche will want to teach you of your heart. Athena will want to teach you of your intellect. Your uncles will want to meet you. There is so much for your future. But for now, sweet girl, take slumber. I will not let anything disturb you."

Macaria opened her eyes to half-mast just to stare at him but soon she was drifting, falling into dreams like her mother in the arms of her father.

Hades sat slowly on the end of Persephone's bed so as not to wake either of them and marvelled. Truly, he'd never know peace like this. Truly, he'd never seen beauty like his wife and daughter. And he knew, more than anything, he knew that in all of his days he'd never felt happiness like this.

Hades watched them both, his Queen and his new little Princess, for a very long time.