He gives me a ghost of a smile. “I don’t want to beat him. I want him dead.”
Chapter 21
Hades
I wake up with Persephone in my arms. It’s become my favorite part of the day, that first slide of awareness and the warmth of her. Despite what she said that first time, she’s a cuddler, and it doesn’t matter where we start out when we fall asleep, because she finds her way to me in the dark. Over and over again, every night we spend together in my bed.
If I was a hopeful kind of man, I’d see this as a sign of something more. I know better. She likes what we do together. She even likes me at least a tolerable amount. But the only reason we’re together right now is because we’re on parallel paths to make Zeus pay. The second that’s accomplished, this ends.
Neither of us is fool enough to believe the last few weeks are anything but the quiet before the storm. Everyone thinks Zeus is loud and brash, but he’s only that way to distract from what he’s doing behind the scenes. For three weeks, he’s been attending parties and acting as if nothing is wrong. Demeter hasn’t publicly followed through on her threat, but the shipments into the lower city have decreased a marked amount. If we hadn’t spent years preparing to be cut off, my people would be suffering right now.
All for pride.
I smooth Persephone’s golden hair back from her face. If I was a better man… But I’m not. I’ve set myself on this path and I’ll see it through to the end. I should be delighted that she wants to play out the fantasy I described to her that night. Maybe her fucking me isn’t enough to force Zeus’s hand, but every time she rides my cock in public, we get closer to that point. Every time the rumor mill swirls with what people have witnessed while visiting my playroom, her perceived value decreases in Zeus’s eyes. A brilliant move, even if I’m not making it for brilliant reasons.
She wants it. I want to give it to her. That’s enough of a reason for me.
Persephone stirs against me and opens those hazel eyes. She smiles. “Morning.”
The dull thump in my chest that happens more and more around her gains teeth and claws. I can’t help smiling in response, even as part of me wants to get the fuck out of this bed and start walking and not stop until I have myself under control. Just because I’ve never felt like this before doesn’t mean I’m not aware of what’s happening.
I’m falling for Persephone.
Maybe there’d be time to save myself if I backed out now, but I’m not so sure. Either way, it doesn’t matter. I’m not stopping until I have to, no matter how much pain it causes at the end of this. I smooth her hair back again. “Morning.”
She cuddles closer and lays her head on my scarred chest as if the sight doesn’t repulse her. Who knows? Maybe it doesn’t. She’d be the only one, though. I had one relationship very early on where I was naked with my partner, and his response was strong enough to ensure I never did it again. Maybe others would have been more welcoming, but I never gave them the chance.
Not like I’m giving her the chance now.
“Are things going okay?” Her hand quivers like she wants to touch me, but then she seems to forcibly still it on my waist. Respecting how hard it still is for me to lie here in the morning light with my scars exposed. “You haven’t said much this week about supply lines and the like.”
I release a slow breath and try to relax. I don’t know if I want her to touch me or not touch me. I don’t know shit when it comes to this woman, apparently. It’s almost a relief to focus on the greater problem outside this bedroom. “We’re in a holding pattern. The supplies keep dwindling, but we were prepared for that. Zeus hasn’t so much as prodded our borders.”
She tenses. “I can’t believe my mother would be so cruel. I’m so sorry. I honestly thought…” She gives a mirthless laugh. “I don’t know what I thought that first night. That no one would miss me if I disappeared? It seems very shortsighted when I look back now.”
“It wasn’t shortsighted so much as you were terrified and reacting.” But I know Persephone well enough now to know that acting without a plan amounts to an unforgivable sin. “It just means you’re human. Humans get scared and run sometimes. It’s not something you need to beat yourself up over.”
She huffs out a breath, but she’s still staring at things beyond this room. “I don’t get to be human. Not when my whole future hangs in the balance. And even then, I should have been thinking of someone other than myself.”
So we’re back to this.
I gather her into my arms and hold her close. “Do you trust me, Persephone?”
“What?” She cranes her neck to see my face, her dark brows pulled together. “What kind of question is that?”
“A legitimate one.” I try not to hold my breath while I wait for a response.
Thank the gods she doesn’t make me wait long. Persephone nods, suddenly solemn. “Yes, Hades, I trust you.”
The clawing feeling in my chest only gets stronger. It feels like my heart is trying to dig its way through calcified tissue
