CHAPTER XXXI: TO CLAIM A QUEEN

CHAPTER XXXI – TO CLAIM A QUEEN

Hades watched from a distance as Persephone walked across the grand stage at her graduation. She looked beautiful, her honeyed hair gleaming beneath the bright sun, her skin glistening like gold, and a smile curving her perfect lips.

“She looks so…happy,” Hades said, more to himself than anyone else, but Hecate was there to answer.

“Of course she’s happy. She just spent four years in purgatory.”

“College, Hecate,” Hermes corrected. “I think you mean college.”

“Same thing,” she shot back.

“She invited me to the afterparty,” Hermes said with a grin, and Hades tried not to smirk when Hecate elbowed him in the ribs.

“Ouch! Stop!”

He tracked Persephone as she left the stage, holding onto her hat as the wind blew. It picked up her scent and carried it to him, leaving him feeling hollow. It was then she paused and looked in their direction.

“Oh, oh! I think she sees us!” Hermes waved.

“She can’t see us, we’re invisible!” Hecate said, elbowing him in the ribs again.

“Watch it, Hecate! I’ll turn you into a goat!”

“Just try, feather feet!”

Hades sighed and rolled his eyes at the two, but quickly focused on Persephone again. She seemed troubled, a line forming between her brows and the corners of her mouth dropping. It was in that moment he thought he saw the truth of her heart—she was just as devastated as he was. It was almost unbearable, and the thread that still connected them throbbed in his chest.

He ached for her, wanted her, loved her.

“Go to her,” Hecate encouraged.

“She would deny me,” Hades said.

“Maybe,” Hermes replied.

Hecate raised her arm again, and the god flinched, shuffling a few feet away. She turned back to Hades and argued.

“She would welcome you. She loves you.”

“She loved me,” Hades said.

“Do you want me to call you an idiot again?”

Hades glared.

“At least she told you she loved you,” Hecate said, hands on her hips. “She still hasn’t heard those words from you.”

He frowned and felt ashamed. Hecate was right, he should have told her he loved her the moment he realized it. All this time, he had gone on about how she was his goddess and queen, and he had not even managed to say the three words that would illustrate the truth of how he felt because he feared her rejection.

Persephone’s attention turned from them as Lexa’s name was called. She cheered for her best friend as she walked across the stage, and the two embraced before they returned to their seats. Despite his painful thoughts, Hades found himself smiling as he watched her continue living.

He had few regrets in his long life, but one of them would always be never telling her how much he loved her.

***

Hecate flung open the door to Hades’ chambers. It was noon, and he was still in bed, exhausted from a night of bitter bargains at Nevernight.

“Get up!” she said, and threw open the curtains, letting in daylight. Hades groaned and rolled over, covering his head.

“Go away, Hecate.”

There was a pause, and then his blanket was torn away.

“Hecate!” Hades sat up, frustrated.

“Why are you naked?” she demanded, as if she had just seen something horrifying.

“Because,” he said, gesturing to his room, “I’m in bed!”

She tossed the blanket back to him.

“What are you doing?” he demanded.

“We’re going to get Persephone,” she said. “Well, you’re going to get her. I’m going to help.”

“We’ve been through this, Hecate—”

“Shut up,” she snapped. “I miss her, the souls miss her, you miss her. Why are we spending all this time missing her when we can just…get her back?”

Hades laughed, mostly from disbelief. “If it were that easy—”

“It is that easy!” Hecate threw up her hands, frustrated. “You’ve spent all this time waiting for the Fates to take her away, but they didn’t. You did.”

“She left, Hecate. Not me.”

“So? It doesn’t mean you cannot go get her. It doesn’t mean you can’t still tell her you love her. It doesn’t mean you can’t still fight for her. You’re the one who always talks about actions. Why don’t you live by your words?”

“Fine,” Hades gritted out. “We’ll go, and then you’ll see once and for all that she does not want me.”

He threw off the blanket Hecate had thrown back at him.

“For Fates’ sake, put some clothes on!” she snapped.

“If you did not wish to see me naked, Hecate, then you should have come to me when I was not in bed.”

“Forgive me for assuming you’d be clothed,” she snapped, rolling her eyes.

Hades sighed, frustrated as he disappeared into the bathroom, splashing water on his face. He was tired. He had not slept well since Persephone had left, and his mood had changed. He was quick tempered, fighting more with everyone, even Hecate. It had to stop, and maybe this would put an end to it, or make it all worse.

He glamoured up and returned to his room, where Hecate waited.

“I’ve been thinking,” she said, rubbing her hands together. “We should make this a bet. If she runs into your arms like I think she will, then I require more room for my pois—plants. For my plants.”

Hades raised a brow. “Fine. You want a bargain?” he said. “If I win, then I never want to hear another word about Persephone again.”

Hecate rolled her eyes. “Deal,” she said, then added, “For someone who can taste lies, you sure spout a lot of them. You had better get ready to give up a fourth of your realm, lover boy.”

***

Hades paced the length of his chamber, waiting for Hecate to give him the signal—a burst of magic she would send when she located his goddess. He had not been able to concentrate since she left. As much as he hated to admit it, Hecate had given him hope.

He paused, frowning at himself in the mirror, realizing for the first time just how much Persephone had changed him. She had made him want things he’d never wanted before, like a life that offered a little more simplicity. He wanted walks and picnics and burnt cookies. He wanted to laugh and to never go to bed alone again.

This was the first time in his life he hoped to lose a bet.

He felt the pulse of Hecate’s magic, and something rock-hard settled in his stomach as he followed it, appearing outside The Coffee House. When he saw Persephone, his whole chest ached. Fuck, she is beautiful. She’d pulled her hair up, away from her graceful neck, but golden ringlets had worked their way free. She wore white, the straps of her dress thin, exposing her lithe, freckled shoulders.

Hecate sat beside her as the two spoke, and he caught part of the conversation.

“So, go to him. Tell him why you hurt, tell him how to fix it. Isn’t that what you’re good at?”

Hades wanted to laugh.

Persephone did and rubbed her eyes, and he thought that maybe she was trying hard not to cry. His chest ache.

“Oh, Hecate. He doesn’t want to see me.”

She was wrong, so wrong. It struck him that perhaps they had both made assumptions about the other. Maybe they had wanted to see each other this whole time. Maybe if he had just done what he had wanted to all along, go to her, see her, hold her, he would not have felt this agony.

“How do you know?” Hecate asked.

“Don’t you think if he wanted me, he would have come for me?”

Oh, darling, Hades thought. I will spend the rest of my life showing you how much I want you.

“Perhaps he was just giving you time,” Hecate replied, and lifted her head to meet his gaze.

Persephone followed her stare, and when their eyes met, she rose from her chair and broke into a run. Their bodies collided in a familiar way as Hades lifted her off the ground and her legs found their home around his waist. Their bodies sealed together tightly.

“I missed you,” he said, his head buried in her hair.

“I missed you, too.”

He would never let her go again.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. Her fingers brushed his cheek and his lips, and her touch ignited a fire with him so acute, he thought he might turn to ash. He had missed this—burning for her.

“Me, too,” he said. “I love you. I should have told you sooner. I should have told you that night in the baths. I knew then.”

Her smile was beautiful, and it was something he wanted to win every day of his life.

“I love you, too.”

Their lips touched, and that fire inside him grew, heady and molten. His grip tightened, his hands pressing into her lower back. He wanted her to feel how much he missed her, how hard he was for her. He wanted her to understand what awaited her once they left this place. They would spend the weekend in bed, sequestered to his bedroom. He would have her in ways he had never had her before, and she would come, screaming his name, left in no doubt of his love for her.

The claws of her passion reached deep, but before they could commence their weekend of bliss, he had one more thing claim. As he broke their kiss, Persephone gave a frustrated growl and tried to regain their connection. Hades chuckled at her eagerness, holding her just a little tighter, grinding his cock into her softness, a promise that he would soon be inside her.

“I wish to claim my favor, goddess,” he said. For a moment, her eyes widened, so he spoke quickly, hoping to ease her anxiety. “Come to the Underworld with me.”

She opened her mouth, but Hades claimed it in a kiss, and when he pulled away, he rested his forehead against hers.

“Live between worlds,” he begged. “But do not leave us forever. My people, your people, me.”

She gave a breathy laugh, her eyes watering, and nodded. “Of course.”

Hades returned her smile. It was like she had just given him the world, and he would treasure her gift forever. After a moment, Persephone’s grin became impish, and she smoothed her hands across his chest.

“I’m eager for a game of cards.”

He tilted his head. He did not think it was possible, but his cock grew harder at her request, his mind running wild with the possibilities—hours of foreplay, erotic words, and amazing sex.

“Poker?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“The stakes?”

“Your clothes,” she answered, already unbuttoning his shirt.

Who was he to deny a queen?