Chapter XVII

Chapter XVII

Iniquity

Hades had been summoned to Hera’s fight night nearly twelve hours ago, and though he’d been healed by Paean, he felt restless and uneasy. There was a kind of horror that thrummed through his body, a darkness he had yet to channel away. It was there when he blinked, in the form of bloodied rocks and crunching bone and the phantom pain of acid burning his skin.

He returned to the Underworld, where he had expected—or rather hoped—to find Persephone. There was a part of his brain that needed to lay eyes on her after the ordeal he’d been through, not only to ease his pain but to know that she was still here, that he had fought for her and not lost her.

He was not prepared for the sinking feeling in his chest when he did not find her asleep in their bed, roaming the garden, or at Hecate’s cabin.

“What has you so uneasy, my king?” Hecate asked when she found him outside her home.

“Could it have something to do with the fact that I have been killing all day?” he snapped.

“Murder does put one on edge,” Hecate agreed airily. “Would you like some tea?”

“What I would like is to be free of Hera’s labors,” he said.

“Hera,” Hecate said. “The Goddess of Women who does nothing but punish them. How did you earn her scorn?”

“I told her I would not overthrow Zeus,” Hades replied.

“Yet.” Hecate paused and looked at Hades, who raised a questioning brow. “What? All things must come to an end.”

Hades paused for a moment, then said, “She has threatened my future with Persephone.”

“No one but the Fates can truly threaten your future, Hades.”

“Perhaps, but Hera can turn her scorn on Persephone,” he replied. “And that would be my fault.”

“Is it your fault because you love her?” Hecate asked.

“Isn’t that enough?”

“Your greatest battle, Hades, will be recognizing that Persephone too has made the decision to love you. So there is no fault, only choice.”

It was a pretty sentiment, but he was dealing with gods—gods like him.

“That was before she knew the consequences.”

“You think so little of her love?” Hecate asked.

Hades flinched. He opened his mouth to speak but shut it once more.

“If you continue to project your doubt on her, then you do not deserve a future with her.”

They were harsh words, but Hades knew they were true.

“Now, would you like some tea? It will take your mind off things.”

“I think I’d rather have a clear mind, Hecate. I know what you put in your tea.”

She arched her brow. “Does all that alcohol give you a clear mind?”

“At this point,” Hades replied, “yes.”

Hades returned to his office, still on edge. His short conversation with Hecate made him want to see Persephone even more, if only to confirm that she still wanted this— them , their future —but once more, his fears overwhelmed him.

What would it take, he wondered, to feel such assurance?

He scrubbed his face and crossed the room to pour himself a drink. It was probably best that he put off seeing Persephone until he had a shower and real sleep anyway. Besides, it was likely she was at the hospital with Lexa, and he did not wish to intrude on their time together.

Just as he set out a glass, his phone rang. Hades answered without a greeting, though Ilias did not need one to offer his update.

“Persephone’s at Iniquity,” he said.

Hades was overcome with a sudden coldness that settled heavily in his stomach, but the shock quickly melted into something far more fierce. Once more, his uncertainty welled.

This was part of his life he had wanted to shield her from. It was one thing for her to know and attend Nevernight, another thing entirely for her to attend Iniquity.

“What is she doing there?”

Ilias’s hesitation assured Hades that he would not like the answer.

“She was dancing,” he replied. “But Kal has summoned her to his suite.”

Hades teleported, appearing beside Ilias, who had yet to hang up his phone.

Despite this, he began updating Hades on the situation as they watched what was transpiring inside Kal’s rented suite via a panel that acted as a one-way window into his room.

Numerous underworld criminals worked within the walls of this club under the close scrutiny of Hades’s staff, and while many of them believed they were being watched via a monitor, there was an additional element to each of these spaces that ensured they never worked outside Hades’s rules, including a network of secret passages that allowed observation.

Hades could not take his gaze off Persephone, who stood opposite Kal dressed in black. He hoped she at least thought of him as she had dressed, because every curve of her body was on display. The light poured over the high points of her face, creating dark hollows under her cheeks and making her look stoic and severe.

“Who brought her here?” Hades asked.

“We do not know,” he replied. “But it does seem Kal did not expect her. He sent two of his employees to confirm her identity. They have been detained.”

Hades glanced at Ilias. He would refrain from asking for details for now, given that he would likely wish to punish them just as severely as he intended to punish Kal.

He turned his attention back to the two.

“I want every detail of your relationship with Hades,” Kal was saying. “I want to know how you met him, when he first kissed you, and all the scandalous details from the first time he fucked you.”

Persephone’s mouth twisted. “You’re sick.”

“I’m a businessman, Persephone. Sex sells. Sex with gods sells better, and you, my sweet—you’re a gold mine.”

Hades’s fists tightened as Kal continued to speak.

“I’m not the only one who’s slept with Hades,” Persephone pointed out.

“But you’re the first he’s committed to, and that’s worth more than the words of a fuck buddy,” Kal replied. “He’s invested in you, which means he’ll do anything to protect you and the details of your private life.”

While Hades had expected Kal to do something stupid after he’d rejected his offer of partnership at the Hellene Racetrack, he had not quite expected this attempt at blackmail. The mortal was daring, to be sure, though he was about to discover just how powerless he was against a god.

“But you’re rich,” he heard Persephone say.

“Not like him, but that’s what you’re going to help me with, and in exchange, you get to save your friend from certain death.”

Suddenly, Hades understood what had drawn Persephone here in the first place. He’d been angry before, but now he was incensed to discover that Kal had played on such a weakness. He had dangled hope before Persephone while also breaking the rules.

It was Kal’s final strike.

Hades called to his magic, and the darkness took the form of vipers, slithering from the shadows toward Kal, whose gaze was set so intently on Persephone, he did not see them until it was too late, until they had wound their way around his body like vises, rising to strike the moment he moved. He offered a small, satisfying cry, body freezing as he faced the beady eyes of Hades’s serpents.

It was then Hades entered the room, choosing to manifest from the darkness behind Persephone. He noted how she straightened with his presence. There was a part of him that had not wanted to interrupt, wondering how far she would have gone to save Lexa, but he thought he knew her choice already, and he could not let her agree to Kal’s bargain. He had already explained the implications of bringing a soul back from limbo without their permission, but asking a Magi to do the work of a god was even worse.

“Are you threatening me, Kal?” Hades asked.

“No…never!” Kal’s voice strained as he lied.

Hades paused only an inch from Persephone, a strange electric energy buzzing between them. He took a handful of her hair as she turned her head toward him, capturing her mouth. One of her hands moved to his chest, twining into the fabric of his shirt while the other remained trapped between them. His tongue slid lightly over her lips, and as she opened for him, he brought his hand to her jaw as he deepened the kiss. He liked how she clung to him despite the odd angle, liked how she tasted, warm and wet and sweet, and he was reminded that the only thing he wished to share with the world about Persephone was that he loved her.

He pulled away, teeth grazing her bottom lip, and asked, “Are you well?”

If she said no, he would not let her stay for Kal’s inevitable punishment, but she nodded, her eyes searching his own, troubled, but he did not have time to wonder about what she saw as he turned toward Kal.

“I—I was following your rules! She summoned me !”

The mortal began moving subtly—digging his toes into the floor, tightening his fingers around the arms of his chair. It was enough to put the serpents on edge, and they began to wriggle against his skin.

“ My rules?” Hades asked, his footsteps echoing between each word. “Are you insinuating I would approve of a contract between you and my lover?”

“That would be making an exception,” Kal stated, as if he were quoting a contract from memory, though his voice quivered as he did so. “There are no exceptions in Iniquity.”

“Let me be clear,” Hades said, his magic bursting from the tips of his fingers in the form of five pointed spikes. He captured Kal’s face between them, gripping him so hard that they sliced into his skin. Blood dripped down his face in tear-like streams, which caused the snakes to slither around his body faster, frenzied with the smell of it. “Anyone who belongs to me is an exception to the rules of this club.”

Then he heaved the man from the seat he had made into a throne, and he landed on the hard, marble floor with a crack. The jarring aggravated his serpents, causing them to attack, and with each bite, Kal’s screams got louder and louder. Hades watched as his body convulsed on the floor, knowing that the bite of these snakes was unlike any other. It was the sting of his magic, a shock that went straight to the soul.

“You bastard,” Kal wailed, rolling onto his side, shaking.

“Careful, mortal,” Hades said, standing over the wounded man.

“I followed the rules,” Kal moaned. “I followed your rules.”

“I know the rules well, mortal,” Hades said. The rules were that if a mortal summoned a Magi for work, the consequences belonged to the summoning mortal.

But Persephone was not a mortal.

And Hades was not willing to let her live with the consequences of Kal’s horrible magic.

“You don’t fuck with me or my lover, understand?”

Kal’s breathing was heavy, but he managed to roll onto his stomach and lift himself onto his shaky hands and knees. When he looked up, it was Persephone who stared back.

“Help me!” he dared to demand, his cry guttural, but Persephone did not move, nor did she speak. She just watched in serene silence, and Hades kicked him to the ground.

“Do not speak to her, mortal,” Hades seethed.

Kal landed with a grunt and a wail as another snake bit into the fleshy part of his arm.

Hades turned his attention to Persephone, who stared back, almost emotionless. He wished he could read her thoughts or at least read her expression, but she had watched all this with a passivity that made him think she was either in shock or somehow approving.

He hoped it was the latter.

“Shall I continue to punish him?”

She watched him a moment longer before shifting her attention to Kal. Then she approached, lowering to study his face.

“Will his face scar?” she asked.

Hades did not know why she asked, but he answered nevertheless. “It will if you wish it.”

“I wish it.”

Hades was only marginally surprised; the rest of him was satisfied. At least he had not scared her away with his display.

At her words, Kal whimpered.

“Shh,” Persephone soothed, mocking. “It could be worse. I am tempted to send you to Tartarus.”

There was a strange pride associated with those words, and Hades found them welling in his chest.

“Tomorrow, I want you to call Demetri and tell him you made a mistake. You don’t want the exclusive, and you will never, ever tell me what to write again. Do we have an agreement?”

Exclusive?

Hades’s brows lowered. Was there something happening beyond the blackmail Kal had tried to secure tonight?

Whatever it was, Kal agreed, nodding emphatically.

“Good,” Persephone said, her voice a quiet whisper. As she rose to her feet and turned toward him, Hades knew he would do anything she asked. If she had wanted him to die here in this room, he would have made the choice.

“He can live,” she said.

Generous, he thought, then he turned his attention to Kal.

“Leave,” Hades commanded, sending him seven floors below to the stage. Kal’s sudden appearance would interrupt the performers, and when the crowd looked upon his scarred and bleeding face and saw the snakes that had ensnared him, they would know he had been punished by the God of the Dead.

In the quiet aftermath of Kal’s torture, the two stared at each other, and a strange tension flooded the room. It felt to Hades as though Persephone were building a wall, and while he’d have preferred to tear it down, he began to build one too.

He had so many questions, among them, What were you thinking? But before he could demand an answer, she charged ahead.

“You ruined everything!”

“I ruined everything?” he demanded. He took a step toward her. “I saved you from making a huge mistake. What were you thinking, coming here?”

She glared up at him. “I was trying to save my friend, and Kal was offering a way to do that, unlike you .”

“You would give up our private life—something you cherish most—in exchange for something that will only condemn your friend?”

“Condemn her? It will save her life! You bastard. You told me to have hope! You said she could survive.”

He had also said that it was up to Lexa, but Persephone was conveniently leaving that fact out.

He felt like a monster, towering over her, but she rose to the occasion, fighting back just as hard.

“You don’t trust me?”

“No!” she shot back. “No, I don’t trust you. Not when it comes to Lexa. And what about this place, Hades? This is your club, isn’t it? What the fuck?”

She had expressed her embarrassment when she’d had to find out about his charities through someone else, so it was no surprise that she was angry now.

He reached for her, his hands gripping her shoulders. There was a strangeness beneath his skin, a volatile need to touch her. It was likely fueled by how he’d spent the past several hours of his life, and he wished to channel it into something far more productive than violence.

“You were never to come here. This place isn’t for you.”

Hades did not expect her to wince, and he hated that he had hurt her, though he didn’t understand why until she spoke.

“Leuce works here,” she countered, as if they were one and the same.

“Because it’s Leuce. You told me to give her job back, so I sent her here. You…you’re… different .”

“Different?” She pushed away from him. “What does that even mean?”

Hades’s frustration was acute, pounding through his head. He gritted his teeth. “I thought we’d established this. You mean more to me than anyone—anything.”

“What does that have to do with keeping this place from me?”

Aside from the fact that it was dangerous?

She might not like what she saw—what it made him.

“Everything here is illegal, isn’t it? The Magi are here. What else?”

He stared at her, knowing that he could not escape answering but wondering if he could prolong it.

“What else, Hades?” she demanded.

“Everything you’ve ever feared.” Or perhaps thought to be impossible. “Assassins, drug lords…”

He housed crime families and madams, relic dealers and thieves, arsonists and smugglers. Anyone and anything that could benefit him was within the walls of this club, but as he watched Persephone’s face pale, he questioned just how much she was ready to learn.

So he trailed off, and after a brief silence, Persephone whispered, “Why?”

“I created a world where I could watch them,” he said.

Watch and control .

“Watch them do what? Break the law? Hurt people?”

“Yes,” he said, his frustration at a breaking point. Why did it feel so impossible to introduce her to the scope of his world? How was he supposed to illustrate lifetimes of work, built to reach both the heavens and the depths of depravity?

“Yes? That’s it? That’s all you have to say?”

“For now.” He was at a point where he did not want to explain. If she wished to think so poorly of him, then perhaps he should let her.

“Who brought you here?” he demanded.

“A taxi.”

It was not the answer he sought, and she knew it. Someone had told her about this place, fed her the information on how it worked. Hades narrowed his eyes. “You think I won’t find out?”

In fact, he thought he already knew.

“I have free will. I chose to come here of my own accord.”

Hades’s eyes darkened, and he touched her again, drawing her closer. His body felt rigid, run through with wire. He felt too agitated, and he wasn’t going to get through this if he didn’t find some kind of way to release this energy. He needed to fuck, and he needed it to be unkind and ugly, and Persephone was primed to offer it.

Except that she pushed his hands away.

His gaze hardened as he stared back at her.

She could not say she did not know his intentions. His cock pressed firmly into her stomach, and despite her initial rejection, her body bowed to his desire.

“Are you telling me no?”

Truly, if she did not want him, he would release her, but she shook her head once and his resolve crumbled. He spun her around and guided her forward so her hands pressed flat against the mirrored wall, hiking up her skirt and shoving her legs apart. He brushed his palm over her round ass before giving her a light smack, which caused her to yelp. For a moment, he thought he might have hurt her, but when he met her gaze in the mirror, she offered a small nod, and he continued, bending to kiss the skin he had touched while guiding her underwear down.

Once they were off, he placed them in his pocket and turned his attention to her center. Slipping his hand between her thighs, he let his finger trail along her entrance, slick with her arousal. She groaned and arched, her stance growing wider with the hope that she would soon accommodate more of him.

And as much as he wanted to be inside her, he wanted to prolong her pleas for pleasure more.

“So fucking wet. How long have you been like this?”

“Since I got here,” she offered in a whispered moan. He liked the way she pressed into the mirror, how exaggerated her back arched and elevated her ass. “I wanted you on the dance floor. I willed you to manifest from the dark, but you weren’t there.”

“I’m here now,” he said. Rising to his feet, he kissed her shoulder and down her back before drawing his tongue over her round ass. All the while, his fingers continued their exploration, curling inside her, isolating her pleasure. Another hand worked her clit, and beneath him, she hummed and sighed and cried.

Sweat broke out across his skin, and his head felt hot. There were so many parts of her he wanted to touch and taste, and his cock grew thicker and heavier, desperate to sink into her heat, to feel her clench around him, to fill her to bursting with his come.

This was possession, and right now, he wanted to own all of her.

“Hades…please!” She gave a guttural, breathless sob, looking at him from under her arm, and he knew she was just as desperate to come. He could see it in her eyes, feel it in the heat of her skin. He withdrew, fingers sticky with her arousal, and chuckled at her cry of frustration. When she started to straighten, he held her hips in place.

“Stay,” he ordered, an edge of darkness to his voice.

She offered an angry glare, and he knew she did not like the command. Still, he smiled.

“It wouldn’t be punishment if I gave you what you wanted when you demand it.”

Her lips slammed into a hard line. “Don’t pretend you don’t want me.”

The sound of his zipper followed his reply. “Oh, I’m not pretending.”

He guided the head of his cock to her entrance and thrust, sinking into her heat and grip. He stayed there a moment, fully sheathed, enjoying the pressure that held his cock so firmly. He could stay here forever, lost in this heady pleasure, but beneath him, Persephone writhed, her body demanding movement.

Still, he held off, brushing his hand along her back before bending close to squeeze her breasts and tease her nipples. Finally, he began to move, small thrusts, a grinding that caused them both to groan. He reached for her hair, wrapping it around his fist like a line of rope, and drew her toward him, kissing her neck and jaw. Their mouths connected, tongues twining in a desperate attempt to taste each other’s souls.

Then he released her all at once, though he kept an arm wound around her middle. She watched him in the mirror as he slowed his pace despite wanting nothing more than to slam into her.

“This is for us,” he said, pulling out, holding her attention like embers in the night. “You will share this with no one else.”

He thrust forward, and her breath caught in her throat.

“Some things are sacred to me,” he said, repeating the same teasing motion. “ This is sacred to me. You are sacred to me. Do you understand?”

She nodded, resting her face against the wall.

“Say it! Say you understand.”

“Yes! Yes, gods-dammit. I understand! Make me come, Hades!”

He pulled out of her and lifted her from her bent position. She spun to face him, eyes wild, and he kissed her, gripping her jaw, pressing her into the wall. There was something sweeter about the taste of her now, on the other side of this anger and frustration. His hands fell, smoothing down her body until he reached her thighs and hoisted her up, leveraging her so she hovered just above his cock before guiding himself back to her entrance and letting her slide down on him.

This position offered little in the way of movement, but it was the closeness they needed. Persephone’s hands were tangled in his hair, as if she were ready to pull him to her once more, but Hades remained at a distance, studying her face.

“I have never loved anyone as I love you,” he murmured as if he wanted no one else to hear, though he would gladly share those words with the world. “I can’t put it into words—there are none that come close to expressing how I feel.”

“Then don’t use words,” she whispered, and when their lips collided once more, Hades turned and lowered to the floor. As soon as he hit the ground, she began to rock against him, uncaring that he had slipped from inside her during their descent, though she was quick to guide him back, slamming down on him with a force that made their bodies slap together.

He watched her use him for her pleasure, fingers twining with his own as she dragged his arms up and over his head, giving him access to her breasts. He teased them with his tongue and teeth before he could no longer handle staying still.

“Fuck!”

He broke her hold and gripped her hips, fingers digging into her soft skin as he helped her move, meeting each downward slide with an upward thrust. Their breaths came hard and fast, and when she began to tighten around him, it was enough to send them both over the edge. He came hard, in a gush of heat that continued as her head fell back in listless pleasure.

She sank against him, her heart hammering, and though they were both slick with sweat, he liked the heaviness of her body against his and he wanted this forever.

“Marry me.”

The words slipped out, and once they were in the ether, there was no taking them back. Not that he would want to. Marriage to Persephone had been his plan all along.

Persephone sat back, and as she did, his cock moved with her.

“What?”

It was not the emphatic answer he was looking for. He knew she had heard him, though he could not blame her for hesitating—or even saying no. They had never spoken about marriage, even if he had mentioned their fate.

“Marry me, Persephone. Be my queen. Say you’ll stand by my side…forever.”

He spoke and recalled Hecate’s words—that no one but the Fates could unravel their future—but what if Persephone never said yes?

“Hades…I…” She hesitated. “You were just angry with me.”

“And now I’m not.”

“And you want to marry me?”

“Yes.”

She rose to her feet on shaky legs, and when Hades tried to help, she pushed him away.

“I can’t marry you, Hades,” she said, her voice breaking. “I…I don’t know you.”

Hades’s lips tightened, and his brows slammed down over his eyes. “You know me.”

“No, I don’t.” She gestured to their surroundings. “You kept this place from me.”

“Persephone, I have lived forever. There will always be things you learn about me, and you should know you won’t like some of them.”

“This isn’t one of those things, Hades. This place is real, and it exists in the present. You hired Leuce to work here. I deserved to know, just as I deserved to know about Leuce!”

Hades tightened his jaw. She wasn’t wrong, but she also did not know what she was asking for. Did she think she could handle the truth of this world?

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked.

“Because I was afraid,” he snapped, frustrated by the hurt in her voice.

“Why?”

“Obviously because of your moral compass.” He rose to his feet and restored his appearance. After a few moments, he turned to face her. “I wanted time to think about how to show you my sins. To explain their roots. Instead, it seems, everyone wishes to do it for me.”

Persephone frowned, but at his admission, her expression turned gentle.

“I’m sorry, Hades,” she said, voice quiet.

Hades frowned. “What are you apologizing for?”

“I guess…everything,” she said. “For coming here…for telling you no.”

“It’s okay. It’s a lot to ask of you right now,” he said. “With Lexa and your work. And I have put a lot on you tonight, shown you a side of me you haven’t seen before.”

“You aren’t…upset?”

He would not say he was upset, not with her, and while he would have liked to end this night engaged to her, it was more for his own peace of mind when dealing with Hera.

“Do I wish you’d said yes? Of course,” he said, and before he could continue, she spoke.

“I’m just…not ready.”

“I know,” he said, pressing his lips to her forehead.

When he pulled away, she was crying.

“Tell me,” he implored as he brushed her tears away.

“I ruined everything,” she said, pressing her face into his chest, her arms twining around his waist.

“You ruined nothing, my darling,” Hades assured. “You were honest with yourself and with me. That is all I ask.”

“How could you want to marry me now? After I have told you no?”

How could he not? She had told him no, and with good reason.

“I will always want to marry you because I will always want you as my wife and queen.”

It was the truth. He felt it in his soul, though he wondered if tonight had fractured her truth.

“Will you show me more of this place?” she asked, rubbing at her face to erase the tears.

“More of Iniquity?” he asked, surprised, feeling a little of the warmth drain from his face.

“Yes,” she said.

“Do I have a choice?”

They had just reconciled, and he really did not feel like fighting anymore, though he had to admit, the fact that she had asked to see more and not left him in a hurry was promising.

“If I am ever to be your queen? No.”

She had a point. If she eventually agreed to marry him, she was going to inherit more than a kingdom.

She would have an empire.