Chapter 14

S he flinched as the sounds of battle rose around her. It was odd, though; she wasn’t scared. She was . . . furious? Furious and holding a sword, wielding the weapon with fury.

Around her, the world was desolate, shaded in deep browns and yellows with an army of what she knew to be shades encroaching upon her. There was no plant life for her to draw upon, no sign of any living vegetation anywhere nearby. She couldn’t feel anything alive here. No moon for her to source power from since the sun was blazing overhead.

Gods, though, she could feel the death here. While it wasn’t her main source of power, it would do. She drew deeply upon the death surrounding her, supercharging herself before releasing a shock wave that tore the shades surrounding her into shreds. From behind her came a deep chuckle, one that made her heart beat faster. She turned, dropping the tip of the bloody sword at her side to the ground so as not to impale the man now standing behind her.

Her husband watched her fondly, a smile on his sharp face and snark on his lips. “Well done, my love. Impressive. A bit theatrical, but it did get the job done.” Backlit by the sun, his ebony hair appeared tinged with blue, and his green eyes sparkled like jewels.

Smirking, she tossed her head. “Theatrical it may be, but they need to be afraid of at least one of us. You’ve gone soft in your old age, Aidoneus.” She stalked towards him, poking at his muscular chest.

He seized her finger gently and pulled her into his body, one arm around her waist, one hand cupping the base of her neck, before dropping a kiss to her forehead. “May Olympus save anyone who disrespects the queen,” he murmured. An inside joke for her ears only.

Her smirk softened into a smile at their call-and-response phrase, developed during their unusual courtship. “And may the Underworld forgive their souls because her king will not.” They had taken on the mantle of king and queen of the underworld in the last decade, accepted their role even though they were both very much mortal. There was nothing for it, though. They had to do it.

Following Aidoneus' and his two brothers’ successful efforts to overthrow the murderous despot, Cronus, and the rest of his Titan army, the human world had been overrun by shades. Human souls naturally crowded the Underworld after death, but there was little organization there, save Tartarus, the endless void where the worst of the worst fell. As soon as Aidoneus escorted the Titans to Tartarus, the human souls already in the Underworld panicked at the evil they brought and fled the unguarded realm of death to the human world where they became shades, slowly but surely destroying everything in the plane they once resided in. The dead were not meant to occupy the human world, and the world made that known as it fell into decay.

Before he took on the title of Hades, lord of the Underworld, though, he had been simply Aidoneus. Her wonderful man, tortured by a father he hated, surrounded by brothers he tolerated, and utterly alone in the world.

She herself had been raised by an overprotective single parent; Aidoneus took her away from the prison her mother created for her, one where she had no choice, no freedom. He changed her life with his unwavering love and support; she loved him all the more for it, knowing that she didn’t deserve any of this incredible man’s adoration. When it came time for him to take up the mantle of his birth ruling the Underworld, the choice to stay with him—to stand beside him—was an easy one. He asked for her hand in marriage and made her his queen. Despite their power and the asinine titles they were forced to bear to separate themselves from the destructive royal duties with which they were charged, he was simply her Aidoneus, and she was his Kore.

He sighed, lifting her into his arms and resting his forehead against hers. “I’m sorry, little Kore. I fear that this journey is far less than the adventure I promised you.” His magic flared against hers, and she felt the prickles of arousal. Their passion was combustible, always just under the surface anytime they were near one another. Ever since she bound her life to his, accepted a piece of his magic, though, it felt like their bodies were on fire anytime they were in each other’s vicinity. Their magic—their very souls—called to one another.

Now was not the time, though. His eyes were filled with despair; she knew he thought that she would walk away at some point. The bloodshed and risk of death were constant. Out here, the shades were free. They were desperate to maintain that freedom.

She cupped his chin, forcing his gaze to hers. “Aidoneus,” she spoke sharply, forcefully. “I knew what I was getting into from the beginning. I knew it wouldn’t be easy. But I will not do this life without you. You are my everything, and I would rather live this life with you in battle than have peace without you by my side.” He opened his mouth, likely to argue if she knew her husband, but she covered his mouth with her fingers. “This was my choice, my love, and I would make it again in any lifetime. In every lifetime.” She forced a smile. “Now stop arguing. You’re absolute rubbish at it, and it makes me feel bad for you.”

Try as he might, he couldn’t stop his lips from twitching at her imperious tone. “Well, if my queen orders it, I must obey.” Around them, the wind howled through the barren wasteland left behind by the shades.

“Damn right, you must.” She traced his lips with her thumb, moaning softly when he brushed her outer thigh with his thumb. “My love, I think it’s time for bed, don’t you?”

The sun beat down on them, illuminating the earth around them just as effectively it did her ulterior motive to get her beautiful husband into a safe place where she could strip away his clothing and have her wicked way with him. Aidoneus’ lips lost their battle against his mirth, revealing a brilliant smile that still took her breath away. “Insatiable little flower. You would think I wasn't inside of you just hours ago making you scream my name so loudly you scared the—” His voice cut off suddenly, and she glanced up.

A blade stuck through the center of his throat. Blood poured from his pierced throat, dripped from the corner of his lips, and she could hear his gasping breaths through the hole. She shrieked in pain and fear and fury as he—

Evie

Garden District, New Orleans, Louisiana

Evie woke to the sound of screaming and a calming baritone.

“Hey, it’s okay, you’re okay,” she heard as if from a great distance. “C’mon, breathe for me, Angel.” She took a choked breath in, barely able to fill her lungs. “That’s right, sweetheart, just keep breathing. In and out.” As the voice became clearer, her breaths came more easily. “You’re doing good, Angel, so good. Now, when you’re ready, go ahead and try to open your eyes. It will help if you can see the world around you.”

It took a few more minutes of breathing and soothing touches before she felt comfortable enough to blink her eyes open. The first thing she saw were concerned green eyes. She lurched upwards, looking for blood, any sense of injury. The last time she’d seen green eyes that color, the man had been dying in her arms.

In her dream, Evie realized, slowly taking in her surroundings. The last time she had seen eyes that color was in her dream. Now, though, she was curled in Cole’s lap, wrapped in his arms, protected, warm, and surrounded by his smoky scent. After several greedy breaths tinged with the smell of him, she began to calm. Whatever the dream had been—memory, prophecy, dreamcasting—it had no place here.

As her pulse slowed, details she missed when she woke up filtered into her consciousness. For starters, Cole was nude from the waist up. Although she had seen the male form in books, she hadn’t seen one in real life, and the pictures didn’t make it seem any more appealing than a woman’s body. She hadn’t thought anything of it beyond that since they had no men in the coven, and a woman could satisfy her needs just as effectively as a man, if not more so. She didn’t see all the fuss about whose body pleasured you when men's bodies weren't anything of note.

But that was before last night in the car. Before she saw Cole shirtless. Early morning light radiated in through the curtains—she was almost certain that was what they were called, given that coven houses bore no windows—illuminating his lean chest and chiseled features. Within seconds of taking in the sight of him like this, Evie immediately understood the intrigue. With a hum of interest, she rested a single hand on his chest, just to see what he felt like. His skin was softer than she expected, but the muscles underneath lent it a roughness, a hardness, that she didn’t expect. His heart beat steadily under her palm, even though above her, his breathing began to grow choppy.

“You good?” Cole asked, his voice raspy. She nodded, but he grasped her chin between his fingers, forcing her head up and her gaze to his. “Words, Angel. I need to hear you say you’re okay. You woke up screaming—and not in a good way—so I gotta hear your voice because you scared the shit out of me.”

She nodded again, pairing it with a quiet, “I’m fine. I just… it was an odd dream, that’s all.”

“You want to talk about it?” At her slow head shake, he tightened his arms and rested his chin against her hair. “We probably have a few other things to talk about, though, huh?”

His question kicked the dust off her memories from the night before. The construction site. The forest’s overwhelming shift from complete death and destruction to vitality and thriving, green life. The earthquake. His incredible intensity as he brought her to the most phenomenal orgasm of her life. Him threatening somebody? Her breath caught when she remembered one of the more significant events that took place, something she was shocked was so far down her list. The abduction . Despite her desperate need to interrogate him on everything, she decided to start with the biggest one. “I’m assuming you’re referencing when you took me from my home without my consent?”

His head popped up quickly, and he blanched. “So starting with the elephant in the room, then, huh? Just going straight for the jugular.” At her level stare, he scraped one hand down his face. “Yeah, okay.”

She pushed out of his arms, and he let her go reluctantly. “I’ll start. You need to take me back home.” That was good. She sounded sincere. Stern even. Not like she couldn’t stop looking at him—the absolute steady whole of him—after all these years of just having bits and pieces.

He was already shaking his head emphatically before she got the whole sentence out. “I can’t do that. You’re not safe there.” She glared at him. “I promise, I’m not lying. You need to stay with me. The world became extremely dangerous for you when we found each other.”

“You know I’m a fairly powerful witch, right? Who has somehow managed to survive a decent amount of my life without you?”

He scoffed. “Okay, I’ll give you that you’ve been safe so far. But you haven’t actually been without me, have you, baby?” Her eyes widened slightly before she could stop then, and a smug grin spread over his handsome face. “You said you've seen me most of your life. How was it? In dreams?”

She was going to try to direct the conversation back to the point or lie, really she was, but the memory of her nightmare, the dream woman's overwhelming heartbreak as the man who looked so similar to Cole bled over her, shoved the truth out of her mouth before she could stop it. “I heard your voice. All the time. Sometimes, you would just be murmuring, other times I could hear every word you were saying. Nobody else in the coven could hear you but me, and it was only ever your voice.”

“Anything else?” he prodded.

In for a penny… might as well tell her whole truth. “Your eyes.” Said eyes squinted down at her, and she clarified. “I saw your eyes everywhere and have since I was young, long before I ever heard your voice. I actually thought you were a forest spirit for the longest time, but your eyes followed me too closely, no matter where I was, so it had to be something else. Nobody else could see you, though, so, before I started hearing your voice, the coven elders thought I might actually be mad. Fortunately, you started talking to me soon after.”

He tilted his head in confusion. “Why would they be concerned about eyes no one else could see but not voices no one else could hear? Out here in the human world, they get pretty alarmed about either. And they get really upset when they happen simultaneously.”

She shrugged delicately. His eyes immediately lowered to her bare chest at the movement and stayed there. “I couldn’t tell you. I have some theories, but the coven never spoke too much about it after I started hearing your voice, so it was a moot point.” Pausing, she considered his overly familiar behavior, his references to finding her. “How did you recognize me? Why do you know me?”

A deep sigh met her question. He didn’t want to answer, and he stayed silent long enough that she thought he wasn’t going to answer. Finally, after a few minutes, his voice rumbled from his chest. “I dreamed about you.”

"Only one."

Cole shook his head. "No." The answer sounded like it was ripped from his chest.

"How many times then?"

Another long pause. "Too many times to count."

Evie's jaw dropped, and she almost forgot how to speak. She didn't know how long she had stared at him for when she finally pulled her thoughts together enough to ask, “For how long?”

“Since I knew it was weird for one person to keep reappearing in my dreams and aging as time went by.” A slight chuckle escaped him. “I was 12, I think, the first time you showed up. You were about my age, maybe a little younger, and you told me you were looking for me. I woke up and thought I made you up. I told my uncle about you, but he said it was just a dream. But you kept coming back, and each time, you were a little older. By the time I was in high school, you were all I thought about. I fantasized about you all the time. I tried to sleep just so I could see you more often. It got bad enough that Charlie put me through a sleep study.” A short burst of laughter escaped his mouth. “I was so gone for you. Fuck, I saw your face when I lost my virginity. I couldn’t even tell you who I had sex with that first time because all I could think about was you.”

Her heart pounded at the raw need in his voice. His honesty made her want to share her own truths: that she had made herself come more times than she could count to the sound of him, to the point that just hearing his voice made her wet. But she couldn’t quite bring herself to do it.

Cole lifted his gaze to hers, almost as if he could hear her thoughts. “Tell me I wasn’t alone in all of this. Tell me it wasn’t just me going crazy over here, that you thought of me too. All I’ve wanted my entire fucking life is to have you in my bed, Angel.” He didn’t wait for her response. His eyes went slightly wild as he wrapped a hand around her waist, tugging her towards him and rolling her to her back. With a possessive growl, he dropped down and nipped at her lower lip, sucking it into his mouth to alleviate the sting of his bite before releasing it with a pop. He rose to his elbows, raw hunger etched in his face as he said. “And now that you’re here, I’m not ever letting you go.”