Chapter 10

Chapter

Ten

P ersephone

I haven’t been able to stop crying since we stopped talking. Even with my eyes closed against the night, the tears are leaking from me. I’m not sure that I’ve ever felt so lost. So hurt. So confused.

Wounded…

The man I am in love with looks at me and sees a lost love.

There is no moving forward from this. Not ever.

The car stops and I know we’re here. At the end.

We never really even got the chance to begin.

Reaching for the door handle, I pull. It doesn’t open, but my eyes do.

We’re not at the house. We’re also not at the Tower.

With my eyes cast through the glass of the windshield, I ask dumbly, “Where are we?”

Hades says nothing as he switches off the engine, exiting the car. He rounds to my side, pulling the door open and offering me his hand. I don’t take it.

“What are we doing, Hades?”

“Come, Persephone.” Is all the answer I receive.

Feeling petulant, I settle back into the seat with my arms folded over my chest. “I’m not going anywhere with you. I already told you I want to go back to the house.”

I don’t know why I’m being so difficult now when I’ve been grieving the end of us this entire time.

“And I already told you that wasn’t going to happen.”

“It’s not up to you to decide.” I’m digging myself a hole I’m not sure I want to be in. I can’t stop myself, though.

His eyes darken into obsidian orbs in the moment before a burst of deadly flames ignites the dangerous dark. Placing one palm on the hood, Hades leans in close. “You can come with me willingly or I can throw you over my shoulder. Either way, you are coming.”

“This is over.” I glare up at the crazy man who still makes my heart flutter. “I quit.”

His hands fall to my hips and I am lifted from the seat as though I weigh as much as a feather. My fight is restricted by the tight gown, but I swear all of Greece hears me when I scream, “Put me down!”

For my trouble, his palm lands quick and sharp against the curve of my ass. He barks, “Enough.”

“You can’t keep me!” I cry. “Don’t you understand, I don’t want to be with you right now. I’m—disgusted by you.”

I don’t mean it. As soon as I say it, I wish I could take it back.

His steps stutter and I feel a sharp breath lodge in his chest. Where he holds me over his shoulder, I feel his fingertips twitch. “Persephone,” I hear him whisper my name in the breath before the agonized roar of the man I haven’t heard since the first night I met Hades reverberates loud in my mind.

It’s so loud, bursting with so much pain, I am helpless to keep from crying out. The man in my mind cries for me again, and again, and again until it’s all I can hear. Pain splits my skull as I scream into the night. I think my body bucks over his shoulder as the agony of the man fights to escape the confines of my mind.

I’m crying harder now, but I can hardly see through the blur of my tears. I am only just aware of the fact that my body is now cradled in Hades’ arms. The lines of his face blur in and out of focus as I grip my splitting skull. I think I hear myself pleading for reprieve.

And then everything is simply dark.