Chapter 11

Chapter

Eleven

H ades

In the distance, I can see the far away glow of golden lights. Persephone has slept all night, day, and well into the night again. If I’d known the ways my agony for her affected her, the pain it caused her, I would have seen to it that it was kept in check.

I can still hear the sharp bite of her scream. The echoing whimper of her pain where it reverberates in my brain. I’ve checked on her multiple times, my worry for her well-being taking over my sane thoughts.

There was a moment, a chilling, awful moment when her body had stilled, and I’d thought her soul had left me. Where I feared I would be sentenced to another eternity of torture where my soul mourned and searched for hers. Where I waited for her to be born, my soul screaming in agony for his lost mate.

I wish I had known how the cries of my soul, the spill of my grief into the ether of this world, had been causing her pain all this time. I never could have imagined she felt my pain so completely.

Fuck, but the torment of it incapacitated her.

The soft ripple of the waves caresses the belly of the yacht. I drop my head into my hands and sigh. All the parts of me feel heavy.

I long to steal her away to the Underworld. At her threat to leave me, I very nearly did just that.

This had been the next best thing. Not right, but not as wrong as stealing her away to another realm entirely.

That’s what I tell myself, anyway.

I am trying to be good for her . I am trying to do it all right this time.

It is very rare that a man is given a second chance to claim his mate’s heart.

The yacht sits anchored to the seabed, surrounded by a blue so deep it looks black. Even though there is a distant glow of life on the nearest island, I’ve sailed too far from land for a human to swim to escape. She cannot leave me here, even if leaving is her wish.

A tightening knots in my chest. The very thought hurts. It hurts because there is no situation in this world in which I could fathom willingly leaving her. None.

Even now, I am drawn to her. Knowing that she doesn’t wish for me to be near makes no difference to me. It is a need I must feed, a call I must answer.

In the chair next to the bed, I plant my elbows into my knees. Every breath in her chest is a slow rise and fall. She’s been sleeping now for just over twenty-four hours. Her Goddesses soul is waking, stirring deep within the vulnerable human body that cases it. What happens next is unknown. Never before has an eternal soul been placed within the vulnerable flesh of a human. Never before has an eternal soul been ravaged in The Lethe like hers.

Behind her lids, her eyes move. She is waking.

My heart thunders in my chest, but I sit back in the chair. I am holding tight to the reins of composure. Desperate not to slip and harm her.

She has been harmed enough.

Her eyes flicker and I am met with the shine of emerald. It’s the same emerald I’ve dreamed about for centuries.

I say nothing, simply watch her as she blinks to take in her surroundings. Her lovely lips part and she sits up in the bed.

Her brows furrow. She croaks, “Where are we?”

“My boat.”

Those furrowed brows jump. “Wh—what? ”

I don’t move a muscle. Her hands knot in the blankets.

She sucks in air and asks, “Why are we on your boat, Hades?”

Does she not remember?

I answer quietly, “You threatened to leave me. I felt it important we talk.”

She simply stares at me for a long moment. Then she whispers, “I look like your wife.”

“You bear some resemblances, yes.” It would be much simpler if I could only tell her she is my wife. Reborn, of course, but my wife all the same.

Her bottom lip quivers. I watch as she sucks it into her mouth. Her gaze drifts around the room to settle on the window where dull moonlight drifts into the dark space as though on a watery mist. She shudders. “I?—”

“Talk to me.” I don’t mean for my voice to sound so rough where it falls between us. I hate that she flinches. I beg, “Please.”

“I heard the man—the man in my head,” she stammers. “I—I—it hurt. So much.” She touches her fingertips to her temples, as though testing for the pain. Her eyes are misty when they land on mine again. “He reminds me of you. He sounds like you .”

I want to console her, but I sense invading her space right now would be the wrong move. Under my skin, my muscles twitch with their desperation to touch her. “Do you hear him now? ”

I know she can’t.

“No.”

“Did you hear him while you slept?”

Again, she shakes her head. “No. I would have woken up.”

“You lost consciousness when you heard him.” I lean forward, and she pulls the blankets up to her chest. I stripped her of her dress and clothed her in one of my shirts. I keep my eyes on hers as I drop my elbows to my knees. “Has that ever happened before?”

“No.” Her voice is so small. She is so small.

I swallow the feral growl I feel growing in my chest. “How do you feel now?”

“Fine.” She frowns again. “Hungry.”

She hasn’t eaten in some time. It makes sense she would be hungry. I stand. “Come. We’ll fix you something to eat.”

She swallows hard and pushes the blankets from her body, sliding her legs to the side of the bed. For a moment, her gaze is trained down on her body. “Did you dress me?”

“Yes.”

She says nothing, simply walks to where I wait at the door. I lead her into the kitchen where I’ve prepared a salad with grilled chicken. She slides cautiously into a seat, gazing around. “Are we the only ones on the boat?”

I place the salad in front of her. “Yes.”

She lifts the fork, but doesn’t stab the salad. Her eyes are fixed on me when she asks, “Why am I here, Hades?”

“Like I said, we need to talk.”

“What do we need to talk about?”

“Why you want to leave me.” I lean against the counter, never allowing my eyes to drift from her.

“I’m uncomfortable, Hades. Knowing that I look like your late wife is—it’s uncomfortable.”

“Why?”

For once, no color rises in her cheeks. In fact, she looks sickly pale as she tucks a strand of white-blonde hair behind her elven-tipped ear. “It makes me feel like you don’t want me , but that I’m a standing replacement for her.” There’s that shimmer of wet in her eyes again. “I don’t want to be a replacement for a woman you loved Hades. I—I can’t. It hurts too much.”

“You are not a replacement for her.” You are her.

Her head tips to the side. “What drew you to me the night we met?”

Your soul. “Everything.”

She rolls her lips together. “That doesn’t answer my question.”

“Herman is one of my—nephews. But we were close, like brothers. So much that I once called him brother. We had…” I pause, swallowing the swell of rage that rises at the thought of his betrayal, and all that it cost me. “We had a falling out a long time ago. He—he is responsible for the death of my wife. ”

Her inhale is sharp with shock and horror. “Hades.”

“In retaliation, I took something away from him. Something he cherished dearly, and has been lost without.” I hold her soft eyes with my own. “He saw you, and he saw the resemblances you bear to my late wife. He aimed to hurt you, knowing that it would, in turn, hurt me.”

She pulls her bottom lip into her mouth, sucking it in thought. “How is he responsible for your wife’s death?”

“He brought her murderer into my home.”

If I thought her skin was pale before, it is ghostly now. If I were human, I may not have heard her whisper, “She was murdered?”

“Yes.”

She pushes her salad away, sliding from the table to stand before me. When she tips her head back to look up at me, her emerald eyes are alight with compassion. I have to buckle my knees to keep from falling at her feet.

Her small hand touches my chest. Fire flares in my veins. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t let him take you from me, too.”

Her lips part on another sharp inhale. “Hades.”

“I won’t survive,” I tell her honestly.

She peers up at me for a long moment. “What did you take from him? ”

“His right to come into my home. His right to—” I pause and she waits patiently. “Work for me.”

“He worked for you?”

“Yes.” It’s not the whole truth, but it’s all I can give her.

“I see.” She rolls her lovely lips. It physically hurts me not to claim them with my own in a kiss that sears her like a brand.

Unable to help myself, I ask, “Do you still wish to leave me?”

Peering up at me still, she offers me a very small smile. Then she shakes her head. “No.”

“Good.” With a hand on her belly, I shove her gently back toward the table. “You need to eat.”

“I don’t feel hungry anymore.”

I feel my eyes harden. Her smile widens. I growl a low and feral sound. “Persephone.”

“Alright, alright,” she mutters on a huff. Testy little thing, but she smiles just a hint of a smile. “I’ll eat.”