Chapter Eight
Roux
“Roux?”
I blinked my eyes open, and two pools of darkness stared at me with concern. Why would the darkness be looking at me with concern?
“Roux, are you okay?”
The voice was dark and smoky, like it had come from the depths of Tartarus itself. I knew that voice, but I couldn’t place it. My mind was slow and sticky, like every thought was coated in molasses.
“I know you’re awake, little Reaper,” he said, his tone clipped. And dare I say, annoyed?
I shot up at those words. “Hades?”
The room fell into focus, and I knew exactly where I was. Hades’ personal sitting room. I was sprawled out on one of his long and fancy regal sofas, and the man himself was perched on a stool looking at me like I’d stolen his favourite toy.
“Um, hi?” I squeaked, suddenly wilting under his stare.
Oh boy, there was a lot of anger swirling in those black eyes.
Sparks of hellfire shone brightly, showing me just how pissed off the guy was.
Fire only appeared when he was beyond angry.
I’d heard rumours that when he was in a true rage, his skin erupted into fire, but I’d never seen that before, so maybe I hadn’t been trying hard enough to piss him off.
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” he asked, his voice deathly quiet.
“Hades, I can explain.”
He scoffed and stood up, looming over me. Fuck, he was intimidating when he was angry, and it was making me squirm.
In the best way.
Jeez, there was something wrong with the wiring in my brain.
“I’m waiting,” he snapped, his hands firmly braced on his hips. “Although, I must say, I’m curious to know what possible reason you think will be good enough to warrant you breaking into the Vault and setting all those creatures free. I really am intrigued, Roux.”
When he put it like that, my explanation probably wasn’t going to do my actions any justice. “I needed to know if I’d been there before.”
“What?” he said, narrowing his eyes at me. The word was short and sharp. Cutting.
I ran a hand down my face, pausing to give myself enough time to get my thoughts into some sort of order. “I think, before I became a Reaper, I stole Nyx’s Diadem. So, we all decided to go to the Vault to see if that was true.”
Hades’ eyes narrowed even further. “And?”
I squirmed in my seat, that clipped tone of his doing wonderful things to my insides.
“I didn’t even make it into the main chamber.
Something knocked me out, and when I woke, I was with Erebus.
He confirmed I’d been there before but said I looked different.
So, now I know another piece of the puzzle but not enough to understand the whole picture. ”
“And where does freeing the Keeper fit into all this?”
“Thane bound himself in an oath to help free Prometheus and found the key that would release him from guarding the Vault. Then Prometheus vanished, and a few minutes later, the Vault imploded. I suppose you saved us all.”
“Saved you? Little Reaper, I’ve merely put a pause on the inevitable.” Hades swallowed and looked away, but not quick enough for me to miss the flash of sadness in his fire-laced eyes.
“Then help me,” I pleaded. “Come with me tomorrow.”
He straightened his spine and turned away from me. “I can’t.”
“What do you mean you can’t?” I asked, shock forcing a gasp past my lips.
“I mean, I can’t.” He rested his hand on the window and braced himself against the pane.
I stood up from the stupidly fancy couch and walked over to him. If he was going to stay here and hide, he could tell me to my damn face. “Why can’t you come with me?”
“I’ve already done too much,” he said as he gazed out at nothing.
“What do you mean?” I was confused. What had he done?
He dropped his hand from the window and looked down at me. “It doesn’t matter now.”
Gods, this man was frustrating. “What doesn’t matter?”
“You should go,” he said, turning away. “The others are locked in the holding cell by the entrance hall.”
No. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t my Hades. He seemed defeated. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Just go, Roux. Please.”
“No, not before you tell me what’s wro—”
“There’s nothing wrong!” he roared, embers dancing beneath his skin. They glowed and shimmered, and I could feel the heat from them as he leaned closer. “So, you can leave.”
I closed the gap between us, getting all up in his face so I could meet him eye to fucking eye. “Don’t lie to me, Hades.”
His nostrils flared wide as he took a deep breath. “You’re such a brat, Roux.”
“Stop deflecting, your majesty,” I sassed back. “And besides, you can deny it all you want, but you like it.”
Flames danced in his eyes, and a low growl reverberated in his throat. “I hate you.”
I smirked up at him. “No, you don’t.” I leant closer until my lips were a hair's breadth away from his and dropped my voice to a whisper. “Don’t you want to punish me, Daddy?”
“Stop it,” he ordered, his voice low and threatening, and the heat emanating from him intensified until it looked like lava swirling beneath his skin.
“Or what?”
“You’re walking on thin ice, Little Reaper.”
I wrapped my fingers around his black tie and tugged on the silky material. “Am I? And what are you going to do about it?”
Silence stretched between us as we stared at each other. Neither of us breathed or blinked. There wasn’t even a flicker of an eyelash. I knew I was taunting him, pushing him, but there was something about the threat of death at Hades’ hand that was a goddamn aphrodisiac.
“I suppose I could just go—”
I’d barely finished the sentence when his hand wrapped around my throat, and he pushed me backwards into the window. The air left my lungs with a whoosh when my back hit the glass.
He slotted his thigh between my legs, and I rolled my hips, seeking friction where I needed it the most.
“Look at you.” He lowered his mouth to my ear to whisper his words like an intimate caress. “Such a needy little slut for me.”
“Hades,” I moaned as the heat of his skin pressed against my face. Those embers of rage were burning me like I was too close to the sun.
He squeezed his hand tighter around my throat. “That’s not what you call me, is it?”
I shook my head and rolled my hips again. Gods, he was right. I was a slut. And so damn needy.
“I need your words, baby girl.” He dug his fingers into the soft spot above my hip bone, hard enough that I knew there would be bruises.
“No, Daddy.”
He hummed, low and throaty, and I fucking melted. “Good girl.”