Chapter 3
Persephone
Hecate zapped us back to my own room, and I gratefully stripped off my gown and stood under the hot water of the shower until my skin pruned.
I tried again to access my supposed new powers, but other than a tingling awareness I couldn't get anything to happen.
“Was one of my powers making light?” I asked Hecate as I walked out of my washroom. She was sat at my dresser, one ankle crossed over her knee and her head back, singing something pretty.
“No,” she answered without looking at me.
“Oh.” I rubbed at my wet hair with a towel.
“I can't make light either,” said Skop in my head.
“You're not a god,” I told him.
“I'm a god in bed,” he answered, tail wagging. I rolled my eyes.
I got dressed in my fighting garb quickly, unable to keep still, my palms itching. I needed to do something physical; there was a pent up energy building inside me that was making me feel restless and uneasy.
“How long until this second round thing starts?” I asked.
“Ages, it's not until this evening'
“Good. I'm going to the conservatory,” I said.
“Oh. I thought you'd want to train,” Hecate said, tipping her head forward to look at me. I shook my head.
“Maybe later.”
“Fine, have fun. See if you can get those green fingers working some magic,” she said, and winked at me before shimmering out of my room. I looked down at my hands, wiggling my fingers. Could I get them to work actual magic?
It turned out that Skop had been telling the truth about paying attention to the routes through the underground maze I was living in.
I would never have been able to find the conservatory without his directions.
As we walked, I filled him in on what I knew about my past, which was a depressingly short conversation, and about eating the seed and my powers returning. I didn't tell him why I ate the seed, and he didn't ask.
I knew we were at the right door for the conservatory before I even laid my hand on the wood to push it open. Something was sparking inside me, and I could almost feel the plants on the other side of the wall, joyous energy rolling off them.
My pulse quickened as I stepped into the glass room and inhaled the smell of soil. The restless energy thrumming through me transformed as I ran my fingers along the nearest yucca leaf, frustration morphing into excitement.
I could feel more than just these plants in this room. Almost like little sparks of light in my mind’s eye, I could sense seeds, unable to grow, trapped under invisible barriers that held them deep in the soil beds around me.
I dropped to my knees and began to dig frantically in the nearest bed, hunting for what I knew was hidden there.
“Yes!” I pulled my hand up triumphantly, clutching a hard little seed.
“What is it?” asked Skop.
“A sunflower,” I said instantly, then looked sideways at him, drawing my brows together. “How did I know that?” I asked slowly.
“You're goddess of Spring. You probably should know a few things about flowers,” he answered, then cocked his head at me. “Can I do some digging too?”
Together we dug through the huge space, turning almost all of the soil beds over in our hunt for seeds. There were so many, all hard and cold, as though they had been frozen in time. I found a tin tray stacked with the other tools and within an hour we had filled it with our unearthed treasure.
They were mostly seeds for flowers; pansies and chrysanthemums and poppies, but a couple were more exciting. One I was pretty sure was an azalea but that would take years to grow. I certainly wouldn't see it reach maturity.
“Persephone.” Hearing my name made my body freeze as I knelt in the dirt, dread crawling up my throat as I recognized the voice. It wasn't the hissing tone, but I still had no doubt that it belonged to Hades.
“I thought you gave this room to me,” I said without turning. I knew my confidence would crumble as soon as I saw his dark smoke. “Please go away.”
“Persephone, I'm here to apologize.”
“I don't care,” I lied. “I have nothing to say to you, and there's nothing I want to hear from you.”
All the hairs on my skin were standing on end, and the compulsion to turn around and look at him was almost too strong to resist.
“Please. Look at me.”
“No! Last time I saw you, you damn near frightened me to death.”
“I... I was angry. I lost control. You make me do that.”
“So it's my fucking fault?” I couldn't help the flash of rage, and I leaped to my feet as I whirled around.
My anger dissipated instantly.
There was no smoke. It was just him, his beautiful silver eyes glowing with sorrow.
Make it better. Make him happy. The thoughts galloped through my brain and I snarled. Why was I so damned attracted to him?
I tried to call up the image of the blue light turning into corpses around him, but he held out his hand to me and his lips parted, and heat rushed through my body. Stop it! You don't fancy the lord of the dead, stop it!
But my traitorous hand reached for his of its own volition, and he pulled me close to him.
“I thought you were going to die. I thought that man would kill you. And Zeus wouldn't let me stop him.” His voice was so low I wouldn't have been able to hear him if his mouth wasn't inches above mine.
“Well, he didn't kill me. But you nearly did.”
He flinched and his grip on my hand tightened.
“A god’s temper is his worst enemy. There is only wrath, no rational thought.
I... I would never have forgiven myself if you had.
..” He trailed off, and his expression was so intense that I couldn't speak for the sadness that lodged in my throat.
It was as though he was passing the emotion directly to me, through those incredible eyes. “How did you know to eat the seeds?”
Alarm bells rang in my head at his question, snapping me out of the intense melancholy. Trust nobody.
“Never you mind. You need to tell me what happened before, Hades.
I can't do this any more. I can't live a life I'm half blind to.
It's not fair and it's driving me insane.” Hades lifted his other hand to my face, and very, very slowly drew his finger down my cheek.
Pleasure coursed across my skin, and I tried to stifle my sharp breath.
“Would it make any difference if I told you that you chose to drink from the river Lethe yourself? You begged to forget what happened. And I promised you that you would never hurt like that again.”
Something fierce and painful surged inside me and I shook my head. It was true. I knew what he was saying was true.
“I don't care. It makes no difference now. I need to know.”
“I won't break my promise, Persephone. I can't.”
I expected to feel the familiar sense of frustration at being denied my own past once again, and opened my mouth to argue.
But it didn't come. Standing so close to him was making my resolve soften, my distrust lessen, and my fear of him disappear completely.
He loved me. I didn't know how or why, but nothing could be clearer as I stared into those swirling silver orbs.
“You said I wasn't the woman you married,” I whispered.
“Maybe not. But the bond between us is still there.
And I can't fight it, no matter how hard I try.
Especially not now you have your power back.
You're like a damned beacon down here, impossible to ignore.” He ran a hand through his hair in frustration, looking for all the world like a normal, if impossibly sexy, guy.
“Bond?”
“Don't tell me you can't feel it,” he said, his eyes locking on mine.
I wanted to tell him to stop being so arrogant, but I couldn't. He was right. There was definitely something between us, deep and real and damned inconvenient. Corpses. King of the Underworld. Fire and ash and death. You do not fancy Hades!
“Well, I don't think I've got it quite as bad as you,” I said as casually as I could. Fire flashed in his eyes, and I regretted my words immediately.
“Is that right?” he said, his tender, open expression vanishing and a predatory hunger replacing it. He seemed to grow in front of me, his shoulders filling out, his eyes flashing with desire. “Let's put that to the test, shall we?”
Before I could begin to respond he had my face in his hands, and his lips met mine.
Desire exploded through me, the hunger in his kiss even deeper than the last time. His other hand snaked down my back, his touch through the fabric of my shirt electrifying.
I pressed myself into him, my back arching, my hands scrabbling at the buttons on his shirt.
But he stopped the kiss abruptly, stepping back and gripping both of my small hands in one of his. I started to protest but a wave of power rolled over me and all words abandoned me as I looked up into his face.
Actual flames danced in his irises as his gaze raked over my body. The desire in his expression alone was enough to make my core heat, a low ache building inside me.
“I do believe, Beautiful, that we started on the wrong foot,” he said, his voice low and rich and sensuous.
“It appears that you have no idea what being fated to Hades, King of the Underworld, all powerful god, actually entails.” I stared up at him, panting slightly.
All powerful god. My stupid, lust addled brain allowed my thoughts to slip between my lips before I could stop them.
“Does that mean magic sex?” I breathed. His mouth quirked into a smile.
“Magic sex,” he repeated, then a wave of pleasure began to trickle exquisitely across my body.
It started at my neck, like the kiss of a feather, and as it moved lower across my chest I felt my nipples tighten and a gasp escaped my lips.
Hades watched me, eyes dark and hooded, as the feeling rolled further south, the divine sensation dancing around my thighs but never quite reaching their apex. The ache was becoming unbearable, the need to be touched building into something that was making my legs shake.
Was this right? Was he making me feel this against my will?
No. Hell, no.