Chapter 4
Persephone
Hades' words reverberated through all the other thoughts ricocheting around my brain. “You're the only one who can save me.”
I knew it was true. I was the light to his dark, the balm to his pain, the healer of his shattered soul. The invisible connection to him burned hot inside me, and the desire to help him, heal him, take away all his pain, was overwhelming.
“Could... could you love a monster?” he asked me, hesitantly. I stared into his eyes, the question stirring emotions I had never, ever felt before.
I pictured him as I'd just seen him, towering and blue and fearsome, the poisonous cruelty pouring into me through my vines.
But that wasn't him.
“No. I couldn't love a monster. But I could love you.” He gripped my hand harder, his angular face pinched and more fearful than I thought he could look.
“You have seen what is inside me,” he whispered.
“And I charge you to never let it win again. I will do whatever it takes to help you, Hades. You carry a burden heavier than most, but it does not define you.”
I was vaguely aware of the commitment I was making with my words, but they left my lips anyway, and the bond between us swelled and burned even hotter inside me.
I knew with utter certainty that I had to be where Hades was. For as long as I lived, I needed to be by his side. He was my home. He was everything.
“I love you, Persephone,” he said, and his silver eyes were shining, all traces of melancholy gone.
I had never loved a man before, and I had nothing to compare what I was feeling with, but there was no doubt in my mind that this intense need for him to be happy, the need for him to be safe and with me always, was love.
“I love you,” I told him, and we moved together, our lips meeting.
Sparks of pleasure burst from the contact, his tongue seeking out mine with a sense of urgency that I relished. I needed him. I needed to show him how much I wanted him, needed there to be no gap between us, no distance for doubt or fear to fill.
His hands moved to my face, fingers caressing my cheek, then running through my tangled hair. I wrapped my own arms around his neck, deepening the kiss, heat and moisture pooling between my legs.
Then he moved quickly, one arm around my back and the other under my legs, scooping me up into his arms. I gave a little squeak and he beamed at me, eyes gleaming with lust and promise.
“A bath, for my Queen,” he said huskily, and stood up.
I kissed his jaw and neck as he carried me across the lavish room, and was rewarded with a strained grunt.
I moved my kisses lower, across his collarbone.
I could feel little sparks of pleasure through my whole body every time my lips met his skin.
Was that the bond? If kisses felt this good.
.. “If you keep doing that I'll take you against that wall, and that's not how I want our first time to be,” he ground out, and I looked up at him.
“As long as you take me, I don't care,” I said, surprised at how husky my own voice sounded. I had wanted him for what seemed like forever, and I was ready. He gave a small growl, then kicked open a door in front of us.
I gazed around at what looked like a freaking palace made of marble, slowly realizing it was a washroom. The bath was no ordinary bath though, it was a pool set into the stone floor, fed by a wall of quietly cascading water. A unit with two sinks and a long, ornate mirror lined the other wall.
Hades set me down on my feet, and stepped back from me, folding his arms across his bare chest.
“You can't bathe in your dress,” he said. Excitement quivered through me, making me ache.
“You'll need to undo it for me,” I answered, turning my back to him. Painfully slowly, he untied the lacing at the back, the bodice loosening around me.
“Done,” he grunted, and I turned back to him. The movement was enough to cause the loosened dress to drop to the floor around my feet, and his lips parted as he took in a breath.
“You are so beautiful,” he said. I knew he meant it, and confidence surged through me as I hooked my thumbs into the sides of my panties and slid them down.
“So, so beautiful,” he breathed, his eyes fixed between my thighs.
Then they shot back up to mine, and he gave me a wicked grin as he snapped his fingers.
His jeans vanished.
I barely kept my footing as my gaze locked on him, hard and ready and freaking glorious. Desire was pounding at me now, slick and hot and untamable. But before I could throw myself at him he had scooped me up again, and was walking into the pool.
Pleasure fizzed out from every point of contact our bare skin made, and I let out a wobbly moan of pleasure as hot water lapped at my skin as he moved deeper into the pool.
He set me on my feet once more when I was chest deep, the water moving against my hard nipples, then a bar of soap appeared in his hand. I cocked my head, about to ask him what he was doing but he spoke first.
“I want to wash away the horrors of this day, and give you some much, much better memories,” he said.
Then he closed the gap between us, his soapy hands brushing over my shoulders, my back, down to my waist..
. I tensed with pleasure as his hands roamed, and when they reached my breasts he moved his head down and kissed me, my moan lost against his lips.
His tongue flicked against mine in time with his fingers over my body and I willed them lower. The desire to feel him was now unstoppable, and I ran my hands over my own body, covering them in the foamy lather, then planted them on his rock hard abs.
I felt him tense, his movements pausing for a split second, then speeding up, his finger and thumb now pinching at my nipples, causing pulses of painful pleasure in my core.
I moved my hands down faster too, delighting in the feel of his solid muscles, his powerful body, the thought of everything he could do with it. ..
My fingers moved under the water at his navel, and I soon felt coarse hair. Excitement made my breathing shallow, and I broke the kiss off to gulp down air, but as my fingers closed around him he kissed me again, hard and fierce.
I moved my hand along him in awe, and he suddenly wrapped one arm around the small of my back and lifted me from the pool floor.
I gasped as he put his other hand under my leg, lifting me higher and making me let go of him to cling to his neck, wrapping my thighs around his waist. His hard length was pressed against me, and I gripped him tightly, leaning close to his ear.
“Take me. Please.”
“Tell me I'm yours,” he growled.
“I'm yours and you are mine.”
He lowered me slightly, and fiery pleasure spasmed through me as I felt him at my entrance.
“I'm yours and you are mine,” I repeated into his neck, almost delirious with need.
He lowered me again, pushing and stretching me exquisitely slowly.
“Once more,” he gasped, and I moved in his arms to look deep into his eyes.
“I'm yours and you are mine,” I breathed, and watched his eyes cloak with desire before he lowered me fully onto him. I threw my head back, crying out as my body clamped around him, filling me almost to the point of pain, but not quite.
He moaned as his strong arms lifted me again, and shuddering pleasure rolled through me, obliterating everything but him.
Each time he moved me up and down I lost more of myself to his body, my mind taken over completely by the unbelievable feeling of rightness, the mounting power building inside me, growing with every thrust.
It wasn't long before my whole body felt like it was alight with ecstasy, each time he filled me becoming more sure I would lose control.
“I love you, Persephone' he gasped, and I let go completely, my orgasm crashing through my body. He cried out and tensed, and I pressed myself against him, kissing him hard as he came, my core still hammered by waves of pleasure.
Slowly the water around us stilled, and Hades pushed his hand into my hair, pressing my heaving chest to his as I shuddered.
“You were made for me,” I told him, my voice breathless.
“Yes,” he said, and kissed me softly as he lifted me off him, back to unsteady feet. “We were made for each other.”
He led me to the wall of cascading water, where we showered, soaping and stroking each other’s bodies like greedy teenagers. When we were done, he carried me back to his bedroom, and laid me gently on the massive draped bed. I looked around the room curiously.
Like Hecate's, it was dark and elegant, with imposing dark-wood furniture and soft black fabric. But as I looked up, I gave a little gasp of surprise. Instead of the starry rock ceiling in my own rooms, his was glowing with golden vines.
“So I always think of you, last thing at night and first thing in the morning,” he said, laying down beside me.
“How did I spend so many years not even knowing you existed?” I murmured, stroking my fingers down his stubbled jaw.
“I'm sorry,” he said.
“You need to stop saying that. I've forgiven you.” And it was true. I still hated a hundred or more things about Olympus, but I knew that whatever Hades had done, he had done it for me.
“I promise I will never leave you again,” he said, raw intensity making his voice thick.
“Good,” I said, and happiness blossomed in my chest. “Now, I believe you said something about worshiping me?”
“You wish is my command, my Queen,” he said, the wicked gleam back in his eyes.
He rolled on top of me quickly, the feel of his hot skin making mine burst to life with tingles. I stared up at his beautiful, godly body and he licked his lips slowly. I squirmed.
“I recall you telling me you would make me forget my own name,” I ventured, my breath half held.
“So I did,” he answered, and lowered his head. He took my nipple in his mouth, nibbling and sucking, and I arched into him, instantly ready for him again.
He kissed his way down my stomach, trails of heated sensation burning in his wake. When he reached the apex of my thighs he slowed, his tongue teasing me, as he kissed and nipped the tops of my thighs, coming dangerously close but never quite there.
“Please,” I panted, and his beautiful eyes flashed, before his tongue finally settled right between my legs. “Oh good gods,” I moaned as I sank back, pleasure consuming me.
He was right. A few minutes later, I couldn't have told anyone my name if my life had depended on it.