26. Chapter 26
Chapter twenty-six
Theron
T heron laid her on the bed, his lips refusing to leave hers as he fell on top of her. His blood pulsed through his body in blazing surges as he kissed her in feverish urgency, feeling her body move beneath his. The passion in her was electric—a wild force, unleashed and feral. It made that burning sensation rising within him burn further with unbridled intensity.
Her hands gripped his back, gathering his shirt in her fingers as he nipped at her neck. He’d never felt like this before. It was like all the pain he’d ever experienced had melted away. Like everything was suddenly okay because of this fire between them. This untamed, affectionate feeling. This ravenous need. It was lightning shooting through his body, making him yearn to become one with her, unsatisfied with any space left between them.
He kissed down her neck, lightly trailing his teeth against her skin. His hands moved up her legs and started grazing her inner thighs when she pulled back. Suppressing a sad grumble, he looked up at her.
“I-I don't think I’m ready to go further,” she said.
He swallowed, nodding as he kept the river of fire surging through his body at bay. “Okay.” He smiled, leaning down and pressing his lips against hers one last time before falling next to her. He closed his eyes and steadied his breath, easing the feelings still raging inside him.
She turned on her side and smiled, scrunching her nose in the most adorable way as she brushed the side of his face with the back of her hand. He forced himself to ignore the way her legs were exposed and the way her chest was half-poured out of her dress and kept his gaze fixed on her eyes.
“Sorry,” she said.
He smiled back and placed his hand gently on her cheek. “Don’t be. It’s okay. Whatever you’re ready for is more than enough.” He kept a reassuring smile plastered on his face.
The last thing he’d ever want was to make her uncomfortable. As he looked at her now, flushed and smiling, something gleaming in her eyes, he suddenly wished he could gift her the world and everything in it. Everything good and worth having.
He would move Mt. Olympus for her. Give everything he had just to see her this happy forever.
“Thank you,” she whispered, scooting closer to him and resting her head on his pillow.
He wrapped his arm around her and held her against his chest. Closing his eyes, he took in her warmth, her heart beating in rhythmic thumps with his. “I should be the one thanking you.”
She looked up at him. “For what?”
“For making me feel like I could actually be cared for.”
The gleam in her eyes faded, and a spike of worry splintered through his chest until she said, “You’re worthy of being cared for.” Her frown softened into a smile. “I’m very fond of you.”
He smiled, swallowing the emotion lumped in his throat. “I’m very fond of you, too. And I’ve never been fond of anyone.” He leaned down and kissed her, then closed his eyes and placed his forehead on hers. “You’re the embodiment of happiness, Correlia. I wish I could keep you forever.”
She didn’t say anything for a moment, then finally whispered, “I wish you could, too.”
Tears threatened to fall down his face, so he kissed her again. And kissed her. And kissed her. Until she leaned back and whispered, “It isn’t fair.”
“What isn’t?”
“That we were born to be enemies.”
Her eyes welled with tears as they searched his. The pain in her sunflower eyes cranked something deep within his chest. He wished he could take away the pain, but all he could offer her was this embrace and the words that sat at the tip of his tongue. With one large palm, he cupped the side of her face and leaned in close. His nose brushed against hers as he whispered her name. “Correlia,” he breathed, “you could never be my enemy.”
She blinked away the dewy tears with a half-sob, half-laugh, but he still spotted something sad in her eyes before she nestled into his chest. He stroked her hair, twirling it between his fingers as it fell between her shoulder blades. He loved the unique color of it. Like the sun setting in a blushing sky. From afar, her hair looked like golden light poured from the stars, but the closer she got, the more he could see the beautiful rose tint that made it a light, golden pink. She was truly the embodiment of life at its brightest and most beautiful.
“I don’t know how much longer we can stay like this,” she whispered, emotion brimming in her voice.
“Let’s not think about it,” he said, but he couldn’t not think about it. His heart cracked every time he thought of never seeing her again and never being able to hold her like this or feel her lips on his. “Tell me something. Anything.”
“Okay,” she said with a sniff. She hummed thoughtfully. “I don’t remember my life before I was six.”
His hand stopped on her back. “Oh?”
She nodded against his chest. “I think something very bad happened to me, but I don’t know what.”
He slowly started stroking her hair again, running his fingers down her back. “I don’t remember mine either.”
She leaned back. “Really?”
“Yeah . . . I mean, I remember enough. I was thirteen when I came.”
She frowned. “That’s somehow worse.”
“Than what?”
She combed her fingers through his hair. “Than losing your memory as a child. You would have remembered your life before this one. And that would make that pain so much worse.” Her eyes flickered to his. “Did it?”
“I don’t know. I don’t remember much of my life before coming here. I remember my parents, and I thought they cared about me, especially my mother, but they let me get sent here, and I think they were glad.”
“Glad? Why?”
His stomach twisted as he remembered the look his mother gave him right before they were told he was Hades. “I think she was afraid of me.”
Correlia’s fingers gently scratched his head as they trailed through his hair. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, the sincerity in her voice so genuine, so kind.
“It’s okay,” he lied.
“No. It’s not. It’s okay to say that it’s not.”
Itis okay , he wanted to say, but the truth was that a day didn’t go by when he didn’t think about his mother. When he didn’t wonder what had gone through her mind as he’d been grabbed and dragged to the Underworld by a drove of demons—creatures that were so terrifying that the mere sight of them had ripped at his insides as they’d sunk their claws into his skinny arms.
Tears slid down his cheeks in warm streaks. “I don’t know how they could let that happen.” He looked at Correlia, his breath shuddering. “I don’t know how they could let me go. Their screaming, terrified son.” He shook his head as more tears slithered down his face. “I don’t believe they loved me. I can’t imagine how they could have. I don’t know much about love, but I don’t think you could do that to someone if you loved them.”
Correlia wrapped her arms around him, and he grabbed onto her, crying into her as silently as he could. Thanatos would have given him the worst punishment imaginable if he knew he was letting himself cry, let alone to her. Such a beautiful, powerful goddess who might actually care about him. Somehow. For some reason.
“How can you care about someone like me?” he whispered.
She reached up and kissed him, cradling his face in her hands. “It’s easy. You’re stronger and kinder than you realize.”
He scoffed. “Don’t tell anyone, or I’ll be a dead man. Well—worse. A forever tortured god.”
She stroked along his jawline. “Don’t worry. Your secret’s safe with me.”
He stared at her, still completely baffled. Surely, she was lying. “No one could care about a monster like me.”
“You’re not a monster. AndIdo care about you. No matter what you tell yourself, or what Thanatos or anyone else tells you. I care about you, and you’re worthy of being cared for.” She leaned in closer, burying her gaze into his. “Okay?”
He smiled, more effortlessly than he knew he could, and swallowed the welling emotion gathering in his throat. “Okay.”
“Okay. Good,” she said, her smile widening, dimpling her cheeks.
He thought for a minute, then said, “So you don’t remember any of your childhood? Before you were six?”
“No. Not even bits or pieces. I think my parents died, but I don’t know how or why. They may have abandoned me. I’m not sure. I was raised by Demeter. Her real name is Berenice. She’s the only mother I’ve ever known, and she’s always loved me. I’m grateful for that. Really, I am, but . . . it’s just . . . I don’t know. I wish I knew what happened to my other parents. You know?”
“I understand.”
“I’m sorry. I must sound spoiled.”
“No. Not at all. You have every right to be upset and confused. Sometimes, not knowing is worse than knowing the truth, regardless of how bad it is.”
She sighed. “Yeah, but you’ve had it so much worse.”
“That doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter what anyone else has gone through. Don’t discount the hardships of your life because they’ve been different than mine.”
She smiled softly, the white of her eyes reddening. “Thank you, Theron. That means a lot to me.”
The way she looked at him made something in him churn. He wished he could take every ounce of pain away from her. Someone so good should never have to suffer. After a moment, he looked down and said, “Markus.”
“What?”
“My real name. It’s Markus.”
When he looked back at her, his heart fluttered. Her smile was soft, her freckles like stars beneath her green-gold eyes.
“Markus. I like it. It suits you.”
Hearing his name on her lips warmed something inside him. He didn’t know what to say. No one had called him by his real name in a long time.
“Why did you change it?" she asked. "Especially if you’d be named Hades anyway.”
“I didn’t. Thanatos did. He didn’t want me tied to my past, but he wasn’t ready to call me Hades until I earned it. So, he gave me a warrior’s name. That’s what he said, anyway.”
“Well, I’ll call you Markus. If that’s okay with you.”
He couldn’t help but smile, his chest still warm. “Yes, it’s okay with me.”
It’s more than okay , he wanted to say. It’s everything to me.
“Good,” she said before letting out a yawn and stretching out her free arm. “I’m exhausted. Let’s go to bed.”
“Okay.” He kissed her one more time. First on the mouth, then on the tip of her nose and her forehead. “Good night, Correlia.”
“Good night, Markus.”
Markus .
He didn’t think he’d ever get sick of her calling him that, even though he was supposed to have forgotten it long ago. If Thanatos knew he’d told anyone—let alone her—he’d get the beating of a lifetime. But he didn’t care. It was worth it just to hear it in her voice, coming from the soft lips that sent ripples of light through his veins.
He watched as her eyes fluttered closed and the breaths on her chest evened and slowed. He nestled closer to her and rested his chin on the top of her head, pressing his lips gently against her hair as she fell deeply into sleep.
He loved holding her, but it also made him realize how much he was starting to care for her. It was terrifying. What if something happened to her? She was so vulnerable in a place like this, where monsters and evil creatures lurked, ready to sink their claws and teeth into someone so pure and full of sunshine. He couldn’t stand the thought of anything happening to her.
As he held her in his arms, it was impossible to ignore the intense need he felt to protect her. To shield her from everything he’d ever been subjected to. He had to protect her from beings like Thanatos and Nikias at all costs, and he would do anything it took to protect her.
He tried not to think about what his life would be like when she went back to Mt. Olympus. When all of this faded into a cruelly beautiful dream. He tried to think only of what he could do to keep her with him when he became Hades for good. When this place was his, and he called the shots and made the rules.
Things could be different then. He let himself believe that. That he could be happy one day. In love, even. Just like everyone else.
Even if it was a lie, he let himself believe it. Whatever let him keep this glorious feeling alive—this feeling that numbed his broken, bruised bones and filled him with warmth and sunlight instead. Just so he could cherish it as long as he possibly could. Because he knew it wouldn’t last forever. It couldn’t. It wasn’t in the stars for someone like him.