His lips explored, and as he pressed a kiss against her breastbone, he looked up. “What else?”
She met his stare then, eyes fire-bright and searching. Their lips grazed each other’s as they shared breath.
“Tell me,” Hades begged.
Tell me you want me, he thought, and I will take you now. He would lift her into his arms, part her legs, and settle between them. The friction would release their passion, shake the earth and reverse rivers. It would end worlds and begin them.
It would change everything.
He waited, and her eyes fluttered closed as her lips parted, inviting his own. She took a breath, her chest rising and falling against his own. He leaned in, ready to capture her mouth when she admitted the truth. Tell me you desire me.
“Just cards.”
He drew away lightning fast, despite his raging desire, and attempted to mask his frustration at her response. It took some effort, and his fingers curled into fists, nails piercing his palms. The pain made it easier, helped him focus on something other than his hard-as-steel cock.
Fuck me, he thought.
If she would not own up to her lust, he would not continue to make a fool of himself.
“You must wish to return home,” he said, turning from her and leaving the stacks, pausing to look back. “You may borrow those books, if you wish.”
She blinked, as if she were under some sort of spell, before gathering the books and following him into the main part of the library.
“How? You withdrew my favor.”
“Trust me, Lady Persephone,” he said, keep his tone void of emotion. “If I stripped you of my favor, you would know.”
It would be painful, like skin stripped from bones.
“So I’m Lady Persephone again?” Her voice held contempt, and he wondered at her response. Was she angry with him?
“You have always been Lady Persephone, whether you choose to embrace your blood or not.”
“What is there to embrace?” she asked and did not meet his gaze. “I’m an unknown goddess at best, and a minor one at that.”
Hades frowned; those beliefs were the bars that kept her true nature caged.
“If that is how you think of yourself, you will never know your power.”
Hades had nothing more to say. He had a nymph to interrogate, energy to expend, and Persephone had made it clear she wished to leave. He started to gather his magic and teleport to Nevernight, when her sharp command stopped him.
“Don’t. You asked that I not leave when I’m angry, and I’m asking you not to send me away when you’re angry.”
He dropped his hand. “I am not angry.”
“Then why did you drop me in the Underworld earlier?” she asked. “Why send me away at all?”
“I needed to speak with Hermes,” he said.
“And you couldn’t say that?”
He hesitated.
“Don’t request things of me you cannot deliver yourself, Hades.”
He stared at her. Her line of questioning helped him understand a few things about her. He had hurt her feelings when he dropped her in the Underworld earlier. She felt ignored and discarded.
We are equals, she’d said on their second encounter. When she had come to ask that his mark be removed. She was making the same plea now.
After a moment, he nodded. “I will grant you that courtesy.”
She exhaled, and Hades wondered if she had expected him to say no. The thought made his chest tighten.
“Thank you.”
Her words relaxed him, and he extended his hand. “Come, we can return to Nevernight together. I have…unfinished business there.”
She shifted the books in her arms and took his hand, and they returned to his office. Her gaze fell on the mirror over the fireplace and then wandered to his.
“How did you know we were in there? Hermes said we couldn’t be seen.”
“I knew you were here, because I could feel you.”
She shivered visibly and withdrew her hand from his. Hades mourned the absence of her warmth. She picked up her backpack where she had left it and heaved it onto her shoulder. On the way out the door, she paused and glanced back. She looked so young, so beautiful, framed by his gilded doors, and he wondered what the fuck he was doing.
“You said the map is only visible to those you trust. What does it take to gain the trust of the God of the Dead?”
“Time.”
***
Hades saw Persephone out, despite her protests. He knew she feared being seen with him, and really, he could not blame her. The media was ruthless and obsessive, and they tracked gods like prey, hoping for a shot that would perpetuate sensationalism and gossip. Some of his fellow Olympians loved the attention, but Hades had made it a goal to avoid them completely, going so far as to post guards up and down his street, on roofs, and in buildings around his club to keep his privacy.