“Yes,” she whispered.
“Did I… Did I hurt you?”
It occurred to him that he hadn’t been completely grounded or aware at some point during their coupling, but then she smiled and touched his face, her finger dancing lightly over his features.
“No,” she said. “I love you.”
Those words flooded him with a sense of relief. He had said before that words held no meaning, but that was before Persephone had uttered those three.
“I wasn’t sure I would hear those words again,” he admitted, unprepared for the shock those words would have on Persephone, who immediately began to cry.
“I never stopped,” she whispered.
“Shh, my darling,” Hades comforted. “I never lost faith.”
But his words did nothing to quell her tears. Her body shook with them.
Maybe she needed this—another form of release. He lifted her into his arms and carried her inside, where he laid her on their soft bed and kissed her until she was calm.
“I love you,” he said, because he had yet to say it back, and then, “I am sorry.”
She shook her head. “Things have been hard.”
It was true for both of them in very different ways.
He bent to press his lips to her forehead and settled between her thighs.
Despite the fact that they had just come together outside, he wanted to make love to her, and he wanted it to be both delicate and desperate. At the end of it, he didn’t want to know where he ended and she began.
She widened her legs as he guided himself to her entrance but froze as a knock sounded at the door. He met Persephone’s gaze, then grinned.
“Enter,” he said, and Persephone’s eyes widened.
“Hades!”
He chuckled as he rolled off her into a sitting position, and she rose too, pulling the blankets to her chest right as Hermes entered.
The god gave a lopsided smirk.
“Hey, Sephy,” he said, a note of warmth in his voice.
“Hermes,” Hades said, and his gaze shifted to him.
“Oh yeah.” For a moment, Hermes’s smile widened, then he took on a more serious expression. “I found the nymph, Leuce.”
“Bring her,” Hades ordered, and the nymph appeared before their bed, looking stricken and pale.
“Please—” she began, already sobbing.
“Silence!” Hades’s voice was like a lashing, and Leuce immediately quieted, tears tracking down her face. “You will tell Persephone the truth.
Did you send her to the Forest of Despair?”
At his question, more tears spilled down her cheeks and she nodded.
There was a very small part of him that felt remorse for Leuce—not for what she had done to Persephone but for how sorry she truly seemed.
“Why?” Persephone asked. The betrayal in her voice made him feel terrible for bringing this to her, but she needed to know.
“To tear you both apart,” Leuce answered in a whisper, her eyes on the floor.
Hades could not tell what Persephone was thinking, but he thought she might be in shock, because all she could ask was “Why?”
Leuce pressed her lips tight and shook her head, body shaking with renewed sobs.
“You will answer,” Hades commanded.
She collapsed in a heap on the floor. “She will kill me.”
“Who?” Persephone asked, looking from Leuce to Hades.
“Your mother,” Hades said. “She’s talking about your mother.”
Persephone’s eyes widened and she looked at Leuce. “Is this true?”
Hades didn’t like the shock in her voice. This was a woman who had taken Leuce in. Not only had she invited her into her home, but she had
offered to mentor her. Even if Leuce hadn’t wanted to, she still deceived Persephone.
“I lied when I said I didn’t remember who gave me life,” Leuce said. “But I was afraid. Demeter reminded me over and over that she would take it all away if I didn’t obey. I’m so sorry, Persephone. You were so kind to me, and I betrayed you.”
There was a moment when no one spoke—not even Hermes, who still stood by, watching this interrogation take place. But then Persephone shifted, wrapping the sheets around her as she left the bed, exposing his nakedness, though he did not care as he watched her approach Leuce and kneel before her.
He wanted to protest. The only person he would ever kneel to was her, but Persephone was not like him, nor did she need to be.
“I don’t blame you for fearing my mother. I feared her for a long time too.