“Those who should will be, no matter the greeting they have from me.
The Underworld is beautiful, and you care about your peoples’ existence, Hades. Why should the good fear such a place? Why should they fear you?”
Once more, he would have laughed at her assessment if she weren’t so serious. If anyone had been listening, they would never suspect she was talking about him, the God of the Underworld, and though there was perhaps a grain of truth to what she said, it was only that, and he feared the day she discovered otherwise.
“As it were, they still fear me. You were the one who greeted them.”
“You could greet them with me.”
She spoke as if she feared he might reject her suggestion as quickly as she had made it.
“As much as you find disfavor with the title of queen, you are quick to act as one,” he observed.
The smile her words initially brought to his face vanished as he noted how she hesitated, asking, “Does…that displease you?”
“Why would it displease me?”
“Because I am not queen.”
Hades did not like those words. It was as if she were distancing herself from the idea, and as she stood and took the book from his hands, he spoke.
“You will be my queen. The Fates have declared it.”
He noted how she straightened, her chin jutting in defiance. She had not liked what he said, and instead of confronting him, she turned and headed into the stacks, book in hand.
Hades followed, appearing before her as she made her way down one of the aisles.
“Does that displease you?” he asked.
“No,” she said, brushing past him, and while he followed, she continued to speak. “Although, I would rather you want me as queen because you love me, not because the Fates have decreed it,” she said as she returned the book to its place.
He frowned, waiting for her to face him before he said, “You doubt my love?”
Her eyes widened, and her lips parted. “No! But…I suppose we cannot avoid what others may perceive about our relationship.”
Hades raised a brow and drew a step closer. “And what will others say, exactly?”
Again, she averted her eyes and shrugged as she answered, “That we are only together because of the Fates. That you have only chosen me because I am a goddess.”
His brows slammed down over his eyes. Those sounded oddly like things her mother would say.
“Have I given you reason to think such things?”
He hadn’t.
He already knew the answer.
“Who has given you doubts?”
“I have only just started to consider—”
“My motives?”
“No—”
He narrowed his eyes. “It seems that way.”
She took a step away, though she had little room to put distance between them as her back hit the bookcase, which did nothing to dispel the tension between them.
“I am sorry I said anything,” she snapped, her arms crossing over her chest, as if to put a barrier between them.
“It is too late for that.”
“Will you punish me for speaking my mind?” Her eyes flashed, full of defiance, but those words interested him.
“Punish?” he asked, closing the space between them. He guided her hands away from her chest, his cock growing thick and heavy as he rested against her hips. “I am interested to hear how you think I might punish you.”
She inhaled, her chest rising, and Hades could see the want in her eyes, yet she fought it, unwilling to give in to temptation. “I am interested in having my questions answered.”
He’d forgotten everything that had come before her suggestion of punishment. “Remind me again of your question.”
She looked at him shyly and took a moment to speak. All the while, he grew harder, still pressed between her thighs.
“If there were no Fates, would you still want me?”
An unsettling shock rippled through him as he considered her words.
If there were no Fates, would you still want me? He took a moment to comprehend them, to let them cycle through his mind, but there was a part of him that could not quite grasp why she felt inclined to ask such a question. In the end, did it matter?
The Fates were.
And so they were.
That was all.
Those were not the words she wanted to hear, though, and in truth, they were not enough, because Hades knew that what was between them had gone beyond fate.
And even if their future were to unravel, he would fight for it.
Desperately.
She began to lower her eyes and shift from between him and the shelf, seeking an exit, but he clasped her jaw, forcing her to look at him once more.