Page 202 of A Touch of Chaos

“You cannot know that,” she said. “Do not promise it.”

“I would like to believe it all the same,” he said.

Hades was content to hold her, given the horror he had witnessed in his own vision. In it, Persephone had been torn to pieces before him. Just as she had thought she would never hear his heart beat again, he had thought he would never hold her again.

“It was strange. The entire time, I had the sense that I had seen it all before…when you trained me…yet it was still different,” she said.

Guilt blossomed in his chest from the memory of that day. He had manifested her greatest fear, which turned out to be his death, but he had not prepared her.

That was cruel, she had said, and she had been right. As much as he had wanted to prepare her for the cruelty of gods, it was not fair to her.

“But that was how I knew it wasn’t real.”

She pulled away, and their eyes met. She pressed her hand to his chest, and his armor turned to shadows and fled from the light, leaving him naked.

Her eyes fell to his cock. He wanted her to touch him, but she didn’t.

“Is this selfish?” she asked.

“Does it feel selfish?”

“Yes.”

He studied her and touched her cheek. “Then you are not aroused enough,” he said, and as their mouths came together, their bodies did too.

When Hades woke, he was alone.

He rose and went in search of Persephone. He found her standing outside the palace with Cerberus by her side. He was still three-headed and dwarfed Persephone with his size. Hades approached her and slipped his arms around her waist. She relaxed against him, her hands folding over his.

“Can your monsters rise from the dead?” Persephone asked.

“Cerberus is not dead, but yes,” Hades said. “Now that the sun is no longer in the sky.”

He felt her freeze for a moment. “That was not a dream? Has Helios truly fallen?”

“Yes.”

She turned to face him. “Then…I truly killed that demigod?”

Hades studied her for a moment and then took her hand. As he did, a single black thread surfaced.

“What will the Fates do?”

“It is hard to say in times of battle,” said Hades. “It depends on who they favor.”

“How do we know if they favor us?”

“We will know if we win.”

They were not comforting words, but they were true.

“Come,” he said. “We will meet with the gods.”

They returned to his office at Nevernight, and Hades was surprised to find Ares waiting with the other gods. Beside him, he felt Persephone reach for her magic.

He could not blame her. The God of War’s presence was immediately suspicious.

Hades’s gaze slid to Aphrodite, who stood beside Ares.

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