Page 218 of A Touch of Chaos

His fingers were in her hair again, and she let him hit the back of her throat, keeping him there for only a moment before she released him to breathe. Suddenly, he was gone, and she felt his fingers slide between her legs and tease her damp heat. She realized he had teleported behind her.

“That’s not fair,” she moaned.

“Nothing is fair, darling,” he said, slipping one finger inside. “Fuck,” he said, planting a kiss on her ass before removing his finger and pressing his mouth to her slick skin.

“Yes,” she moaned. “Yes.”

She pulled away from him and then turned, dragging his mouth to hers. She kissed him hard before she lay on her back and spread her legs again. Hades’s eyes glittered, dancing over every part of her body.

“I fucking love every part of you,” he said.

Then his mouth was on her again, and his fingers dove into her flesh. Everything inside her started to feel tight, wound by Hades’s hand, and then, as if a thread snapped, she was unleashed, body seizing as wave after wave of pleasure shuddered through her. She had never felt something this intense, but it was like everything she had kept inside her for weeks—all the pain and the guilt and the fear—was suddenly released. Now she had room for hope.

She had room for dreams.

As if he knew, Hades stretched out, resting his body against hers and the head of his cock between her legs. She brought her knees up, framing his body, ready and desperate for him to be inside.

“Are you well?” he asked. He brushed his fingers along her brow.

“I am,” she replied. “More than.”

Then he kissed her, and Persephone opened her mouth against his, taking a breath as he filled her.

“I love you,” she said.

Hades grinned again, and a breathless laugh escaped him.

She lifted her legs, wrapping them around his waist. “Why do you laugh?”

“It is merely disbelief,” he said, his words punctuated with a breath as he moved inside her. “You have become my past, my present, and my future.”

Her eyes watered, but for once, it wasn’t because she was afraid. It was because she was happy—ridiculously happy.

And so very much in love.

Hades lowered his forehead to rest against hers, and then they kissed once more before there was nothing more they could say with words.

Later, Persephone lay draped over Hades. They were both naked, bodies spent from their lovemaking, but it was in this quiet that the darkness crept in. Persephone could feel it like a cool blanket settling over her, and she shivered.

Hades felt it, and his warm hands eased her prickly flesh.

“What are you thinking about?” he whispered. He sounded drowsy, and she liked that. It said a lot, that he felt comfortable enough to rest.

She was quiet. At first, she had a hard time tracking her thoughts. They seemed to move rapidly through her mind, jumping from one concern to the next. She thought about all the work they had to do to rebuild New Athens, and while that would be a grand undertaking, nothing was more daunting than earning the trust of mortals again. They had to prove they were worthy of worship, and that would require building a different kind of pantheon, one where mortals were not punished for the shortcomings of the gods.

But what had brought about the chill were the thoughts she’d had about herself.

“I am only trying to decide who I am now that the war is over,” she said.

“You are Persephone,” he said. “You are my wife and my queen. You are everything to me.”

She traced a circle on his chest but did not look at him. “But even you know I am not the same as before.”

“If you weren’t, you could not live in this world,” he said. “I am not afraid. Why should you be?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I think I worry that if I live long enough, I will cease to care for the world. I already feel it, this urge to be selfish, to not go beyond our borders.”

“It is not selfish to have a desire to be where you are loved, Persephone,” Hades said. As he spoke, his warm hand continued to move soothingly over her back. “Doubt and suspicion are not the same as losing your humanity. If anything, they will protect you better than even your magic.”

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