Page 5 of Hateful Prince

“And these are different because . . .”

“Your slate was wiped clean. Nothing will bring our past back to you because there’s nothing there that has been hidden. But that doesn’t change the love between us.”

Love?

“You don’t love me.”

“I do.”

“No. You love her. Persephone.”

He turned his body so he was fully facing me, one leg bent on the mattress, the other over the side of the bed. He didn’t give a single damn that he was still naked.

“You don’t believe me. Fine, I’ll prove it to you. You may not remember our life together, but your soul recognizes mine. It’s why you feel that pull to me. How you know the second I enter a room or exactly where I’m standing. Same as I do for you.” He let out a humorless laugh. “Gods, I was such a fool. Here I thought I should hate how you made me feel when it was your soul calling to mine the whole time.”

I stared at him mutely, shaking my head. I should be throwing my arms in the air and shouting out my victory. I finally got the broody man I’d been lusting after since I saw him arrive in his straightjacket. Yes, I am aware how messed up that sounds. But I just felt hollow. Like something had been taken from me.

Then I realized what it was.

Hope.

All this time I’d been holding out hope that Cain would wake up one morning and stop fighting his feelings for me. And wouldn’t you know it, he did, but those fucking feelings weren’t for me. They were never for me. They were for the ghost of his Persephone.

Fucking ghosts.

He must have sensed the war raging in my mind because he reached for me. I flinched. I didn’t mean to do it, and I regretted the unconscious act the second I saw the shattered look in his eyes. Though it was quickly replaced by mounting frustration.

“I would never hurt you, Dahlia. If I wanted to, I could take you back to my realm here and now, lock you up, and throw away the key until you come back to your senses. But even then, I would never harm a single hair upon your head. Don’t you know you are precious to me?”

I must have been an absolute masochist because I could not help but poke the bear. “So why don’t you? That’s supposed to be your shtick, right? Hades takes what he wants.”

He bared his teeth at me in a silent snarl. “Because I’ve learned my lesson. I went against the Fates once and lost everything. I will not risk our life together again. This time, I will play by their rules. It’s obvious they brought us to this place for a reason.”

Putting that terrifying revelation aside for now, I focused on the problem I could actually tackle. “I can’t be her for you. You know that, right?”

“You’re mine, baby doll. Whether you remember us or not. I don’t want you to be her. But I need you to be mine.”

He was saying all the right things, but words didn’t mean much when the truth had already been spoken as another woman’s name. I believed that I had her soul, that my magical vagina brought back his past, that he’d loved and lost her. But this man’s feelings weren’t for Dahlia, the woman I was. The roots of his love were deeply bound to the soul of his Persephone, someone I would never be. Which made all this something else entirely.

“Cain . . .”

His eyes flared, but he didn’t correct me.

Still, I felt the reprimand and couldn’t help but acknowledge it. “Am I really supposed to call you Hades now?”

His lips quirked up in a sexy smirk. “I'd rather you call me Daddy.”

Me too.

Before I had a chance to respond, his smile dimmed, and he blew out a breath. “But no. For now, it’s probably best you keep referring to me as Cain. At least when we aren’t alone.”

Unease was a twisted lump in my belly. “You don’t want them to know you’ve gotten your memories back?”

“Not yet.”

“I thought you were going along with fate’s plan.”

“The Fates, baby. There are three of them. And yes, I’m following their plan, but someone saw fit to steal my memories and lock us both in here. I intend to find out who and then...”

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