Page 19 of The Dread Queen's Bargain

“Pomegranates?” Zeus questioned.

“Pomegranates?” Hades mouthed the word slowly at the same time.

“Yes.” Persephone flushed. “As you know, Zeus, anyone who eats the food of the Underworld cannot leave again. I’ve already had a handful of pomegranate seeds this morning.” Hades looked at Persephone like she was insane, but he cleared his throat loudly and tried to look official.

“Ah, yes,” Hades nodded sagely. “You know of this, of course, Zeus.”

Zeus started looking around the room as he became increasingly uncomfortable. It was apparent on his face that he had no idea what Hades and Persephone were talking about, but he was unwilling to admit to ignorance of any kind.

“The world will burn for this. And as it succumbs to the flames, I hope you hear the screams and pray this was worth it.” Zeus began to dissipate into the ether slowly.

Persephone spoke up before Hades could answer.

“We can’t hear shit from down here but appreciate the warning. Good fucking luck with my mother.”

The moment Zeus was gone, Persephone turned around and glared at Hades. She poked him in the chest, her fury at the king of the gods immediately redirected towards him. Hades got one look at the furious anger in her eyes, and another wave of lust went through him.

“What the fuck was that?” Persephone snapped. “What is all of this about a prophecy? ‘As the Fates foretold’? Why did you tell him we were engaged?” Persephone gripped the hem of Hades’s chiton so it wouldn’t fall off her shoulder and stabbed him repeatedly in the chest with her other finger.

Hades gently gripped her wrist to stop her from poking him. “It’s not a real engagement. I needed to tell Zeus something to get him out of here and have time to think. As ridiculous as Zeus is, there are some things he respects—official declarations of matrimony are one of them. Besides, pomegranates?”

Persephone rolled her eyes. “Zeus does not respect matrimony. The pomegranates were a better play than your fake fiancée idea.”

“Fine,” Hades agreed, “but he is an asshole who would respect another man’s claim on you as opposed to your mother’s. And now he believes that shit about the food of the Underworld. Better?”

“Not even close,” Persephone sneered. “What is this prophecy?”

Hades released his grip on Persephone and pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing loudly. “That is something I’d really rather not get into right now.”

“Too fucking late for that, my loving fiance.” The petals started to fall from Persephone’s hair again as her veins began appearing black under her skin. Hades watched her in equal parts, attraction and fear.

“Deep breaths. You’re going to explode with magic you don’t know how to control yet.” Hades murmured gently. It was the wrong thing to say.

“Fuck you!” Persephone screamed. Magic and power exploded from her fingertips, flooding the throne room with opaque smoke. The windows overlooking the Underworld shattered, sending shards of glass across the floor.

Hades leaped forward and grabbed Persephone, knocking her to the ground while shielding her from the exploding glass with his body.

“Get off—me!” Persephone squeaked against Hades’s chest.

The glass still fell all around them, so Hades refused to budge.

“Not until you get control of yourself, princess!” Hades snapped, and Persephone let out another feral scream of rage. But when she did it again, Hades knew it was bigger than that—anger, betrayal, and sadness, all rolled up into one. A woman who had grown up with a mother who’d lied to her, hidden her away, and knew virtually nothing of how much power she possessed. In the singular day he’d known her, Hades was prepared to ask for Demeter’s head on the end of his bident in retribution.

“You fucking brute!” Persephone snarled.

“Give me all you’ve got,” Hades snarled back. “Do you think you can hurt me, Persephone? I’m the god of the Underworld.” Hades’s voice dropped, and the room shook with its baritone. “I’m the eldest of my brothers, the receiver of many, the good counselor.”

“The asshole!”

“The lord over all,” Hades growled, “including you.”

Persephone was canting wildly beneath him, and it did nothing to calm the raging heat in Hades’s veins.

“You’re a bastard.” Persephone writhed against Hades before throwing her arms around his neck. Without warning, she was kissing him, invading his mouth with her tongue, and breathing him in as though she were drowning.

Hades wasted no time returning the embrace, moving one of his hands to cup the back of her head and protect it from the stone floor.

“Persephone,” he growled against her lips, “if you—”

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