Page 76 of Hades

Hades held her closer, one hand skimming up and down her arm, the comfort of that simple touch bringing more tears to her eyes. He murmured, “I have you now.”

Persephone tilted her head towards his chest and let go. She sobbed against him, great heaving ones that wracked her right down to her soul. As she cried, Hades continued to caress her, not uttering a word despite the anger she could feel in him, rage that was building like a thunderhead.

When the last of her tears were spent, she let sleep take her for the first time in days.

Hades was still asleep when she woke, his arms tightly banded around her, holding her close to him. She gazed up at his face for a while, watching him sleep, loath to disturb him. He looked as if he needed sleep as much as she did and she couldn’t imagine what he had been through since she had been taken. The darkness that had reigned within him was proof enough that their separation had been hard on him. She wriggled her left arm up between them and smoothed her fingers across his brow, gently caressing him. She was glad once again that she had been able to pull him back into the light, banishing the black and then the crimson from his eyes.

Part of her ached to keep stroking his face until she woke him so she could see his eyes were still blue, but the rest of her didn’t want to disturb his rest. Sleep had restored much of her strength, and she hoped it was doing the same for him. She swept her lips across his in a gentle kiss and then carefully extricated herself from his arms. As she pushed to her feet, she gazed down at him, lingering. Watching.

The fear she had banished came back and she told herself again that she was home now, they were together once more, and nothing would part them again.

She stroked her arm where a cut had been, feeling only smooth skin now. Her injuries had healed while she had been sleeping, something she was thankful for. She needed to be at full strength for the fight she could feel coming, and she also wanted to offer Hades some relief. If her wounds had remained, even as scars, guilt and anger would have plagued him, making it easier for the darkness to steal control of him, and she didn’t want that.

She walked to the open end of the stable and gazed at the verdant valley as she wrapped her arms around herself, trying to keep the mounting chill off her.

An impossible task since it came from within her.

She started when arms snaked around her waist from behind and then sank back into Hades’s chest as he stepped up behind her. He pressed his lips to her shoulder as he held her, soothing the growing cold inside her.

“What is wrong?” he murmured, concern tinging his voice.

She kept her eyes fixed on the trees at the far end of the valley as she answered him. “There is a battle on the horizon… closing in like a storm… and I fear it will rip everyone from the shelter of my arms.”

Hades went very still and silent, and she frowned as a feeling ran through her. Something was wrong. She tried to turn to see his eyes, sure they would reveal what he wouldn’t say, but he wouldn’t let her. His grip on her tightened to the point it hurt, but then he gentled it and nuzzled her shoulder.

“I do not want you to fight.” He sighed, his breath skating across her skin. “I want to keep you safe.”

She placed her hand over his arms where they locked over her waist, stroking the soft leather that hugged them. She was glad he had told her and she hadn’t needed to force him to speak, but a little irritated by what he had said too.

Persephone gently squeezed his arm, soul-deep aware he wasn’t going to like her answer, but refusing to let that sway her. “I cannot. Not this time. I need to fight. I will not let you lock me away when my family—when you—are in danger.”

She tried to turn again and he allowed it this time.

Agony blazed in his eyes and she knew the path of his thoughts. Fear of losing her looked as if it was already close to destroying him, and she knew he had only just got her back so it was too soon for him to hear this, but she couldn’t follow his orders to ease his pain this time, because she couldn’t bear the thought of losing him either.

“You need me in this fight,” she whispered as she took hold of his biceps and held his gaze.

She raised her hands to his face and framed it, keeping his eyes on hers so he would see how badly she needed to be there this time. She had remained on the sidelines in the past, but she couldn’t do that now. She had seen how desperate Mnemosyne was to win this war and feared that if she let Hades have his way, she would end up losing him, and she might lose more than that. She might lose everyone she loved.

The titaness wasn’t going to stop until Hades and her family paid, and that meant Persephone couldn’t stand to one side and let them fight alone. It was time she stepped onto the battlefield. Fear trickled through her at the thought, flashes of her fight in the tower flickering across her mind, but she held her nerve. She had killed once. She could kill again if it meant protecting her family.

“It isn’t just my powers you need either.” Her brow furrowed as she gazed up into his troubled eyes—eyes that already had a crimson corona around his pupils.

The darkness was rising within him again. Their time together had only eased its hold on him and there was only one way to vanquish it. They needed to end this war. But entering the battlefield without her would allow the darkness to grow and steal control of him, and while that might give him an advantage, it might just as easily be a weakness that would get him killed. He wouldn’t recognise when to withdraw and regroup, would view his own allies as competition for kills and in his way, and would no doubt strike out alone, making himself vulnerable.

She wouldn’t allow that.

She gently shook her head, her gaze imploring him to listen and be reasonable, and accept her help. “You need my light, Hades. The only way we win this war is if I temper the darkness within you and we work together as a united force.”

The flicker of doubt in his eyes revealed he knew that, and that was the only reason he wasn’t ordering her to remain in the palace. Part of him wanted her at his side. Not only so he could see she was safe, but so he could retain control and vanquish the darkness.

Hades slid his hand around her nape and tugged her to him, pressing his forehead to hers as he husked, “Whatever would I do without you?”

She angled her head up, bringing their lips closer together. “That is something you will never need to find out.”

She went to kiss him and then froze as a feeling arrowed through her, a hazy sort of sensation that she had forgotten something. She ignored his displeased growl as she pulled back and frowned at his chest, straining to remember.

Her eyes widened as it came into focus.

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