Page 77 of Hades

Persephone seized his hand as a sense of urgency swept through her and pulled him towards the gate.

“What is wrong, my love?” Hades said.

She threw a panicked glance over her shoulder at him.

“We have to go to Tartarus. Right now!”

Chapter 21

Hades pulled Persephone around to face him as they exited the portal. She tried to tug him forwards, but he refused to budge. Her heart thundered in her ears, accelerating as precious seconds ticked past, and she cursed herself for being so swept up in him and high on the exhilaration of the fight to escape the tower that she had forgotten something so vital.

“We have to hurry.” She leaned back, putting her weight into pulling him forwards, and he stumbled a step before he stood his ground again.

His blue eyes darted between hers as he tightened his grip on her hand and easily yanked her to him. “What is this about?”

“Tartarus,” she breathed, the sense of urgency building as she thought about the fact they might already be too late. She glanced over her shoulder towards the mouth of the cave and then back at him, near frantic now. She didn’t want to waste time explaining, even when it was important he knew what was happening, so she boiled it down to the bare facts. “I was bait for you.”

“To lure me to the gate so it would open. I know.” His dark eyebrows pinched together as she shook her head.

“No. Maybe. Not just that. I was a diversion. A ploy to draw your gaze away from Tartarus. Mnemosyne plans to infiltrate it and free Eris and the others.”

Rage darkened Hades’s handsome face as his grip on her tightened further and his fangs flashed between his lips as he growled, “I should have known.”

She gave another shake of her head. “You cannot know everything. I thought as you did at first. I thought I was bait so you would open the gate and come for me. You couldn’t have known what she planned.”

This time, when she pulled on his arm, he moved towards her. Rather than running with her, he stormed past her, tugging her along with him to the place where he had taken her against the rough wall of the cave. She gripped the top of her black nightgown with her free hand as she hurried to keep up with him, stopping it from slipping and exposing her breasts.

He snatched up his helmet and bident, his expression darker than the Styx as he scowled at his weapon. Crimson bled into his irises as his jaw clenched and his fingers flexed around the staff of his bident, causing his muscles to tense beneath the long sleeves of his onyx shirt.

“Hades,” she whispered, easing towards him so she didn’t provoke a reaction. The darkness had claimed him so swiftly. How deep into it had he fallen during her absence? It had been a long time since she had seen him succumb to it so easily. She raised her hands and his crimson gaze slid towards them, and narrowed. Undeterred, she reached out and gently laid her hand on his forearm. “I am here. Together we will go to Tartarus. We will stop her.Together.”

She gasped as he suddenly lunged for her, sweeping her into his arms and into a teleport that had them landing in the palace grounds. A growl pealed from his lips, his fury palpable as he released her and stalked towards the black mansion.

The ground trembled beneath her feet and she sped after him, clutching her nightgown at the top and behind her bottom too, where Hades had torn the skirt in two.

Cold gathered inside her as she saw the state of their home. One side of it was little more than a ruin now, what had to be close to fifty men working to rebuild it. Worry and regret swept through her on the heels of the chill as she realised just how bad things had been for Hades without her. The changes to the Underworld were dramatic and she could only see a fraction of it. How widespread was the devastation wrought by the darkness within Hades?

Before she could catch up with him to offer him comfort she hoped would soothe his darker side, Keras stepped out of the palace ahead of them, relief washing across his features that was quickly replaced with concern.

“What is it?” Keras stepped forwards to meet Hades, the frown that drew his dark eyebrows together making him look like a younger version of his father.

“Mnemosyne intends to free Eris and others from Tartarus.” Hades tried to pass Keras, but their son stepped back into his path.

“Then we need to go now. Many of the legion that had been stationed there were assigned to assist two of the villages.” Keras’s tone was firm, as if he was issuing an order, one Persephone felt Hades might follow in his current mood.

Her husband surprised her by growling, “We must gather the others first. As you said, the men there only number in the three hundreds. We need to summon the rest of the legion to assist us.”

Perhaps the darkness didn’t have as firm a hold on him as she had suspected. It gave her hope. He needed the strength and speed the darker side of his blood gave him, but he also needed his wits about him and clear eyes that could spot potential pitfalls or see when to retreat.

Keras nodded. “Right away.”

Their eldest son disappeared, leaving faint wisps of black smoke behind him, and Persephone went to Hades and laid her hand on his arm again, her other one still firmly gripping the top of her nightgown. She was glad Hades hadn’t torn it completely during their passionate moment and that the rips he had made were covered by how loose the dress was when she was standing still, the two sides at her back flowing over one another to hide the fact she was bare beneath it.

She was sure that if Hades remembered how he had torn it that he would have teleported her inside the palace rather than landing outside where anyone might catch a glimpse of her curves. She wasn’t about to mention it though. It would push him over the edge and the darkness would take him.

“Patience, my love,” she whispered, needing to soothe him.

He huffed and stalked into the palace, the fluid grace and coiled strength he exuded reminding her of a lethal predator as she trailed after him.

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