Page 78 of Hades

“I will need armour.” Those words leaving her lips had him grinding to a halt and glaring over his shoulder at her. She locked gazes with him and refused to look away. “I said I was coming with you and I meant it.”

For a heartbeat, he looked as if he might argue, and then he pivoted on his heel and shifted course, heading for his war room instead of their bedchamber.

“Come,” he growled, voice blacker than midnight, a rumble of thunder that warned of an approaching storm.

She did obey him this time, following him along the corridors and into his war room and through it to his armoury.

The very open armoury.

Hades didn’t look pleased as he saw the heavy door set between two dark stone bookcases was open. He muttered things beneath his breath and she caught Keras’s name.

And it hit her.

“You did not come with the children,” she said as she halted a few feet away from the armoury. She sighed when he didn’t answer her, confirming her suspicion. He diligently ignored her as he tested several swords, settling on a short silver blade, and then lifted a small black-and-gold circular shield from the wall. She walked to the entrance and folded her arms over her chest as she stopped there, inches from him. “You went alone.”

“Not alone,” he snarled and didn’t look at her as he moved to a drawer. “Cerberus was with me.”

She rolled her eyes. “Cerberus is strong, but he is not as strong as the children. You should have told them your plan.”

“I did.” Hades scowled over his shoulder at her, his crimson eyes colliding with hers. “They were against me searching for you.”

“They wanted to keep you safe.” She could see how much their children’s decision to stop him from looking for her had irritated him, but he had to see how reckless he had been and how he could have played right into Mnemosyne’s hands.

She sighed again, knowing that even if he did see how dangerous his actions had been, he wouldn’t care. He had needed to find her, and she loved him for that, even when she wanted to box his ears.

“I do not need to be kept safe.” He growled those words, each one laced with the anger and resentment he felt.

Anger and resentment she was a little familiar with.

“Now you know how I feel,” she muttered and he frowned at her again. She hiked her shoulders. “I’m just saying… it is incredibly annoying being kept in a gilded cage, one that has a lot of padding so I cannot possibly hurt myself.”

“Persephone.” His tone held a wealth of irritation, but also regret, and he came to her, stopping a mere inch from her, so she could feel the heat of him and his tremendous power swept around her like a comforting embrace. He caught hold of her chin in his fingers and lifted it, so their eyes locked. His were warm. Soft. Filled with love. His deep voice softened, filling with that emotion too. “I only want to keep you safe. I only ever want to keep you safe.” He sighed. “Perhaps I am a little overbearing.”

“Putting it mildly,” she interjected.

He mock-frowned at her, and then smoothed his knuckles across her cheek. “I just love you.”

“I know.” She covered his hand with hers, holding it to her face. “I just love you too… and that is why I cannot let you go alone. Not this time. Not anymore. I cannot sit here in this palace, worrying about you, unsure of what is happening and whether you will come back to me. I need to be with you. I need to fight. Mnemosyne… she—she taunted me. She made me feel powerless… and I realised that is how I often feel. You only mean to protect me, but you make me feel as if I am weak. Powerless. For the first time in my life, I want this world to see how strong I am.”

Hades’s expression turned stricken and he framed her face, clutching her cheeks, and gave a harsh shake of his head. “You have more power than you can possibly imagine, my love. I do not protect you because you are weak. I protect you because I am. The thought of losing you is unbearable, and I am not sure I would have the strength to go on… to live… without you. So I pushed my will upon you, like a fiend, bent on ensuring you were safe… I placed you in a gilded cage from the moment we met, and for that, I am sorry. I have tried so many times to break you free of it, to convince myself to allow you to ride into danger beside me, but always the thought of risking you and seeing you fall… the thought of losing you… it wrenched at me. It carved a hole in my chest and I was too afraid to do it. I fear losing you too much. I fear that if you fell, I would too.”

Tears brimmed in her eyes and she pressed closer to him, her heart going out to him as he revealed his to her. She took hold of his hand and brought it to her chest, placing his palm against it.

“This heart fears the same thing,” she whispered as her brow furrowed. He splayed his fingers out, his hand warm against her, and gazed at it, the blend of ferocity and tenderness that played across his face bewitching her. “I fear losing you whenever you ride into danger… I think of all the terrible things that might happen to you and I think of all the ways I could have protected you had I been there. Hades… Have we not always been stronger when we are together?”

He swallowed and then met her gaze. “We have.”

But fear still had him in its talons. She could see it in his eyes.

“We are stronger when we have each other’s backs. You know that deep in here.” She placed her hand to his chest now, over his heart where it beat hard beneath his black leather shirt. “We are stronger together. You will not let anything happen to me, and I will not let anything happen to you. We will get through this together.”

His gaze lingered on hers, a myriad of feelings dancing across his eyes, and then he lifted his other hand and placed it over hers, pinning hers to his chest just as she held his to hers.

He nodded.

She let out her breath as the tension that had been building inside her, one she hadn’t been aware of, suddenly unravelled. For the first time, she was going to ride into battle. It was a little terrifying, but she could do it, because she wouldn’t be alone. Hades would be there with her. Her family would be there with her.

Hades dropped a kiss on her brow and murmured, “But do not think I am letting you stray more than two feet from my side.”

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