Page 126 of Queen of the Underworld

She brought her hands up, placed them over his, and smiled. “I forgive you… but you will be making things up to me for a time to come.”

“Anything,” he growled. “Whatever it takes to make you forgive me, I shall do it.”

She stepped closer to him, shifted her hands from his to his cheeks, and stroked his face, the fear that had been in her striking eyes fading away, replaced by warmth, and tenderness, and hope.

“You can start by taking me home,” she breathed.

“Home,” he husked, liking the sound of that but at the same time needing to be sure she meant what he thought she did, mostly because he was still having a hard time believing she had really chosen him. “To the Underworld?”

She nodded.

Hades swept her into his arms and kissed her, pouring all the love he felt into it and savouring how desperately she kissed him, as if she couldn’t get enough of him either. When he sensed people closing in on them, he released her and grabbed his helmet and bident. He handed the helmet to her and was tempted to order her to put it on, but the steely look in her eyes warned him not to dare.

“We do this together,” she said and reached for his free hand. “As soon as we are free of the temple grounds, I should be able to use my powers to help you. It is not far to the gate.”

She looked as if she was trying to convince herself of that when her gaze darted to the harbour.

“I will teleport the moment we are free, my love. You need not worry.” Hades swept her into his arm, tucking her against his side, almost lifting her off her feet as he hurried from the garden, heading for steps that led down into a narrow street below them.

Three guards were running towards them when they reached it. The moment they spotted Persephone, they drew their swords and charged him. Hades tucked her behind him and blocked one sword with his shadows and another with his bident, and kicked the third male in his stomach to knock him back. He swept his bident around, unarming the first guard, and shoved forwards, impaling him with the two sharp prongs.

Persephone gasped.

Hades wrenched his bident free, twisted it and plunged the pointed end of the staff into the chest of the remaining guard.

He reached an arm out behind him for Persephone, summoning a teleport at the same time, only he wasn’t free of the wards that dampened his powers yet and Persephone didn’t take his hand.

Hades turned to face her.

And growled.

She was gone.

“Hades!” Her shriek was distant, and it struck him that her gasp hadn’t been because she had been shocked by the sight of him fighting and killing.

It had been because someone had snatched her.

Another guard?

Hades sprinted after her, her scent of lilies faint in the rain. He felt it the moment he was free of the wards Demeter had used to imprison her only daughter and the urge to teleport was strong, almost overwhelming, but he tamped it down. It was the wyvern nest all over again. If he teleported, he might miss Persephone and lose her.

He sent his shadows out in all directions, seeking her.

Grinned when he found her a short distance to his left, heading towards the harbour.

Hades made a hard turn, slamming into the white wall of a building as his boots skidded on the slick dirt that formed the road in this area of the city. He growled as he spotted a flash of crimson and then she was gone.

He had seen enough though.

A male had her.

One who wore a white chiton with gold embroidery, and a gold breastplate.

Not a guard.

His clothing had been too fine.

If Hades had to guess, which he didn’t, because every fibre of his being screamed the truth at him, the one who had Persephone was the male her mother had intended to marry her off to. He had come to claim his bride.

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