Page 24 of Queen of the Underworld

So, she could tire herself out all she wanted trying to break down the door or burst through the wall, and she would get nowhere.

Hades huffed again. “If she has attempted to escape, could I blame her?”

He had frightened her more than once, and she had revealed the depth of her fear to him when she had uttered his name, lacing it with desperation that had wrenched at him and severed the hold the darkness had had on him, freeing him of it and making him aware of what he had been on the verge of doing.

Forcing his kiss upon her twice had gotten him nowhere. A third attempt to make her compliant might have been his last, shattering the fragile flare of heat that shone in her eyes from time to time when she gazed at him. If he crossed that line with her, she would never be his queen.

He could see that now.

His brother had made it sound so easy.

The darkness that lurked within him had made it sound so easy.

Hades growled and a great crevasse opened up to his right, streaking across the land from him, and the two sides collided, crashing upwards into the spine of a new mountain range.

Both of them were wrong.

There was no simplytakinghis queen.

He had done it, spurred by his brother’s words and the darkness, and she despised him for it and was intent on fighting him rather than accepting him as her king. The more Hades thought about it, the stronger a feeling inside him grew, gently whispered in his mind.

Zeus had tricked him.

His brother had manipulated him into abducting her, all to ruin his chance at securing the bewitching goddess as his bride, ensuring he remained alone.

Alone.

Hades drew to an abrupt halt and flashed his fangs as he scowled at the black ground.

He was not alone.

He resisted the urge to teleport to the tower that blasted through him, denying it because he didn’t need company. He didn’t crave it. Not at all.

Hades stared at the tower.

Canted his head.

Devised dark plans to make the goddess his forever as he fought the rising darkness, battling to hold it back, soul-deep aware he could not let it steal control of him again when he was in her presence. He would cross that line with her if it did. The darker side of his blood viewed her as his, wanted to bend her to his will and force her compliance. He couldn’t allow that to happen.

He needed to master the darkness he had allowed to steal control from him for so long, letting it fester and grow within him. It would be difficult. He had given it too much free rein and now it wrenched command of his body from him too easily, and held him in its grasp too long.

Did he have the strength to tame it?

No.

Hades shunned that answer, because it came not from his heart but from the corruption that ran in his veins to taint them and twist him, distorting him into something he despised. The darkness pushed, raking claws over his mind, poisoning it with whispered words about his brother and that this was another betrayal. Zeus had planned it all, setting Hades up to fail so he would never have the goddess.

Not in the way he was beginning to realise he wanted her.

Hades rubbed his forehead and drew down a deep breath, and around him shadows gathered, forming jagged ribbons that snapped at the black earth. He dropped his hand and pressed the heel of it to his left eye, his teeth gritting hard enough that they creaked as he pushed back against the darkness.

His vile little secret.

How some would mock while others sought his head if they knew of this festering weakness inside him. His lips stretched in a tight grin. But none would ever know of it. This burden was his to bear alone. It was necessary. None could know of it. No one would understand. No one would care.

He lowered his hand and stared at the talons that tipped his fingers.

Shadows threaded between them, wisps of darkness that lovingly caressed his claws.

---