Page 54 of Queen of the Underworld

With Hades.

Before he had walked into the room, she had resolved to learn more about him and to keep her distance while she did it. But the delectable sight of him had wreaked havoc on that resolve, flooding her with a need to be close to him, to trace her hands over his chest and discover whether it felt as hard as it looked in the fine fabric that hugged it. Her nerves had shot into overdrive, the realisation that she was alone with a man, something she had never experienced in Olympus, rattling her. She had been alone with Hades before, but this whole affair felt far more intimate, and she was finding it hard to trust herself around him.

She wanted to pounce on him.

Ached to kiss him.

If she did, he would take all of her. That hunger that had been in his eyes when he had pulled her onto the bed and when he had loomed before her just moments ago warned that he wouldn’t stop at just a kiss.

Not this time.

Would he be a rough and forceful lover?

Or a gentle one?

Maybe he would flicker between the two, being rough and then gentle as his mood shifted.

Her entire body seemed to ignite at that thought, or maybe it was the fact her gaze landed on Hades’s legs and his tunic had ridden up when he had sat down, revealing something startling.

And enticing.

She had never seen one before, but there was no mistaking the outline of his erection beneath the soft black leather of his trousers. She swallowed hard, her face flaming and blood thundering as she tried to drag her gaze away before he caught her staring. Had she done that?

Had the thought of her nude and bathing made him hard for her?

“Eat,” Hades snarled, sounding more irritated than aroused, and then sipped the ambrosia. “You must be hungry.”

She glanced between the food she hadn’t even noticed arriving and him, her gaze lingering the longest on him, as if he was magnetic and she couldn’t resist his pull. Heat blazed through her veins whenever her eyes landed on him, awareness of the fact he was primed for making love rousing images in her mind that were hard to deny and ignore.

Good gods, she was hungry.

Startlingly so.

But it wasn’t the food she wanted to pounce on and devour.

It was Hades.

He was temptation incarnate as he lounged on her bed, his form-fitting tunic and trousers concealing nothing and revealing everything, and his black hair tousled and wild. She struggled to keep her eyes on his face as she looked at him, and noticed something.

He was waiting.

She looked back at the food, a suspicion whispering through her mind. His powers were vast and mostly unknown to her, but she had been pulling together the scraps of her knowledge of him since her bath, looking for clues that might stop her from falling into a trap. His wards were powerful and they prevented her from leaving the tower and inhibited her powers, but they could be broken.

She feared he might have other ways to keep her here permanently, without the need to cage her.

The fact he was watching her so intently as he waited to see if she would eat was a red flag waving wildly in her face. She eyed the food and the wine. If she ate it, would something happen to her?

Was it drugged?

Would it make her compliant, loosening her inhibitions until she couldn’t hold back her desire?

She shook her head and turned her back on him, drifting to the balcony again. She had noticed more things about his realm in his absence. Including the dark orchard in the distance, just beyond the edge of her vision so she hadn’t been able to make it out before. The trees were fuzzy, blending with the black lands, but she had spotted them when one of the volcanoes had thrown up great ribbons of lava on a thunderous boom that had shaken the tower and startled her.

Fruit.

Grown in this realm.

Persephone couldn’t believe anything would grow in this black soil, in this darkness, but there it was. It had held her attention for close to two hours, fascinating her as she had mulled over what kind of fruit would grow in this place without light. She wanted to see it more closely, a deep yearning to touch those trees and feel the presence of nature and life around her again flooding her every time she so much as glanced at it.

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