Page 102 of Queen of the Underworld

A kiss was probably all it would take to make him forgive her.

She felt a little giddy at the thought of kissing him again, and her body warmed, her blood heating and desire rising. She wanted to do more than just kiss him. She ached for him again, had been having delicious dreams of him that she wanted to turn into a reality.

Persephone stopped at the edge of the paved area and pulled a face. How was she meant to find Hades?

She looked off to her left, towards the main temple where she could see people coming and going, debated asking a guard and then discounted the idea. Hades would probably kill any guard he saw her talking to, the sight of her close to another man rousing that dangerously possessive side of his blood, and she didn’t want death on her hands.

Rather than heading towards the temple, she walked in the opposite direction and went around the back of the building. Her feet carried her swiftly towards the orchard, her heart supplying he was probably there, picking more pomegranates to tempt her into eating their seeds.

As if she needed them to bind her to this realm.

Her heart was already bound to it because Hades was here.

He wasn’t in the orchard either.

She pouted and went to turn towards the temple to try it after all, and then she realised something.

She could feel the life in the trees.

Her eyes slowly widened and she pressed her left hand to the rough bark of the one closest to her, sure she was mistaken. Sensation flooded her, flowing into the void Hades had created by sealing her powers. They were back again. She turned and placed her right hand on the tree too, closed her eyes and pulled down a slow breath to steady her racing heart. She focused, warmth spreading through her, together with shock.

She had been so wrong.

This realm wasn’t dead.

As she reached through the earth, her power flowing through the roots of the tree to meet those of the one beside it and then the next, she could feel the depth of the life that called the Underworld home. The roots spread far, reaching beneath the temple where she sensed the guards and the souls who had come to it, and out to the mountains. She felt the life in them, and in the valley beyond, hundreds of creatures that moved at different speeds, some even chasing the others. She sensed the village she had passed through with Hades, and felt the warmth of the souls there. They were happy as they went about their lives. There was so much life here. It was incredible.

Before she got caught up in seeing how far her returning powers could reach, she drew them back to her and narrowed her focus down to the area around the temple.

And smiled slowly as she found what she was looking for.

She pushed away from the tree, severing her connection to the realm, and hurried through the orchard.

Froze as her gaze caught on Hades.

He rested propped up against the side of Cerberus, his hands folded over his bare stomach and his eyes closed, and a pillow of black folded cloth behind his head. The beast dwarfed him even when it was lying down. She shook her head at the sight of him. He didn’t look like a ferocious king as he dozed against his pet’s side. He looked like a man. One who didn’t have a care in the world.

Cerberus lifted his heads as she approached and she smiled shakily at the beast.

Who bared fangs in return.

Hades frowned and yawned, and stretched, his muscles shifting in a glorious symphony beneath his alabaster skin with the action and distracting her, but not enough for her to miss the way Cerberus looked ready to snap at her as he snarled.

Hades opened his eyes and frowned at her, and then his pale blue gaze shifted to Cerberus and he said something in his strange tongue. He pushed onto his feet, grabbed the folded piece of cloth and opened it to reveal it was a shirt. He tugged it on and then petted the hound’s flank, continuing to speak to him, and Cerberus whined and looked thoroughly berated.

Was Hades telling him off for being aggressive towards her?

“Do not,” she said, feeling for the great beast as it cast a sorrowful look at its master. “He is only protecting you.”

Hades looked at her, his black eyebrows pinned high on his forehead, and then he smiled as if he was pleased she cared about his pet. Cerberus meant a great deal to Hades, and therefore he meant a great deal to her, even if he was insisting on showing her only aggression in return for her kindness.

When Hades beckoned her to come to him, and she tried, Cerberus bared his fangs and barked at her.

Hades cast him an unimpressed look.

“Perhaps it is best I take him back to his paddock.” That look turned apologetic as Hades shifted his gaze from Cerberus to her. “Wait here.”

She nodded and his gaze lowered to her dress, and darkened with hunger. Heat flared in her veins and she fidgeted with the layers as his gaze seared her, rousing wicked thoughts about him stripping the dress off her.

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