Page 113 of Queen of the Underworld

“You wield such power, my love. Over me. Over the darkness within me. Power I do not understand,” Hades whispered against her mouth. “It is often quiet when you are close to me.”

“Then I shall endeavour to remain close to you always,” she murmured, and pressed her lips to his, tormenting him with a far too brief kiss, and then pulled back again to study him as he stroked her hair, marvelling at how incredible she was. “You fight it so hard when it takes you.”

He frowned and shifted his gaze to the lock of her hair that slipped over his fingers. “No one has ever noticed that before.”

She smiled slightly. “I am not surprised. I think this whole world does not understand you, Hades.”

His gaze slid to meet hers and the solemn, wounded look in it touched him. She didn’t like that people judged him on the stories others told of him, or that they were blind to his true nature. She felt hurt on his behalf. His beautiful, gentle Persephone.

“Not the whole world,” he husked and dropped his fingers to her cheek, holding it to keep her eyes on him as she gave him a puzzled look. “You understand me… and that is enough for me.”

Her smile returned, brighter this time, and she pushed up his body and captured his lips in a sweet, tender kiss that bathed his soul in light and soothed the hurt from it.

It was strange talking to her about the darkness, but cathartic too. They had only scratched the surface, but already he felt better for it. More hopeful that he could one day overcome it and live without constant fear of losing control to it and harming his people.

It was also strange to feel so supported by someone, to have someone look at him as Persephone did as she drew back, her smile still in place. Her eyes shone with love. Love that had been there even when the darkness had taken him in the temple. How could she look at him like that when she had seen him at his worst?

The darkness whispered that it was a lie.

Hades shunned it and focused on her, using her light to cast it back into the depths of his soul.

He struggled to find his voice again, sure she wouldn’t be satisfied with knowing so little about how he had come to have such a dark side and his fight against it.

“Oh, I just remembered!” she said, all false brightness and fake forgetfulness that had him frowning at her because he wasn’t sure what she was up to, and then she added, “There was another word I wanted to know, and I thought perhaps you might teach me?”

It dawned on him that she was trying to change the subject and make him feel he didn’t need to plumb the depths of the darkness to assuage her curiosity about it. Not yet anyway. He was sure that in time, he would have the courage to speak of it again, and would tell her more about it.

And then she would change the subject again, giving him some reprieve.

And they would repeat this until she finally knew all there was to know about the darkness that afflicted him.

And Hades was fine with that.

“What word is that?” He banded his arms around her, savouring the shift in the conversation towards a lighter topic, and breathed a little easier for the weight she had already lifted from his heart, lightening it in a way he felt only she could.

“Kiss,” she said.

“Yes, please,” he husked and captured her lips just as she frowned at him.

She melted into him, her hands coming to rest on his chest to tease and stir his passion as her lips danced with his.

When she drew back, her gaze was hooded and hazy, and he wanted to growl at the sight of her looking so satisfied—wanted to put that look on her face with more than just kissing.

“Illa,” he said, and when a little crinkle formed between her eyebrows, he added, “Illa is kiss. I can use it in a sentence if it helps.”

She nodded eagerly.

Hades raked a look over her and growled in the language of his realm, “I want to kiss every inch of you.”

Her cheeks heated, as if she had understood him. She had probably understood his look more than his words, but in time she would come to know what he was saying when he spoke in this tongue. Now that she had finally asked him, she would find he was a good teacher on this subject too.

Very skilled in fact.

Almost as skilled as he was at teaching her all about pleasure.

She gasped, her eyes widening, as he palmed her backside and pulled her closer, his gaze falling to her mouth.

She kissed him again, harder this time, stoking the flames of his desire.

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