Page 129 of Queen of the Underworld

Persephone looked at Hades, sure he would set his brother straight.

He remained mute, his crimson eyes verging on black as he stood his ground but made no move to defend himself. Why wasn’t he fighting his brother on this?

She noticed the way the people were watching him, staring at him alone. They were waiting for him to act like the monster they all portrayed him to be, and he was trying hard not to be that male, even when his brother’s words were hurting him. Not just his words. The fact Zeus had ordered him to leave and had banished him from Olympus had cut him deeply, almost as deeply as his regret over the damage and injuries he had caused while the darkness had him in its grip.

Everyone believed her love to be heartless and cruel, incapable of feeling any soft emotion, but they were blinded by the lies people spread about him, and saw only one side of him.

Because he hid the other too well.

But not well enough to fool her.

His fear was right there in his eyes as he glanced at her. There for his brother to see if he looked closely enough. But it wasn’t Zeus or his banishment that he feared. It wasn’t the opinion of those around them as they whispered about him.

He feared losing her.

He thought that if he reacted and defended himself that Zeus would take her from him.

She feared losing him too.

But she was damned if she would let Zeus believe Hades was the only one to blame and that he had come here without cause to take her to the Underworld and break their agreement.

Persephone stepped in front of him, moving to shield him and earning an arched brow from Zeus.

She balled her hands into fists and stared the god-king down, her heart thundering a hard rhythm that made it difficult to breathe as rage and fear collided inside her.

“Hades did not act alone,” she snapped, and Zeus didn’t need to raise his eyebrow even higher or their audience didn’t need to gasp for her to know she was crossing a line by speaking to the ruler of Olympus in such a manner. But she refused to stand by and bear her love suffering in silence. “I fought too. I am responsible too. And Aristaeus’s death is his own fault. Hades tried to spare him, but he would not be deterred. His desire to make me his wife was too strong.”

“Hades’s desire?” Zeus’s brow crinkled and confusion washed across his tanned features.

“No. Aristaeus’s. He wanted our wedding to go ahead.” She shook her head. “He snatched me when Hades was trying to help me escape the wedding my mother had planned and Hades tried to let him live, but Aristaeus persisted, and then—”

Zeus held his hand up, silencing her, his look dark as he turned it on Hades.

“She speaks the truth?” Zeus growled, confusion morphing into anger as the lightning that crackled in his other hand grew brighter.

Hades dipped his head. “Always. Sometimes to a painful degree.”

She scowled at him for that one.

Zeus looked around them, at the buildings that had remained intact along the seafront, and the decorations that had been hung on their fronts, and then he looked at her, and then at Hades, and then the air charged with electricity.

“You were not informed of the wedding.” Hades stared at his brother, a flicker of surprise chasing the black from his eyes to leave them crimson as his expression slackened.

“I was away, consulting the Moirai. You have my word, brother. If I had known of it, I would have put an end to it.” Zeus looked from Hades to her, regret in his golden gaze now.

He opened his mouth to speak, but someone pushed through the crowd behind him, shoving people aside and earning black looks from several of them. Persephone braced herself, the familiar feeling of power telling her who was heading directly for her, and she inched back towards Hades. He noticed it and moved forwards, closing ranks with her, and gently gripped her hand, the touch comforting and reassuring her. If things looked dire, she was sure he would teleport her to the gate and have her back in the Underworld before she could blink.

Demeter pushed the last person in her path aside, her look thunderous as her dark green eyes settled on Hades.

“I should have known a fiend such as you would steal my beautiful daughter a second time, going back on the terms of your agreement with our god-king Zeus.” She moved to stand beside Zeus, her chin tipped up and a smug look entering her eyes.

Demeter thought she had won this battle.

Her poor, foolish mother.

“Aristaeus is dead,” Persephone said and almost savoured the shocked look Demeter levelled on her. “Slain by my true husband.”

Hades’s gaze burned into the back of her head and his shadows twined around her legs, and she could feel his desire to turn her and see in her eyes that she had meant that.

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