Page 43 of Queen of the Underworld

“And what would he do if someone tried to take me?”

His reaction to what she had said to him had been fierce and terrible, shaking the entire realm.

She sank deeper into the water, so it came close to her lips.

“Does he want me that badly? Desire me that much?” She already knew the answers to those questions. His reaction had left no room in her head for doubt. Hades wanted her. But why? She frowned at her knees, her certainty wavering again, the doubts creeping back in to darken her mind and her heart, and then chuckled. “He does not want me in order to elevate his place in society, that is for certain. Making me his queen would only lower it. Am I truly just a pawn in his game… or something more?”

She silently chastised herself for being so gloomy, allowing those barbs that had hooked her to pull her back towards the mire. She hated how easily her past tore her down, how she constantly felt worthless, and found it difficult to believe someone could believe her beautiful or want her.

Hades had implied he found her beautiful.

She warmed at that, recalling the look that had been in his eyes. A look that had made herfeelbeautiful. Seen. Desired.

Persephone focused on that instead of the cold voices at the back of her mind, shutting them out and denying them. Those voices from her past were the reason she found it so hard to accept that someone like Hades might actually want her and she might be more than just a pawn to him. Her mother’s voice. The constant criticism. The decisions made for her. All of it had ripped apart whatever confidence and self-worth she had from a young age, and she was tired of it. She was tired of feeling useless. Worthless.

No more.

Everything changed right now.

Right here.

From this point forwards, she wouldn’t let her mother influence her and she would stand tall and be bold, and be confident.

Persephone tipped her chin up, that confidence already wavering as doubt crept in.

To shut it out, she focused on Hades instead of herself, intending to continue piecing together the puzzle to find the answer to that question.

The first thing that came to her was the feel of his breath on her nape. His strong hands on her shoulders and throat. The scent and heat of him as he pressed close to her back.

His whispered warning not to provoke him.

She shivered.

“But I like to provoke him.”

Those words left her lips unbidden and her eyes widened as she felt the truth of them. She sat up in the bath.

“I do like to provoke him. No, not provoke. Tease, perhaps. I like the way he reacts to me. It makes me feel… seen.” Her mood faltered and she held her knees, resting her chin on them.

She huffed a moment later and shoved her sorrow aside, refusing to wallow in self-pity. She sat up again and then sank back into the bath, not caring that some of the water splashed over the sides of it. It rocked around her, tiny waves that made it look like a stormy ocean. She felt that storm inside her, a tempest of emotions that held her in its grasp, shaking her to her core and refusing to calm. His fault. He had done this to her. From the very moment she had set eyes on him, she had felt as if something fundamental had changed within her.

Or something had awoken.

Was this how other females felt when they encountered males they found attractive?

She had overheard her servants and even other goddesses talk of desire and wanting, and their sexual experiences, but she had never experienced any of that for herself before Hades. There was something darkly alluring about him and whenever he was near—whenever he was looking at her—an ache built in her body, one that slowly stole her focus and made her feel hazy.

And lustful.

She desired Hades.

She wanted him.

Not just want. A chill swept through her as she realised something. Sheneededhim.

What would she do if someone took Hades from her? Her fingers curled into fists. She would fight. She would rage. She would harness every drop of her power and use it to take him back.

Her eyes slowly widened. She wasn’t merely on dangerous ground. She was deep in the quicksand, rapidly sinking beyond her depth. Hades was no mere man. He was no minor god. He was legendary. A king. A ruler of an entire realm. She had no place believing she could be his wife.

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