Page 58 of Queen of the Underworld

Persephone held her trembling hands up, afraid of what she might do if he came any closer, her heart racing and blood thundering, and that ache blooming inside her—one only he could satisfy.

Hades pulled up just short of her and stared at her, his chest straining against the soft material of his black tunic with each hard breath he sucked down, revealing honed muscles. A chest she wanted to explore with her hands. Would it feel as hard as it looked? She had seen males bare-chested before, but she had never touched one. Curiosity held her in its tight grip, making her yearn to slowly undo his tunic and expose his body to her hungry gaze.

Dangerous.

She tipped her head back, meeting his gaze. He was so much taller than she was, and so much darker, and the need that shone in his fierce gaze should have been startling and shocking, only it echoed within her too, had her blood thrumming in her veins as awareness of how close he was drummed inside her.

She only needed to reach out and lay her hands on his chest and he would know she wanted him too. She needed him too. The part of her that clung to everything she had been taught and told to be screamed at her that it wasn’t right. She shouldn’t want him. Hades was everything an Olympian like her shouldn’t desire in a male.

But by the gods, he was.

Hades lifted his hands towards her, as if her stifled need to reach for him was controlling him and making him reach for her instead.

And then he stopped with his hands just inches from making contact.

His eyes blazed crimson fire as he looked at his hands and suddenly lowered them, luring her gaze to them as she ached to scream at him to do it—touch her. She was too afraid to make the first move. Couldn’t he see that? She wanted him as fiercely as he wanted her.

Her eyes widened as she saw the short dark claws that tipped his fingers and a gasp escaped her, one she failed to hold back despite the fact she knew it would shatter their moment and wound him.

Hades curled his hands into tight fists that had blood squeezing from between his clenched fingers and pivoted on his heel, stalking away from her again. He didn’t stop at the food he had scattered across the floor or at her bed this time. He strode to the staircase and descended it without even looking at her.

When the last of his shadows had trailed from sight, she released the breath she had been holding.

And disappointment swamped her, together with a need to speak to him and apologise.

Persephone raced to the staircase and hurried down it, driven by a need to make him stay.

Only he was gone.

She stared at the door on the lowest level of the tower and sank to her backside on the steps, regret swift to fill her as she cursed herself.

And cursed Hades a little too.

Because she knew he would avoid her again, remaining away from her and not giving her a chance to apologise. His hurt would fester and darken him again, and that man he could be with her would be gone the next time she saw him.

Persephone had half a mind to put the black dress on.

Because she mourned losing the gentle, attentive Hades.

The one he only showed to her.

The one who made her feel special for the first time in her life.

Chapter 15

Darkness blazed a path through his veins and shadows wrapped around his soul as Hades stalked across the black lands, heading away from his temple. His fingers flexed, the onyx talons of his plate armour slicing through the air in the way he wanted to cut through flesh and bone. A cold grin stretched his lips as he thought about the list of prisoners he was to visit today.

It faltered as his treacherous mind latched onto the one he hadn’t visited in seven long days, and he seized the chance to draw back on the reins, pulling the darkness back under his control again. He would need to see her soon, if only to use her light to cast the shadows from his mind and his heart, but he wasn’t sure he could trust himself around her.

Not yet.

How much longer could he go without seeing her?

It had already been seven agonisingly dreadful days.

He couldn’t remember much about some of them.

The darkness had been too strong.

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