Page 21 of Hades

He offers me a hand and I let him help me stand.

“Well, I came to check on you. Drevi caught me up to speed on what happened. Why are you on the floor and not in your suite?”

“I was about to enter, but this mess of flowers made me pause. Drevi and his freak out seems more appealing than what waits for me inside.”

He raises a dark eyebrow. “What could be worse than Drevi?”

I level with him, my tone deadpan as I reply, “My ex.”

"Your ex," Frank repeats. "What is he doing in your room?"

"No idea. I came up here to clear my head and try out that monstrous tub, but then his scent of sickly sweet flowers hit me. I've had enough peopling for one day. I can’t bring myself to go inside."

He still has my hand in his. "Well, if a bath is what you want, I’ll just talk to this ex of yours. No one should have been given access to your keycard anyway."

Clearly he doesn't know my ex.

I’d worry about exposing him to my world but if he’s Drevi’s brother, then his world isn’t exactly human.

Frank fishes what I believe is a master keycard from his pants pocket, and the little green light tells us we can enter. We’re greeted by darkness. Frank gives my hand a little squeeze as we step over the threshold.

With grace, he navigates the room as I bumble behind him,my free hand brushing what I think to be his back. He turns to the left where the bedroom is situated.

Dim candle light flickers and a soft melody plays.

Horror fills me as I step up beside Frank to witness a scene that is seared into my brain, a nightmare in the flesh. There lies Seph, his long limbs spread across the bed, and he is naked as a wee baby, surrounded by every flower you can think of.

"What the fuck is this?" Frank demands.

The flowers start to mold as Frank gets more worked up.

Seph smirks. "What? A man can’t wait for the love of his life to return?"

Without a second thought of Frank in the room, I wave my hand and clothes cover every square inch of Seph, starting with his poor excuse for a dick. All that can be seen is his face and hands when I’m done.

"How many times have I told you we are through? You have to move on, Seph. Never enter my room unless invited again," I command and point towards the exit.

As he crawls off the bed to storm out, he knocks a vase off the little side table and lets it shatter. Seph glares at Frank, pushes some of the petals off the bed as if to cover the glass.

"Oh, Hades,” Seph whispers, as he moves past me, “you will be mine again."

Fuck, he just called me Hades, but I force that to the back of my mind. I did just show off my power, my name is the least of my problems.

Frank is still angry when I turn back to him, his eyes flaring with power, and this room is starting to smell of rotting flowers.

Once I hear the click of the door, ensuring that Seph made his exit, I do just as I did with Drevi. I place a palm on eitherside of Frank’s face, willing him to calm down, and try to soothe him with my words.

"Frank, thank you for escorting me back into my room and ridding it of Seph. If you can’t regain control of whatever this power is that rots flowers, I will have to call Warrick."

His dark eyes search mine. His breathing eases, and he does the last thing I expect. He crushes his lips to mine as he wraps his arms around me and guides my body onto the bed without removing his hands from around me. He deepens the greedy kiss, and I return it, teasing him with my tongue as I pull him closer to me. Seeing as it has been centuries since I felt this kind of passion given to me so freely, I greedily accept.

Frank breaks off the kiss, pulling back slightly before he asks, "Did he call you Hades? And where did those clothes come from?"

"Yes, he did, and magic. What about the flowers molding, huh? It isn't the same as what Drevi did, but I've never seen anything like that happen before."

He dodges the question and begins to untangle himself from me to stand, pulling me up, "I think I promised you a bath."

"That you did, and don't think I didn't notice that you ignored my question," I accuse as he leads me toward the bathroom.

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