Page 37 of Hades and Persephone: Threads of Fate

“How?”

Leuce straightens in her seat. “Persephone, I think these are questions you should ask Hades. I can see that you are very important to him, and he is very important to me, and thus, you are important to me. I feel very—connected to you. As though you and I are meant to know each other.”

It’s odd, but I feel the same. There is something about Leuce, and Minthe, too, that draws me in. An attraction I can’t explain. Can’t begin to understand. It’s more than physical, it’s magnetic.

Instead of agreeing with her, I press, “Hades mentioned that his relationship with her was very open.”

Leuce’s eyes narrow only slightly on me before they drag slowly down the length of my body. It’s the first time she’s looked at me the way I’ve caught Minthe looking at me. With open attraction. Sexualattraction. My blood heats even as my belly flips in discomfort. I am attracted and yet not.

I’m so confused.

“Yes,” Leuce says slowly. “It was a very open relationship.”

“But—” I shake my head. “Hades doesn’t seem like the kind of man who would—well—share.”

“Oh.” She laughs. The breathy sound exudes sex. “I don’t think he would share you. But Hades has a very long and rich history of sharing.”

My face is on fire. It’s so hot, it hurts.

Covering my cheeks with my hands, I breathe a measured breath between my lips. “Did—um—have you—God, I don’t know why I’m asking this.”

Her head tips to the side. “Do be cautious the words you speak to the Gods, Persephone. There is nothing they cannot hear, provided they care to listen.” She smirks. “And I believe there is one God who is very aware of the words you speak,whenyou speak, even inadvertently, to him.” She pauses as I gape at her. “But to answer your question, I again think you need to ask Hades about his sexual relations with me.”

Knowing I’m going to get nowhere with Leuce when it comes to digging for information about Hades, I ask, “You believe in the Gods?”

“Very much.”

“How does everyone here believe in them? Ithought they were just—I thought everyone believed—knew—they were myth?”

“They are far more than myth, my friend.” She lifts her glass to her lips and drinks deep. “Even now, I can feel their power.”

Hades takes that very moment to walk into the kitchen. And although he’s only just a man, power is the thing that rolls off him, crackling like embers in the dark.

Chapter

Seventeen

Persephone

The air is coolerthan usual. Heavy storm clouds roll in a dark sky, obscuring, for the most part, a big-bellied, not-quite-full, moon. I’ve never felt particularly safe in storms. Back home, I had a tendency to run for cover, slipping under the warmth of a soft blanket. Unlike my mother, who would sit out on the front porch and watch the storm create a picture of chaos in the sky, I wouldn’t even watch from the windows. Something about the arc of lightning had always sparked a quick lash of ominous fear in my chest. Even now, I can feel my breaths quickening,keeping pace with the uncontrolled beating of my wild heart.

“You don’t like storms?” Hades’ low rumble rivals the thunder that rumbles in the prison of the skyline.

I drag my eyes from the rolling sky to the man who sits, so big—so massive in the space he claims, always. Now, he is lounging in the hot tub, closer to the danger of the sky that threatens a storm of chaos than I’m sure is safe. His arms rest on the side, spread like wings on either side of his body. He’s pulled his long hair into a tie at the nape of his neck, and his thick beard is trimmed neatly to contradict the wild danger I sense resides inside him, never more than a threat away from revealing itself, shrouding him in even more mystery.

I swallow hard as another arc of lightning flashes in the sky, reflecting in his dark eyes. “Not particularly.”

“Interesting.”

I frown. “Why is that interesting?”

“No reason.”

“Hades…” I shake my head, giving up. “You say the oddest things sometimes.”

He watches me for a long moment. “Consider, for a moment, that most are descendants of the Gods.” I nod when he pauses, aware of the way Noc lifts his head as though to listen to our conversation. It’s not the first time I’ve wondered just how much the pupcan understand.

Hades continues, pulling my attention from Noc. “What if you were told that you were a direct descendent of Zeus?”

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