Page 21 of Hades and Persephone: Threads of Fate

“Because you’re wrong.” His hands tighten on the steering wheel.

“I look like your dead wife!” I scream. My voice breaks as I sob. “I didn’t even know you were married.”

“I told you about her.”

“You told me about your life partner.” I’m crying now. I don’t know why. He ismy boss. A fling. This was always meant to end, so why does it hurt so much?

“Look at me.” When I don’t comply, I feel his hand on my thigh again. The weight is like a shackle I wish I could be bound to even as I ache to escape. “Look at me. Now.”

I am unable to stop myself. Unable to refuse him this. Quietly, I whisper, “This hurts.”

“I can’t lie and tell you that you don’t resemble her. You do.” He curses again when a hot tear escapes from my eye. “But I crave you for the soul you hold inside your body, not for the physical similarities you share with her.”

I shake my head. “This is wrong.”

“My soul recognizes yours.” His hand is impossibly heavy on my thigh now. “I know you feel it. Don’t lie and tell me you don’t. I won’t believe you.”

“Please take me to the house.”

He shakes his head again, and then, with a long sigh, he casts his eyes to the road and drives.

My heart cracks apart, my very life feeling as though it is leaking from the deep of me. Because the very first man I’ve ever loved—the only man I suspect I will ever love—has given up on me.

He’s doing as I asked. He’s taking me to the house I share with the others.

He’s letting me go.

Chapter

Ten

Persephone

I haven’t beenable to stop crying since we stopped talking. Even with my eyes closed against the night, the tears are leaking from me. I’m not sure that I’ve ever felt so lost. So hurt. So confused.

Wounded…

The man I am in love with looks at me and sees a lost love.

There is no moving forward from this. Not ever.

The car stops and I know we’re here. At the end.

We never really even got the chance to begin.

Reaching for the door handle, I pull. It doesn’topen, but my eyes do.

We’re not at the house. We’re also not at the Tower.

With my eyes cast through the glass of the windshield, I ask dumbly, “Where are we?”

Hades says nothing as he switches off the engine, exiting the car. He rounds to my side, pulling the door open and offering me his hand. I don’t take it.

“What are we doing, Hades?”

“Come, Persephone.” Is all the answer I receive.

Feeling petulant, I settle back into the seat with my arms folded over my chest. “I’m not going anywhere with you. I already told you I want to go back to the house.”

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