Page 25 of Hades and Persephone: Threads of Fate

Unable to help myself, I ask, “Do you still wish to leave me?”

Peering up at me still, she offers me a very small smile. Then she shakes her head. “No.”

“Good.” With a hand on her belly, I shove her gently back toward the table. “You need to eat.”

“I don’t feel hungry anymore.”

I feel my eyes harden. Her smile widens. I growl a low and feral sound. “Persephone.”

“Alright, alright,” she mutters on a huff.Testy little thing, but she smiles just a hint of a smile.“I’ll eat.”

Chapter

Twelve

Persephone

After the hardhits of the last week, I’m happy to lounge on Hades’ boat for the day. The sun is high and hot, and I’m soaking every last ounce of it up as I lay on the deck between sleep and wakefulness. Beside me, Hades is reading a book that looks utterly ancient.

“That thing looks like it should be in a museum.”

“It’s an old family tome.”

“That you keep on a boat?” I ask bizarrely. “What if it sinks?”

“There is a legend that the book is blessed by the old Gods.” His lips curl into a rugged smile and he winks at me. My heartflips. “It would survive.”

I snort. “Sometimes you say the craziest things.”

He grunts.

I prop myself up on my elbows, the sun kissing the bare skin of my back. If my mother knew I was wearing nothing but my panties on a yacht alone with a man—well, her head would spin.

“You don’t actually believe the book is blessed, do you?” Hades turns a page, but offers me nothing more than a shrug. I lower back to the deck. I took off the shirt I’ve been wearing, and am using it as a pillow. “I still think you should give it to a museum.”

He gives me another grunt, but again says nothing more. Unable to bite my tongue, I press, “What is it about?”

“The Gods and Goddesses.”

I perk up. “Really?”

“Mm.”

“Hades!”

His eyes drift to me and his smile is roguish. He knows what he’s doing. If there’s one weakness I have, it’s the old myths. “Will you tell me what you’re reading?”

“I’m reading about the eternal soul of a God or Goddess, and the body that hold it.”

I frown. “Aren’t all souls eternal?”

He pauses, the words stuck for a moment on his tongue. “In a way, yes.”

“I don’t understand.”

“The soul of a human is fleeting.It’s like a light, winking in and out of existence. Humans live many lives, and through those lives, they learn many lessons. Their souls pass these lessons into the next life, and the next, and so on.” He closes the tome gently. “The soul of a God or Goddess is much different. It spans only one existence, for the body of a God or Goddess is as close as one can get to being immortal.”

I squint at the sun over his shoulder. “So, the book says a God can’t die.”

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