Page 16 of Summer's Seduction

Couldn’t they see all she had done? How every calculated decision had been for the betterment of everyone else, to keep those she cared about safe?

Larkspurwasgood. True love didn’t always look pretty. It was messy and raw, and infinite sacrifice took a toll on a person. Not many could do it—offer up pieces of themselves. But she did. Time and time again, she’d cut out slivers of her own flickeringhappiness, sometimes only burning for a few precious moments, and served it to others.

Larkspur was a fucking warrior goddess, a queen among peasants. And I’d just fucked up any chance I’d had of making her mine.

It was probably better this way. I cared for my people in the best way I knew how—by distancing myself from them. Even at a young age, I knew I wasn’t fit to be a leader. I was a leech in every aspect, and Larkspur was my current meal of choice. Better she’d seen me now than let that torturous flower of hope take root.

“…The hearts of mortals are already softening toward Hades and his fair queen.”

Fair queen?Ares’s voice cut through the ramblings of my mind. He wasn’t one for pretty words or politics of any sort unless it involved a duel to the death, but he spoke of Hypnos and the instability of the realms with the same hint of manic thrill that he got with any great impending war.

Ares turned toward Hades, oblivious to how the shadows flashed darker. “Your kingdom is already swelling with souls, and now you have the growing thanks of the living to add to your might.”

“Ares,” Hera whispered, shaking her head as her eyes darted from her husband to her eldest son. “Strategy is not your strong suit. Let your father and step sister worry about that.”

I caught the flash of surprise across Persephone’s face from Hera’s acknowledgment of Zeus’s infidelity. She was often depicted as a ruthless, jealous wife—which she was—but there were moments when I felt a tinge of pity for the goddess. For a being who prized marriage above all else, being bound to an unfaithful husband who broadcasted his indiscretions must have been not only mortifying but personally devastating.

“Where is Athena, anyway?” Cupid asked, the midnight flecks in his dark brown eyes gleaming as he glanced around the room. “I’m surprised her ego would allow her to miss such an event.”

Hermes snorted a laugh from her spot on the wall, the small sound causing Zeus’s shoulders to tense.

“She advised me to keep this meeting short,” Zeus snapped, his pointed nose lifting as the servants entered.

Golden platters were stacked with an array of dishes. Tender slices of steak were donned with fresh herbs, followed by roasted vegetable melodies, glazed carrots, and a large, fresh spring salad. Bottles of wine and sparkling liquid were next. Servants swept through the room, filling glasses as if it were a choreographed dance. I suppose it was, in a way. Despite the threat The Olympians posed, it was clear that each felt proud to have earned a spot at tonight’s dinner service. Even the stiff set of Hades’s shoulders seemed to ease as the temperature in the room warmed.

All the while, Zeus sat back in his chair, looking as if an infestation was overrunning him.

“Lost your appetite, Lord Zeus?” Cupid asked, not bothering to hide the twitch of his lips. He lifted the glass before, letting the red liquid coat his tongue before swallowing.

Electricity pricked as Zeus glared, the sentiment only causing Cupid’s smirk to stretch.

“Careful, boy,” Ares warned. “Or your life thread may be cut before its time.”

“And risk my mother’s wrath?” Cupid asked, shaking his head as he helped himself to a hunk of steak. “I think Lady Hera has been punished enough, don’t you, Lord Zeus?”

Fuck me, was Cupid feeling mouthy today.Normally, I wouldn’t have been captivated by such antics, but despite thetension mounting in the dining hall, I couldn’t stop thinking about Larkspur and if she knew what I’d glimpsed.

Had she felt my desire as I’d felt hers? To be fed from was intimate, especially a dark one’s first time. I hadn’t realized what I’d forced her to sacrifice in order to save her from Poseidon’s whims. But it felt like I’d been offered the sliver of her soul, a flash of what it could be like to know her. To hold her. And fuck if I wasn’t addicted after the first taste.

The temperature plummeted as the conversation that had been carrying on around me came to a halt. Shadows billowed around Hades, and I had the eerie feeling they were being held at bay only by Persephone's golden magic shining beneath her palm as she held Hades's hand.

“You think you can come into my realm and demandobedience?” Hades seethed. The pupils of his eyes had expanded, consuming his gaze in a cold black. Thick ram horns swirled, his great, leathery wings rising as he stood.

Zeus’s eyes sparked, a current of electricity buzzing through the frigid air. “We agreed long ago to divide the realms equally, brother. Poseidon was granted the seas, you, The Underworld, and I, The Above. The Realm of the Living was meant to keep the balance between us, which has been threatened thanks to yourwife’santics.”

Spittle flew from Zeus’s mouth as he shifted his gaze from Lord Hades to Lady Persephone. She stiffened under his hatred but met his stare.

The entire room was braced for Lord Hades’s response, for an attack, but the dark shadows billowing around him stilled as time seemed to pause.

“Careful, brother.” Hades tilted his head to the side, his black eyes smoldering with a flash of malice. “I alone know your darkest fears.”

Zeus flinched, back hitting his chair before his fists landed on the table as he rose. “You fucking demon. There was always more of grandmother’s poison running in your veins.”

Hades grinned, leaning back in his chair as Zeus raged.

“Defeating Demeter saved the realms,” Persephone said, her voice strong despite the threat before her. “Irestoredbalance.”

“No, Lady Persephone,” Hera breathed, her eyes filled with something that looked almost like regret. “Your actions were heroic. You saved thousands?—”

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