Page 2 of Summer's Seduction

A harsh, bitter laugh fell from my lips as she stilled, but this time, I didn’t look away from the fire in her gaze, daring her to meet the ire in mine. “Morpheus really has you believing he’sturned on his father. It’s foolish to trust him, but you’re the queen?—”

“Yes,” Persephone snapped, fists clenching as her cheeks flushed. “I’mthe Queen of the Underworld, Lark.Imust think about all the souls that cross into this realm and the state of the Earth Coven in the realm above. Hypnos hasn’t been found, but he’s clever and malicious. We need someone who understands him—who can figure out his next move before he makes it. And Morpheus has proven loyal.”

I lifted a brow as I crossed my arms, refusing to back down. Her nostrils flared.

“I understand your need to save Psyche.”

“Clearly, you don’t?—”

“Youusedme,” Persephone cut in, her voice breaking around the word as her eyes blazed. “I don’t know what it’s like to have a sister, but even after that, after everything you put me through, I can empathize with how fucked up the situation was. Can you, Lark?”

Ignoring the heavy weight in my stomach and the prick of something that felt far too similar to shame, I leaned into my anger, letting my rage and endless fury drown out all the rest.

She didn’t understand. She couldn’t. I’d spent years of my life protecting Persephone. Letting them slice bits and pieces of what remained of me away so that she was shielded from the worst of it. Now, I was powerful enough to compel all of them to jump off a cliff, but then… It had taken every scrap of my magic to make them believe I was her as they held me down.

“Yes,” I said, my voice trembling as tears threatened. “I can understand caring for people who will never fully grasp the extent of the sacrifices you’ve made. And as much as it hurts, you don’t want them to comprehend everything you’ve given up. Because it would break them.”

Persephone’s brows furrowed. She opened her mouth to speak, but I turned away, afraid she’d already seen too much. Choking down the bile singeing the back of my throat, I stuffed all that rage and pain back into the recesses of my vacant heart. This wasn’t a battle I would win. Better a retreat than a loss.

“I didn’t mean to add to your stress, Lady Persephone,” I spoke to the ground, pausing in the doorframe. “I’ll wait for Hecate’s return in my room.”

“Lark,” she said, but I was out the door before she could stop me.

MORPHEUS

“What happened?” I asked, carefully keeping my rage in check. My hands were folded in my lap with my ankle resting over my leg, but I felt anything but casual.

The moment Thanatos appeared in the throne room after Demeter’s defeat, I knew he was hiding something. He smelled different, like one of Hecate’s shielding spells. I’d thought it was an over-precaution taken while battling Demeter, but I could scent them now—The Night Children, a.k.a. The Dark Ones. Every time a dark one fed, we left a small trace of ourselves on our prey. The venom from our fangs, the toxin that numbed the sting of feeding, warping the experience into something resembling pleasure. But for the unwilling, it was the cruelest type of torture.

Rustling feathers came from the open door of the washroom, the steam of Thanatos’s shower still heavy in the air. He’d been taking showers nonstop, scrubbing to the point of bleeding.

I raised a brow as Thanatos walked into his room. His great white wings were stretched wide behind him, droplets stillclinging to the feathers, and a towel slung low across his hips. His silvery blond hair was damp, the ends reaching the hard planes of his chest. Thanatos wasn’t thick like Hades, and his wings weren’t as intimidating as my own, but only a fool would look upon the God of Death and assume he was harmless.

He reminded me of a panther, slinking through the brush until he was ready to strike. We’d been friends for decades. Until I’d fucked that up too.

“You are no longer allowed in my room without an invitation, Morpheus.” Thanatos dropped the towel as he turned toward the armoire. He might be lean everywhere else, but that ass of his was spectacular.

“Then why have Hecate lift the wards? Wards particularly spelled to keep The Night Children out?”

Thanatos’s spine stiffened as he fastened the ties on his pants. They were thick, the material he used for traveling, but I didn’t want him to go. Not yet.

“You’re not like them,” he said after a moment, still not looking my way.

“Aren’t I?” I asked, more to hear him contradict it than anything else. Because I may not have harmed him the way my people had—would never take without consent—but I’d hurt him badly. After a minute of silence had passed, I slowly stood and made my way over to him. His pulse spiked as I neared, causing me to halt in my tracks. “Tell me to leave, and I’ll go.”

His lips parted for a breath, but he didn’t speak. Taking another step, I leaned forward, letting him know what was to come, giving him a chance to stop this. He didn’t. Inhaling deeply, I relished his scent as I pressed soft kisses to his shoulder, working toward his neck. Thanatos may be the God of Death, but he smelled like sunlight and citrus. Like grace.

“I didn’t think you wanted me,” I murmured, trying again to explain. “I never would have gone with her if I’d known?—”

“You didn’t ask,” he snapped, spinning away from me in a wash of wings. Such torment burned in his eyes. Such pain. And it was all my fault. “You assumed I would use you like the rest of them, but that just shows you never knew me. Thatwewere never a possibility.”

Swallowing the tinge of bile on the back of my throat, I held his gaze. “I’m sorry.”

Thanatos turned away, wings curving around his shoulders. “Yeah, me too.”

“I know I’m not your favorite person right now, but we’ve always been able to talk about difficult things. Your scent is altered.” I breathed soft and gentle words to lessen their sting, but Thanatos still flinched. “Will you tell me what happened?”

Thanatos ran a hand over his face, his wings bristling. He returned to the armoire, reaching for a dark tunic as he shook his head. “You already know. You scented their poison in me the moment Hecate’s concealment spell wore off.”

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