Page 85 of His in the Dark

I follow it across a narrow valley to a row of old oak trees. They’re beautiful, ancient bark and one of the few plants that reside in the Underworld. They were a gift long ago from one God to another. Beyond the trees there is a clearing with a stream running through it.

Hades stands near the stream, his arms at his sides. At first, I think he is alone.

He is not.

The nymph blends in with the trees around her. The fabric of her gown looks like dappled bark until she moves and the fabric rustles, and it is a gown again. She wears a wreath of autumn leaves on her head. Long, blonde hair flows down her back, wavy and shining. She looks caught between the seasons—green and dappled in places on her gown with the darker shades of winter gradually taking over.

I raise my hand, and the guards come to a stop.

“Hades.”

Hades turns to look at me, and a simper spreads across his face. His eyes light. “My Queen.”

“I had a warning.” I move to his side and put my hand in his. “Did you have need of me?”

“Always,” he says in a low voice, his eyes darkening. But before I can leap into his arms—and Iwould—he lifts his head. “I was delayed.”

“Were you?”

“Yes. This nymph engaged me in conversation.”

The nymph has not gone. She peeks out of the trees at us, her bright eyes jumping between Hades and me.

A tug that feels more like fire than a call springs up in my chest. “In conversation?”

I meet Hades’s eyes. He gives me a calm, even look that soothes some of the fire.

Some—but not all of it.

The nymph takes a few steps out of the trees. What is she thinking, getting closer? Possessiveness like I’ve never felt comes over me. It would make more sense to me if she had turned and run at the first sight of me. A pink flush to her cheeks says the conversation was not a simple exchange of greetings. Her hands move to the buttons on the front of her dress—visible one second, then lost in the dappled pattern the next.

Her fingers work, and her buttons close.

I’m genuinely surprised for a few beats. This nymph unbuttoned her dress? She saw Hades on the path and decided to unbutton her dress?

Anger grows and with it, a heat in my palms. Hades stands by my side, laying a hand on my shoulder and whispers at the edge of my ear, “It does not matter what others may try. I am yours and yours alone.” My eyes do not leave the nymph as he speaks. “I told her such and I believe she understands now.”

The fire rages in me. But it is not chaotic, it is eerily calm. I do not address him. Foolish God.

“What is your name, nymph?” I question. My voice does not need to be loud. The magic between me and Hades seems toamplify my powers, and his hand in mine amplifies my sense thatyes, something was wrong, andyes, it was this nymph.

He may have said no, but I do not for one moment believe that she took it to heart.

“Minthe, my Queen,” she answers. Her voice is sweet, like a breeze in summer leaves.

It does not strike me as innocent. She knew what she was doing when she unbuttoned her dress. Power surges inside me. It is the magic, telling me in no uncertain terms that I am where I need to be. My very purpose grows within me here.

“And you met my King on the path,” I say although my tone is question like.

“Yes,” she answers.

“And you unbuttoned your dress.”

Minthe’s gaze flicks to Hades before reaching me. She admits, “I did, my Queen.”

“And you thought…what? That you’d take him to bed with you?”

Minthe says nothing for a moment. “It was an offering for the God, my Queen. One he refused. My mistake,” she offers.

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