Page 119 of Seduced

“I need some air,” she said. “Real air, outside.”

He put her back down, preparing to call for a servant. Then he changed his mind.I will help her dress, he thought.Who better to serve and help her than me?

“Does being in the Underworld oppress you?” he asked her, as he walked into the next room to bring her a dress.

I will burn it to the ground.

“Not at all,” she replied from the other room. “I love the Underground. It’s like our own, secret world. And it’s filled with all the things that I love: Cats, nightly talks, dancing, hot baths, Rania…You.”

Heat flushed across his cheeks. His hands stilled on her dress, shaking too much to grip it properly.

You, he thought, fighting tears again.Things I love: you.

“I’ve stopped all the gaming in the club,” he informed her. He strode back into his bedroom and started untying the back of her nightgown. “As of tonight, I’ve stopped everything.”

“Good,” she said softly. “I knew you would do it, sooner or later.”

“You had more faith in me than I ever did,” Alexei winced. “Don’t know what I’ll do now. What my purpose shall be on this earth.”

“You’ll find it,” Poppy said.

Her voice calmed him, grounded him. Kept him breathing.

…

They walked outside together.

It was a mild night, for February, the air clear and stinging with cold, but there was no sign of snow or rain. Their breaths clouded in front of them, and Hades pulled her close to keep her warm.

They reached the same place where he had lain down to die in the snow, that night he was being particularly stupid, and a small shiver travelled down his skin at the thought that, if it hadn’t been for her, he wouldn’t be here right now.

To look at her, to feel her breathe against his skin, to smile.

To be happy. To be happy to be alive.

He was rubbing his hands up and down her arms, when he realized it. What a fool, not to have seen it all this time! But he finally did, and it was clearer than the sun that would come up in a few hours.

“Maybe Iwasput on this earth with a purpose,” he said. “Do you mind very much, my dear, if that purpose was to be saved by you?” She lifted her eyes to his. “To be alive for you?” She opened her lips. “To be loved by you?”

“I don’t mind at all,” she whispered.

Alexei’s head leaned towards hers again, but before he could kiss her, an annoying voice behind him said:

“I don’t either.”

“Get lost, Wilder.”Where did that scoundrel come from? I didn’t notice him following.

“I’m not leaving you two alone in the cold ever again,” Wilder said. He was a few paces behind, trying to pretend he was being respectful, but he wasn’t fooling anyone. He had been eavesdropping this whole time, hadn’t he? “I’ve learned my lesson.”

“Make yourself scarce, Isaac,” Alexei told him, his tone serious and a little harsh, like it used to be, and Wilder turned around to obey.

Alexei reached him in two strides. He grabbed his neck and pulled him to his chest in a heart-stopping hug. He slapped his back with such force as would have sent a lesser man to his knees, and told him to give them some privacy.

“Oh,” Poppy said, when he reached her side again. “You two are in love, aren’t you?”

“Shut up,” Alexei said, but he was smiling.

“Are you taking a stroll through the streets with him too, later?”

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