Page 33 of Seduced

“I thought it was clear,” he replied, slowly turning to face her. “You are here to pay.”

“For dressing up in men’s clothes?”

“For spying on the Hell Club.”

“I wasnotspying!”

Careful, her brother’s voice said in her ear.That sounded an awful lot like defiance.

“I’m sorry,” she told her brother in her head. Except that she said it out loud. Hades lifted a dark eyebrow; how could the man possibly look so annoyed and so handsome at the same time? “But I really was not here to spy. My reasons were…of another nature altogether.”

“There is no need to try to convince me, sweetheart,” Hades spat, “I have planned some very special treats for you, that I’m sure will loosen your tongue soon enough. I need you to start talking, and even though you did a lot of that the other night, you never said anything of substance.”

“T…treats?” A shiver ran down her spine.

More torture? Would there be rice and seeds here too? Her knees almost buckled at the idea.

“Quite,” Hades said, his face hardening. “I shall need to know why you were spying, what you find out, who sent you, what they…” He stopped, looked at her. “Are you all right?” he asked unexpectedly, his voice strange, unnatural.

Poppy was not all right.

She hadn’t been all right in years and years.

But no one had ever noticed; why was he asking her now? It made little sense. She opened her mouth to speak and the blood drained from her head, pooling at her aching legs. She felt like an empty sack, about to be poured out onto the carpet and disappear forever.

“Oh, for God’s sake,” the words burst out of Hades with a mix of impatience and disgust, but she heard them as if through a wall of water that was quickly swallowing her up.

And then she was being lifted by something strong—arms?—that swayed slightly. Someone was carrying her. The relief was so immense that she gave a little sigh.

Too loud.

Hades chuckled above her head.

His chest was rock-hard, but still a better pillow than the cold floor of the chapel. She leaned against it, not caring how angry he would get. What was another man angry with her? She must have gotten used to it by now, surely.

“What are you hiding,” she said, lost in that trance-like state, somewhere between fainting and dying. “What are you hiding that is so important as to make you paranoid that every poor soul who walks into your precious club is spying on you?”

Hades swallowed loudly above her ear, said nothing.

“Oh, I hit the nail on the head, did I?” Poppy went on. “Who would have thought that my brain still works? Well, somewhat works.” She chuckled to herself. When was the last time she had laughed? Maybe she never had; she couldn’t remember. “Now. What are you hiding that is so important? It’s driving you crazy, you know.”

“Stop talking,” Hades said, biting his lip.

He was barely out of breath, even though he was walking as fast as before, and carrying her as well. His arms around her felt relaxed, not too tense or struggling. But his Adam’s apple was bobbing—she could feel it against her ear. What had him so distressed, if it wasn’t her weight on his arms?

Oh.

Oh.

“It’s not something,” she said, with a sudden epiphany. “It’s a someone.”

And that was when Hades dropped her to the ground.

eleven

Poppy

He picked her back up almost immediately, but her hip bone stung when she had hit it, falling, and her feelings were somewhat wounded. But what hurt most of all was her chest: it hurt from laughter.

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