Page 59 of Seduced

Hades caught her by the elbow, hissing at her to stop it.

“What are youdoing?” Now he sounded well and truly incensed. Perfect.

“I am saving a man’s life,” Poppy replied. “If you are not inclined to help me, my Lord Hades, feel free to take yourself home.”

“Do not call me that!” For a man who claimed to hate screaming, he certainly did a lot of it—even with his voice kept low.

“You started it,” Poppy said.

Where was that butler? Her heart was beginning to pound.

Please, God, let me not be too late.

Now, that was strange.

She had not prayed since Hades had taken her; it had not occurred her to.

Or maybe it had, but she had felt that she needed to do a lot of kneeling on rice before she could be worthy enough to pray. But now, the prayer lifted itself from her soul effortlessly, impulsively, and she felt that her heart, underneath all the hurt and shame, was as eager to reach for the heavens as it had ever been.

And the shame…the shame had diminished somehow.

Even though she hadn’t listed her transgressions in ages and ages, she couldn’t quite recall what she was supposed to have done at this precise moment; she couldn’t quite recall what she was supposed to be repenting for. All she knew was that there was a man possibly dying up there, and she was the only one who could help him.

“What did I start?” Hades was hissing as the door opened, screeching on its hinges, and the butler’s indignant face appeared in the opening.

“Did you or did you not call me ‘little seed’?” Poppy tried to say without opening her mouth too much, because the butler did not seem to be encouraging her to speak.

“That’s not the same—” Hades started saying, and then stopped, as he realized that he was being stared down by DeVere’s austere butler. “Good eve, my good man,” he turned to that individual, his voice changing completely. It turned into his usual, intimidating cold tone within the blink of an eye.

“Impressive,” Poppy whispered under her breath.

Hades’ elbow dug into her ribs. “We require to enter DeVere’s abode,” he said to the butler, “if you would be so kind to step aside.”

The butler attempted to sputter a question in response, and did not look amenable at stepping aside in the least, but Hades stepped right across him, his hand grasping Poppy’s wrist and dragging her with him.

‘I don’t like to be touched.’

Once inside the foyer, Poppy started running and Hades allowed her to overtake him and take the lead. She took the stairs two at a time, cursing her limp that did not allowed her to go any faster, and finally she reached the room she had seen the light stop at on the second floor.

She tried the door; it was locked.

Without a word, Hades stepped up and kicked it in.

The door fell in a cloud of smoke and splinters on the floor, to reveal DeVere’s slender body hanging from a noose on the ceiling.

“Dear God!” Hades gasped, completely frozen on the spot.

Poppy, who had anticipated such a sight, was not in the least shocked, and ran inside the room, grabbing the hanging man’s legs by the knees, and attempting to lift his rigid body towards the ceiling, so that the suffocation would stop. But he was too unresponsive and heavy, and she could barely move him.

“Help me,” she cried to Hades, but he just stood there, rooted to the floor, and looked ashen.

Poppy was panting so hard she thought her heart would jump out of her chest. The man’s body began to jerk uncontrollably against her hold, nearly kicking her on the chin.

“He is dying!” Poppy shouted. “This is no time to be missish, for God’s sake.”

That appeared to shock Hades out of his inertia, and he sprung forward. Between them, Poppy and Hades somehow freed the man from the noose, and lowered him down to lay him on the floor. He was still as a corpse; they would have to attempt to revive him.

“Pump on his back, as hard as you can,” Poppy instructed Hades, and he did.

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