Page 13 of Hades and Persephone: Crown of Souls

Guilt swells hotly inside me. I swallow the bitter burn of it.

“Oh.” She looks forward again. “Is trauma something that needs to be healed often here? In the Underworld, I mean?”

She’s asking the question in general. I answer in kind. “There are many traumas to be healed here, but most are residual pains carried over from the Earthly realm.”

“I see.” She shimmies from my arms to step deeper into the room. I watch as she dips her toes into a stream, her lips parting in delighted surprise. “It’s warm.”

I point to a smaller pool farther back in the room. It is fed exclusively by a shimmering fall of water that seems to flow from the very sky. “That is the cold pool.”

As though called to it by unquenchable curiosity, she moves to the small pool. Lowering to her knees, she dips her hand into the water and looses a little noise of shock. “That’s really cold.”

I can’t deny my smile.Watching her is enthralling.“Cold water also provides many healing benefits.”

She rises to stand again, facing me. “I think this is my favorite room yet.”

A grip squeezes my heart.As it had been so long ago.

I can’t summon a smile, but instead lift my hands to the buttons of my shirt. By the time I’ve shrugged from the material, tossing it to a bench that has been carved into the stone, her skin is flushed with the heat of need. At her side, her hands tremble just enough to let me know she is nervous now, even though I’ve had her before.

I let my hands move to the buckle of my belt, never allowing my eyes to drift from her. When my pants are tossed to join my shirt, and I am entirely naked, I can’t mistake the rapid rise and fall of her chest.

When her eyes drop to my swollen arousal, I have to fight the urge to grin as I grind my teeth instead.

“Do you need help, little goddess?” I’m only half teasing as I move to claim the distance that dares stand between us.

“I—” Her hands sweep up to the top button of the shirt. They tremble as they fumble the tiny button. Brushing her hands aside, my steady hands quickly work each button through its hole, even as I long to rip them from the thread that binds them in one fell swoop.

Through the lullaby of ancient power and rushing water, I can hear every panted breath that tumbles from her lips. The need to cover her mouth with mine, to consume every sound she makes, every breath she breathes, is agonizing to refuse.

I want to lose myself inside her.

She could never know the ways I burn for her. The need I feel for her.

The shirt falls open to expose the valley between her breasts, and creamy skin. Her belly quivers under my gaze, and I nearly fall to my knees as the ache to bury my face in her belly hits me.I want to gather her in my arms and hold her close—too close. Hard—too hard.

I’d come so close to losing her again. This time, possibly, forever.

Emotion burns the backs of my eyes as I shutter the evidence of my weakness from her prying emerald eyes. If there is one thing that makes me weak, it is this tiny woman who holds a Goddesses soul.

She moves and I am hit with a wave of her sweet floral scent. Her palm cups my face. “Hades?”

I pull in a breath that tastesof her.

“Are you okay?” she presses, her hand moving around to the back of my neck even as my hands lift to push beneath the fabric of my shirt she wears to hold the dip of her little waist. To hold her away from me while I gather myself. If she presses her body to mine now, I’m liable to ravage her.

I release a long exhale as we stand together, pulling close just as we pull away. A contradiction. A mess.

I admit, “I nearly lost you.”

She is quiet for a long moment as I simply breathe in the scent of her. Although my eyes are closed, I can feel the sweeping heat of her eyes on my face. Already, the bright shine is giving way for the malachite veins that color her emerald irises under the shadow of the Underworld.

She finally speaks. “I don’t know—I don’t remember what happened.”

I loose a breath. “I know.”

“Will you tell me?”

I open my eyes. “Not tonight.” When her brows knit, I beg, “Can we have tonight, Persephone? I want—I need tonight—to lose myself with you. In you.” Her frown remains even as her eyes soften. “Please?”

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