Page 50 of Hades and Persephone: Crown of Souls

Argh, this is so complicated!The merman’s hair should be sopping wet, but it isn’t. It remains dry, the waves silky sleek, as though he wasn’t entirely submerged only seconds before.

It’s magic, I decide. It must be.

But all of that isn’t what catches and holds my attention prisoner. It isn’t what snags the breaths from my very lungs and leaves me gasping as though I’ve been dragged out to the deep dark of the sea where sea and stars meet. What holds me entirely captivated is the iridescent glow of his shocking blue eyes.

I can't look away from his eyes even as fear bludgeons my quivering heart.

Beyond the fear, though, there is a pinprick of recognition.

It's more than just having seen him in the waters beyond Hades’ yacht.

I've seen him beforein another life.

I've spoken with him.

I trusted him.

It comes to me then like a repressed memory from the rubble of a collapsed mountain of trauma, and I immediately know who he is.

“Poseidon,” I whisper his name—the name of the God of the Seas.

The sound of this name on my lips is a shock to my system, even though that’s silly considering my most recent months. And the Gods who have appeared, very real, in my life.

Shocked as I am, the God of the Seas doesn’t seem even the least bit surprised that I know who he is. A wide grin splits his handsome face, and my jaw drops as his silvery blue fin splits in two.

I don’t know where his scales go—but they’re gone rather fast. A blink, maybe two and boom—legs.

Powerful, muscular legs and a?—

Oh, holy HELL!

The God of the Sea begins to move, emerging, wholly naked from the water.

“Hello, Persephone. It’s been far, far too long.”

Chapter

Twenty-Two

Persephone

“I amnothavingsex with you!” My face is on fire, and not even a full body dunk in the sea would put out the flame. I am humiliated and horrified—because I’ve only seen one, ahem, thing—in my entire life. Hades’ thing. I would have been happy with only seeing his—ahem—thinguntil the day I die.

Alas, it appears such things are not meant to be. Still. That doesn’t mean I’m not a bit put out and red hot with horror.

Poseidon chuckles. It’s deep and rich and warm in the kind of way that makes one want to curl up and snuggle in. Butno! No, there will be no snuggling with the naked God.

Absolutely not.

“I admit, I was expecting another kind of greeting.”

I groan, dropping my burning face into my cool hands. It’s a very short-lived relief as I groan. Then, I huff, “I slept with you, too, didn’t I?”

There is a long pause. It is so long; I dare a peek through slitted fingers at him. His brow is wrinkled, his blue eyes only slightly darker than before. “No, you didn’t.”

My hands fall away from my face, only to snap back up at the sight of thethingas I loose a sharp squeak. There is another pause, and then an uncertain, although slightly amused, “Does my nakedness make you uncomfortable, my friend?”

I sigh. Just like my face, it’s hot. “Yes.”

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