Page 105 of The Queen & the King

Hades roars in triumphant release, and our powers explode from us, finally joined once again. Shadows and flowers fill the space and litter the floor of the throne room.

I pant, pressing my forehead to his, still slowly rocking my hips, taking and giving every last ounce of pleasure I can.

“I love you,” Hades pants, closing his eyes.

“I love you so much,” I reply, tilting my head to press my lips to his. “Fuck, I missed you.”

“I ached for you. Every single second,” Hades whispers against my lips, cradling me close against his chest.

I pull back, looking into his eyes. “We will never be apart again. Ever.”

“Never,” Hades agrees, running his fingers through my hair. “Fate has to finally let us be. It owes us.”

I exhale and smile at him, sending up a small prayer.

Fate, you put us together. Let us be.

Sixty-One

Hades

IWANT TO BELIEVE THAT FATE WILL LEAVE US BE,that we have bled enough, have given enough to have earned some peace. Careful to only draw on my power, I wrap the shadows around us and deposit us in our bed.

Our bed.

She smothers me in kisses, pressing her lips to every inch of my face. My cheeks hurt from smiling, from the love she has for me, the love I have for her, and for the love we share.

I pause for a moment, the emotions of the battle hitting me as the adrenaline finally dissipates. Rage, sorrow, pain, and regret slam into me all at once.

“My spring?” I whisper, stroking her hair back.

“Hm?” she asks, biting my jaw affectionately.

“It’s all right to miss what she could have been.”

She tenses against me, her eyes flickering with vulnerability. I know I am the only one she shows this side of herself.

“As we fought… I found myself wishing he was different, too,” I admit. That was the thing. No matter how cruel or evil my father is, there will always be a part of me that wishes he wasdifferent. That small boy wishing for his father to love him would always wonder if I were different, would he have been too?

She nods and cuddles closer. “She apologized at the end. But I know she wouldn’t have done anything differently when she was alive.”

I stroke her hair as I listen, her breath gently brushing my chest as she speaks.

“Before Kronos took me, there was a moment that I thought she was reflecting.” She draws on my chest with her fingers. “Yet, when I said I had my memory back, she admitted she would continue to have it erased over and over. Only after being killed did she finally see the error in her ways, and even then, I am not sure she regretted her actions.”

A tear hits my chest, shed for the mother she despised and for the mother she should have had.

“I saw something when we were fighting.” I keep stroking her hair. “This boy was soaring above us with white and black wings. He looked down at me with your eyes. Then I blinked, and he was gone.”

She looks up at me, her brow furrowed.

“We haven’t talked about it… about kids,” I add, scanning her face, trying to read her. “About the future.” She watches me, and my heart races. “What future do you dream of, my spring?”

She puts her chin on my chest, gazing at me. “An eternity of you.”

My lips twitch. Fuck, I love her. “That I can certainly arrange.”

“You?”

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