Page 47 of The Queen & the King

I force my legs forward, sprinting to the nondescript door and opening it slowly. Suddenly, the door is yanked open, and my heart leaps.

Fuck… She’s caught me.

Margaritte grabs me, her eyes wide with panic as she pulls me inside and into the back stairwell.

“You’re cutting it very fine, Lady Persephone,” she whispers urgently. She pulls the cloak off me and produces one of the dreaded white cotton nightdresses seemingly out of thin air.

“I’m sorry. I was?—”

Margaritte looks at me, something I can’t quite identify in her eyes. “I know.” She pauses for a moment, assisting me in changing. I feel like she is trying to tell me something with her eyes, but I can’t read the message. She sighs heavily, continuing to pull the nightdress over my head. The cotton scratches me in ways I’ve never noticed, feeling so wrong against my skin.

Margaritte offers me a wipe to remove the makeup, and as I’m cleansing my face, she’s hurrying me up the stairs. The sounds within the house have quieted, but people are still running around, probably dealing with the chaos.

Margaritte pokes her head out the door, checking that the coast is clear before nodding at me and gently pushing me out the door. I run to my bedroom, trying to keep my footsteps as quiet as possible. My heart stops when I hear my mother’s quick steps ascending the stairs, no doubt to check on me. I run faster and manage to just sneak into my room. As I quietly close the door, I see her shadow on the wall at the bend of the staircase.

I step back into the room, my heart racing from the adrenaline. I glance at the mirror and swear silently under my breath. The lipstick may be gone, but my lips are swollen from Hades’ kisses. My skin seems to have a soft glow, which I can only assume is thanks to the earth-shattering orgasms, and something else looks different. Something I can’t quite put my finger on.Do I look stronger?

A knock vibrates the wood of my door. “Sweetling?” My mother’s voice sounds a little panicked, and she knocks again.

“Come in, Mother,” I call, noticing it’s more difficult to force my voice into the placid tones she trained into me.

My mother opens the door and rushes over to me, cupping my cheeks. “Are you all right?”

I nod, but now that she’s this close, I can see that while I might be all right, better than ever, actually. She is not. Her skin is pale and sheened with sweat, making it look like aged porcelain, but that’s not what keeps drawing my eyes. She looks like a china doll that has been dropped. I lift my hand and slide my finger along one of the cracks, my brows drawn. “Areyouall right, Mother?”

She turns away from my touch, her eyes flashing with fury. She masks it quickly, brushing it off and looking back at me. “You must have been so scared, sweetling.”

I try to pull my expression into a look of fear, unconvinced if I’ve succeeded. My mother pulls me into a tight hug, tighter than would be comfortable, and I briefly wonder if she can scent victory on me, pride in myself.

“It’s all right, Persephone. I will always protect you.” She holds me tighter, almost hurting me. “You’re safe.”

If she senses any change in me, she doesn’t show it. I exhale when she releases me and pulls back.

“You must have been so scared. You’re a mess,” she says.

I feel something like anger churning in my gut because, truthfully, I have never felt more beautiful. But I nod, not letting anything show on my face. “I was hiding under the sheets.” The lie tastes like acid on my tongue. No longer am I content to be the helpless damsel, quivering and afraid.

My mother nods, something similar to affection in her eyes. “Why don’t you get yourself cleaned up, and I’ll have the servants prepare some food for us.”

Eating with my mother right now is just about the last thing I want to do. “Actually, Mother, I’m not feeling too well. If you don’t mind, I’m just going to retire for the evening.”

My mother nods, cupping my cheek again. “Get some rest. You need your beauty sleep. You have a date tomorrow.”

“Date?” I ask, but the way my stomach churns, I know exactly who will be joining me for dinner. I was wrong. I’d take a million meals with my mother over one with Adonis.

“Yes. With Adonis. I was going to tell you when I was so rudely interrupted.” My mother glares. “Oh, and do be careful in the living room. There is currently a god-shaped hole in the floor.”

I blink, but I know better than to question my mother about things she doesn’t want to discuss.

“Mother?” I ask, knowing that this next question is also not something she’ll want to answer but needing to ask it anyway, regardless of the punishment. “Are you sure Adonis is the right fit for me?”

My mother’s gaze snaps to mine, and I can see the instant anger there. “Of course he is.” She forces her expression to soften. “You have to trust me, sweetling. I always know what’s best for you.”

I nod, looking down at the floor. “Goodnight, Mother.”

“Goodnight, Persephone.” My mother spins on her heel and leaves my room.

The click of the door closing is all the permission I need to collapse on the bed. I bury my face in the pillow, and it all hits me at once. The memories of the night seem to wrap around my bones, sinking into them, and I bask in the feeling. Not only did I use my powers for more than gardening tonight, I used them tosavesomeone, to savemysomeone. My powers ebb and flow within me, stretching after being used for what feels like their true purpose. They have been muted and underused for too long, and I already know they will no longer be satisfied to simply push flowers two inches back or forth. I shift slightly and moan at the ache between my thighs, distracting me from any thoughts other than Hades. The ache that he caused, the ache that already makes me cravemore.Exhaustion wraps around me like the coziest of blankets, and I allow myself to succumb to it, falling back into my dreams of Hades.

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