Page 53 of The Queen & the King

“Y-you do?” I whisper.

Hades nods and smiles. “So much.” He laughs softly. “Everything is so fucked.”

I sigh, pulling away. “I know.”

Hades gently tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “It seems being fated also means to be doomed.”

“Having the mother I do makes me doomed,” I reply, my lips twitching.

“Then having the father I do makes us twice doomed.”

I would rather be with you and doomed than blessed with anyone else, Hades.

Thirty-Three

Hades

TOGETHER, WE SIT DOWN AGAINST THE TREE TRUNK, SHOULDER TO SHOULDER.Cerberus puts a head into each of our laps, his third head resting on Persephone’s legs. I think he is hoping to keep her here. There’s comfort in the familiarity of us together, with Cerberus between us.

“I have a date with Adonis tomorrow.”

Any comfort I was experiencing vanishes in an instant. “Men who’ve never struggled for anything are dangerous,” I warn. “They believe they are entitled to things they are not.”

She rolls her eyes in exasperation. “Oh, he thinks he’s entitled to things all right.”

Darkness swirls up my neck, and the sun darkens even inside the dream. Control. I need to regain control of this, or I’ll shatter the dream.Persephone places her hand on my thigh, attempting to reassure me, but it does nothing to temper my rage.

“If something happens,” I hiss, my voice barely audible, even to my ears. “You call for me. I will hear you.”

She nods, her hand still resting on my thigh. “I want to touch you and kiss you.”

Fuck. Persephone knows how to soothe me so easily, distracting me from the way I need to destroy.

“You will.”

She moves her hand to cup my cheek, stroking her thumb under one of my eyes. My eyes flutter closed, so comforted. The darkness slides off me in a wave and soaks into the ground.

“How do you do that?”

Persephone brushes Cerberus off us and shifts to straddle my lap. “Do what?”

“Make the shadows run away.”

She leans closer, hovering her lips over mine. Persephone doesn’t answer, and I doubt she knows how she has that power over me.

“I love you, my spring,” I whisper, brushing our lips against each other.

Persephone pulls back slightly, a pout flirting with her beautiful lips. “So you’re allowed to say it, but I’m not allowed to say it back?”

She doesn’t know everything yet, and it’s unfair of me to want those words from her when she’s only a shadow of herself.

“Kiss me,” I order instead of answering.

She crosses her arms, full -on pouting now. “No.”

I kiss her hard, biting her pouting lip. “I love when you pout.”

She’s such a fucking brat. Even now.

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