Page 78 of Queen of Darkness
Aaron’s lungs rose and fell with a slow breath. “Like with many things, I later found out she’d lied to me. It was all part of her plan. I assume that she didn’t want me connected to her. So that I didn’t know about her plans. In hindsight, it was naïve of me, but as everyone knows, I loved her.”
“Be that as it may,” Hades said, “I still require my proof. This is my offer to you. An army to help you put her on the throne if you do this.”
Aaron laughed sharply. “I’m not helping put her on the throne. She is damn well capable of doing that herself. I’m going along to undo the mistake I made in putting thelastone on the throne. Nor will I claim her, not for you. That is not your right to ask or demand.”
“What about if I ask you to?” I said, breaking in before he could go on. “Would you do it then?”
He frowned at me while Hades waited impatiently. “You would be giving yourself to me, Jo.”
I’d already done that.
“Forever,” he added.
I hadn’t done that.
“You don’t seem fazed by this,” I said, staring up into his eyes, the azure rings of his irises inviting me in with their calm, measured gaze.
“I’m not.”
“Why?” I asked, losing myself in him, forgetting about everyone else at that moment. Just then, none of them mattered, only this one, this man.
Aaron’s mouth curved upward into a faint smile. “This isn’t the path I saw us getting to it,” he admitted. “But I held hope that we might find ourselves here at some point. I would never have forced it on you, but that’s not the same as saying I did notwantit. Like I want you.”
My heart skipped a beat at his words. It wasn’t the first time Aaron said he wanted me. In fact, our entire adventure began with those words when he’d shown up at my parents’ door. He’d said the same three words then, like now.
Only this time, it wasmyreaction that was different. Back then, I’d dismissed him, told him he was crazy, and it would never happen. And now … now I wanted him back.
“Okay,” I said, throwing caution to the wind. “Do it.”
Aaron frowned at me, his body language suddenly changing dramatically. “No.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
No? Had he just said no? I shook my head, thinking my ears and brain must be playing tricks on me. After all the kind things he said to me, all the words about wanting me, about wanting to claim me. Had they just been lies? What purpose had they served him?
“Iknewit!” Hades hissed, and heat blossomed from him. “Traitor.”
Aaron lifted an arm to Hades, still staring at me. “I am not a traitor.”
“You said no. You can’t do it, can you?” Hades growled. “Because you are bound toher.”
“Iwon’tdo it because you’ve got us crammed together in a cell like dogs,” Aaron shot back. “You will free us and give us a room so that we may be together. I will not share this moment with anyone else but Joanna.”
Oh. That was not what I’d been expecting, but it suddenly made sense. From the way Aaron talked about it, claiming was an intimacy on the level of sex. Of course, he would want privacy.
“So, you still want to—to claim me?” I asked, stammering ever so slightly over the word, still getting used to the terminology.
“With all my heart and body,” he said. “But not in front of these idiots or Hades.”
“Hey!” Dave barked. “I resemble that remark.”
The entire team chuckled at the comment, though none of them objected.
“Consider thisyourgood faith gesture,” Aaron said to Hades.
“I do believe giving you a demonarmyis a pretty good faith gesture,” the god said.
“This is a gesture to indicate you will follow through withthatgesture,” I said.
