and strength of his touch.
It felt so damned good.
Except…
Last night, we’d parted on pretty freaking terrible terms.
He had joined me in the bed a while after I’d fallen asleep. I’d woken just long enough to notice him staying on his own side, perfectly still. Sometime in the night, he must have reached out for me. Unconsciously, for sure.
Was he still asleep behind me, though? Or was he awake?
I peeked back.
As if he felt my gaze on him, his eyelashes fluttered open. Confusion flickered in the depths of his sea-blue eyes, then he sat up. His face turned impassive, and he rose from the bed. The tattoos on his bare chest drew my eye, and though I wanted to ask about them, I resisted.
“It is time to leave.” There wasn’t a flicker of emotion in his voice, but his gaze slid briefly to me and then away, as if he were unable to help himself.
I nodded and stood, turning away from him as I pulled on my clothes. Considering that I was half naked, this could have been a good opportunity to get under his skin again. But I didn’t have it in me. After his quick rejection last night, there was no way I was putting myself in that situation again, no matter how temporarily amazing it had been.
Though I didn’t hear him dress, I was suddenly alone.
Echo fluttered in front of me, and I smiled. “Where were you last night? With your new friend?” The little bat flew in a circle, and I took it to be a yes. “Well, I’m glad one of us had a good night. Come on.”
I went toward the stairs. When I reached the door, a squawking noise caught my attention. My heart leapt, and I spun around. “Beatrix?”
The black raven sat on the windowsill, feathers gleaming despite the dull light outside. She flew into the room and transformed into Beatrix, who grinned widely. “Took me ages to find you.”
I ran to her and gave her a quick hug. “Thank you for coming.”
“I have news.” Her tone sobered.
My stomach pitched. “Yes?”
She reached into the tiny pocket of her brilliant blue leggings and pulled out a little vial. “This is the potion that will break the pomegranate curse and allow you to leave. But…it must be blessed by Hades.”
“What?” My skin chilled.
“He has to agree to your freedom.”
“Shit.” I crossed my arms over my chest, my limbs suddenly tingling with anxiety.
“Exactly.” She gripped my arm. “I’m sorry. This isn’t much better than your situation before.”
I drew in an unsteady breath. “It is, though. He said he didn’t know a way to break the pomegranate potion, so before this, I had nothing. Now I’ve got something. Maybe. But how is he supposed to bless it?”
“He must hold the potion and give his consent to you leaving.”
Damn. It would be hard to trick him into doing that. I sucked in a steadying breath and nodded my head. “Okay. I can work with that. It’s better than what I had before.”
“Which was nothing.” Beatrix shrugged. “So yeah, it’s better.”
I took the vial from her and stuck it in my pocket. “I’m going to have to make him a seriously compelling deal to get him to do this for me.”
“Any ideas?”
“Besides bringing about the apocalypse? No. Because that’s top of his wish list.”
“You sure landed a weird one.”
I pursed my lips and nodded. “I wouldn’t stand a chance without you guys working to help me on the outside, so thank you.”
“Of course.” She hugged me tightly. “I’m going to go, but I also wanted to tell you that Eve is still looking for another way to get you the hell out of here. Mac and Carrow, too.”
“Thank you.” I prayed she’d be successful, because I just couldn’t imagine trying to get Hades to consent to me leaving. Not unless I’d already destroyed the earth first.
She nodded, then stepped backward, transformed into a raven, and swept out into the muted daylight.
I drew in a bracing breath and turned for the door, already debating how I was going to ask Hades. I’d need to wait for the right opportunity, that was certain. But what would it be? And was there any way to delay what I was supposed to do with him today?
I reached the main level and found Hades standing in front of the hearth, staring into the flames. An idea popped into my head. “I don’t have complete control of my magic yet. So we need to keep training