Captured (Shadow Guild Hades & Persephone #3) - Linsey Hall Page 0,60

at my feet, the battle was still raging for me.

He gasped, his chest rising, and grateful tears spilled from my eyes. He wasn’t one hundred percent better, but we’d all be screwed if I didn’t close the pit before Chronos escaped.

I crawled to the opening and buried my hands in the ground, feeding life back into the earth. With a rumbling sound, the pit began to close. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hades sit up. His wings were still beaten to hell, but they’d disappeared into his back.

I forced my worried gaze away from him and back to the pit, closing the earth and trapping Chronos back in Tartarus where he belonged.

Finally, it was done.

I staggered to my feet, exhausted and elated.

Hades rose, far more gracefully than I, and swept me into his arms. His warmth and scent surrounded me, and I buried my face against him, clutching him for dear life. “Thank fates you are okay.”

“Only because you pulled me out.”

I leaned back and looked up at him, so grateful to see him alive and whole. Somehow, he looked lighter. Younger, almost. As if he weren’t being torn apart on the inside by the battle between the light and the dark.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Poseidon and Zeus disappear. The sound of my friends celebrating drifted into the destroyed temple, but my attention was riveted by Hades.

We’d done it.

We’d defeated Chronos.

And Hades was still alive. Still here with me.

“You saved me,” he said. “Not just my body, but my soul. You soothe the darkness within me, making it possible to live with the light. Because of you, there isn’t just darkness and light. There is balance. You are the other half of me.”

Tears burned my eyes, and I tried to blink them away.

“I love you, Seraphia. More than all the power and everything in the world. I love you.”

Joy filled me, warming me from the inside. He’d gone to Tartarus in my place. He’d given up the crown. And now he said he loved me.

I threw my arms around his neck and pulled his head down, pressing a kiss to his lips.

“I love you, too,” I whispered against his beautiful mouth, unable to believe how quickly things could change.

21

Seraphia

A week later, I woke in the Underworld. Sunlight streamed through the window—not as bright as the sun on Earth, but bright enough to be a little bit cheerful.

I rolled over and found Hades still asleep next to me. Joy filled me as I snuggled against him, resting my head on his broad chest.

He murmured and pulled me close, his muscular arm wrapping around me to pull me tight against him. The covers bunched loosely around his waist, revealing the broad planes of his pectorals. The familiar black tattoos still traced his skin, but another one had joined their ranks.

A golden symbol glowed brilliantly in the middle of his chest—his symbol, the bident. It had appeared after he’d sacrificed himself in my stead, and the gold matched his wings. It was a marker of the way he’d changed.

He was still the same man he’d been—mostly. God of the Underworld and all-around scary dude. But the core of goodness that he’d possessed was closer to the surface now. He was balanced.

“I feel you staring at me,” he murmured.

I pressed a kiss to his neck. “You’re just so pretty.”

He smiled and turned to me, seeking my lips with his. I kissed him back, then scrambled away. “None of that business right now, though. It’s my first day back at work, and I’m going to be late.”

He opened his impossibly dark blue eyes and smiled at me. “Wouldn’t dream of keeping you from the library.”

Any other day, Hades could convince me to be late. But not today. It was my first day back since this misery had begun, and I owed it to Guild City to help get things back to normal. I might be a goddess now, but I was still a librarian.

“I have lunch with my friends today, but you can walk me to work.” I winked at him, then moved toward the bathroom to get ready.

“Reporting for duty.” He climbed out of bed, gloriously naked.

“You’re shameless.” I grabbed a pillow that sat on the chair near the bathroom and chucked it at him.

He grinned and caught it, and I couldn’t believe how much happier he seemed.

I got cleaned up quickly and put on a dress for the first time in ages, then joined