Hecate’s shoulder, and they strode off down the hall. Likely to get into some kind of trouble, if she knew Hecate at all. The moon goddess would teach their child to be a wild creature who would have the entire Underworld beneath her thumb.
Persephone wouldn’t put it past Melinoë to even have the Titans on her side.
Once their daughter was appropriately handled, however, she could focus on her husband. Persephone sank into his arms, kissing his face a hundred times over. “I thought it would get easier every time, but it doesn’t. It gets harder every moment I have to be away from you.”
He accepted her kisses with a bright laugh, but leaned away before she could escalate even farther. “Persephone! My love, stop. Stop. I have a surprise for you!”
As much as she wanted to devour him, a surprise sounded lovely. Leaning back, she took a deep breath and nodded. “Fine, then. If we must. I hope it’s an agreeable surprise, otherwise, I might have to go back to my mother.”
“We couldn’t have that, now could we?” He wiggled his brows and gestured for her to leave the office. “It’s in the throne room.”
“The throne room?” she parroted. Whatever could he have for her in the throne room?
Persephone trailed after him as he strode through the halls. Hades whistled as they walked, his hands tucked behind the small of his back and a jaunt in his step. Considering she’d returned, perhaps he felt happier than usual. But Persephone thought it was more likely that he was deriving a great amount of pleasure in this surprise.
Once they reached the dark throne room, he allowed her to go into it first. Persephone cast her gaze around the room, looking for something different from the many times she’d judged people here. She remembered sitting on the throne while Heracles begged for her help. She remembered staring at mortal men who wanted something from her and knowing she had the power to not give it.
All seemed the same. But she was more happy in this moment than she had been in many years.
“All right,” she said, pivoting to look at him once more. “What is this surprise then?”
He held out his arm for her to take. “Come with me, wife. Let’s sit upon the thrones so I might tell you.”
Again, what a strange request for her husband, who had never been interested in spending much time here. He had too many things to do, and he wasn’t the type to enjoy sitting on a throne more than he enjoyed doing things around his kingdom.
Still, she let him guide her all the way to her thorny seat and settle her onto the black cushion.
He knelt in front of her, on his knees before his wife. He stared up at her, her hands held in his. His eyes filled with some unnamed emotion that she couldn’t even guess at.
“Hades, you’re frightening me.” She squeezed his fingers tightly. “You said there was a surprise, but why are we in here?”
“I don’t want to frighten you. I just want you to know how deeply my love runs for you. How much I appreciate you being here, in this kingdom, supporting me and our child. You have given me a life I never thought possible, Persephone. And I wake every morning thanking whatever god sent you to me. You are a gift, but more than that, you are what brings light to my soul.”
Tears gathered in her eyes. “The honor is mine. You have given me a home and let me be who I wanted to be.”
He lifted her hands and pressed his lips to her fingers. “I spent many hours while you were gone trying to think of the one gift that would show you the intensity of my love, but then I realized it couldn’t just be a gift from me. It had to be from the entire Underworld whom you have charmed with your kindness and heart.”
He leaned around the throne and revealed a delicate circlet made of obsidian stone with chips of red rubies. The rock had been impossibly carved into graceful twists and arcs that would twine around her forehead and hide in the long curls of her hair. He lifted the circlet up and placed it upon her head.
“I asked you to marry me once,” he murmured, staring into her eyes. “But I never asked you to be a queen. I never asked if you wanted any of this, but you accepted