legs. She felt very much like a flower unfurling its petals. Her features relaxed, tension drained from her shoulders, and all she could see was Hades. His eyes darkened with desire. His brow wrinkled in concentration.
Everyone else at the table melted away. All she could focus on was the heat between her legs, the slick softness she’d never felt before. And the slight movement of his fingers as he shifted them higher up her leg, further and further until he was almost at the apex of her thighs. Almost to that part of her that burned for him.
What would he do when he reached that warm, wet place, she wondered? A vague part of her mind remembered they were still seated with subjects at a table who were likely watching them. People who she should make a better impression on.
That dark part of her soul screamed for more. Touch me, it begged. And let her watch.
Though Kore feared that side of herself, she could no more stop this from happening than prevent the sun from rising in the sky. She wanted him to touch her. She wanted to feel his touch.
One more shift and he would touch her. Graze her with those strong, lean fingers and then—
“My king!”
The shout startled them both. Hades wrenched his hand away from her and Kore flinched back so hard she knocked her knee on the table. When she looked at the other gods and goddesses, however, none of them appeared to have noticed what had happened. None, that was, other than Minthe and her friend who were glaring daggers.
Good. Let them hate her. They’d already decided who she was long before they met.
A servant had darted through the doors, breathing hard with his brown hair tangled like a nest atop his head. “A man has entered one of the gates!”
Hades sat up straighter, though his hands were still held clenched in his lap. “What man?”
The servant gulped and replied, “He called himself Heracles, my lord.”
Where had she heard that name before? It was so familiar, and yet she couldn’t quite grasp why.
Kore looked at Hades as he stood, then held out his hand for her to take. She didn’t hesitate to slip her fingers into his. “We’re leaving already? The dinner hasn’t even begun yet.”
“I know.” He smiled down into her eyes, and she knew that she was the only woman in the room to him. “Come my queen, we have work to do.”
Chapter 27
Kore replayed his words in her head as they strode down the halls together. “Come, my queen, we have work to do.”
How long had she been waiting for those exact words? She really was a queen here, not a pawn he had brought for entertainment. Not like the nymphs had said. And if he were bringing her to meet a hero who had journeyed to the Underworld for a favor, then surely he trusted her.
Or believed in her.
Maybe it was because he thought she could learn something, but either way, he was giving her access not just to his life. He was giving her access to the very throne he sat upon.
Hades reached for her hand and squeezed it in his own. “Are you ready?”
Inhaling a deep, steadying breath, she nodded. “Yes, I am ready.” Then Kore paused and added, “For what?”
He chuckled, the deep sound vibrating through the pavilion they strode through. On the other end was a large building where black smoke seemed to swirl. If she looked at it from the right angle, it hid where they had come from completely. Almost as though the black pillared building hovered in midair.
So that’s how they obscured the entire castle from mortal eyes. No one would ever think to circle this ominous place where they waited to meet the King. They would simply walk through the doors and assume the gods lived elsewhere.
Everywhere she looked was proof of how devious and clever Hades really was. Though it should have made her perhaps a little suspicious, Kore was instead very proud of what her husband had accomplished.
Proof, yet again, that she’d made the right choice.
Hades brought her to the back of the temple and held the door open for her. “Heroes frequently find themselves here to make a plea for the gods of the Underworld to help them. But this hero, he’s far more important than the rest.”
She’d never heard a god say that about a mortal before. Frowning, she stepped through the doors into the darkness beyond. “Why is