two ways—he might understand it as the accident it was and let it go, or he would unleash the violence that lurked beneath his skin, the cruelty that had been imbued into his blood.
After a moment, he drew Persephone close and carried her before the fire, then lowered her to her feet. She lifted her hand, fingers drifting over his lips.
“What do you want?” she asked.
“You,” he said. “Always you.”
They kissed again, and Persephone eased Hades’ jacket off. Their hands clashed as they both worked the buttons of his shirt free. Soon, he was naked, too, and together, they knelt to the floor. While on their knees before each other, Hades’ hand slipped between her thighs. He teased her opening, fingers dipping into her warm, wet flesh. Another arm wrapped around her waist, and he welded their bodies together as he moved deeper inside her, using one finger, then two. He loved the feel of her, the way her breath quickened, her cries of pleasure. It wasn’t long before he guided her to her back, spread her legs as wide as they would go, and licked her, sucked her, teased her. Her hands tangled in his hair, and she pressed into him, hips moving, and when she came, she arched her back, her hands dug into his scalp, and he drank her, tongue lashing to catch every bit of her sweetness. When he was finished, he climbed up her body and slid into her. Settled between her legs, he did not move immediately. He stared into her eyes, clear to her soul, seeing his life with her, their future, not just as king and queen, but as lovers.
He brushed her hair from her face. It stuck to the perspiration that glistened across her forehead before kissing her lips.
“You are beautiful,” he said, and came up onto his toes, going deeper.
She sighed and let out a breath.
“So are you,” she replied.
He chuckled and pulled out, the head of his cock barely inside her. “I think you are mindless with pleasure, darling.”
She drew her lips between her teeth and then answered, “Yes.” She gave a shuttering breath as he pushed into her again. “But I have always thought you were beautiful. More beautiful than any man I have ever seen.”
He continued to move and they continued this easy conversation, and Hades had the thought as he stared into her glittering eyes that there was something different about the way they came together this time, something deeper and darker and even more intimate.
“I will never forget how I felt when I first saw you,” she said.
“Tell me,” he urged.
Despite the warmth of the fire nearby and the sweat beading across their skin, she shivered.
“I felt your eyes on me, like hands touching my whole body. I had never felt so enflamed. I had never felt so afraid.”
“Why afraid?” he asked. He bent closer to her lips, and she shifted, her legs spreading further apart to accommodate his movements, which had grown in tempo.
“Because…” she started, and then paused. “Because I knew I could love you, and I wasn’t supposed to.”
Hades’ lips closed over hers, and it felt like his chest had opened up and all his thoughts and feelings were pouring into her. His paced quickened, and they were quiet after that, even their moans and sighs were quiet, until they reached their climax, coming in waves and collapsing in a heap of limbs and breaths and sweat.
Hades rolled onto his back, and Persephone pressed into him, her head on his chest.
“Your mother hates me,” Hades said. “If she knew you were here, she would punish you.”
Persephone rolled onto him and sat up, straddling his body. His eyes ignited as her wet and swollen center cupped his hardening flesh.
“Only if she finds out,” she replied.
“Will I always be your secret?” Hades asked, doing his best to make it sound as if he were teasing, but there was a true challenge to his question because her answer would tell him about how she thought of their future.
Except, she did not answer.
“I do not wish to talk about my mother,” she said, her fingers threading with this, hips rolling against his own, and Hades didn’t press. He didn’t want to lose this moment—the way she guided his hands over his head and leaned over him, the way her breasts bounced as she impaled herself on his cock, the way she rode him until she was too tired to move. He had to take over then,