“I worry his attention will turn to Persephone,” Hades said.
Hecate’s eyes glimmered like coals.
“If it does, she will be able to defend herself.”
Hades looked at the goddess questioningly. “How?”
“She did not tell you? The night you had—err…” She paused, and Hades glared. He knew what she was going to say. The night after they’d had sex. “The day after The Olympian Gala, she sensed life for the first time. She could feel her magic.”
Hades let Hecate’s words sink in. Persephone sensed her magic. He knew it was possible that her powers would begin to awaken, but he had not expected it to happen so fast. It meant that Persephone had accepted his worship, that she had felt powerful and worthy while they had made love.
It meant that she trusted him.
The realization made his chest swell, and it made Demeter’s words feel even more threatening, but when Hades expressed this to Hecate, the goddess just smiled.
“Have hope in your goddess, Hades. Has she not already chosen you?”
***
Hades did not stay long with Hecate. He was eager to see Persephone. It sounded strange, but he was curious to observe a change within her. Would her ability to sense life alter the way she thought of herself and her Divine blood? He thought of when he had met her. It was like she resented who she was, as if she felt like less of a goddess because she could not call upon her power. Power that had not arisen because she had been hidden away her whole life.
Hades clenched his fists at the thought. Demeter had let her believe she was powerless, she had watched as Persephone spiraled, putting distance between herself and her Divinity until she no longer saw herself as one.
And yet she was the most god-like of any of them.
The first thing he noticed when he manifested in the Queen’s Suite—the suite that would one day belong to her—was her scent. She smelled of sweet vanilla and earthy lavender. Their eyes met in the mirror, and just as she started to turn toward him, he stopped her.
“Don’t move. Let me look at you.”
She froze.
It was an exercise in control, because all Hades wanted to do was be near her, and yet he maintained his distance and walked a slow circle around her, savoring every detail. She was dressed in gold, the color of power. The fabric was like water pooling on her skin and touched her in all the places Hades wished his hands could be, and beneath that thin fabric, he noted how her nipples hardened into tight peaks. As he came up behind her, he wrapped a hand around her waist and pulled her against him, meeting her gaze in the mirror.
“Drop your glamour.”
Her eyes widened slightly. “Why?”
“Because I wish to see you,” he said. He felt her seize beneath him. It was like the night after La Rose when she held those sheets to her chest, a shield she used to protect herself from his gaze. He reached out with his own magic, caressing hers, and he felt her open to him. He turned his mouth to her ear, still maintaining eye contact. “Let me see you.”
She closed her eyes as she let go, and Hades watched as she transformed. She was everything. She was everything in any form, but there was something about watching her embrace her Divinity that was inspiring. It was beautiful. Right now, it felt intimate.
“Open your eyes,” he whispered, and as she did, she didn’t look at Hades but at herself. She was enchanting, and everything about her had intensified. Her skin glowed, her eyes were luminous, her horns spiraled gracefully, but perhaps she appeared like a flame because she stood before his darkness.
“Darling, you are a goddess.”
He pressed his lips to her shoulder, and he felt her hand hook around his neck. She turned into his kiss, and their lips crashed together, hungry and hot. His pulse skyrocketed, and heat flooded the bottom of his stomach, filling his cock until it was hard. He made a carnal sound that came from the back of his throat, and Persephone turned in his arms. Hades pulled away, cupping her face.
“I have missed you,” he said.
She smiled sheepishly and admitted, “I missed you, too.”
His lips caressed hers, but Persephone was eager. She pushed up onto her toes, and their lips collided. He liked her hunger and her boldness, her hands smoothing over his chest, down his stomach, seeking his cock,