“What are you going to do?” I demanded, fear chilling me to the bone.
He gripped my biceps, almost hard enough to hurt. The air sparked between us as he pulled me toward him, so close that my chest nearly brushed his. We touched only where he held my arms, but the contact with him burned through me.
My head spun.
Worse, his magic moved around me like a caress.
No.
It was impossible for his magic to feel like this.
He was the king of hell, for fates’ sake. His other signatures were terrible, horrible things. The scent of fire and the sound of crashing waves.
But this . . .
It pulled at me, a wire strung tight between us.
Connecting us.
His gaze, dark with desire, dropped to my lips. My heart raced. No, he couldn’t possibly feel desire.
He was too cold.
But he wasn’t. Not now. I swallowed hard, refusing to look away.
“What are you?” he murmured.
I didn’t even know that myself.
He said I was the goddess Persephone.
I knew I didn’t have such strong magic.
But maybe what he meant was, what are you to me?
Because there was a lot more than cold rage in his eyes. A lot more coming alive, maybe for the first time ever.
As soon as I thought it, he seemed to snap out of it. The barrier fell over his eyes, and he shoved me away from him. Still, he didn’t let go of my arms.
“I can make you go with me.” Hades’ voice was cold. Such a contrast to the burn of his eyes. “The city is rife with blacksmiths who will make you the perfect set of chains.”
“Sure it is. But that won’t do it because you’re going to need my help. My willing help.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know it’s not going to be as easy as tossing me in a volcano or something. You sought me specifically. Hunted me for years. There’s something I have that you need. We don’t know exactly what it is yet, but you’re only getting it if you agree to my terms.”
His jaw tensed, as if he hadn’t expected me to put up this much of a fight.
Don’t mess with librarians.
“You dare to bargain with the king of hell?”
“I’ll dare anything.”
“What terms?” he ground out.
“You poisoned my friend Mac with your dark magic. She got caught in the mist that filled the library when you were watching me.”
“Hunting you.”
“Oh?” I raised my brows. “You don’t like the word watching? A little too pervy for your taste?”
He looked me up and down dismissively, his gaze burning through me even as it chilled my bones with its dismissal.
“What?” I asked. “Not your type?”
“I am above that.”
“Above what, wanting someone?”
His voice grated over gravel. “I want only one thing.”
“And yet you don’t even know what it is. We need to go to some Temple of Shadows for it.”
“Oh, I know what I want.” His voice vibrated low. “Just not how to get it. That’s what you’re for.”
“And I’ll help you.” Probably not. Because whatever he wanted, it would be really freaking bad. “But first, you need to cure Mac.”
“After you help me.” His hands tightened slightly on my arms. “Because you’re lying.”
7
Hades
I stared down at Persephone, something strange ringing in my head. In my chest.
Beneath my hands, her arms were warm.
It burned.
She glared up at me, and that burned, too.
Why was she all fire when I was the king of hell?
I pulled back from her, unable to touch her any longer. Unable to bear what was awakening inside me. This heat.
“You’re a bastard, you know that?” Her eyes flashed.
“Of course I am.”
“Not an ounce of emotion in your voice. You don’t feel any, do you?”
How little she knew. I was a riot of emotion around her. Useless, weak emotion. Anger. Frustration. Confusion.
I hated how it distracted me. Distorted my thoughts.
Things had been ordered before she’d arrived. Disciplined. “Emotion is weakness, distracting us from logic and truth.”
“Other gods have emotion.”
“I am not other gods.”
“Then what are you? Why do you do this? Kidnapping me, killing my friend?”
“I serve a purpose greater than myself. Ordained by fate and the hand that guides the world.”
“Ordained by fate? You’re so full of yourself, you know that?”
“It’s all that matters.” And it was.
Born of darkness, indebted to darkness for my very life, I would serve. I would do as it commanded.
“Mac doesn’t have long. I can’t wait.”
“You’re going to have to, because I will not cure her until you’ve done what I require.”