I pressed the length of my body against him, every nerve ending lighting up as I felt the hardness of his warrior’s form, of the straining steel of him. Icy heat burned everywhere he touched.
He shuddered, his control snapping as he pulled back to look at me. His pupils had widened, darkening until they almost swallowed the blue.
Hades
Seraphia’s scent wrapped around me, the smell of her magic and desire twined into one. It fogged my mind and drove me mad.
She was all I could see. All I could feel.
All I wanted.
She was light, and for the first time ever, it didn’t hurt.
Her eyes sparkled with the mysteries of the universe, of her soul. She was so beautiful, with her long dark hair and seductive smile. Just looking at her hurt, the way that poets described looking at the sun. I’d never seen it myself, but gazing upon her made me feel like I had.
“Hades.” She tilted her head up for a kiss.
My resistance shattered.
I cupped her face and crushed my lips to hers, reveling in the softness of her. The sweetness. She moaned and parted her lips.
I pressed my advantage, slipping my tongue between her lips and letting instinct drive me. For something I’d never really done before, it all felt so easy. Our first kiss had been one of desperation and fear and anger.
This was one of desire, and it burned bright enough to immolate.
She arched against me, trying to get closer, and I devoured her lips, wanting to learn every inch of her. To learn what she liked. What made her moan.
She wrapped her arms around my neck, kissing me deeper.
I needed her closer.
I didn't know why she was doing this—she couldn’t possibly want me—but I didn’t care. Something had unlocked inside me, and I wanted her with a ferocious desire that threatened to consume me.
I pulled back, wanting to get ahold of myself. Her lips were full and pink, her eyes an endless mystery as she looked up at me. She could steal my soul with kisses like these.
And yet, I couldn’t stop.
Heart thundering, I gripped her waist and picked her up, setting her down on the wide stone windowsill. The castle walls were three feet thick, so it provided a large platform. It was high enough that she was nearly eye level, and the sea breeze rustled her hair around her face. Her scent wrapped around me, making my head spin.
“Hades.” Her hands trembled as she clutched at the base of my shirt and pulled me toward her, parting her legs. “Kiss me again.”
Desire broke, a tidal wave that swept aside all rational thought. I’d never wanted before her, and now it was like the thousands of years had caught up with me.
She had arrived, and everything had changed.
She is your weakness. She will be the end of you.
The darkness had warned me, and I believed it.
But right now, all the armies in the world couldn’t stop me from stepping between her thighs. She was a siren, and my men had not bound me to the mast.
I gripped her hips so that she didn't fall backward. The windowsill was wide, but it was still a long drop to the sea. She wrapped her legs around me, pulling me close to the warm heat, the perfect cradle of her thighs.
I groaned. “Fates, I knew you’d be soft.”
She moved against me, so perfect and warm. So full of light and life.
It should hurt, the way my wings hurt. It should tear me apart inside as it competed with the darkness.
Yet it didn't.
As long as she touched me like this, kissed me like this, my soul felt calm.
I buried my head in her neck and drew deeply of her scent, letting it fill my lungs and my mind.
She was dangerous. But I didn’t care.
“Take this off.” She fumbled with my shirt, trying to pull it up over my head. Raging desire and fear warred within me.
Dare I show her?
Or would the evidence of my monstrousness frighten her away?
“Hades.” Her voice shook. Her beautiful eyes were bright with need, her cheeks flushed, and her lips were parted. “Take it off.”
I ran my fingertips along the wide neckline of her knitted dress. “You first.”
She shook her head. “No.”
Desperate to be close to her, to feel whatever I could, I tore the shirt over my head, dropping it to the floor. The cool sea breeze swept over my skin, followed by the burn of her