The Passion of Hades - Eliza Raine Page 0,26

thank for that,' she said. I could see her eyes scanning my smoky exterior, and I deliberately dropped it from my face just long enough to let her see me. Something leapt to life in her green eyes, hints of her power shining through. My arousal throbbed again.

'You're welcome,' I said, the words gruffer than I'd intended them.

'I, erm,' she started, then bit her bottom lip. I almost groaned aloud as my attention was drawn to her mouth. 'I was talking to Hecate earlier and she said I should ask you about something.'

'OK.'

'It's sort of private.'

'Oh. Right.' I threw up the smoke bubble, and she looked around herself frowning.

'Won't this look really suspicious?' she asked me.

'No. To everyone else it looks like you're talking to an over-enthusiastic griffon.' A smile crossed her face.

'Let me see you?' I dropped the smoke that hid me from the world and saw her chest swell as she took a breath. 'How come you wear clothes from the mortal world instead of a toga?' she asked me.

'It pisses Zeus off,' I shrugged. 'Plus I look good in it.' I gave her my most wicked smile and she rolled her eyes at me.

'You think so, huh?'

'You'd prefer this?' I asked, and made my shirt vanish. Color leapt to her cheeks as her eyes widened. And I knew I wasn't imagining the lust I could see in them.

'Put your shirt back on!' she squeaked. My cock was throbbing painfully now, and I let my own desire show on my face as my shirt reformed around my chest.

'You said no magic sex!' she chided, and I bowed my head.

'So I did. I apologize profusely.'

'Liar.'

'What did you want to talk to me about?'

Her face changed, a seriousness settling over her beautiful features.

'Hecate said something about gods not being able to have more than one realm, and I should ask you about it because you can explain it better.'

'Hecate shouldn't be telling you anything about Olympus, because you're not staying here,' I snapped, the subject of her question causing the reality of the situation to slam back into me like a hammer.

Hurt flickered across her face, but she folded her arms and lifted her perfect chin.

'In that case, there's no harm in telling me,' she retorted.

The desire to talk to her like I used to, to have someone to share my problems with, made me want to tell her every secret I had, but I couldn't act on it. What good would it do? 'Tell me,' she demanded, and as I looked into her resolute face, my resolve crumpled a second time.

'Fine. Zeus is punishing me because I created a thirteenth realm and filled it with new life. I was able to keep it hidden from the other gods for a while, but eventually they found out. Zeus destroyed every living thing in it when he found it.' I was aware that my voice had gone hard with fury as I ground out the last sentence. Horror filled her eyes.

'Why?'

'As a punishment to me. But he fucked up. I was able to hide one of the creatures I had made. A sea creature who was turning out to be incredibly powerful. And once a realm has been created, it can not be destroyed, so I gave it to Oceanus before Zeus could work out what to do with it. Oceanus is one of the few beings he can't argue with.' I remembered the fury on my brother’s face as he had agreed to the suggestion. He'd had no choice. And for a short time, I thought I'd won.

Until I'd seen her, standing in my throne room. 'Zeus announced the Hades Trials the next day, knowing how little I wanted to be married. His final act of revenge for my insolence was to find you and bring you back, knowing I'd either have to lose you again, or watch you die as a human.'

'What a complete fucking asshole,' she breathed, still wide-eyed.

'Yeah. Lord Asshole.'

'What happened to the sea creature you saved?'

'She's living under Oceanus's protection. It will be announced to the rest of Olympus that there is a new realm after these Trials are over. I think Zeus is still trying to find a way to stop it, but short of declaring war on Oceanus, I don't see how he can.'

Persephone stared up at me, her face intense and thoughtful.

'Why did you do it? Why risk his wrath like that?'

I pushed my hand through my hair, debating. Should I tell her