The Passion of Hades - Eliza Raine Page 0,57

like any more flashing today.'

'Of course.'

We didn't speak on our walk through the seemingly endless blue-torch lit corridors, but it wasn't awkward. He gripped my fingers in his, and it felt nice. Better than nice. My body was still humming with all the power and pleasure I had experienced in the last few hours, the horror of the Empusa's lair starting to feel like a long time ago.

When we reached my rooms, Hades turned to me, and his face was steely and hard, and heat began to simmer inside me again. Strength emanated from him, and gods help me, it turned me on.

'Do not leave this room without me or Hecate,' he said.

'I know.'

'And again, I'm sorry in advance for whatever Zeus has planned for you. For what it's worth, he's not making me put you through any endurance tests, but I don't know which gods it will be.'

I felt a stab of relief that Hades wouldn't have to suffer through causing me pain or anger. Both for his sake and mine.

'I'll be fine,' I told him. 'I'll learn everything I can from Hecate about healing.' It was probably a good thing he had decided Hecate should teach me instead of him. My desire and confusion when I was around him would definitely distract me, and healing sounded like a pretty important thing to get right. 'Are these bonds always this impractical?'

'Yes,' he smiled, and kissed me, his lips like feathers and fire at the same time. 'But they say love conquers all,' he said as he broke away from me, then vanished with a flash of white light.

'Love,' I repeated quietly as I shut my bedroom door.

It hit me then. The reason he wouldn't be with me without the bond. He didn't want to 'do things by halves'. He wanted me to love him, as much as he already loved me.

Could I love him? There was no doubt at all that I wanted him, and that I cared deeply about his happiness. Was that what love was? I pictured his face as I leaned against my door. There was something so right about it. About him. And I knew there shouldn't be. He was practically the definition of wrong, he was the Lord of the Dead, a god who didn't mourn the loss of life, who shed corpses made of light as he tore humans apart, who instilled primal terror in his victims.

Yet he'd created an entire realm, and new species because of his craving for life. He'd never chosen his role, but accepted it because he had to. His realm housed outcasts without judgment, and didn't allow invasions of privacy like gods reading your mind.

I respected him, I realized. I admired him as much as I feared him.

The softness of his touch, the tenderness of his kisses, the intense emotion in his eyes, they all contrasted so bluntly with the monster he showed the world. Soft and fierce. Light and dark. Life and death. The Empusa had told me that I would not master the balance, and she was likely right. Had Hades nailed that balance, and hidden the soft side of himself away but kept it whole? Or was he just as in danger of losing his balance as I was?

'Is most of every god’s life just parties?' I asked Skop as I adjusted the corset of yet another ball-gown. This one was bright red, the top half boned and tight like a classic corset, the bottom like weighted silk. White roses curled all the way from the hem up the right-hand side of my body. It was beautiful, but it was heavy and restrictive.

'It is when they're hosting these events, yeah. I guess that's why they have them so often.' I raised my eyebrows at him.

'Have any of the other gods been forced to marry like this?'

'Not yet. Are you ready for tonight? I doubt I'll be able to help you much.'

There was a bitterness to the kobaloi's voice again, and it was clear he didn't much care for being excluded from so much of my time with Hades. The suspicious part of me couldn't help wondering if he was reporting back to Dionysus. The trusting part of me wanted to believe he just cared about me.

'As long as you're not in danger again,' I told him, securing Faesforos to my ankle. My skirt reached the floor so the dagger would be unseen there.

Skop made a humpfing noise, but didn't say any more. I looked at