A Touch of Ruin (Hades & Persephone #2) - Scarlett St. Clair Page 0,82
had never experienced fear standing opposite him, even after she had published her story on Apollo, but right now, it settled heavy and cold in her stomach.
Is this what it was like to come before Hades, King of the Underworld—judge and
punisher?
“Fucking Furies,” Apollo said as he got to his feet, brushing himself off. Persephone glanced at the god, who now spotted Hades. “You know you could upgrade to something a little
more modern to enforce natural order, Hades. I’d rather be carried off by a well-muscled man than a trio of albino goddesses and a serpent.”
“I thought we had a deal, Apollo,” Hades gritted out.
Persephone marveled at how her lover could appear so calm, and yet infuse his voice with a quiet fury. She felt it in the air, and it settled on her skin, drawing goosebumps to the surface.
“You mean the deal where I stay away from your goddess in exchange for a favor?”
Hades said nothing. Apollo knew the deal.
“I’d have been more than obliging, except your little lover showed up at Erotas demanding my help. While I was in the middle of a bath, I should add.”
“No, you shouldn’t,” Persephone hissed.
“She can be very persuasive when she’s angry,” he continued, ignoring her. “The magic helped.”
Apollo didn’t even need to say the last part, Hades knew what it meant when she got angry—loss of control.
“You never said she was a goddess. No wonder you snatched her up quickly.”
Why does everyone say that, she wondered?
“I could hardly deny her request when she had razor-sharp thorns pointed at my nether-regions.”
Persephone wanted to vomit, but she glanced at Hades and noted that despite the anger clouding his face, he seemed a little proud.
“So, we struck a deal. A bargain, as you like to call it.”
Hades eyes darkened.
“She asked me to heal her little friend, and in exchange, she provides me with...companionship.”
“Don’t make it sound gross, Apollo.”
“Gross?”
“Everything that comes out of your mouth sounds like a sexual innuendo.”
“Does not!”
“Does too.”
“Enough!” Hades voice cracked like a whip, and when Persephone looked at him, she saw fire in his eyes. Though he addressed Apollo, his gaze didn’t leave her, and she felt it tear
away all her layers, exposing the raw and real fear she felt beneath. “If you are no longer
in need of my goddess, I would like a word with her. Alone.”
“She’s all yours,” Apollo said, who had the good sense to evaporate and say nothing else.
Persephone stood still, staring at Hades. The silence on the floor of Nevernight was tangible. It set heavy on her shoulders and pressed against her ears, and when his voice erupted, burning away the quiet, it promised pain—she could already feel her heart
breaking.
“What have you done?”
“I saved Lexa.”
“Is that what you think?” He seethed. She could see tendrils of his glamour coming off him like smoke. She’d never seen him lose control of his magic.
“She was going to die—”
“She was choosing to die!” Hades snarled, he advanced upon her. His glamour fell away, and he stood before her, stripped of his mortal form. He seemed to fill the room, an inferno,
spreading his heat, his anger billowing, eyes inflamed. “And instead of honoring her wish,
you intervened. All because you are afraid of pain.”
“I am afraid of pain,” she snapped. “Will you mock me for that as you mock all mortals?”
“There is no comparison. At least mortals are brave enough to face it.”
She flinched, and her anger ignited, a searing pain erupted from all over as thorns sprouted from her skin.
“Persephone.”
He reached for her, but she stepped away, the movement was painful, and she inhaled between her teeth.
“If you cared, you would have been there!”
“I was there!”
“You never once came with me to the hospital when I had to watch my best friend lie unresponsive. You never once stood by me while I held her hand. You could have told me when Thanatos would start showing up. You could have let me know she was...choosing to die. But you didn’t. You hide all of that, like it was some fucking secret. You weren’t there.”
For the first time since she was dumped in front of him by the Furies, he looked shocked and sounded a little lost when he said, “I didn’t know you wanted me there.”
“Why wouldn’t I?” she asked, and there was a twist in her voice, a note of her sadness she couldn’t hide.
“I’m not the most welcomed sight at a hospital, Persephone.”
“That’s your excuse?”
“And what’s yours?” he asked. “You never told me—”