“Maybe I would.” Oddly enough, I meant it. The thought of his terrible loneliness, unbroken but for bouts of torture in Tartarus, was too much to bear. Maybe I wasn’t thinking straight, but I meant it.
Lucifer nodded. “As I thought.”
“What, that I’m an idiot?”
He chuckled. “Maybe you are, but not about this. He began fracturing as soon as he met you. But when you protected him, when you took the curse for your own…I think that sealed the deal for him.”
“What deal?”
“The you deal. All his motivations have changed. All his goals. Now he’s obsessed more with saving you than he is with the crown.”
“How do you know this?”
“Please, I’ve been with him for centuries. It’s child’s play to determine this.”
I drew in an unsteady breath. “Surely there’s another way to save me.”
“That, I do not know. Hades has always been a clever bastard about these things. If he thinks it’s the way, then it probably is.”
“It’s not. There will be another way to defeat Chronos and break the curse on me.” I had to find Hades. “Where is he?”
“His chambers, I believe.”
I nodded. “All right. Thanks, Lucifer. And put some ice on that eye.”
He touched his eye, looking almost surprised. “Right. This.”
I no longer cared enough to stay and ask. I wanted to see Hades. I left Lucifer standing in the middle of the entryway and hurried toward Hades’ chambers. I didn’t know what I was going to say when I got there. I’d already tried everything I could think of to convince him to turn to the light. I just wanted to see him.
When I reached his quarters, I found him standing at the window. His broad shoulders blocked out most of the dim light. With his head bowed, he looked like a powerful king contemplating the fate of his nation.
Perhaps he was.
Drawing a deep breath, I shut the door behind me. It was the first time we’d been truly alone in ages, and awareness heightened my senses.
He turned, his eyebrows lifting in surprise. “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to see you.” I walked toward him, stopping only a few feet in front of him, so close that his firelight scent surrounded me, making my head go slightly fuzzy.
His gaze traced my face, as if he were trying to figure out why I was really here. “The Astra Planeta will see us at midnight.”
“That’s hours away.”
“They need the full dark to read the stars.”
“Of course.” It made sense, but I couldn’t focus on logical matters when we were standing so close. I steeled myself to say what I’d come here to say. “When we find the crown, you can’t take it. Promise me, Hades.”
His eyes flashed. “I must, Seraphia. You took my Tartarus curse. If I do not, you will be doomed to an eternity in the worst kind of hell, and I won’t have the power to save you.”
“Isn’t it a little convenient that it aligns with your original desire for power?”
“Only because it is meant to be. Don’t you see? It’s the only way to save you.”
I knew his goals were bad, but I could feel the intensity of his desire to save me. It licked at my skin like flame.
“I still see doubt in you.” And I did. It flashed in his dark eyes, worry and fear. His chest heaved as he stared down at me, and I felt like I could drown in his intensity.
“Of course I doubt.” Frustration seethed through him. “Now that your life is at risk, I doubt every move I make. It must be correct.”
“Why do you care so much?” I whispered, ensnared by the emotion rolling off him. I could feel it, vibrating through me. His intensity was intoxicating.
“I can’t lose you, Seraphia.” He stepped closer, reaching out to me. Right before his hand gripped my arm, he made a fist and pulled it back, as if touching me would be too much. “You’ve captured me, body and soul. You are the warmth in the freezing wasteland of my life. Until you came, there was nothing. I was hollow. Empty.”
I drew in an unsteady breath. There was something intoxicating about Hades. He was no longer the cold, hard god that I’d first met. “You do seem different,” I admitted.
“Everything is different. I finally have a purpose I believe in.”
“Me?”
“Yes. Protecting you.” He pulled me closer, until my body was nearly pressed to his. The inch of space between was alive with electric sparks. I felt the connection with him like a rope binding us together.
I wanted him as badly as he wanted me. Somehow, he’d become part of me.
He gazed at me, his brow creased. The fullness of his lips beckoned, and my gaze dropped to them.
Desire surged through me, memories of his touch lighting me up inside.
Unable to help myself, I leaned upon my toes, pressing my lips to his.
He groaned low in his throat, wrapping his arms around me as he crushed me to his chest. Heat flooded me as his lips moved on mine, claiming my mouth in an all-encompassing kiss.
I threaded my hands through his hair and let the pleasure wash over me. He kissed me like it might be the last time. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I kissed him back. I could do this for hours. For days.
“You taste so good,” he murmured. Dragging his lips down my neck, he traced a silken path to my shoulder and bit down. “I want to devour you.”
I tilted my head, giving him better access. Though I knew that he’d never been with anybody but me, he didn’t seem hesitant or unsure as he ran his hands from my waist to my hips, pulling me to him. There was a restrained violence to him, a desperation that vibrated from him to me.
I loved it.
I pressed closer to him, the hardness of his desire touching my belly. His low groan vibrated through me.
I want him.
His strength. His heat. His love.
I couldn’t have the latter, but I could have the first two. And right now, when I wanted to forget every difficult thing ahead of us, it was the perfect thing.
In a rough voice, he murmured, “I’ve never wanted anything as much as I want you.”
A shiver raced down my spine.
“Then have me.” I pulled back slightly and fumbled with the clasps of his cloak. The fastening resisted my attempts. Reaching up, he removed it in seconds, and the heavy fabric slithered to the floor.
His gaze met mine, the heat so intense it burned. “Do you mean it?”
I nodded frantically. “I do.”
A low noise sounded in his throat, and his eyes flashed with dark desire. He picked me up as if I weighed nothing, and I wrapped my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck. He buried his head against the crook of my shoulder and breathed deeply of my scent, then strode to the bedroom.
When he set me down in front of the massive bed, the fire in his eyes seemed forcibly banked. Tension tightened his shoulders.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t want to hurt you.” His hand trembled slightly as he reached out to cup my jaw. “I just feel…almost out of control.”
“I’m not breakable.” I pulled my shirt and bra over my head in one fell swoop.
His pupils dilated, his eyes turning to pools of black as he stared down at me. “I’ll stop if you say it. But there are plants by the bed.”