“Where are you burning?” he asked.
“Everywhere,” she answered.
She pushed his jacket off his shoulders and Hades took over, shoving it aside as she unbuttoned his shirt, exposing his chest. She pulled away to admire him. He tried to reach for her, but she stopped him.
“Let me pleasure you.”
He didn’t speak, but his eyes burned, and that was enough of an answer. She guided him to his back and kissed his lips before working her way down the planes of his muscled chest, following the line of hair from his stomach until it disappeared beneath his slacks where his cock strained against the fabric. She unbuttoned them and wrapped her fingers around his warm, velvet flesh, and as she stroked him, she bit down on her lip, ready to taste him.
Hades growled.
“Keep looking at me that way, darling. I won’t let you have control for long.”
She raised a challenging brow and then took him into her mouth. Hades hissed as she circled the head of his cock with her tongue and took him deeper into her mouth. He groaned when he hit the back of her throat, his fingers twisting tightly into her hair. He seemed to grow larger, filling her mouth tighter as she moved him in and out.
“Fuck,” Hades’ curse encouraged her, and she moved faster, using her hands and her tongue. He came with a roar, and his come filled her mouth—salty and sweet. His smell filled her nose, a mixture of spice and chlorine. She took her time savoring him, licking every part of him clean until he dragged her up his body and brought her lips to his, rolling so that she was beneath him.
“Such a gift,” he said, inches from her mouth. “How shall I repay you?”
“Gifts don’t require payment, Hades.”
“Another gift, then,” he offered, and took her mouth in a searing kiss. He laid her bare beneath the trees and worshipped her body until the sky was full of stars, glowing full and bright with Hades’ magic.
CHAPTER XI - UNRAVELING
Persephone draped herself over Hades’ naked body and rested her head on his chest. She reveled in the feel of him against her. It was like coming home after all those nights she’d spent alone. They’d just come from the bathes after making love in the grove. Her body felt warm and limber, and her eyes were heavy with sleep. She should have succumbed, lulled by the soft circles Hades was tracing on her back and the smell of salt on his skin.
Instead, she chose to speak.
“I’ll mentor Leuce,” she said, peaking at him when the silence stretched too long, wondering what he was thinking.
“I’m not sure how I feel about this.”
“Me either,” she admitted, but she felt like it was the right thing to do. “And I need you to give her a place to stay and her job back. Please.”
Hades continued to trace shapes against her skin. “Why do you wish to mentor her?”
Persephone shrugged. “Because, I think I know how she feels.”
Hades raised a brow. “Explain.”
“She’s been a tree for thousands of years, suddenly she’s normal again and the whole world has changed. It’s...scary…and I know how that feels.”
Hades was quiet for a long moment, and then he said again, as if to make sure, “You want to mentor my former lover?”
Persephone sighed loudly and rolled her eyes. “Don’t make me regret this, Hades.”
“I don’t want you to, but are you sure?”
“It’s weird, I admit, but...she’s a victim. I want to help her.”
It was a hard thing to say to him, given that he was the reason she’d been a poplar tree. Granted, what Leuce had done was wrong, but was it worth losing out on thousands of years?
Hades touched her chin.
“You amaze me,” he said.
She giggled. “I am not amazing. I wanted to punish her at first.”
“But you didn’t,” he said. “There are no other gods like you.”
“I haven’t lived long enough to be jaded like the rest of you,” she said. “Perhaps I’ll end up like the others before long.”
“Or perhaps you will change the rest of us.”
They stared at one another, bodies pressed together until Persephone sat up, straddling Hades. The god beneath her had one hand behind his head. He looked arrogant and she supposed he had reason to be—he had made her come over and over and he had been ruthless in his pursuit.
“Eager for more, my lady?” He asked, growing harder and thicker under her.
She smiled. That wasn’t why she had sat up. She’d had something to say and she wanted to say it now before she forgot, but at his question, she realized she was eager for more—eager to take control of his body, to use him as an instrument.
“Actually, I’m afraid I must make a few demands,” she said, and she slid onto his shaft, filling herself completely. She let out a breath, sore from their previous coupling. Hades hands went to her thighs, squeezing.
“Yes?” he said from between his teeth.
“I don’t want to be placed in a suite on the other side of the palace, ever,” she said, rolling her hips, feeling him everywhere. “Not to get ready for balls. Not when you are angry with me. Not ever.”
She punctuated each of her statements by slamming into him.
Hades fingers dug into her skin.
“I thought you would want privacy,” he said.
She paused in her movements and bent over him. His eyes burned into hers.
“Fuck privacy. I needed you, needed to know you still wanted me despite...everything.”
He drew his arm around her neck and brought her lips to his. She started to move again when Hades rolled, taking control, except that once she was beneath him, he didn’t move. She glared at him and lifted her hips, but he remained still.
“I will always want you, and I would have welcomed you to my bed any night.”
“I didn’t know,” she said.
He pressed a thumb to her swollen lips.
“Now you do.”
He gave her a bruising kiss, and they came together again, working through their anger and their pain until all they felt was their hearts beating together as one.
***
Persephone rose hours later in search of Hecate. She found the Goddess of Witchcraft in her cabin bundling sage.
“Good evening, my sweet. You look well.”
Persephone smiled. “I am well Hecate, thank you.”
“You are here to ask for a favor?”
Persephone twisted her fingers together.
“How did you know?”
Hecate smirked. “I don’t imagine you were eager to leave Hades’ company. Something brought you to my doorstep and it isn’t training.”
Persephone snorted and explained. “I need to speak to my mother, but under...controlled circumstances.”
“You wish to summon her so you can also dismiss her?”
Persephone nodded. “Can you help me?”
Hecate wrapped the last of the sage. When she was finished, she turned toward Persephone meeting her gaze.
“My dear, I would love nothing more than to help you stand up to your mother.”
Persephone grinned and they teleported to her room in the Upperworld. Hecate got to work, instructing Persephone in the art of summoning spells.