But she hadn’t missed that everything he’d just said was in the past.
She narrowed her eyes.
“Look, Hades. If you don’t…want this anymore I need to know.”
Hades’ head jerked and he stared at her.
“What?”
Obviously, she wasn’t making sense. “If you don’t want me—if you don’t think you can forgive me, I don’t think we should be in a relationship, the Fates be damned.”
It was the first time Hades moved since he’d entered the room.
He took deliberate strides toward her and spoke as he moved.
“I never said I didn’t want you. I thought I made that clear yesterday.”
She rolled her eyes. “So, you want to fuck me? That doesn’t mean you want an actual relationship. It doesn’t mean you will trust me again.”
Hades stopped inches from her and narrowed his eyes. “Let me be perfectly clear. I do want to fuck you. More importantly, I love you—deeply, endlessly. If you walked away from me today, I would love you still. I will love you forever. That’s what Fate is, Persephone. Fuck threads and colors…and fuck your uncertainty.”
His bent closer to her as he spoke, his face inches from hers.
“I’m not uncertain,” she said. “I’m afraid, you idiot!”
“Of what? What have I done?”
“This isn’t about you! Gods, Hades. You’d think you of all people would understand.”
She turned her head away, unable to look at him.
After a moment, Hades spoke again, urging, “Tell me.”
Persephone’s mouth quivered. “I’ve longed for love all my life,” she said. “Longed for acceptance because my mother dangled it in front of me like something I had to earn. If I adhered to her expectations, she would grant it, if I didn’t, she’d take it away. You want a queen, a goddess, a lover. I can’t be what you want. I can’t…adhere to these…expectations you have of me!”
There was something freeing about saying all of that out loud. She suddenly felt lighter, like she’d let go of a boulder she’d been carrying on her back.
“Persephone—” Hades’ fingers pressed beneath her chin. She met his gaze. “What do you think of when you think of a queen?”
Persephone’s brows knitted together, and she shook her head as she admitted, “I don’t know. I know what I would like to see in a queen.”
“Then what would you like to see in a queen?”
“Someone who is kind…compassionate…present.”
Hades’ thumb brushed her lips. “And you do not think you are all those things?”
She didn’t answer, and Hades said, “I’m not asking you to be a queen. I’m asking you to be yourself. I’m asking you to marry me. The title comes with our marriage. It changes nothing.”
Persephone swallowed. “Are you asking me to marry you again?”
“Will you?”
Her breath caught in her throat. She couldn’t answer. For the last few weeks, she and Hades hadn’t exactly been on speaking terms. They had too much to reconcile. Her eyes watered, and tears streaked her face. Hades brushed them away.
“My darling, you do not have to answer now. We have time—an eternity.”
Their lips met—their kiss sinful and rough and desperate. Persephone felt feverish and frenzied. The adrenaline made her bold, and she reached into his pants, working his cock with her hand. Hades groaned, his teeth skimmed her bottom lip as he pulled away to explore her jaw and neck and breasts.
He looked stunned when she pushed him away. They stood apart for a moment, breathing hard, hot and wet and wild. Then Persephone planted a hand on his chest and directed him backward until the back of his knees hit the bed.
“Sit,” she commanded.
He did, and she held his gaze as she knelt before him. His eyes glitter like obsidian.
“You look like a fucking queen,” he said.
A corner of her mouth lifted. “I am your queen.”
She wrapped her hand around his length and stroked him from root to tip, her thumb moving lightly over the head of his cock.
“Persephone.”
He growled her name, and she took him into her mouth. Hades moaned, his fingers twining into her hair. She took him deep—to the back of her throat, and then into the side of her cheek. She paused to lick and suck, reveling in the taste of him.
“Yes,” he hissed. She could feel him growing thicker, pulsing, and when he came, she drank from him like she had never tasted anything so sweet. Hades drew her to her feet—he kissed her, possessed and paralyzed her. He left her dress in a puddle on the floor and guided her to his bed, divesting himself of his own clothes before covering her body.
He was warm and solid, and he fit against her like he was made for every contour of her body. As he loomed over her, she reached up and drew a piece of his silken hair around her finger.
“Why do you wish to be married?”
Hades’ brow rose, clearly the question amused him. “Haven’t you always dreamed of marriage?”
“No,” she said, and she was being honest. She had never really considered marrying someone as a possibility before. Her mother made sure she never met anyone for the first eighteen years of her life, and once she was free, she was so focused on college and landing a job, she hadn’t thought much about relationships. “You didn’t answer my question. Why is marriage important to you?”
“I don’t know,” he answered truthfully. “It became important to me when I met you.”
Persephone held his gaze, and drew her legs apart, wrapping them around his waist. She could feel the head of his cock pressing against her entrance. Hades sank into her with a grown. She gasped, gripping his arms. There was something sweet about the beginning—Hades bent to kiss her, letting his forehead rest against hers, and breathed her breath. Then everything changed. Hades’ thrusts became urgent, and his head fell into the crook of her neck, his teeth grazing and biting her skin.
“So fucking sweet,” Hades hissed, looking into her eyes. “Take me deeper, darling.”
She wasn’t sure it was possible; she could already feel him in the bottom of her stomach. Hades’ arms looped under her knees, and he lifted her slightly. Pleasure ripped through her, and she dragged her nails along his skin.
“Harder!” she commanded.
He drove into her, pumping his hips. She clenched around him, her orgasm building inside, clawing its way to the surface.
“Come, darling.”
With his permission, she climaxed and as she came down from her high, Hades groaned, throwing his head back and shuttering.
In the aftermath they lay together, kissing and touching and breathing.
“Gods, I missed you,” Persephone said, resting against Hades, her head on his chest.
Hades chuckled, and they glanced at one another. After a beat of silence, Persephone spoke in a low voice. “You were going to tell me about Leuce.”
“Hmm. Yes,” he said, and after a moment, he pulled her on top of him. “I had a meeting with Ilias at my restaurant. I didn’t know Leuce was there. She hurried after me as I was leaving and grabbed my hand. Old habit.”