by Bella Klaus
“Hades—”
“You discarded your body,” he snarled.
“Because my old vessel was dying,” I whispered.
“You believed Demeter’s lies?”
“No.” I gulped. “But Healer Iaso confirmed the same thing. And remember when we interrogated Pirithous, he also said—”
“Enough!” he roared.
I flinched and took a step back.
“Come here,” he said.
Something deep inside me reared up. It was the part of me that had been downtrodden my entire life. The same part of me who had been terrified of Mother’s wrath. It turned out that she hadn’t been worthy of my respect, and if Pirithous was to be believed, I provided a means for her and the coven to consume Zeus’ magic and replace whatever they had lost from the Great Divide.
I clenched my teeth. After a lifetime of being dominated by Mother, and after being tricked into this marriage, I wasn’t about to become the submissive little wife to my husband.
“Kora,” Hades growled.
“Why are you so angry with me?” I asked, trying to keep my voice even.
His nostrils flared. “Of all the bodies you could have chosen—”
“I picked the only one with the power to save you!” I shouted.
“Even though Demeter used it to infect me with a parasite? Even though I’d already made peace that I wanted you and not her?”
“Saving you meant more to me than how you’d feel about my vessel.” I curled my hands into fists. “That last attack was vicious. You had a huge parasite plant draining your magic and a cluster of microscopic grains eating your insides. Mother was determined to make you suffer an eternity. I couldn’t let that happen.”
He finally turned his head away.
With his eyes no longer boring into my soul, I could finally exhale. Maybe he was finally seeing my point.
“It’s me who should be protecting you, not the other way around.”
“Why, because you’re a man?”
“Because you spent centuries in pieces,” he snarled. “You might not remember any of it, but I can assure you that out-of-body experiences are harrowing.”
My brows drew together, and I stepped toward the bed, my hands twitching toward his bicep. Hades turned to me, his eyes crimson with flames. Some of the tension around my chest loosened. Red-hot anger was an improvement from black.
“Are you talking about the time you were burned by phoenix flames?”
His brows rose. “Has the Fire Queen been gossiping about me again?”
I shook my head. “Captain Caria explained why you look younger than your tapestry.”
He harrumphed. “I spent nearly a week as ashes separated into containers. The only way I broke free was because a lumbering vampire knocked one of my jars onto the floor.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked with a frown.
“The point is that one week of being disembodied was torture, and I was fortunate enough to have a naive minion doing my bidding.” He beckoned me closer. “You, on the other hand, had nobody. And you stayed that way for centuries.”
“I don’t remember any of it.”
“Thankfully, you don’t,” he said, his voice low. “But I know what you suffered, and I don’t want you enduring any hardship on my account.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and exhaled a shaky breath. “Do you realize how much I hate it when people are overprotective?”
“Kora?” he sounded uncertain.
Meeting his gaze once more, I closed the distance between us and stood at the edge of his bed on top of charred pieces of net curtain that had drifted down from earlier.
“My memories only contain what I remembered from the night of the ball to just before I went to see Mother.”
His brows drew together. “What are you talking about?”
“I want to tell you that I’ve been sheltered my entire life, but I don’t have enough memories to back it up.”
He shook his head. “Start from the beginning.”
“You want me to tell you a bedtime story?” I asked with a smile.
Hades stiffened. It was the slightest of reactions, but it still didn’t escape my attention. My heart plummeted to the pit of my stomach, where it landed with a dull thud. Part of him still recognized me as the woman who had attacked him and infested his body with a parasitic plant.
The Hades I knew and loved would have taken that opportunity to make a lewd comment, or he would have shuffled across and invited me into the bed before whispering an indecent proposal. Even though he had accepted that I was Kora and he’d allowed himself to be alone with me, Hades was wary of this body.
I stepped back, my hand raised. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to—”
“Come here,” he said.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
He moved to the other side of the mattress and patted the empty space. “I want to hear what happened after I had to burn down that pollen.”
I paused for several heartbeats, my gaze fixed on his hand. Was he offering me a space in his bed out of politeness?
“Kora,” he growled. “I won’t ask you again.”
My heart skipped, and I rushed to the bedside, keeping my gaze fixed on Hades’ for his reaction.
As I placed my knee on the mattress, he raised a brow. “You are overdressed.”
I glanced down at my white pajamas and smiled. “Do you have a problem with my nightwear?”
“Several,” he drawled. “Starting from the fact that it isn’t silk or lace lingerie.”
I pulled down the pants, letting them fall to my ankles, and I stepped out of the puddle of fabric. When my gaze met his, it was to see his eyes dance with amusement. “Is that enough?”
He shook his head. “That monstrosity you’re wearing must go.”
“What’s wrong with my pajama top?” I asked.
His low chuckle filled my chest with warmth. “Kora, will you remove that offensive garment, or would you like me to burn it off your body?”
I could have unbuttoned the pajama top and drawn it out like a striptease, but there was so much I needed to share with Hades about Mother and Samael that I pulled it over my shoulders and tossed it to the side.
His gaze raked my body, and the flames in his eyes turned yellow.
My throat dried. “Do you prefer this one to the last?”
He met my eyes, a smile playing on his lips. “You could wear the body of an elderly goat, and I would still find you irresistible.”
My eyes widened, and I clapped a hand over my mouth. “I hope that’s an exaggeration.”
“Don’t knock elderly goats until you’ve tried them.” He raised his brows and gave me a knowing smile.
“Now I know you’re joking.” I placed a knee on the mattress.
Hades exhaled a happy sigh. “Perhaps I enjoy watching your cheeks change color when I say something you deem scandalous.”
Rolling my eyes, I settled next to him on the mattress. “Was that a test to see if I was me?”
“How did you know?” he asked.
“Mother would have been disgusted by that comment.”
“And the old Persephone would have found it tiresome,” he said as he slid down the bed to lie on his back.
I settled myself at his side and clung onto his muscular frame like ivy on a derelict building. “The more you tell me about her, the more idyllic your relationship seems.”
Hades exhaled a long breath. “Persephone was a woman of many layers, and only half of them were in love with me.”
“What were these other layers of hers?” I murmured.
“They were mostly put there by the clique of bitter goddesses,” he said from between clenched teeth. “Each time she visited Demeter, Persephone would return with a new observation or complaint about our relationship.”
“Did she have her own mind?” I asked.
“Don’t be hard on her.” Hades pressed a kiss on my forehead. “She spent centuries being she
ltered by Demeter, while you only remember suffering that torment for two decades.”
“And I no longer believe anything she says now that I’ve seen her shitty personality,” I muttered.
He gave me a gentle squeeze. “You were about to tell me how you obtained her body, and more importantly, how you escaped Demeter’s clutches without turning assassin?”
My throat spasmed. How on earth was he going to react to hearing that Samael wanted me to seduce Lucifer?
Chapter Eight
Lying beside Hades on a soft mattress with my arms around his broad body was like being home. His masculine scent filled my nostrils, adding to my sense of calm. Persephone’s larger body slotted to his side more perfectly than my old vessel ever could. Perhaps this was part of the reason why I felt so safe and cocooned.
“Your mother, the peeping pervert, perched her flower at the end of the bed and watched me fuck you into next millennium.”
I placed a hand on his chest. “Next millennium? It was more like the following week.”
“Perhaps you’re right,” he said with a chuckle. “I’d just been eaten alive by a parasitic plant, and I was off my game.”
“You’re so big-headed.” I gave him a playful nip on the earlobe.
“Want to know what’s really big-headed?” he asked.
“Tell me.”
Hades placed his hand over the one I had over his chest and slid it down his tight abs and to his erection. “Here’s your answer.”
I wrapped my fingers around his shaft and gave it a tight squeeze. “You’re unwell.”
“Manual stimulation is a recognized part of a patient’s convalescence.” He nodded for emphasis. “It stimulates the circulation of blood and nutrients to the extremities.”
I rolled my eyes. “Do you want to hear about my body swap, or do you want to talk smut?”
“We can multitask.”
With a sigh, I told Hades what had happened the moment Healer Iaso had transported him to the sterile environment. He grunted his agreement at the older woman’s suggestion that I place my memories into a stone and growled when I told him I had woken up with no memories.
Throughout my tale, I massaged his erection with gentle strokes, enjoying how it swelled and pulsed under my command.
“Thank fuck you and the healer had a foolproof way to counteract Demeter’s bullshit,” he said.
I shook my head. “Mother convinced me that you had set a crowd of thugs on me and fathered her baby.”
He stiffened. “What?”
“She’s pregnant,” I said.
The corners of Hades lips curled into a smile. “Does Samael know?”
“He was in the room, pretending to be the family physician,” I said. “He’d even made his face look less gruesome.”
“He no doubt tore it off a low-level angel,” Hades muttered.
“No,” I said with a gasp.
He stared down at me. “If you saw what he looked like beneath that borrowed skin, you wouldn’t stop screaming.”
“How do you know?”
“Just after the Great Divide, the angels called a few gods to offer us the chance to rule parts of Hell. Samael was there in his true form.”
“Bloody hell,” I muttered. “Does Mother know?”
“I have absolutely no idea,” he drawled. “But only the most desperate of women would do anything with a being who leaves black handprints.”
My hand tightened around his erection, making him shiver. “The baby is Samael’s… sort of.”
“What does that mean?” he asked.
My lips formed a tight line. “Mother found a way to restore his manhood, using parts of Zeus.”
Hades went still for several moments, not seeming to even take a breath. My hand paused at the tip of his shaft, and I stared up into his face. His eyes bulged, his cheeks sucked inward, and his lips formed a tight line. Either he was in the throes of an attack of shock or…
“Are you trying not to laugh?” I snapped.
He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head to the side, his shoulders trembling.
I pulled my hand away and sat up on the bed. “How could you possibly find something like that funny?”
Hades rolled to the side and exploded with a laugh that came from deep in his belly. He coughed and chuckled and choked, making my stomach lurch. I rushed to his side and rubbed circles on his back as his wheezing chortles never seemed to end.
“You need to calm down,” I said. “We still haven’t managed to get rid of those things eating your lungs.”
“I know,” he rasped. “But fuck. Demeter castrated Zeus?”
My nostrils flared. “It’s not funny. The last time I saw him, he was a statue in the basement of our mansion. What if he’s awake and writhing in pain because of his missing body part?”
Hades collapsed onto the mattress and wheezed. “It couldn’t have happened to a more deserving bastard.”
“What’s so bad about Zeus?” I asked.
“He was married to Hera but fucked everyone.”
“Wait. I thought he was married to Mother.”
“She was one of his many victims,” he said, his voice bitter. “Zeus didn’t care who he violated. He would disguise himself as anything to get into a woman’s pussy. Her husband, golden rain… even a bunch of grapes.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Really?”
“Zeus even abducted a boy called Ganymede and kept him forever young.” Hades made finger quotes at those last two words.
My mouth dropped open. “A child?”
Hades turned his face to me and wiped a smear of blood from the corner of his mouth, making my chest tighten. “So, if I laugh because Demeter cut off his cock and gave it to Samael, it’s because nobody deserves to be castrated more than that bastard.”
“I planned on rescuing him at some point in the future,” I muttered. “Now, I won’t bother.”
“Once, I caught a glimpse from Persephone’s mind of an incident with Zeus disguised as a snake. She told me Demeter intervened before he got very far.”
I gulped. “What happened?”
“Persephone never elaborated,” he said with a snarl. “When I confronted Zeus, Persephone and the clique of bitchy goddesses took his side.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because I was always the outsider. Because they found me dark and brooding and without charm.”
I reared back. “You?”
Hades chuckled. “Back then, I was a completely different person. I’ve had tens of thousands of years to hone myself into the pinnacle of perfection.” He grabbed my arm and moved it back to his erection. “Get back to the story.”
I trailed my hand down to his balls and massaged them between my fingers until Hades closed his eyes. As his muscles became less tense, and his breaths even, I told him about waking up in a room within the derelict with no memories.
Hades didn’t react when I told him about Mother’s plan to train me into an assassin to infiltrate the Fifth Faction and murder him, and he laughed when he discovered that Mother had handed back the Hell ring containing the memory stone. But when I told him that Samael had caught me trying to escape, he turned to me and frowned.
“How did you break free when he cornered you with so many demons?” Hades asked, his eyes narrowed.
“He recognized me as his daughter—”
“Because of his new dick?” Hades leaned forward laughing and coughing and spraying out a fine mist of blood.
I winced. “Careful. Are you in pain?”
He slumped back onto the mattress. “It’s more like a minor irritation,” he rasped. “Imagine the sensation of tiny ants crawling across your lungs.”
“You must be regenerating nearly as fast as they’re eating through your flesh.”
“Something like that.” He wrapped his hand around my wrist and gave me a nudge to keep moving.
I wrapped my fingers over his erection, which expanded and pulsed under my touch. My hand slid
over a network of prominent veins and bulges ran beneath skin as smooth as silk as I made gentle strokes up his shaft.
Hades shuddered, his lips parting in a soft moan.
“Anyway.” I pressed a kiss on his neck. “Samael wants to populate every Faction with members of his family. I think that’s why he’s gotten Mother pregnant.”
“Making us safe?” His voice dripped with skepticism. “Has it occurred to you that he might try to father your child next?”
My hand stilled. “Actually…”
Hades grabbed my wrist and growled. “Did he touch you? Is that why he released you?”
“No.” I shook my head for emphasis.
“Then what—”
“He wants me to infiltrate the Seventh and seduce Lucifer.”
He huffed a long breath and loosened his grip on my wrist. “And he didn’t send Demeter to do the job because?”
“Lucifer would recognize her from the Devil’s Ball.” I glided my hand up to the top of his shaft and rubbed my thumb over his slit, smearing precum over his bulbous head.
Hades shivered. “Ah… but nobody has seen your Persephone body.”
“Something like that.” I sped up my strokes. “Once I’ve confirmed that I’m pregnant with his child, Samael wants me to sell my soul to Lucifer.”
“Condemning him to a salty death.” Hades clenched his teeth, his lips making gentle thrusts. “I’ll send Caria to inform him. He’s more likely to heed the warning of someone he’s known for two millennia.”
“Samael wants to see that I’m making the effort.” I sped up my strokes while nibbling and sucking on his neck. “If I don’t, he’ll remind Demeter to redouble her attacks.”
His eyes rolled to the back of his head, and his chest heaved up and down with his frantic breaths. “Then I’ll send Caria in a disguise.”
I focused back on the hand job, my fingers squeezing around his girth as I pumped it up and down. Hades curled his hands around the sheets and breathed hard through his parted lips.
Molten heat gathered between my legs. I squeezed them together and stifled a moan. Precum drizzled over my fingers, making the glide even slicker.
My lips clamped around his neck, and I sucked hard, making him gasp for air.
