by Cerys du Lys
She tried to imagine her life here, in the Underworld, and found she could not. There were no familiar images. There was no frame of reference—just Aidon, with his large hands guiding her and his eyes following her.
Closing the door, she turned back to face him. Her bare feet made no sound on the cold onyx floor, and she stopped when she drew close enough that her breath moved the hairs on his chest. Slowly, she knelt, bowing her head, resting her hands on her knees.
“Yes.” Her voice didn’t waver. She felt his hand on the top of her head and she looked up into his moist eyes. Something passed between them. She didn’t understand it, but she felt it, like a hot electric current singing in her belly. “I will stay.”
“Do you understand what that means?” His fingers moved down her cheek, tilting her chin up. She opened her mouth to respond, but instead just shook her head, swallowing hard. He rubbed his thumb over her lips, his eyes growing dark with lust. “You don’t know…but you will.” He reached down to scoop her off the floor and carry her to the velvet darkness of his bed.
Chapter Three
He claimed her with his kiss. Her mouth didn’t feel like her own when she opened for his tongue. The probing flesh sent sparks through her body on an intricate web, moving from her center to her very edges and back again. The sensation overwhelmed her and her fingers tangled in his dark hair as she slanted her mouth across his, sucking at his tongue. He moaned, grabbing her wrists and pressing them above her head, leaving her helpless to his lips, his weight. As he pressed himself between her thighs and she felt the steel heat of him, it stayed firm between them, a pulsing petition for entry.
“Can’t breathe,” she gasped as the kiss broke. He smiled an apology as he knelt up. His glowing eyes swept over her form, searing a trail from the flaxen hair on her head to the sweet, caramel-colored thicket below. He still held both crossed wrists clasped in one hand, but with his other, his fingers brushed over her mound, leaning in and pressing up against her so she felt the insistence of his erection sliding along her crevice.
Holding her wrists up, Aidon leaned in and sucked at her nipples. He flicked them with his tongue and they hardened like smooth, pink pebbles between his lips. Persephone sighed and moaned, wrapping her legs around him and writhing, nudging the tip of him between her swollen lips.
When she struggled in his grasp, trying to free her hands, she was unable. His grip tightened like a vise and she found her breath gone again. He nuzzled her neck, feathering kisses there, nosing around her ear, licking her earlobe. The sensations shot electric sparks down her spine and straight to her pelvis, which seemed to be rocking against him all on its own. She simply couldn’t control it.
“Please—” Persephone’s words met his mouth as he tried to devour her. The intensity of his kiss flooded her head with a dizzy heat. His tongue left scorching trails of wetness over her breasts and down her belly. She twisted her wrists in his grip, whimpering as he dipped his tongue into her navel. Giving in to him, to this, was nothing like she had imagined it would be. “Please let me go!”
“Never.” He sat up, his erection blazing like a towering inferno up against her thigh. She looked at it and then up at him, her eyes wide. “You’re mine now.” His words and his weight crushed her as he captured her mouth again. It was a hard kiss, and he sucked her tongue deep into his mouth before biting gently at her lips, her chin, her cheek.
“No!” Persephone struggled and kicked as he straddled her ribcage, holding his throbbing length in one hand. He teased the wet head over her nipples as she squirmed and moaned under him, thrashing on the bed. He seemed to enjoy her struggle.
“You keep saying that…” Aidon moved up closer, easing the tip of his erection toward her mouth, still grasping her wrists and holding them high above her head. “Maybe we should give that little mouth something else to do?”
Persephone didn’t know what she was doing. Going on instinct alone as he slid the thick length between her tender lips, she began to suck. She had never seen one so close up, let alone had one in her hand or mouth—or anywhere else for that matter. His deep growls and thrusting frightened her at first, but the look of pleasure on his face won her over. He grew harder, his eyes closing as his hips began to drive forward. He clearly forgot about her wrists, letting them go as she sucked him like a hungry, greedy, nursing baby. Her hands went to his thighs, rubbing her soft palms over the thick muscles there. He groaned, losing his hand in her hair and pressing himself deeper into her throat.
Gagging, she pushed against him, trying to turn. He eased back, petting her head before sliding down and kneeling between her legs again. The sight of him rising above her, the strength and heat of him, both frightened and excited her. She had imagined this moment a million times, but the reality of a man was far from her hazy, soft-focus fantasy. His eyes darkened with lust and purpose as he pressed the head of his erection into her mouth.
Panicked, Persephone reached for him, grabbing his length and squeezing. He groaned and thrust into her hand. His fingers probed her sex, parting her and finding her slippery, virgin orifice. One finger slid in easily, but she gasped and squeezed him hard when he slipped in two, then three. His thumb pressed the sensitive spot at the top of her cleft, rubbing there as he moved his fingers slowly in and out.
She rocked her hips back against his hand, delighting in the sensation, but then, a vision of her mother appeared in the darkness behind her closed eyes. Men only want one thing. Persephone knew it was true. She knew what he wanted, what this was leading up to. If she let him take her now, everything was lost. She would no longer be her mother’s daughter, the “innocent flower,” a “tender bud of spring.”
Her eyes flew open, but it was too late. Aidon’s weight crushed her again as he removed his hand and slid the swollen tip along her crevice, all the way to the top. She gasped, struggling under him as he rocked his hips, easing the head back and forth over the hot jewel of flesh there.
“No!” she begged, her panicked eyes meeting his. “Please, don’t do this!”
His eyes told her he was determined to keep going, to press on, to take her, make her his. Her virgin body trembled while her mind screamed and she tried to fight him. Her hands pressed against his chest, her torso twisting under his. Without a word, he grabbed her wrists again, using one hand to hold them above her head.
“Persephone.” The sound of her name on his lips made her pause. “Look at me.”
She shook her head. She didn’t want to. Her eyes clenched tight, and her hands balled into fists. The aching throb between her legs continued, unabated, and she tried to ignore it as Aidon rocked gently, moving his length up and down her slit.
“Let your body tell you what it wants,” he urged, whispering the words into her ear as he pressed her thighs open with his. His hips rolled like thunder, using his thick, hot length where their bodies touched in the wetness, making a delicious friction that built up as he rubbed her, again and again. “I want you to tell me, Sephie.”
“No,” she whispered, her eyes fluttering open and then closed again. But he was right—her body knew what it wanted. Her legs opened wider, and that feeling, like a ripe, exquisite fruit grown full to bursting, spread through her belly. Her hips began to dance on their own underneath him, around and around the ridged edges of him. “Oh please, don’t…oh please…”
“Tell me.” He moved like lightning, the wet sound of their flesh rubbing together filling the room. “Don’t be afraid. Tell me.”
“No!” Her hips bucked up to meet him, the feeling in her loins a tight, throbbing ache. Her body gave in, and she was giving in too. “Ohhhh nooo…”
“Yes!” He urged, his breath coming as fast as hers. She met his eyes in the dimness, hers half-closed and glazed with her coming climax. “Tell me!”
Her whole body trembled with the word. “Yes!” The pulsing wave of her fleshy pink rosebud opened and flooded him with a sticky, girlish honey. “Yes, ohhhh yes. Yes!” She shuddered agains
t him, her thighs quivering. He probed the sensitive, tender folds of flesh, seeking entry. Still reeling, her assent still pouting on her lips, she took his weight as he pressed her thighs wider with his own. The heat of him was like an iron bar pressing into her flesh.
“Ohhh, no!” she cried, her nails digging into his back as he eased into her.
“Yes!” He groaned, forging his way into her depths. Persephone bit back a scream, clutching him tightly and burying her face into his neck. He stopped, his lips grazing her hairline. “You are mine.”
His hips ground slowly against her, rocking. She moaned, feeling a sob rise to her throat. She felt him inside of her, at her very core, penetrating the deepest part of her. There was no going back, now. She was his.
“Aidon.” She sought the gleam of his eyes in the dimness. He stopped for a moment, lost in her gaze, the thick pulse between them continuing to throb. She struggled against his grasp, twisting her wrists. “Let me go. Please.” He did, his body tensing and then slowly relaxing as she touched his cheek, running her hand through his hair.
“Persephone!” He groaned when she slipped her hand down to touch the slick, wet place where their bodies met.
“Yes, Aidon.” She had been afraid to speak the words, afraid to make it real, but she wasn’t afraid anymore. Lifting her hips up slightly, she wrapped her legs around him. “Yes!”
Her words drove him into her, again and again. She clung to him and allowed herself to be taken, listening to the sweet, slippery music they made as they coupled. She breathed their scent, like black licorice root and roses. She had never felt so free.
His thrusts came harder, faster, deeper. Persephone nibbled his neck, the gentle grind becoming a delightful, persistent, rising hum. She made easy circles with her little hips, dancing against him, and he growled.
Her whole body began to quake beneath him with her pleasure. His body stiffened at the flutter and pulse of her, pushing himself deep and spilling his seed into her belly in hot, fiery bursts. Persephone felt it seeping like lava down her thighs. She stared into the darkness beyond them both as he rolled beside her. In her chest, her heart beat the chorus of his name and she had never felt more at home. She turned to him, pressing her belly to his, the wetness of their flesh a cool reminder.
He touched his forehead to hers, his eyes smoldering in the dimness. She tried to make sense of what her body seemed to want as their breathing slowly returned to normal. She had often fantasized about the man she would give her innocence to, the man she would fall in love with and marry, but never in her wildest dreams had she imagined this. She didn’t love him, but he had taken her, possessed her, and somehow made her his.
* * * *
“This better be important!” Aidon yelled as he yanked the door open.
A beautiful goddess with black hair hanging almost to her knees carried a torch into the room. She smiled brightly and cocked her head at him. Persephone pulled the dark sheet around her nakedness, watching from the bed as the young goddess’ gaze traveled down the length of Aidon’s body and back up again. Persephone frowned, seeing the goddess’ eyes linger between his legs.
Aidon sighed. “Hecate, I’m busy—if you hadn’t noticed. What is it?”
Hecate’s dark eyes flickered over to the bed, where Persephone tried to make herself as small as possible. “Your new bride? Tisi mentioned something—the Goddess of Spring? She’s so young! Aidon, are you trying to recapture your youth with nubile young virgins? What’s next, a new red chariot?”
She called him Aidon! Persephone crept a little closer, edging along the mattress, so she could hear them better. Who is this Hecate to him? She remembered his words. You can call me Aidon—few people do.
Aidon snorted. “Did you come here to catch up on Underworld gossip? Because unless there’s a problem—”
“As a matter of fact, there is.” Hecate raised her delicately arched eyebrow at him. “Unless you’ve abdicated your responsibilities as God of the Underworld, now that you’re engaged?”
Persephone saw Aidon’s jaw working as he glared at the dark-haired goddess. “What is it, Hecate?”
“Look, I’m just trying to help you out and stave off some of Tisi’s bloodlust...” Hecate moved into the room, sweeping past Aidon, and Persephone noticed for the first time that, like Tisi, the goddess was completely nude. Hecate’s body was full and lush, her breasts like ripe fruit, her legs long and shapely as she advanced toward the bed. “But if you’d rather ignore your kingdom for…my, she is a bright little thing, isn’t she?” Hecate peered over the dark bed rail, holding her torch up so she could see better, her eyes moving down over the crown of Persephone’s golden head. The blonde goddess shrank back from the flame, pulling the sheet up to her neck. “Oh, don’t worry, precious, this fire can’t burn you. Go ahead, touch it.”
Persephone’s eyes widened and she glanced over at Aidon. He winked and nodded as Hecate tilted the fiery light toward their bed. Persephone should have felt a great heat from the torch, but there seemed to be nothing emanating from the flame but illumination. Tentatively, she reached her hand out, easing it toward the fire.
Hecate smiled as she waved the torch past Persephone’s hesitating hand, passing the flame through her fingers. Acting out of instinct, Persephone jerked her hand back and stared at her skin in disbelief. There was no burn, and she had felt no heat!
The dark-haired goddess winked, looking delighted at her trick. “I told you.”
“Our Hecate is full of surprises.” Aidon held his hand out toward Persephone, indicating she should come to him. “Sephie, I’m afraid I have some work to do.” He smiled at the dark-haired goddess. “Hecate, perhaps you might take my young bride on a tour? Show her the Underworld…and the rest of your enchanting ways?”
Hecate’s eyes brightened at his words as she looked between them for a moment, and then she smiled at Persephone. “Sure, I’d be happy to.”
“Come, Persephone.” Aidon’s command was clear as he pulled on and tied his loincloth.
“My clothing…” Persephone searched the room with her eyes, glancing again at Hecate’s nude form.
Shaking his head, Aidon’s hot gaze swept over her. “You will wear nothing here. That is the way I wish it.”
Until today, she had only ever been nude in the presence of the other goddesses or her mother, and the thought of walking naked amongst the things that might lurk in the Underworld made her shiver. Her eyes searched his, as if to ask if his request was sincere, but his look left no room for doubt. Standing, Persephone took his hand, swallowing past her twinge of shame and humiliation.
“You’ll get used to it.” Hecate leaned in to whisper the words to Persephone as she passed.
“She will come to understand our ways.” Aidon’s hand pressed Persephone’s as they walked toward the door. He looked pointedly over his shoulder at Hecate. “And I know you’ll do everything you can to make her comfortable. Right, Hecate?”
The dark-haired goddess took Persephone’s other hand and squeezed it. She couldn’t tell if Hecate’s smile was sincere or not, but the other goddess winked at her and said, “Of course. I think we can have lots of fun.”
Aidon raised his eyebrows. “Not too much fun.”
Hecate laughed, the sound echoing as they stepped through the door and into another room. Persephone hadn’t seen any of Aidon’s chambers except the bedroom. This room had a large pool in the corner, a natural hot spring that bubbled quietly, and behind it, the wall was completely mirrored. There were soft places to rest, all the fabric either black or a deep blood red. They went through another door into a hallway and Aidon locked it after them.
The floor was cold under Persephone’s feet, the black onyx surface reflecting the orange glow of the torches lit along the passageway. These were real torches—she felt the heat of them as they passed. Hecate and Aidon seemed to know exactly where to go, but Persephone couldn’t keep track of all the twists and turns, the countless number of closed doo
rs. What went on behind them?
Persephone was completely turned around by the time she followed Aidon into the Chamber of Judgment, and she was glad Hecate hadn’t let go of her hand. She recognized the room with its obsidian walls and the eerie glow of the Cypress tree. She saw three men sitting in judgment, each on his own ebony throne, at the front of the room. Aidon’s larger throne was empty, but two shades wandered near it.
“There they are…” Hecate pointed to the shades by Aidon’s throne. “Kometes and Prothous, the sons of Thestios.”
“Both of them?” Aidon frowned. “Please don’t tell me they were killed by a family member?”
Hecate smirked. “Their nephew—Meleager.” The dark-haired goddess leaned down and murmured to Persephone, “Tisi makes it her personal mission to avenge familial bloodlust.”
Aidon snorted. “That’s an understatement—you might as well say Hera’s a little jealous.” He approached the two shades, two older men who began to speak at once. Persephone shook her head, as if to clear it. She couldn’t understand the language of the dead, and their words sounded like wails to her ears.
“What are they saying?” She leaned in to ask Hecate and gasped when the goddess disappeared. I can still feel her hand in mine! Persephone started when an old woman wearing a black cloak and hood appeared in the young goddess’ place. “Who are you?”
The old woman laughed. “It is me, precious—Hecate. This is the form the shades know, so it’s the one I assume when I speak to them.”
Persephone gaped at the old woman. Yes, she saw the resemblance, around the eyes and in the shape of the woman’s jaw.
“I am the triple goddess,” Hecate explained as she watched Aidon consulting with the two shades. “I can assume three forms—maiden, mother, or crone.”
