by Bella Klaus
“Mother is a witch,” I whispered.
The captain shook her head. “You’ll discover the truth, once you’re out of her clutches.”
I shook my head, not knowing what to believe. Nothing about Hades was god-like. He was young, handsome—if you liked that sort of thing—and he didn’t have a white beard. And Mother was certainly no goddess.
She rushed at him with her hands curled into claws. “You always have been a fraud.”
Hades raised his hand, and the air thickened, holding her in place. “Any further questions, Minos?”
“No, Your Majesty,” he replied. “However, I would like to present two witnesses who will refute Lady Olympia’s accusations of fraud.” He raised his head toward the high podium. “King Valentine and Queen Hemera of the Supernatural Council.”
The pulse between my ears thudded and my insides lit up with a lightning storm of panic.
Everything made sense.
Hades had brought me to the king and queen’s bedroom, knowing that they would eventually walk in on us. He had even taunted King Valentine into exploding with fury, just so the event would be vivid in their memories.
Blood roared between my ears, the sound louder than Mother’s wail as she clutched at her chest, louder than Hades’ cackling laughter as he threw his head back in triumph.
The Demon King had set us all up.
And it was only a matter of time before the court handed me over as his bride.
I hurled myself against the invisible barrier, trying to break free, even though the effort was futile. I had no magic, no brute strength, no chance of escape.
Captain Caria said something to me, but I was too deep in my panic to hear her words.
My heart contracted into a tight ball, pulling my lungs to a quarter of their capacity. I clutched at my throat, scratching for air as the edges of my vision turned black.
As I succumbed to unconsciousness, only one thought burned through my mind like a beacon in the dark.
If Hades dragged me to Hell, I would claw my way out over his dead body.
Chapter Seven
The next day, I awoke to a pair of petal-soft lips kissing me awake, and my entire body thrummed. Pleasure and power filled my veins and spread across my capillaries. Exhaling a contented sigh, I relaxed and luxuriated in the wonderful sensations.
The bed beneath me was softer than usual, made of the finest down instead of the cotton mattress at home. It felt like floating on clouds and being lavished with caresses by a beautiful angel.
As far as waking up went, this beat anything I usually got at home.
The lips drew away, replaced by gentle fingers that ran along my cheek, sending tendrils of pleasure across my skin.
I clung to the last vestiges of my dream, trying to remember as much as I could of it to share with Dami.
Dami.
Memories flooded back at once, with the shock of falling from the sky and crash-landing on parched earth. My breath quickened as everything returned to me at once. The masquerade ball. The alligator-toothed demon. The Demon King. The trial.
Self-preservation kicked me in the gut, and I lashed out with my clenched fist. It hit bone and flesh, sending pain radiating across my knuckles, and forcing me to full alertness.
With a noisy gasp, my eyes flew open, and bright light flooded my retinas.
Hades stood at my bedside, now dressed in a burgundy velvet smoking jacket that gaped open to reveal his prominent pecs. Annoyance burned in his eyes, and he clutched his nose, looking like my punch had landed in the center of his face.
“Sleeping Beauty awakens,” he said.
Palpitations of panic squeezed my heart, and I sat up within the canopy of a four-poster bed set in a sprawling bedroom of ivory walls, decorated with silver-framed mirrors.
Behind Hades, light streamed in from a twenty-foot-wide bay window, hitting a silver dressing table and mirror. At the foot of the bed was a pewter-colored chaise lounge, and behind that, a silver dining table. This room was too feminine to belong to the King of Demons. This had to be my new prison.
My gaze snapped back to Hades, who appeared to have fixed his face with a glamor. A shudder ran down my spine. What was the punishment for lashing out? I tried not to think about Mother’s picture book of demonic tortures.
“Why have you brought me here?” I asked, my voice trembling.
“Welcome home, Persephone.” Hades stepped toward me with an arm outstretched, looking about to climb into the bed.
I raised a hand, feeling my palm thrum with power. “Stay back.”
Hades paused. “What do you remember?”
“Bastard.” I scrambled toward the other side of the mattress, and my feet landed on the floor with a thud. “You must have known all along that I would gatecrash that ball. Did you also set up those demon twins?”
He stood on the other side of the bed, staring at me through the thin gauze that made up the drapes. The power thrumming from his body and resonating with mine said that he could close the distance between us in the blink of an eye.
I clutched at my chest, my gaze darting around for exits. A door stood twenty feet on the left, but he’d probably stationed demon guards outside. There was the window, but it looked like we were high up within the hills.
“It took an eternity to find where your mother had hidden you.” Hades teleported to my side, making me flinch and stagger away. “Can you remember anything else?”
My calf hit a mirrored bedside cabinet. “I have a sister I’ve never heard about. She was your wife, not me.”
His lips tightened. “That’s a falsehood your mother wishes everyone to believe. She has hidden you for centuries, and erased your memories of thousands of years of marriage.”
“If that was true, you would have mentioned it at the trial.”
He scowled. “And complicate matters? Why would I do that when I’d already married you in this incarnation?”
“It was a one-night stand,” I hissed.
“That doesn’t change the fact that you’re my soulmate,” he replied.
I swallowed hard, the pulse in my throat fluttering like a trapped butterfly. “You’re wrong. I remember growing up, turning eighteen. How do you explain that if I'm immortal?”
“Demeter is a very resourceful woman,” he replied.
A shrill laugh bubbled up from within my chest, both out of humor and hysteria. “That’s where you’re wrong. Her name is Ceres.”
“That’s what they called the goddess Demeter in Rome.”
My gaze darted to the window. Outside was a dry landscape of fields, sparse forests, and hills. Behind them stood a tall mountain capped with snow that I recognized from paintings around the mansion—Mount Olympus.
Some of the panic around my chest eased. “Where are we?”
“My palace in the Fifth Faction,” he replied.
I clutched my chest. “Of Hell?”
He inclined his head. “Until the seal on your magic breaks, you will remain in the safety of this chamber. Alternatively you can stay at my side.”
My eyes bulged. This sounded like gibberish. “But who’s going to keep me safe from you?”
A knock sounded on the door, making my heart somersault into the back of my throat. Another demon?
“Enter,” Hades barked.
Captain Caria stepped in, still clad in her black enforcer uniform. Some of the tension around my chest eased as I remembered her promise to return me to Mother if I proved not to be his wife. Would her offer still stand if I could convince her that this was a mistake?
She gave Hades a shallow bow. “I’ve come to check on our new guest, Your Majesty.”
His lips tightened. As though somehow he found her polite form of address offensive. I swallowed hard. Beneath her stern expression, Captain Caria was beautiful, with hair a few shades darker than mine. Maybe we were both his type.
My stomach hardened, and angry heat surged across my chest at their unspoken tension. I breathed
hard and tamped down any traces of jealousy. What did I care about the affairs of a creature who had broken Mother’s heart and abducted me with false claims of marriage.
“I shouldn’t be here,” I said. “If the court heard my testimony, the judges would understand that this was all a misunderstanding.”
The captain exhaled a long breath, looking like she was thoroughly fed up with everything related to the trial. She turned to Hades and asked, “Any sign of awareness?”
“It’s too early to tell,” he replied.
Her brows drew together. “How do you know this is Persephone and not some other daughter of Demeter?”
“Don’t talk about me as if I’m not in the room,” I snapped.
Captain Caria strode toward me, staring at me hard enough to bore into my soul. “Do you feel any different, now that you’re in Hell?”
Straightening, I swallowed hard. There was no mistaking the power that thrummed in my veins. On the rare occasions Mother gifted me with some of hers to heal sick plants, I’d felt a similar surge. But this power was dark, dangerous, decadent. Somehow, I’d absorbed it from Hades.
The captain tilted her head to the side, her brow crinkling further. She probably thought I was some kind of idiot who had gotten herself stuck in a trap. She was right, but I would use any means to escape.
“What was your question?” I made sure to slur my words.
“Can you feel anything?” she asked in a slower voice.
“I’m scared.” I wrapped my arms around my chest. “And I want my mother.”
Her nostrils twitched, the corners of her lips turning down. She glanced at Hades. “Are you sure about this?”
“Don’t you think I would know my own soulmate?” he snapped.
Captain Caria’s nostrils flared. “Demeter is not without connections. If this scheme of yours backfires—”
“It won’t!”
The fury in his voice made me clutch at my heart. What on earth was their relationship?
She lowered her gaze then inclined her head with a curt bow. “If you don’t need me for anything else, I will take my leave.”
Without a word, she walked out of the room, opened the door, and stepped out into a hallway of tall windows, wooden floors, and long chandeliers. The door clicked shut on any hope that the captain would ever send me back to Mother.
Turning back to Hades, I found him glowering at the door. “Who was she?”
“An annoying brat who believes she’s my second-in-command,” he snarled.
Since it didn’t look like Captain Caria wanted to defy her king, it was time to try a tactic that never failed to subdue Mother. My hand rose to my temple, and I swayed on my feet.
“Oh,” I moaned.
His eyes narrowed. “Problems?”
“I don’t…” I let out a low moan. “Something’s wrong. I don’t feel well.”
Hades scoffed. “This isn’t the first time I’ve abducted you, Persephone. Your childish tricks didn’t sway me before, and they won’t work on me now.”
Annoyance tightened my skin. “Stop calling me that.”
One corner of his lips rose into a half-smile, and he stepped toward me, until we were a mere foot apart. I held my breath, hoping he would at least use my real name. Once he acknowledged me as a person separate from my dead sister, he might decide I wasn’t worth keeping.
“Kora is hardly appropriate,” he said, his voice lilting with amusement.
“Why not?” I asked from between clenched teeth.
He drifted close enough that I could feel the heat of his body and the thrum of his magic against my skin. The air crackled between us like static electricity, and my nostrils filled with the scent of cypress and musk.
“The name means maiden,” he said with a low purr. “I can’t call you Kora because you’re no longer a virgin.”
Heat pulsed between my legs, and my core pulsed with the promise that he’d complete our unfinished business. His presence was a balm against my frayed nerves, but it also caused them to yearn for his touch. Two nights ago, we’d been interrupted, and he’d left my body yearning for more.
“You feel it too?” Hades raised his brows and smirked.
Prickly heat surged across my skin, reminding me of the humiliation I’d suffered so he could secure my abduction with credible witnesses. I swung at him, but he caught my wrist and brought my hand to his lips.
“Let go of me.” I shoved at his chest, but it was like trying to move a wall of hard flesh.
“You’ll find the acclimatization process more pleasurable if you submit,” he said, pressing a kiss on the back of my hand—the same hand where that wretched skull ring had returned.
My skin flushed, my clit throbbed, and every fiber of my being screamed at me to flop down on that bed and let Hades work through my sexual frustration. I shook off that thought. It was bad enough being haunted by a piece of jewelry. If I succumbed to temptation, I would never leave this palace and would forever be stuck in Hell.
“How does that feel?” he said in a voice that curled around my body, and brought mine flush against his. He wrapped an arm around the small of my back, and ground his erection into my belly.
A whimper reverberated in the back of my throat. My soul surged toward him, feeling like there were too many layers between our bodies. I squeezed my eyes shut. This had to be a trick. Black magic. Dark powers or some other nefarious form of seduction. My body could not be responding to a demon, even if he claimed to be a Greek god.
He leaned into me, his lips grazing my earlobe. “Kora.” His hot breath fanned across my skin. “No matter which name you use, which body you inhabit or how much you protest, you will always be my Persephone.”
Persephone.
The name hit me like a splash of cold water. Not the refreshing kind after a sweltering day. This was like how I’d once tried to skate on the pond’s frozen surface. The ice had cracked, submerging me in freezing slime.
I reared back and stumbled over the bedside cabinet, sending a shard of pain across my calf. “Get away from me.”
His gaze dropped to my leg. “Persephone, you’re hurt—”
“You want her.” I slammed my fist into his chest. “You don’t want me.”
He caught my hand without flinching. “What if I could prove to you that you’re one and the same?”
Bile rose to the back of my throat. Anything he produced would be a trick—just as he’d ensnared me with careful manipulations and lies of omission.
I didn’t know what to believe.
One minute, I was an only child, then the next, I had a sister. According to Mother, Persephone was dead. Dead at his hands.
I shook my head. “It wouldn’t matter because I will never want you.”
Hades released me in an instant and stepped back, withdrawing the warmth of his body. I stiffened. This was probably where he gave me an ultimatum, just like villains did on the TV shows. Submit or die, or something along those lines.
Another knock sounded on the door, making my pulse jump.
Hades continued staring at me with an intensity that might have made some women crack, but not me. Any weakness I showed now would dictate how things would go until I finally worked out an escape from Hell. Clenching my teeth, I met his stare with my fiercest glower.
“Send me back,” I snarled. “You can’t keep a living being in Hell.”
His eyes softened. “That would be impossible.”
I tried not to flinch. “Am I dead?”
He shook his head, his lips curving into a sad smile. “I swore to myself that if I ever found you again, I would never let you go.”
Whoever was at the door knocked again.
My chest ached. Hades wasn’t dastardly, he was deluded. “What about what I want?”
He raised a brow. “I won your heart once. What makes you think I can’t do it again?”
My insides convulsed with terror. This was worse than enduring one of Mother’s rages because she was
predictable. Hades, however, was unhinged. I could play along, try to seduce him, and work out a way to escape, but the way he stared at me was unnerving.
It was longing and desire—like I was something precious, even though the woman he loved was dead. I shook off that thought. Pretending to fall in love with him might get me ensnared, or he’d crush me the moment he came to his senses and realized I wasn’t really his wife.
Hades seemed the type of person who needed to be hit over the head with the truth until something stuck. Without meaning to, I backed toward the door with both palms raised the way people did when telling a rabid dog they were a nice doggie.
“I’m not my sister,” I said. “I could never love a demon.”
“You will.” He didn’t move from my bedside, but his eyes tracked my every movement.
My back hit the wall, and I continued edging toward the exit. “And what if I don’t?”
“You will,” he said with a little more bite.
The door behind me opened, and this time I flinched.
“Who dares to interrupt me?” he barked.
The contents my stomach churned with trepidation. How long before I was on the receiving end of that fiery temper?
“Your Majesty?” squeaked a trembling voice from the other side of the door. “I brought brunch.”
“Set it on the table and bring a healer.”
“Sire?” the woman behind me squeaked.
She was my height, but where I was fair-skinned and strawberry blonde, she was as pale as death, with hair that flowed past her shoulders like water. Her green dress floated over her body like a layer of algae on a pond. In her hands was a silver tray, its contents hidden beneath a tall dome.
The woman drifted toward the small dining table and set down her tray before bobbing into a curtsey. “I am Minthe, lady’s maid to the queen.”
“Get out,” Hades snapped.
“Yes, Your Majesty.” She bowed low and backed toward the door.
My eyes narrowed. Why was he so keen to get rid of my supposed lady’s maid? Maybe because he wasn’t ready to admit that the person who was closest to my sister would say that I wasn’t really his dead wife.
