by Bella Klaus
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Something to keep you going during your captivity,” she replied. “Have you had anything to eat or drink yet?”
I shook my head. “Only in a restaurant called Duck Island.”
“Hades took you out already?” She glanced around the room, her brows rising. “When I came down here, I expected to find you tied up in a sex dungeon. It looks like he might be trying to make you fall in love.”
My throat dried. “I heard he abducted you.”
Queen Mera’s features stilled. “Did you hear that from Hades?”
I shook my head. “How did you get rid of him?”
“With great difficulty,” she replied, her lips tightening with remembered annoyance. “I was one of the few who didn’t give him what he wanted, but it took a blood ritual, an angry vampire, and a sharp trident for Hades to finally get the message.”
Another knock sounded on the door. “Your Majesty?” Minthe poked her head into the room. “His Majesty says your five minutes are up unless you want to spend the next century in a gilded cage.”
“Sorry, I’ve got to go.” Queen Mera placed the box in my hands and rose from her seat. “If I don’t return to your mother in time, she’ll transform London into a desert. Greek gods are troublesome when they turn bad.”
I stood, and watched her hurry out of the room. The visit had been short, but I had learned a few things.
One, no matter what he said, Hades was fickle. He would soon tire of me if I gave him what he wanted.
Two, Mother was determined to get me back.
Three, my bargain with Hades was the only way I could escape them both and spend the rest of my life as a free woman.
The door clicked shut behind the Fire Queen, and I opened the box to find it crammed full of different color bonbons. An infinity charm was etched on its lid, indicating that she had brought me an unending supply.
I licked my lips. Aunt Vesta had once brought a box like this for a tea party with the rest of the coven. Mother had allowed me one before sending me to bed because of corporality sickness.
“Bloody bitches,” I snapped. “They must all have known I wasn’t really sick. And Pirithous.”
The first bonbon I chose was a pale pink with a dusting of powdered sugar. It tasted like strawberries and melted in my mouth. Next, I picked a blue one, which dissolved into fresh water.
My eyes bulged. “This isn’t a box of candies. It’s a survival pack.”
I lowered myself onto the sofa and took my time getting to know each flavor. The green bonbons melted into bites of salad, the dark brown ones contained lamb, and the light brown ones were chicken.
There were twelve flavors in all, and each time I selected a bonbon, another would appear in its place. I shook my head and stared down at the selection with awe. This was completely different from Aunt Vesta’s chocolates.
Something tickled my ankle. I glanced down to find a vine of ivy had sprouted from beneath the sofa and was snaking around my leg.
I closed the box, set it down, and frowned. “What the hell—”
Another vine appeared from the back of the sofa and encircled my wrist, knocking a bonbon from my fingers.
As I stood, a third vine wrapped around my neck and dragged me back onto the sofa. I fell onto my back with a shocked gasp. Before I could scream for help, ferns sprouted from the sofa cushion and burrowed into my nostrils and mouth, trying to snake down my throat.
My heart thundered, and bolts of lightning shot from my fingers, my arms, my mouth, and the scent of burning vegetation filled the air. Plants were my friends. They’d always grown under my care and sympathized with my frustrations. Why would they attack me in Hell?
Clenching my teeth, I pushed out my power and burned the vines around my neck, but they returned, stronger, thicker, and more determined to hold me captive. I jerked off the sofa, but the plants were so entwined with the furniture that the whole thing toppled over.
The door opened. “Your Majesty—”
Whatever Minthe had been about to say was cut off by a scream, followed by a loud thud. My stomach plummeted. The plants had gotten to her, too.
I crawled out from under the upturned sofa to find vines covering the floor, the wall, the ceiling. They swallowed up Minthe, dragged me back into the couch, and wrapped around me like a cocoon. No matter how quickly I burned them away with my lightning, they kept returning.
One of the vines around my neck sprouted thorns and burrowed into my skin. When I burned it away, it returned twice as thick.
A palpitation of terror tore into my heart.
My power was feeding them.
I was making them grow.
Just as the foliage became dense enough to cut out the light, flames tore across the room, accompanied by the scent of brimstone. The plants strangling me withered and died and crumbled to ash.
I rolled out from under the upturned sofa.
Hades stood in the middle of the room, his eyes wide with terror. “Persephone?”
“Kora.”
He disappeared from where he stood, reappeared at my side, and helped me to my feet. He wrapped his strong arms around my back and pulled me into his broad chest.
“Are you hurt?” he murmured into my hair.
“Samael has gotten to someone else.”
He drew back, his brow furrowed, and stared deep into my eyes. “What are you talking about?”
I stared at him for several heartbeats, wondering why he would ask such a peculiar question when he’d just rescued me from a second assassination attempt. “Someone just tried to kill me?”
Hades cupped my face with both hands. “Those plants were Persephone’s signature attack. No matter how many times they’re destroyed, they return thicker, stronger, and more determined to kill.”
I reared back. “She attacked me?”
He shook his head. “You must have done this to yourself.”
Chapter Thirteen
My knees buckled, but Hades’ strong arm around the small of my back kept me upright. I glanced around the ruined room, my heart clattering against my ribcage.
Assassins, I could understand—the Fifth Faction of Hell contained some of the most powerful beings who ever lived and had the potential to make Samael the strongest Demon King—but the alternative was unthinkable.
I rested my head against his broad shoulder, breathing hard enough to burn my lungs with the air so laden with brimstone.
There was no way I had attacked myself.
“Persephone,” he said.
The concern in his voice sliced through my musings, and my head snapped up. Hades met my eyes with irises as blue as flames.
“We need to heal those wounds before the poison sets in.”
“Who’s doing this?” I whispered.
He took my hand. “This is your power—”
“No.” I pulled away and stepped back from his embrace. “This has to be Samael or one of his minions. I’ve never hurt myself like this. I’ve never had any powers, but the moment I enter Hell, there’s lightning erupting from my skin and it’s feeding the plants.”
Hades closed the distance between us and placed his hands on my shoulders. His brows drew together, and the corners of his eyes creased with pain. “Persephone’s poisonous plants feed on the power of their victims.” The weight of his conviction crushed my chest, making it hard to breathe. “Until now, they never turned on her.”
My throat thickened. The man was so deep in denial that he couldn’t see the truth:
I
Was
Not
Persephone
I squeezed my eyes shut and focused on my wounds. The vines had created deep slashes across my limbs. And where there weren’t gashes, it felt like a thousand paper cuts crisscrossing every inch of my skin.
Hades could think what he wanted for now. I needed to get this poison out.
“Is there a healer?” I opened my eyes.
He shook hi
s head. “Only one plant can counteract Persephone’s poison. Let me take you to the antidote.”
Hades’ fingers intertwined with mine, and we walked toward the door, passing piles of what used to be furniture.
“Minthe,” I whispered.
“What about her?”
“I heard her come in while I was under attack,” I murmured. “The plants must have gotten to her, too.”
Hades growled. “They have never attacked her before.”
I bit down on my bottom lip, not wanting to waste time rehashing the argument.
With a flick of his wrist, he parted the debris, revealing what appeared to be a rolled up fern.
“She survived.” He wrapped an arm around my back and pulled me into his side.
I stared down at the peculiar plant, but before I could take a better look at it, our surroundings vanished, and we hovered hundreds of feet above a landscape of villages separated by brick roads.
Hades’ black wings stretched out above us like a hang-glider, their glossy feathers glinting in the light. The only thing stopping me from plummeting to my death was his strong arm around my waist.
My stomach lurched. “Where are we?”
“This is the edge of the Asphodel Meadows,” he said over the sound of the wind. “Persephone’s garden can only be approached by air.”
“Did she have wings like yours?” I asked.
He shook his head. “When we ran the Underworld together, Persephone fashioned wings out of ginkgo leaves.” His wings sliced through the air, propelling us forward. “I obtained these after the Great Divide, when they cordoned off my Underworld into the Fifth.”
At the edge of the last village, he swooped down, passing a fast-flowing river with white foam crashing on its banks, and passed a clover-green field bordered by a thick barrier of lavender plants.
I stared down, my eyes wide. “This doesn’t look like Hell.”
“Only small parts of the Fifth take on the appearance of Dante’s Inferno,” he replied.
The wind changed, and all the cuts on my body stung, making me hiss.
“I’ll tend to your wounds soon,” he murmured, his voice rough.
The air thickened, but Hades’ wings propelled us through what felt like a ward, and we swooped toward a clearing bordered by tall fig trees and banana plants.
Several paths branched out from the clearing, like spokes on a wheel. Each was lined with food-bearing plants that leaned forward in subtle bows, looking like they were intelligent.
My throat dried. This was exactly like my greenhouse at home, except on a much larger scale.
“What did you say this place was?” I asked.
“Persephone’s garden.” Hades landed by a peculiarly shaped tree that was mostly made of knots with yellow foliage and stubby branches the length of my forearm. He walked toward it and tore off a leaf.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Her panacea plant.” He ripped the leaf in half, releasing droplets of a thick green liquid that resembled aloe vera. “This was the only substance that could counter her poison.”
As he turned to pluck another leaf, my knees buckled, but a banana leaf appeared at my back and bent itself into a seat.
Hades gazed down at me, his eyes soft. “They recognize you.”
I bowed my head and stared down at my cuts and scratches on my arm. “Am I going mad?”
“You seem perfectly sane to me, if not a little rattled.”
Maybe this was an elaborate ploy to gaslight me into believing I was really Persephone. I bit down on my lip and frowned. Why would he go so far, when he’d already secured me here under the court’s ruling that we had married at the masquerade ball?
A little face peeped out from behind the tree, belonging to a girl the size of a seven-year-old. She stared at me through innocent green eyes, and the corners of her lips curled into a shy smile.
I blinked, and she disappeared.
“Hades,” I whispered. “We’re not alone.”
“What are you talking about?” he asked.
“I thought I saw someone watching us.”
“No one may enter this garden without Persephone’s permission. Not even me.” With a frown, Hades poured a few of the drops on my left hand. Black liquid oozed out of the cuts and spilled down my fingers. As it hit the ground, the grass beneath us parted.
My breath caught. “That’s the poison?”
“It’s usually lethal,” he replied.
“Why haven’t I died yet?” I tilted my head up to meet his eyes.
Hades gazed down at me, his brows furrowing. “Most poisons don’t work on gods.”
I ran a hand through my hair and exhaled a long breath. Madame Lorraine had called me a new goddess, and if both my parents were also gods, then I wasn’t going to argue with Hades about my species. “What does the poison do to us, then?”
“It numbs the nervous system, slowing down the reflexes, much like alcohol.” He placed a few more drops on the other hand, and more of the black substance oozed out. “I’m going to have to remove your dress to see where else the plants attacked.”
My heart thudded, and I locked eyes with the Demon King.
His features were calm, still, but the flames flickering behind his irises said he was suppressing his excitement.
Warmth gathered low in my belly at the prospect of being nude in front of Hades, and the muscles of my core clenched.
He knelt before me, holding the tie of my wrap dress between his fingers. “May I?” he said in a deep voice I felt across my nipples. “It’s the only way to make sure I’ve extricated all the poison.”
“Alright,” I rasped.
He unfastened the bow with gentle touches, letting the ties of my dress fall loose. Then he rose to his feet and offered me his hand. “Stand up.”
As soon as our fingers touched, invisible sparks flew across my skin. I sucked in a shuddering breath and let him help me to my feet. The pulse in my throat fluttered in time with the butterflies in my stomach. I had no idea where this would lead, but after the day I’d had, I could use the distraction.
The front of my dress fell open, and Hades slipped his fingers beneath the silk of my dress, only grazing my skin with the lightest of touches. He pushed the fabric back from my shoulders, letting the garment fall to the grass and disappear.
“And I’ll need to take off your underwear,” he said, his voice hoarse.
My throat dried. “Right.”
He reached behind me, unhooked my bra, and eased the straps over my shoulders, trying to avoid my lacerated skin. The cuts didn’t sting so much in the garden’s humid air, but a warm draft meandered across my skin and made me shiver.
My bra drifted down to the grass, but I was too busy staring at Hades to notice if it would sink into the foliage. The fire in his eyes burned hotter, and the atmosphere between us sizzled with anticipation.
His fingers skimmed the lace of my knickers. “May I?”
Heat rose to my cheeks. The night before, everything had happened in a whirlwind, and he’d vanished our clothes with his magic. I had thought he was a light mage I would never see again, but I knew more about him today.
One, this was Hades, the King of Demons.
Two, he truly believed I was his wife.
Three, he was staring at me as though I was the last pomegranate in the desert.
“May I take off your knickers?” he asked.
I dipped my head. “Alright.”
Hades took his time, sliding the silk-and-lace fabric over my hips, down my thighs, and past my knees. He took my hand, helping me step out of them, all the while breathing as hard as a racehorse.
I thought he would kiss me or glide his fingers over my skin and lavish me with pleasure, but he drizzled more of the panacea leaf over my skin.
Rivulets of black liquid oozed out from the cuts, pouring down my body like droplets of rain. Throughout this, I stared into his wide pupils, as transfixed with him as he was with me
.
“How do you feel now?” he asked.
I rolled my shoulders, and all the stinging had gone. “Better. How does it look?”
“It will be hard to tell if all the poison is out until we get rid of the liquid clinging to your skin.”
“Is there a bathing pool here?” I glanced at the panacea tree over his shoulder, its knobby branch swaying in the direction of an apple tree-lined path that seemed the logical place to put a pond or a water feature.
“Shall we?” Hades offered me his arm.
“One second.” Using a technique Mother had taught me whenever she had lent me her magic, I raised a hand, and fig leaves drifted down from the tall fig tree and settled over my breasts, crotch and ass.
He smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “You weren’t so modest when we met.”
The corners of my lips twitched. “If I had known you were leading me into a trap, I might have exercised more caution.”
He wrapped an arm around the small of my back and tucked me under his arm. “It wouldn’t have mattered because the moment our lips touched, I knew you would be mine forever.”
“Did you know who I was when you saw me at Mother’s house?” I asked.
Hades continued down the path with his head tilted to the side as though deep in thought. “I knew she had hidden you from me, and I also knew she had been evading me for centuries. When I visited a friend in a demonic coffeeshop, I passed a hellcat who had your scent.”
My eyes narrowed. “Are you talking about Dami?”
He nodded.
“What did you do to her?”
“Nothing,” he said. “Hellcats are notoriously loyal. I had no idea if she had formed a contract with you, your mother, or someone connected to your household.”
The apple trees ended, and tall raffia plants swayed in the breeze. At the end of the path, a pool lay recessed in the ground, decorated by the same pink and white water lilies as the small water feature in my greenhouse.
I turned to Hades to demand answers, but he’d already vanished his clothes. Swallowing hard, I forced my gaze to remain on his broad shoulders and prominent chest.
“Then…” My mind blanked. What were we talking about? Had he sent demons to watch over after Dami? “How did you find me?”
