by Bella Klaus
Before I could protest, she disappeared.
“Don’t you need more time with the healer?” I asked. “There’s a garden with medicinal plants—”
“No,” she said, her eyes widening. “The monsters that dwell there would tear me apart.”
I drew my brows together in a frown. “Are you talking about the man-eating plants?”
“The wood sprites,” she said with a shudder. “I’ve prepared the pool, if you would like to bathe.”
“Sure.” I gave her an absent nod, my mind whirring at the strangeness of her words. “Where were you before the Great Divide?”
“I was a freshwater nymph in the River Cocytus.” She pushed open a door that led to a generous bathroom with white marble floors that dipped into a tub large enough to fit eight.
Steam rose from the water, carrying the scent of lavender and lilies which reminded me of the dream I’d had my first night in the garden.
A window took up its entire back wall that offered a view of clouds and mist. Unease tightened my stomach. Why hadn’t Minthe’s injuries healed when there was an antidote to the vines’ toxin? Perhaps it was related to her fear of the sprites?
I turned to her and asked, “Why would Hades make you attend to me when you’re still unwell?”
Her lips tightened, and she hurried to the side of the bath. “I’m fine, and my duties are never-ending.”
“What have you been doing since?” I asked.
She raised a shoulder. “I’m the queen’s handmaiden.”
“Which means?” I spread my arms wide.
Minthe knelt beside the sunken tub and dipped her hand in the water. “His Majesty requires me to maintain the bedroom, run the baths, and serve meals, even when Queen Persephone is not present to make use of them.”
“Oh.” All the breath left my lungs with a blast of realization. This was what Captain Caria had meant when she’d called Hades irrational.
“Will you require my assistance to bathe today?” She raised her gaze from the water and met my eyes.
“Ummm…” I glanced around the bathroom.
Something about this situation was off. From the grieving widower, to the doting servant, to the daughter who knew everything and warned me to get out. Add in a bunch of assassins, my mysterious identity, and the fact that this was taking place in Hell, and the whole situation stank worse than the corpse flowers we used to lure flies out of the greenhouse.
Alarm bells rang through my ears. What if Minthe thought I had sent those plants to attack her and she planned on drowning me in my bath?
With my new power, I could easily defeat a water nymph, but did I want to take the risk just before the Devil’s Ball?
“I can change the water to any fragrance you wish,” Minthe said with a weak smile.
My throat erupted with a nervous laugh. “Actually, I’d prefer a shower.”
“As you wish.” She pulled herself to her feet with a jerky motion.
I raised a hand. “Rest for a bit in the other room. I’ll take care of everything and come out when I’m clean.”
Minthe inclined her head and left the room. As soon as the door clicked shut, I exhaled with relief.
The shower was a gigantic metal circle in the ceiling with a floating cord. It looked easy enough to operate, even without a thermostat.
After giving the cord a gentle tug and releasing the warm spray, I stripped off my clothes and stepped beneath the shower. Its temperature was perfect, with a pressure that pummeled the stiffness from my muscles. Steam rose from the water, making it look like the mist from outside had infiltrated the room. I tilted my head back and exhaled a long breath, letting the cascade wash through my hair.
“Sorry to interrupt.” Minthe’s voice sliced through the roar of water.
My heart jolted, and sparks of electricity burst from my skin, hitting Minthe straight in the chest.
She flew across the room, landing in the tub with a massive splash.
Cold shock shot through my insides. I rushed to the tub and reached into the water, but lightning sparked across my skin.
“Shit.” I snatched my hand away and took a step back, my heart thrashing against my ribcage in time with my pulsing electricity. How on earth was I going to save Minthe without electrocuting her to death?
A large hand landed on my shoulder. I spun around, a lightning bolt in my hand, but Hades grabbed my wrist.
The corners of his lips quirked into a smile. “Good evening, my darling,” he purred. “May I offer you some assistance?”
Chapter Nineteen
My breath hitched. Reaching down with one arm to cup my crotch, I wrapped the other around my boobs and bit my lip.
“This isn’t what it looks like.” My words tumbled over each other.
Hades’ brows rose. “You reduced your lady’s maid to ash for disturbing your shower?”
“No,” I replied with a splutter. “Minthe fell into the bath.”
I thought Hades might glance behind me to see what I was talking about—he must have burst in here to investigate the scream—but his gaze remained fixed on me.
Palpitations squeezed my heart and a similar sensation echoed in the pulse between my legs. That dream I’d had of Hades and Persephone was messing with my head. At a time when I should be panicking that I’d killed a woman, all I could think of was him pinning me against the wall and giving me pleasure.
I shook off that thought. “Minthe’s probably drowning.” My lips trembled with want. “Can you lift her out with your magic?”
Hades drifted forward, closing the distance between us. “She’s a naiad. The bathwater is now healing any injuries she suffered from your lightning strike.”
Some of the tension around my chest loosened, as did the tightness around my shoulders. His logic made a peculiar sort of sense, since I hadn’t electrocuted her for long. “But doesn’t water conduct electricity?”
“If you had hurt Minthe, she would have disintegrated into liquid.”
My gaze darted to the woman lying face-down in the bath. “Not until we make sure she’s alright.”
Hades chuckled. “Pallas, Leuce?”
The water bubbled, and two spouts of foam rose from the surface and coalesced into a pair of women. One of them had hair as blue as the ocean, and the other’s was a cascade of white. I couldn’t say they were naked because their hair was arranged around their breasts, but they certainly didn’t appear shy.
“How may I be of service, Your Majesty?” asked the one with white hair.
“Check on Minthe,” he said.
The blue-haired woman waded through the water, turned Minthe around, and laid her on her back. Minthe stared unseeingly at the ceiling, breathing through her parted lips.
Meanwhile, her white-haired companion pressed an ear onto Minthe’s chest, paused for a few heartbeats, then rose. “She seems fine to me.”
“Splendid.” Hades clapped his hands together.
The two women bowed before disintegrating into foam, leaving Minthe floating on the water’s surface like a corpse.
“Happy now?” Hades asked.
“No.” I waved a hand toward the unconscious naiad. “Were either of those naked women healers?”
His brow furrowed. “You realize that naiads are elements of nature.”
“Does that even mean?”
“She’s going to regenerate just fine.” His gaze dropped to my cleavage before rising to my collarbones, my lips, and then my eyes. “But you’re without a lady’s maid.”
Now that I wasn’t so preoccupied with Minthe’s plight, I could finally notice Hades. Fire burned in his irises, the same burning passion from the dream but without the fury. The being standing before me was eons more confident and smoother than the angry god I had rutted against in my dream.
He wore a crown of golden flames that wrapped around his head like a laurel wreath. A single strip of leather hung down from his left shoulder to his right, ending in a jet-and-diamond-studded bel
t that was buckled with a grinning skull.
A leather kilt hung inches below his hips, exposing muscular thighs. My throat dried. One freak gust of wind, and everyone would see his balls.
His pine and musk scent meandered through my senses, bringing with it a hint of lavender that reminded me of our first flight to Persephone’s garden. It permeated the steam and caressed my skin with the promise of pleasure.
“You’ve been training,” he said, his voice low and seductive. “Let me see the results.”
All the tension between us thickened the air and heated it several degrees. It felt like his hands were everywhere and coaxing me to close the distance between us, climb his hard body, and reenact that erotic dream.
The pounding between my thighs quickened. Sweat beaded on my brow, and moisture gathered between my folds. I stepped back into the cascade of water to cool off. “Are you asking me to strike you with lightning?”
“Shy all of a sudden?” His deep voice echoed between my ears.
I bit down on my bottom lip and moaned. This man already knew that I yearned for him and there wasn’t a thing I could do to deny our attraction.
Captain Caria’s words rang through my ears. I needed to leave Hell, not give Hades an excuse to make me want to stay. Just when I thought he might back away and leave me to shower in peace, he stepped beneath the water and stared down at me with eyes that blazed.
“What are you doing?” My tongue darted out to lick my lips.
Hades’ nostrils flared. “Taking a better look at you.”
“You can’t just enter a woman’s shower without her permission. Get out.”
He grinned, baring brilliant white teeth.
My eyes flashed. “I said leave, not laugh.”
His grin grew wider. “Do you know how to wrap a chiton?”
“No.” My mind conjured up the image of a silk dress I had worn to the masquerade ball. “But I’m not going to learn anything when I’m standing here naked and wet.”
He leaned down, his lips grazing my ear. “You’re wet for me?”
My throat dried, and my arms twitched to give him a hard shove. But acts of violence against Hades might result in being pressed to the wall by his hard body and restrained by the wrists.
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Tell me what you want,” he drawled.
A little voice in the back of my head screamed a warning. This was a distraction from all my unanswered questions, and if I played along with Hades, I might end up pressed against the wall and pleasured into forgetfulness. Captain Caria had warned me to leave Hell if I got the opportunity, but Hades was trying to sweep away my reservations with his charm.
I lowered my head. “Where were you these past days? I called out into our bond but you didn’t reply.”
He exhaled a long breath. “A quarter of my most able demons are now barely more powerful than wraiths, and disgruntled elements within the faction are questioning the leadership of the Fifth.”
My throat dried. “They’re causing trouble?”
“Grumbling, mostly, and a little talk of revolution,” Hades said. “A few public eviscerations have silenced the ringleaders for now, but we won’t have to worry about them until long after the ball.”
“We?” I tilted up my head to meet his eyes. “What happens after tonight?”
The fire in his irises dimmed, and his expression turned neutral. He stepped out of the shower, the water on his skin evaporating into steam.
“That’s entirely your decision. I still mean to fulfill my end of the bargain and allow you to leave.”
My eyes narrowed. “But you said ‘we.”
“I meant it as a figure of speech.” Hades swept his arm toward the bathroom door and offered me what he probably thought was a gentlemanly smile. “Allow me to help you into the chiton Minthe laid out for you.”
“Why can’t I dress myself?” I asked, trying to suppress a smile.
Hades offered me his hand. “Come with me, and I’ll explain everything.”
I stepped out of the shower, but he blocked my way.
“Give me your hand,” he said.
“This?” I raised the one I’d been using to shield my boobs.
Hades shook his head and wrapped his fingers around the wrist at my crotch. With the gentlest of movements, he brought that hand to his face, took a deep sniff, and groaned.
The sound went straight to my sex, making me clench with need.
“What on earth are you doing?” I whispered.
“Preparing you for the Devil’s Ball.” He cupped the side of my face with his large hand, and heat pulsed across my every nerve ending. The water on my skin evaporated into mist.
A whimper reverberated in the back of my throat.
“You look so perfect, standing there beautiful and naked,” he said. “But I don’t want those other bastards admiring what’s mine.”
Out of habit, I parted my lips to remind him that I wasn’t Persephone, but the words registered. He hadn’t once called me by the name of his dead wife.
“What am I going to wear tonight?” I asked.
He raised his fingers, and swathes of leather drifted in through the gap in the bathroom door and caressed my waist. It was the softest suede with a pile so velvety and smooth I might have mistaken it for silk.
Throughout this, Hades’ gaze never left mine.
“You’ve made clothes before?” I whispered.
“Gods have existed in one form or another since the void before everything began,” he murmured. “If we can fashion a world out of the chaos, I can certainly put together a gown befitting to your beauty.”
“Now you sound like Cinderella’s fairy godmother,” I said.
“That’s Eir, the Norse goddess of protection and mercy. After the Divide, she moved to the realm of the faeries.”
My eyes bulged. “Are you serious?”
Hades’ gaze dropped to my lips. “Nothing I’ve said to you since the day we met has been an exaggeration or a lie. I hope you will realize this by the end of tonight.”
My brows drew together. There was so much to decipher from that statement, but the threat of the ball loomed over me like a rusty sword.
“Will we be able to fool the deity into giving me Persephone’s power?”
“You are my wife,” he said, meaning every word. “And the joint occupant of my throne.”
I held my breath, waiting for him to elaborate on if he meant that I was his new wife or his old. When he remained silent, I asked, “Is that because you’re a widower who remarried or because you still think I’m Persephone?”
Hades brought my knuckles to his lips. “Kora, Persephone, the mysterious goddess without a name… in my eyes, there is no difference.”
An ache formed in my heart. It was like he couldn’t yet face the truth. “But the magic knows I’m different—”
He pressed his finger to my lips. “The day that bastard summoned us to his realm and told us he had reorganized the Underworlds and the Lands of the Death into a single realm called Hell, he didn’t specify who should become joint rulers.”
“But you chose to split your throne with Persephone?”
“The Underworld throne was originally mine,” he replied with a nod. “I divided it so my wife could rule at my side.”
My gaze rose to meet his eyes, which were now an ocean blue and shimmering with the light of the truth.
“Why didn’t you reunite it when the Fifth Faction got into trouble?”
“The Supernatural World moves so quickly compared to the domain of gods,” he said with a sad smile. “Caria told you how I had lost a portion of my power?”
I nodded.
“That incident happened six months ago, between Samhain and Yule. Samael’s other attempts to destabilize the Faction took place decades before. Joining my thrones would have made little difference.”
“Why not?” I asked.
His lips tightened. “The bastard who rations out
the power to protect our Factions only pays us once every hundred years.”
My heart ached. If tonight didn’t go as Hades planned, it could mean trouble for him, for Caria, for Minthe, and everyone else I’d met during my stay in Hell. I doubted that a monster like Samael would protect Persephone’s innocent dryads.
“And…” His voice trailed off.
I leaned forward, my breath catching. “What else?”
“Reuniting my throne would have meant admitting to myself that she was gone. The hope that my wife will return to my side means more to me than all the power in Hell.” He took my hand again and led me out of the bathroom.
The first thing I noticed as I stepped into the marble bedroom was the golden chariot floating outside the window, attached to a quartet of black horses. Each horse wore a bridle of gold with matching diamond-studded harnesses. They stared into the room with glowing eyes. Flame curled from their parted mouths, and their manes billowed with smoke.
I grabbed his arm with my free hands. “Are those the equine equivalent of hellhounds?”
“Those are Hellsteeds, nearly impossible to tame.” He steered me toward a tall mirror and positioned himself behind me, his fingers stretching out a curl. “What do you think? Do you need more weapons, or will the bident suffice?”
My eyes bulged at our reflection.
The bodice was two strips of fabric that started from a pair of golden shoulder plates that had been fashioned into flames. Each covered a breast before flaring out to join a thick belt that hung low on my hips. The same skull from before formed the buckle, its diamond eyes twinkling in the light.
Splits at both sides revealed glimpses of my thighs, but the rest of the fabric draped down past my ankles, forming a small train on the floor.
“I don’t look like myself,” I murmured.
Hades stood behind me, holding aloft a tall crown of golden flames that appeared more like a battle helmet. He lowered it onto my head, where its headband ended at my brow with a dip at the bridge of my nose. “You’re the Queen of the Fifth Faction.”
“The Demon Queen,” I said with a gulp.
“A goddess,” he replied, his voice harsh with conviction. “My wife. Now, summon the bident.”
