“I’m sorry your family doesn’t come see you more often,” I said softly.
“I’m used to it,” he said, raising his glass and taking a sip. “No one wants to come frolic around death. Even back when we were really worshiped by people, I never got much power from that. They were afraid of me, not wanting to be brought here sooner than they should be. Ironically enough, thanks to modern animation and romance novels, I have quite a few people who like me now, while everyone else has fallen to the wayside.”
He chuckled, leaning back in his chair, seemingly totally relaxed.
Right then, more doors opened and our dinner started rolling out, looking just as good as it smelled. My mouth watered staring at it, awe at the whole display overtaking me. I’d never seen anything like it. No doubt, Jack had been working his crew hard to get it ready for us.
“You like duck, right?” Hades asked as they filled our plates.
“I guess so,” I laughed. “I can’t remember one instance where I’ve eaten it, at the moment.”
“It’s delicious,” he said, picking up his fork. “One of my favorites.”
“It looks wonderful,” I said honestly. “All of this does.”
Once our dishes were laid out and the servers left, musicians began filing into the room, taking their seats on the stage. They weren’t dressed the same, as they would have been at a normal concert, but appeared to be wearing clothes from their own time periods, like the people who lived on the Islands of the Blessed.
“Oh!” I said suddenly. “Mozart! You meant, actual, real Mozart?!”
“Of course,” he laughed. “Who did you think I meant?”
“It didn’t occur to me,” I said, blushing. “I’ve never been a huge classical music fan, I mean I like it and all, but Mozart is definitely one I’ve heard of.”
“He’s one of my favorites, actually. I enjoy sitting in front of the fire with some wine and listening to recordings. Music has come a long way over the ages, but there are some styles you just can’t beat.”
After all of the musicians were seated, a man came into the room, baton in hand, and I stared in awe at one of the most famous composers I’d ever heard of. It didn’t matter I’d hardly listened to his style of music back home, I was giddy with anticipation over seeing something I never would have had the privilege of before.
The music started and I let myself get lost in it for a few minutes, forgetting I had food to eat and a date to visit with. It didn’t seem right to talk while there was a performance going on, though. I couldn’t hardly tear my eyes away from the stage.
“Stunning, isn’t it?” Hades asked after the first number ended, the two of us clapping as the master turned and bowed in thanks.
“Yes,” I exclaimed. “It’s like watching a masterpiece unfold right in front of us.”
“There really isn’t anything quite like seeing the composer work,” he agreed. “It’s his original vision that gets portrayed. Others can try to copy it, but nothing ever gets it just right.”
The next song started and I remembered to eat this time, still eagerly watching everyone as I did so. I wondered who the musicians were, if they were all from the Islands as well. That would mean they had achieved fame, too. I was sitting in a room full of supremely accomplished individuals.
Dinner passed by in a flurry, the music carrying me away to different worlds. I was almost sad I hadn’t spent more time listening to it before. I was so caught up, I didn’t even notice food being taken or replaced around me, my wine being refilled, or even what Hades was doing the entire time. All I knew was that when it was over, I couldn’t wait for the next time I got to go to such a concert.
“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” Hades said, rising from his seat and coming around to pull my chair out.
“It was fantastic,” I gushed. “I can’t believe I put so little stock in it before.”
“Well, are you ready for the next part of the night?”
“There’s more?” I laughed. “What else could we possibly do?”
“Come with me,” he said, smiling as he took my hand again.
I felt the butterflies erupt in my stomach at his touch and turned away so he wouldn’t see me blushing.
We left the dining hall, myself clueless as to where he was taking me. Soon, though, I heard more music coming from the ballroom ahead of us.
“Dancing?” I asked, a huge grin on my face.
He merely smiled at me, nodding to a servant who opened one of the huge doors for us.
The sounds of music from my own time rained down on us and I laughed excitedly again, seeing the band set up and the wide, open floor waiting for us.
“May I have this dance?” he asked, nodding to the space with his own devilish grin.
“I would be honored,” I said, all but pulling him out to dance.
How long we stayed in there was a mystery to me. It seemed we did every type of dance there was, including all of the cheesy ones, until my feet ached and we found ourselves slow dancing to a ballad straight out of my mom’s eighties albums.
“You’re getting tired,” Hades said, his arms pulling me closer, tightening around my waist.
“A little,” I yawned, resting my head on his shoulder.
“We can go. Get you tucked into your bed,” he whispered, leaning his head to rest on mine.
“Not yet,” I giggled. “I’m not ready for the night to be over.”
“We can do it again,” he said. “Every night can be like this if you want.”
“Wouldn’t that get boring?” I laughed, picking my head up and looking into his eyes. “Aren’t dates supposed to be special occasions?”
“Maybe,” he said, shrugging. “I don’t want this to end, though, the way we are together now. I don’t want to go back to fighting all the time and hating each other.”
I stopped dancing, looking at him seriously.
“It won’t ever be that way again,” I said softly. “I promise. That’s not who I am.”
“I want to believe you,” he said quietly. “But there’s this nagging feeling that I’m missing something, that I shouldn’t trust you with anything.”
“I never gave you a reason to before,” I said sadly. “I understand completely why you would feel that way.”
“You’re different, though,” he said, pulling me even closer until our bodies were all but crushed against each other. “Something happened while you were gone this time. It’s like I don’t even hardly know you now.”
“Is that a bad thing?” I asked as he leaned in.
“No.”
His lips brushed against mine softly, sweetly. It was a kiss intended to be chaste and short, but ended up going a different direction, as it had the night before.
His hands grabbed my hips, anchoring them against him as he kissed me deeper, his tongue slipping into my mouth momentarily.
I gasped at the sudden, happy intrusion, wrapping my arms around his neck and allowing my fingers to tangle into his hair some. As if he had the idea at the same time, one of his hands left my hip and grabbed the back of my head, holding our mouths together with a gentle force there.
I was melting again, exploding on the inside, wishing that the moment would last forever, that his arms would never release me and I would live eternally in his embrace. I wanted to be carried away in his grasp, lost for all time to everything else.
Slowly, he pulled away from me, his eyes burning brightly with more than just flames.
“I think it’s time we get ourselves to bed,” he said. “Our own beds.”
“Yeah,” I agreed weakly, sad to have the moment end so soon.
“I’ll walk you up,” he said, clearing his throat. “I think I can handle myself for that long.”
He smiled wolfishly again and I was at a loss for words.
I needed to find that helmet soon or my feelings were going to blow my cover.
Chapter Seventeen
“Do I look all right?” I asked nervously, tryin
g to straighten the hem of my dress as we walked up the golden steps.
“You look fine,” Hades laughed, taking my hand in his. “Just like you did when you asked before we left, when you picked this dress out last week, and when I told you we were going to Poseidon’s engagement party the week before that.”
“I haven’t asked that many times,” I said, rolling my eyes and bumping my shoulder into him.
“You might as well have,” he said, stopping on the step above me and pulling me into his arms. “Every time I see you, all I can think is how beautiful you are.”
He leaned in and kissed me greedily, grabbing my butt over the silky fabric of my dress.
“Hey,” I gasped, pulling away and slapping his hand. “Stop that!”
“I can’t help it,” he said, laughing as he grabbed me into his embrace again.
He’d been getting more and more affectionate over the past few weeks, as we continued to do things together and grow closer together. If I was honest with myself, I loved it, even with the veins under my eyes darkening daily. I didn’t know how much longer I would be able to hide it with makeup, but every time I thought about it, I decided it was a problem for another time.
My feelings for Hades didn’t seem to be the only thing growing. If I didn’t know better, I would think that he was reciprocating. It seemed foolish to think he could fall for me as well, especially after he’d so clearly stated he didn’t trust me before. It was unlikely that a few weeks worth of dates and making out would change his mind.
Wonderful dates and wild, passionate make outs that made my toes curl.
He kissed me again, softly this time, before pulling away and smiling, rubbing a thumb over my cheek as his fingers pulled from my hair.
“We better get in there, before they start to miss us,” I said reluctantly.
“Eh. I doubt they’ll even notice we came with everyone else here. We could turn right back around and do . . . Something more worthwhile.”
“Would you stop it,” I giggled pressing myself against him as he grabbed me again. “We’re going, no matter how you try to tempt me away.”
“Can’t blame a guy for trying,” he said, releasing his hold on my waist and taking my hand. “For the first time ever, I think I actually would have preferred staying home with the company I had there.”
He winked, pulling me up the stairs after him, leading me towards the faint sounds of music and laughter coming from somewhere at the top.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to go back with Hades and blow everyone off, because honestly that sounded just as fun as going to this party. However, the fact that I was actually on Mount Olympus was holding my interest pretty tightly. It didn’t appear we were likely to be invited out very much either, and I thought it would be good for Hades to be above ground for a while.
We’d used a door much like the ones in the maze to get here, stepping straight out of the heat and firelight into the last fading rays of the sun. It was all I could do to stop from jumping for joy at seeing it. I’d grown accustomed to my temporary home, but nothing compared to feeling that light on your face.
As we headed through the palace we’d entered into, I tried not to gawk at everything and act like I’d been here before. It was so incredibly hard to do. Some of the halls seemed to go on forever, endless doors hiding the many secrets and treasures held here. The floors shone brightly, their marble finish polished to perfection. Unlike the Underworld, everything here seemed to be white or gold, bright and welcoming in every way. Beautiful sculptures and fountains were situated at various points, adding to the otherworldly beauty present here.
Eventually, we left the part of the building we’d been walking through and came to the stairs we were now ascending. Bright flowers lined the edges and somewhere in the open garden I could hear running water.
Finally, we reached the top of the steps and the party laid out in front of us, a small, plant lined path leading the rest of the way. Fairy lights hung in the air, sparkling softly over the few tables I could see. It looked like there was a large open space where most of the people were standing, some of them dancing to the music being played by a few musicians off to one side.
We followed the path out to the party, hands clasped tightly together and smiles on our faces. A few of the people we passed voiced greetings, surprise on their faces as they watched us.
It was shaping up to be an interesting night, for sure.
We passed the line of tables lining the grassy area that everyone else occupied and wound our way through the crowd, having decided before hand to get our greeting to the happy couple out of the way first. More surprised looks and greetings were offered by others as we slipped by, everyone obviously either expecting us not to show up or at least to not be so friendly with each other.
“Hades, you made it!” Poseidon said, finally catching sight of us and moving to throw his arms around his brother.
“Whoa,” Hades laughed, untangling himself. “Had a touch to drink, have we?”
“I can’t help it,” Poseidon laughed, waving his hand. “I’m so happy! You would be hugging everyone, too.”
“I highly doubt it,” Hades smirked.
“Persephone!”
Poseidon turned to me then, giving me a hug just as big as his brother’s. “So happy you’re here. Have you met my fiancé?”
He released me and turned to the woman behind him, grabbing her hand and pulling her into his arms.
“I, uh,” I stammered, not sure if Persephone ever had or not.
“We didn’t get to talk at all,” the woman said, smiling warmly. “You kind of stole the whole show by not being dead, remember?”
“That’s right,” Poseidon said, smiling down at her, a love that could destroy nations in his eyes.
“I’m Audrey,” she laughed, looking over at me again. “It’s very nice to meet you, officially.”
“The pleasure is all mine,” I said happily. “Congratulations on your engagement.”
“Yeah, don’t take three lifetimes to pick a wedding date, like you did with this party,” Hades joked.
“Karly actually decided to throw the party,” Audrey laughed. “She felt we were being too slow as well.”
“It’s all those wave like emotions,” Hades snickered. “Keeps you from ever being solid about anything.”
“Well, my feelings for Audrey are definitely solid,” Poseidon chuckled, leaning in and kissing her on the forehead.
“We would all hope so,” a voice said from behind me.
Hades and I both turned, eyes landing on a beautiful woman who was obviously pregnant.
“Karly,” Hades said in welcome. “The party is lovely.”
“Thank you, Hades,” she said with a grin. “I’m glad you could make it. Zeus was saying that you were pretty busy with things back at home.”
“Oh really?” Hades asked intrigued.
“Yes. However, I didn’t exactly get the impression they were work things.”
She smiled knowingly at me and chuckled.
“How are you, Persephone? It’s been a while since we last saw each other.”
“Very well, thank you,” I said, blushing. “I see that congratulations are in order for you as well. How are you feeling?”
“Wonderful, for once,” she laughed. “I expect that Zeus will descend at any moment, though, insisting I sit down and rest for a while.”
“What a good husband,” I chuckled. “Watching out for his wife and baby.”
“He is a wonderful man,” she said.
“Well, we will get out of everyone’s way,” Hades said, wrapping an arm around my waist. “I would like to dance with my wife.”
He smiled at everyone and pulled me away, towards where other gods and goddesses were dancing.
A thrill went through me as he dragged me along. I loved hearing him claim me, telling others that I was his alone. The way he held onto me only made me want to kiss him more, to show him I wanted him to be mine just
as much.
We danced for several songs, clinging to each other and laughing as we talked, doing our best to keep the public displays of affection to a minimum. Even so, there were a few lingering kisses we couldn’t help.
As the night went on, it became apparent we were among the talk of the evening. I could hear the whispers around us and see people looking, but I didn’t care.
“They’re surprised,” Hades whispered into my ear, holding me close during a slow dance. “Our relationship has always been one they felt they should pity, taking sides. I kind of love seeing them all with their jaws on the ground now.”
“Me too,” I giggled, wrapping my arms around him tighter. “Let them look. This is what happiness looks like.”
“Are you really happy?” He asked, pulling away slightly to look at me.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” I asked with a smile. “I’m with the most handsome man in the room, locked in his arms.”
“You’ve never told me that you were happy spending time with me before.”
“I would have thought it was obvious, what with me telling you what a good time I was having,” I snickered.
“This is different, though,” he said, reaching up and brushing a strand of hair from my face. “You’ve never told me you were happy. Not once in the entire time that we’ve been together.”
I smiled at him, running my hands over his shoulders and smoothing his jacket. A sadness pricked at me, knowing he’d spent so long with someone who never took the time to discover who he really was, but instead chose to focus only on the bad.
“I am happy,” I said softly. “The happiest I have ever been in my life. You gave that to me. You make me happy.”
His eyes looked into mine for what felt like a lifetime, a mysterious emotion in them I’d never seen before. Suddenly, he stopped our dance and leaned in, holding me tenderly as he kissed me. It was different from the many ways he’d kissed me before, like he was trying to convey something to me through it. My heart melted at his touch, my mind and body completely lost to him.
“I want to show you something,” he said quietly as he pulled away. “Tomorrow morning.”
Hades (The God Chronicles #3) Page 13
