He was as he usually was, lying on the bed, nibbling on a tray of cheeses and nuts and reading a book. He had a very dark, sexy nerd appeal to him when he did that. It drove me wild.
Yanking the tale of Oliver Twist from his hands, I tossed the first-edition treasure over my shoulder and kissed him.
“It’s happening, Death Boy, the tide is turning. Tomorrow you’ll have your pardon.”
There wasn’t much talk for a while after that, and what was said was mostly, “Mm, right there. Oh yeah, just like that. Or,” my personal favorite, “I’m coming!” By the time we’d finished, I was nothing but a heap of goo in his arms.
Hades lazily toyed with my nipple, popping it in and out of his mouth.
“Does that bring you pleasure, sex slave?” I asked him with a voice grown hoarse from too much yelling.
He shrugged, “Always.”
“Well then, you may continue.” I flicked my fingers, sighing happily as he continued to gently explore my body.
I ran my fingers through the supple ends of his hair, looking up at the ceiling of the room, simply happy to be alive.
I frowned when I noticed he’d not been touching me for the past few minutes. Looking over at him, I shook my head.
His eyes were intense and molten, running across my flesh so that it felt like he was memorizing each and every nuance of me.
“Hades?”
“How can I leave you? Even winning back my freedom, I have enjoyed my enslavement, my goddess.”
I chuckled. “I wasn’t much of a warden, I fear. I went far to easy on you.” I pinched his backside hard.
But he didn’t laugh as he normally would.
“Darling?” I crawled out from under him and sat up, worried by the frown lines on his head. “What is it?”
“You are of the waters, Thalassa, and my home is up there. In the Above. I must return.”
“I grant you permission to stay. You’ll have free rein in my kingdom. You should not want for—”
“But I cannot run the Underworld as I should down here, not permanently.”
He’d done a fine job of it since he’d been here, and I said so.
Shoving blunt-tipped fingers through his hair, mussing it even further, he leaned back on an elbow, cocking up one knee in a relaxed yet thoughtful pose.
He truly was a beautiful man, even with the plethora of scars marring his body. There was a light dusting of hair on his legs that I now scratched against with the toe of my foot. I’d never imagined I’d enjoy the feel of coarse hair, but I did his.
He reached for my foot with an absentminded air. Hades was as addicted to my touch as I was to his. I knew this. But I also sensed that his concerns troubled him tremendously.
“You’ve done a good enough job of it, lover. What need have you to return? Could you not at the least stay for a little while longer?”
“The Styx is flooding, Thalassa. Charon is up to his eyes in dead, and with nowhere to put them, soon the pathways will be bogged down. I have to return. I have souls to weigh and judgment to pass. Come with me?”
He squeezed my foot.
But even as he asked it, I knew I could not be a permanent resident at his home, either. The waters of the world were my own, with the exception of Psycho’s little oasis, which I never ventured into. There was much I had to do here, too. Mind the creatures, see to their well-being, ensure a fertile crop for Nim and Sircco.
Those concerns, while valid, were far from the most important, however. I had grandchildren due any day now. I could hardly leave Nimue yet. Not without ensuring the protection of and blessings for my babies first.
“I can’t.” I shook my head.
His lips twisted, and he released my foot. I felt horribly bereft without his touch. But I wasn’t sure whether I should crawl over to him and demand he put his hand back on me or make a joke to lighten the mood.
So instead I did neither.
He slept fitfully that night, hugging tight to me the entire time. We were a pretzel of limbs, clinging like octopus tentacles one to the other. I felt a heaviness in my chest that felt an awful lot like tears.
Goddesses didn’t cry, but right then, I could have sworn something wet slid down my nose.
Chapter 17
Hades
I awoke the next morning, and Thalassa (as was her way) was long gone. Scrubbing a hand down my face, I glanced out the window, sensing in my dark soul that today would be my final time getting to gaze upon Seren’s unusual dawn.
It seemed to me to be far more beautiful than any dawn I’d seen before it. The colors were a little brighter, the creatures a little more varied and exotic. There were snails with long, feathery tails trailing behind them, fish that looked more like dogs and cats chasing one another, dolphins and their pups chattering among themselves with their high-pitched squeals.
Standing and feeling every one of my more than five thousand years of age, I stretched my arms above my head. No matter what came this morning, I was prepared.
I could feel the powerful tremors running amok through Olympus, the rage of my brothers as they tried to stem the tide of Calypso’s fury, to no avail.
My lips twitched. I would miss her more than words could ever express. And though I’d be bound to my lands, I would never forget her. My home would forever remain open to her.
Heavy of spirit and wanting to get on with my day, I shuffled over to handle my morning necessaries. I was just running a comb through my hair when I felt the pop of magic flow through the waters.
Recognizing it as Calypso’s morning feast, I hummed under my breath as I walked out. I craved the lemony scones she served me, little dollops of honey on their tops, with a pot of tea. Breakfast was quickly becoming my favorite meal of the day.
But I stopped short the moment I spied the serving table, empty save for one pomegranate that’d been split down the middle, its red, plump seeds glistening and beckoning me forward.
There was nothing around the fruit save for six seeds she’d picked out.
My heart hammered wildly, recognizing immediately the significance of what she’d done.
Legend had it that for the price of eating just six seeds, Persephone’s fate had been sealed. Because I’d shared my food with her, now her soul and body belonged to me six months out of the year.
All fabrications, of course; I’d done no such thing. But Calypso was doing just that. With these seeds, I’d be pledging myself to her six months out of every year.
The tempestuous goddess would never let me out of that agreement, either. Once done, this could never be undone. One thing I’d learned from my time with the Sea was that while she was steadfast and true, she was also incredibly possessive.
I had my obligations to my people; I could never leave my home unattended for months at a time. After even just two weeks away, I felt the burden of all that waited for me. But I’d be damned if I’d walk away willingly from her offer.
I thought of all the gods who’d paired up over the course of many lifetimes. Most of them were still together, but none of them were faithful to each other.
Clenching my jaw, I stared at the pearly seeds with a sense of trepidation. I wanted this with Calypso. In fact, I don’t think I’d ever wanted anything more.
Persephone had been an ideal quickly shattered when the reality had made itself known. But I knew Calypso. Or I hoped I did.
What if she tired of me?
What if I tired of her?
I sighed, curling my fingers against my pant leg as I took a step forward. Was it possible that she and I could become something wholly set apart from the rest of them? Could we become like one of my humans who, even in death, remained true and ever devoted?
“Screw it,” I growled, taking those final steps to the table. I snatched up the seeds, and popped them all in my mouth, chewing and swallowing without hardly tasting them.
But instead of feeling cold and shaking from the enormity of the action I’d just committed, I felt warmt
h spread through my limbs. Felt the rightness of that action.
I didn’t need to glance up to know she was back in the room with me, but I did anyway.
Thalassa was a thing of wild beauty, a towering enchantress with limbs made of water, a face that seemed cut from the finest of crystal, and hair that billowed behind from a swift-moving current. Clinging to her tight little body was a gown made up hundreds of thousands of living creatures in miniature. Her smile glowed.
Never taking her eyes off me, she seemed to float over to table, and without saying a word, she picked out six additional seeds. My heart thundered through my ears like the majestic, fearsome hooves of my Death steeds as she popped them into her mouth and chewed.
As I’d just promised her six months of fealty, now too had she done so to me. I wet my lips, unsure if I understood this completely.
Twin arcs of cascading rainbows hovered over her form, encasing her in a miasma of colors and making me suddenly aware of the very breadth and scope of her powers. This was the Sea. The very waters of life stood before me, and I could do nothing but bow to her.
When I stood back up, she opened her mouth, to say what, I wasn’t sure. Because suddenly the waters parted, rolled away to reveal a very beleaguered Hermes.
There were dark circles under his eyes, and his skin was washed out, his hair poking straight up as though he’d been running fingers through it constantly.
The only things that still had a pep to them were his golden winged shoes, which were flapping furiously. Genuflecting before Thalassa, he murmured, “Calypso and Hades, Zeus requests the honor of your appearances. How should I answer his entreaty?”
Sighing deeply, Calypso nodded. “Tell him we’re coming.”
Jaw clenching, Hermes nodded once and then popped out of there. She looked back at me.
“Hades, this conversation isn’t over yet.”
Then she grabbed my hand, and we headed to Olympus together.
Calypso
* * *
He’d eaten the seeds. I wanted to crow. I wanted to sing. I wanted to hump his cock until I screamed with release.
But I could do none of those things, because Zeus had finally come to his senses.
Walking through the ruined halls of a once-magnificent home, I could hardly believe the destruction before me.
Hades leaned in to whisper in my ear, “Thalassa, I am humbled that you should—”
I stopped walking, forcing him to stop as well, and turned into him. He draped his arms around my waist, and I leaned into him.
“Stop, you hear me? Don’t say anything else. I did this, and I would do it again if it meant saving you from his petty schemes. You did not deserve what they planned for you, and I would have no honor if I hadn’t stood my ground on this matter.”
His fingers strummed my back in a most delicious way. I didn’t want to be here. In fact, once we were done here, I’d never again grace the halls of this temple. I was decided. I’d had more than enough of Zeus’s fat face to last me a lifetime.
“Stay with me,” he said urgently. “When I’m released, choose to stay with me, Thalassa. I have so much work to do, I cannot leave, but I cannot bear to be without—”
I kissed his lovely lips, stealing his words as he often stole mine. I found the use of lips and tongues to be an effective method for silencing a conversation I had no desire to partake in.
There were matters I myself needed to attend to. But I had plans for my dark Under Lord, plans that would take at least twenty lifetimes to complete.
The whisper of his breath passed through me, and he tasted of heat, fire, and dark nights.
I would miss him desperately.
“Let’s go speak to Horse Face and get this over, sex slave. You have an Underworld to take care of.”
He clenched his jaw, nodded once, and stepped out of my arms, pulling us toward Zeus’s chambers.
I sighed.
Most of the temple had fallen down at this point. There were a few walls that’d managed to remain upright, but the majority of them were peppered with massive, darkened holes. The kind of holes that came from fiery rocks flying through the skies.
There’d be a fruit basket in my sisters’ futures—but none for Tiera, as the wench had cost me my loveliest Seren Stone.
When we stepped into the chamber, Zeus was sitting on his throne looking regal, clean, and rather kingly. I very reluctantly admitted that last part.
Blue eyes pierced me like volts of electricity. If he could have killed me with a glance, I do believe he’d have been tempted to try.
And surrounding him was the might of the Pantheon. Oh, yawn. As if I couldn’t take them down with a flicker of my wee pinky. Gnats.
Aphrodite stood to the left side of her father, fighting a grin and fidgeting on her heels. She didn’t wave a greeting, but her obvious effervescence was as good as one.
Themis stood in the center of the room, holding her scales and dressed in the traditional garb of a judge with a white sash tied around her eyes. Her smile was directed straight at me.
I didn’t care about the others; they were mostly all busy glaring hate at Hades and me. I sidled next to him until our hips touched, and I smirked.
There was one person, though, that I did feel a twinge of sadness for. Demeter stood off by herself, looking at neither of us. She held her arms around herself, forlorn. As a mother myself, I understood the pain of a child’s loss.
“Calypso,” Zeus’s voice thundered, causing the marble floor beneath us to tremble. “Goddess of the Waters, we ask that you would…”
He swallowed thickly, and I wanted to squawk with laughter. The douchebag did not want to do what he had to do.
“Yes, Zeusy?” I asked sweetly. “What is it you wish to say to me?”
Fingers tap-tapping impatiently on this golden throne’s armrest, he turned his face to the side. Hades squeezed my fingers.
I wasn’t sure if he was asking me to tone down my enthusiasm or merely giving me his strength, but I patted his hand. I had myself well in hand. I would not embarrass him. I had the gods where I wanted them and had no further need to humiliate them.
Not even Apollo uttered a word. Psycho was busy picking at his nails. Athena, Artemis, no one made a sound. At the very least I’d reminded the fools who I was.
I might remain placid and in the background of their lives, but there were beings much more powerful than them out there, and every so often, it was good to eat a little bit of meek pie.
No wait, that hadn’t sounded right.
With an angry huff, Zeus scowled and said with a rapidity that blurred his words together, “Forgive us our temerity, elemental, we only wish to remain friends.”
Clapping my hands, I slipped my fingers together and gathered my hands to my breast. “Aw, Zeusy, how sweet. Well, of course I forgive you. Forgiven and forgotten.” I dusted my hands and flicked my fingers. “And I think it’s good we should get this nasty business behind us.”
His nostrils flared.
The chamber grew heavy with tense silence. Zeus had once again turned his face to the side. He was dragging this out. I’d forget all about my temporary ceasefire without assurances of Hades’ freedom, though, and he knew it.
I tapped my foot, waiting. I was a patient woman; I could wait hundreds of thousands of years to carve out walls from rocks and shape the lands to my whim. But Zeus simply pushed all my “I hate you buttons.” It was hard not to crush him with my fist right now.
But finally, finally the ugly cow looked at my lover.
“Hades, all charges against you have been dropped. It seems we were in the wrong after all. You may return to your post immediately.”
Then, with a clap of his hands that rolled like thunder, Zeus vanished. Probably to go nurse his wounds, big fat baby.
I stuck out my tongue at the empty throne, lifted a brow at Apollo when he opened his mouth as though he wished to speak, and then chortled when he wisely decided to follow El Capitan’s
lead and scram.
All but Themis, Aphrodite, and Demeter vanished.
And Demeter stayed only because I refused to let her leave. I’d frozen her in a tower of water. She glared at me.
Hades clenched my fingers as I made to walk forward.
“What are you going to do, Thalassa?”
I held up a finger. “I wish to speak with her, lover. Do not leave before I come back.
Lifting my chin, I glided toward Demeter in all my goddessy glory. Her brown eyes, while angry, still glowed with the ghost of pain.
I sighed and, reaching through the pillar of water, grabbed her hand, holding fast to it.
“De, listen to me. None of this was done to hurt you. Please understand that. I wish you to know something. Persephone is well. She lives.”
The anger in her eyes was suddenly replaced with hope. “She lives?”
“Yes, Goddess of the Harvest. She does. But your daughter is wild and, unchecked, she has grown even more so. Hades placed her at a location where she is being kept safe and far from harm. I personally ensured that this is so.”
My words rang with the conviction of truth, a truth she felt through every fiber of her soul. As one mother to another, I would never lie to her about something like that.
“Can I see her?”
“No.” I shook my head. “Not yet. But she will be released come spring as she always is. And hopefully this time, a little wiser for her time spent away. I tell you this so you can retain your hope and faith, not so you can try to find her or accuse Hades of any more treachery. If you cross me, I will know, and the hell you’ve experienced these past three days will be nothing to the hell I’ll bring upon you and your house. You have a kind soul, Demeter, but you did your daughter a grave disservice raising her as you did.”
I would probably never win mother of the year, but I’d have slapped Sircco or Sirenade silly if they’d ever treated another with the utter disdain and disrespect Persephone had shown Hades time and time again.
The Greek Gods of Romance Collection Page 16
