The Greek Gods of Romance Collection

by Winters, Jovee

  “It is hard to tell my daughter no.”

  I shrugged. “But sometimes that’s the best thing to do—tell them no. Set boundaries. Let them know their limitations and that you mean business if they cross them. She may be eternally youthful, but she is no child. Do not treat her as one. You may go.” I flicked my wrist, dropping the wall of water, but before she could leave, I imparted one final truth to her. “And as to Persephone cohabitating with Hades for half of the year, that is at an end. No more. Sex Stick belongs to me.”

  And since that was all there was left to say, I turned my back on her and walked back to Hades.

  He merely smiled, reaching for me immediately and wrapping me up tight in his embrace.

  Themis and Dite stood beside him.

  “What. What.” Dite lifted her hands in the air and did a shoulder-shrugging dance. “We did it. Let it never be said that a woman can’t change the world. Because girls, we pretty much just pulled off the impossible.”

  Themis and I laughed heartily.

  “That we did,” she said sweetly. “It was truly an honor conspiring with you, goddess.” Themis bowed deeply. “And remember, my cave is always open to you.”

  I inclined my head. “I know.”

  With a chuckle, she vanished. But Dite remained just a moment longer. She glanced between us and sighed.

  “I see great things in your future. A power to be reckoned with. I don’t think Zeus or Psycho—” she winked at me, and I giggled “—will ever attempt another coup of your realm, Hades. Not with your new guard dog at your heels.”

  “Pft.” I flicked my wrist. “I am at no man’s heels. He rests at mine. Don’t you, sexy?” I winked.

  He squeezed me tight.

  “Okay then.” Dite shrugged. “It’s been swell. You kids have fun, stay safe, and don’t ever change for the world. Oh, I just adore you guys! You’re like my new super team.” Aphrodite vanished with a sparkle of light.

  I turned to Hades. It was just him and me now.

  “Thalassa?” He groaned.

  And I knew what he wanted, what he was asking me. But I couldn’t leave. Not yet.

  Leaning up on tiptoe, I kissed him. “I adore you, Death Boy. We’ll see each other soon, I promise.”

  It was an ache when with a final nod, he hugged me tight, and then he too left me.

  I stood in the center of that ruined hall, staring up at the azure skies, and this time, I did cry.

  Chapter 18

  Hades

  It’d been a month since I’d seen or held Thalassa last. I’d hoped in vain that she would come to me at some point. Every night I visited the Lethe, speaking my truth to it. Imagining that somehow she was listening, that she heard me.

  But not once had she replied.

  Tonight was the final time I’d return to these shores. I stared at the sparkling waters under the midnight moon, remembering the moments we’d spent together, the two weeks that’d felt like both an eternity and no time at all, and shook my head.

  “I miss you, Thalassa, each day, each night. My realm feels empty without you in it. I cannot fault you for remaining where you are. How could I, when I am forced to do the same?”

  I closed my eyes as a gentle breeze rolled through, bringing with it the scent of roses, a flower I would now and forevermore associate with my goddess. I’d eaten the seeds and so had she. We’d pledged our souls—one to the other. I was bound to her eternally, but I ached, ached for what we couldn’t have again.

  “You idiot.”

  My eyes snapped open, and I gazed on in open-mouthed wonder as Thalassa walked across the water toward me. She wore a gown of sheer amethyst that sparkled like its namesake. Her soft green hair was piled high on her head, and twined through it was a riot of sea rose buds.

  “So quick to give up on me? I see how it is.” She flicked at my shoulder when she finally stepped foot on land.

  Grunting incoherently, I snatched her up, wrapping her in my arms, pretty sure I would never release her again.

  “Oomph,” she hissed, banging on my chest, “Death Boy, can’t breathe.”

  I eased my hold a little. A very little.

  Just enough so she could worm her arms up and frame my face. Her touch moved through my body like liquid, burning me up from the inside with a crazed sort of fever.

  “Thalassa, how, I thought—”

  Rubbing noses with me, she laughed, and I swear the Elysian night sang with the sound of it. From the corner of my eye, I caught sight of ghostly faces peeking out from behind the thick trunks of trees, staring at me in wonder.

  I’d always been known as the broody god. To hear my laughter now must have terrified them.

  “Did you think I put out those seeds for nothing, dill bag? I meant what I said when I ate them. You’re mine, and I’m yours, and yada yada yada. Six months out of the year, we swap back and forth, every night. I had time to think about this, Bubble Butt, and we can still run our kingdoms and keep our nights to ourselves. I mean, honestly, what could possibly go wrong at bedtime?”

  I lifted a brow. In our world, everything could go wrong.

  “Okay, okay.” She wagged her hand. “Forget that. So the world could come crashing down around our feet. Big deal. We’ll rebuild, start over. We’ll do whatever we need to do, but I can’t do this separation thing anymore. I’m not built for this. Do you know how many times I’ve had to pleasure myself—”

  I growled. “No one may pleasure you but me. Not even your own hands are allowed down there unless I am present.”

  She giggled, wiggling her lower body on my painful hardness. “Yes, Master.”

  Groaning, I ran my hands over her bare back, ready to tear this flimsy fabric off her gorgeous body and have my way with her.

  “Hades, guess what,” she squealed, eyes shining with what looked suspiciously like tears.

  I paused in my exploration of her. “What?”

  “We’re grandparents! Oh, you have to meet my little darlings, Uriah and Fable, they’re so precious and adorable and have my eyes and my hair and my little nose and—”

  “Are you sure you did not birth them yourself, my love?”

  She snorted. “Don’t be silly. But tomorrow, you shall come to meet them.”

  “And tonight?” I asked with heat filling my words.

  Her smile was pure wickedness as she said, “Tonight I brought carrots.”

  Epilogue: 500 years later

  Calypso

  Today was the twins’ five hundredth birthday, and I wanted the babies to have a very special one. So I’d snuck them over to play with Cere while I set up their birthday tent in Elysia.

  Themis glanced around, her hands on her hips, and nodded expertly. “Yes, I think this will do, Caly. You’ve got a dragon for Uri and a Pegasus for Fable.”

  “Yes, yes.” I batted her words away. “But have you seen the pile of cupcakes I made? I learned from the master chef in Wonderland, a girl by the name of Alice who showed me that if you dipped the fruit in choco—”

  “Eeeps!” Dite squealed, clapping her hands merrily the moment she materialized beside us. “Look at this place. Oh, the darlings are simply going to love it.”

  “Dite.” I gave her a stern look. “You would show up at the last minute. Heffer, do your thing. You know we can’t get this party started without it.”

  Beaming like the proud aunt she was, she nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

  Then, with an air kiss, she released her magic to the breezes, causing the night sky to dance with tiny jeweled lights that bobbed and glimmered like lightning bugs. I busied around in the tent, making sure the placement of the gifts was just so on the table.

  I patted Linx’s tank. She hated coming to the Above, but my sister refused to miss the twins’ party. Neighing softly, she contented herself with munching on the jeweled candy grass Hades had crafted for her and flicked her tail happily.

  Nim and Sircco would show up later. I’d warned the boy to wear his legs tonight, bu
t I was sure he wouldn’t. For some reason he still detested the use of them. So, just to be on the safe side, I’d turned half of Elysia into a large wading pool so the maidens and he would feel comfortable here.

  A strong pair of arms slipped around my waist, and the rumble of my man’s voice whispered in my ear. “Have I ever told you just how sexy you look when you’re acting all domestic?”

  Twirling, I smacked his chest and laughed. “Hm. Why don’t you tell me that again.” I wiggled my hips against him.

  Even after all these years, we still mated like rabbits. I’d come to the conclusion that I would never get my fill of this beastly man.

  “Down, beast, down,” Aphrodite cried laughingly, sidling up next to us. “We have guests. Let’s keep this PG since there are kids present now.”

  Sighing, I patted his cheek as he pouted. “No worries, my love, I’ve a field full of carrots just waiting for you.”

  “Thalassa,” he growled, and then he shook his head and chuckled. “Woman, you will be the death of me.”

  I snorted. “Not hardly, Bubble Butt.”

  Then with a wave and a la-de-da, I walked over to greet the guests. Young and old, ghosts, mortals, maidens, Nim and my boy Sircco, even my elemental sisters showed up, though Tiera scowled the entire time. But they all came. Dite’s little Hephy made an appearance. Grumpy thing that he was, he’d still managed to craft gifts for both Fable and Uri, matching unicorns made of wood.

  “All ye need to bring them to life,” he said, gazing at the twins, “is to whisper a name in their ear, and they will be forever yours.”

  Fable, the granddaughter of my very soul, was a dark-skinned, dark-haired beauty with eyes of deepest bronze just like her father’s. Her skin was as dark as the deepest depths of an ocean trench and her lips like the reddest of roses. She was heart-achingly lovely, and all who knew her loved her. But unlike her rapscallion brother, she’d not been born with the ability to wear a tail.

  She accepted the bauble with a humble nod of thanks and hugged it tight to her breast.

  “I will cherish it, Hephy.” She kissed his cheek, and I didn’t think it possible, but the dwarf actually blushed. Then again, Fable had that effect on everyone.

  Uriah, whose flesh was an unusually stunning shade of pearlescent sea green and bore a head of shockingly bright and thick blue hair, grinned. He had Sircco’s looks, swarthy and devastatingly handsome. And with the pick of any maiden he wanted, the boy knew he was hawt and strutted through Seren like a peacock on the loose.

  He was my boy through and through.

  “Thanks, homey,” he said.

  Nimue rolled her eyes. “Uri, that is not how a prince should speak.”

  Uri, who was always in mischief of one form or another (but whom I secretly adored since he reminded me of me as that age), sighed. “Yes, Mom.”

  “Uri.” Sircco growled a warning at the boy, twin bolts of lightning flaring through his bronze eyes.

  Thinning his lips, my devastatingly handsome grandson grumped, “Yes, Dad. Thanks, Hephy,” he said.

  The dwarf shook his hand then thumped him on the chest and said, “It’s nothing, homey.”

  Then with a wink and a wave, he vanished, and everyone laughed.

  “Gods help us,” Nimue cried. “How can I teach my wayward child some respect when everyone around us is bound and determined to undermine me?” But she said it with an exasperated chuckle.

  Hades leaned in to my side from where we sat at the head of the table beside our grandchildren and said, “This was a wonderful idea to have the party here, my love.”

  I beamed proudly. “I know. But you want to know what the very best idea is that I’ve ever had?”

  Turning on my seat, I looked at him head on. Even after all this time, my heart still skipped a beat when he was near.

  Grabbing my hands, he placed a tender kiss on each palm. “And what’s that?”

  “The day I decided to make you my sex slave.”

  He laughed, and the party went into full swing after that. Wine flowed and music blared.

  Themis was in charge of the tunes tonight, and I smiled when I heard an upbeat one entirely apropos of how I felt this evening.

  The song went something along the lines of “oh, oh, oh, you’ve got the best of my love.”

  And yeah, that was pretty much all that needed to be said about that.

  “I love you, Death Boy,” I whispered.

  “And I you, Thalassa, forever, for always, eternally.”

  “Oh, swoon, you say the sweetest things.”

  Hades took my lips and well…you know how this story ends. Forever. For always. And eternally.

  Untitled

  The End

  * * *

  And never was there a story of more love than that of Calypso, and her dark-souled Romeo…

  So I say to you now farewell, dear reader, but do not despair, for I have far greater stories to share of dark queens you thought you knew. Until we meet again…

  ~Anon, One of the 13 Keepers of the Tales.

  * * *

  (TURN THE PAGE FOR BOOK 2)

  The Death King

  Hades is the Dark King of Legend, the god of the Underworld and the master of death itself. Calypso is a wild, capricious, and ancient goddess more powerful than all the gods of Olympus combined. Theirs was a legendary love until a curse came and tore through Kingdom and with it the end of all they'd once been. Without her is lost and without him, she's lost her way.

  * * *

  In the new world, Calypso remembers little of who she'd once been, but Hades remembers it all. And the agony of her loss is slowly killing him. But the Dark King refuses to lose at anything. He will get his dark priestess back, he will make her remember him, remember their love, or die trying.

  * * *

  Calypso is an elemental with a dark secret, she's dual-natured and now, thanks to the curse, that dark side of her she'd long suppressed is awake and ready to blaze a path of terror and destruction through all the worlds. And she'll do it too...except a man with dark, starlit eyes has suddenly begun to haunt her dreams. She's remembering things, things that couldn't possibly be. Things like touches, whispers, and seduction. But she's a virgin goddess, untouched, unspoiled by the hands of another, or is she really? Who was she in the before? In that once upon another time? That's what Calypso aims to find out, and when a wild elemental makes a plan nothing and no one can stand in her way...

  Chapter 19

  Hades

  The Day of the Curse

  * * *

  I watched her as she watched me. My love. My lover. My best and truest friend. We’d just sent Rayale into the void of time, both of us following a compulsion that said something monumental was about to take place in the world we called our own.

  The sham of the “love games” was over, and we were both feeling the pull back to our home away from home. Not to Olympus, where the rest of our pantheon lived, but the place to which we’d dared to escape and create a new life for ourselves. A place of wonder and magic and fairy tales. Kingdom, our true home. The only place to which Caly and I could go to when we needed to feel… sane.

  Calypso was in her goddess form—a tower of water manipulated into the shapely dimensions of a lovely woman. Her tentacle braids flowed behind her back, and her smooth, glass-like countenance was calm and composed, so unlike the tempestuous female she normally was.

  For a year, we’d been waiting for this day. Waiting and planning and knowing it would come and with it, the end of all we knew and loved. Neither of us had known exactly what was coming, only that it could spell the end of all we’d built for ourselves.

  We stood upon the cliffs of Never. Her Seren waters sparkled below us. With the way the sunlight glinted on the surface, it looked like colorful diamonds winking in the glow of fire, every color of the rainbow reflected back at us.

  The air here smelled of salt and ocean, brine and… her. This was my Caly’s smell—fresh, intoxicati
ng, alluring.

  I clenched my jaw, having so many words to say yet. But all of them rested on the tip of my tongue.

  “Did we do right, do you think, Bubble Butt?” she asked me, and I chuckled despite the heavy tone of her words that hinted at the deep and terrible anguish we were both experiencing.

  She was in agony, but she was trying to lighten the mood because that was Caly’s way. She’d once told me she loved nothing in the worlds so much as to see me smile. And by the way her finger traced the curve of my jaw, I knew she still felt the same.

  At our backs, a ripple was forming in the very fabric of the heavens, a line of deepest, almost jeweled blue, and it rolled with the might of a heavy and terrible curse resting upon it, waiting for just the right moment to be unleashed upon us all. Only a few in Kingdom would have power and intellect enough to know what it was, and they’d likely already begun to make preparations for whatever came next.

  This was what we’d been sensing all along, what we’d known would come. Not even the gods would be spared this curse, and I had to wonder what kind of power existed in the cosmos that could affect even us this way. Something greater, that was certain.

  But I’d pondered on this all I could—or would. Now was the time for goodbyes, though I dreaded the very thought of it with every fiber of my being.

  Closing the scant space between us, I didn’t answer my dark heart’s question. Instead, I studied her. I watched how she breathed and how she moved. Even in her glass-like state, with no color in her, she was the prettiest thing I’d ever known in the entirety of my existence. I framed the delicate column of her neck with my large palm. To an outsider, it might appear as though I wished to crush her swan’s neck, but in truth, it was how I most preferred to feel the beat of her heart. She leaned deep into my touch as her long lashes fluttered like moth’s wings upon the tops of her glassy cheekbones.