A Game of Retribution (Hades Saga #2)(6)

She must have forgotten that encounter because she laughed, her eyes bright with amusement—an amusement that died with his stare. His eyes fell to her lips, which were now parted as she studied him, and his thoughts took a drastic turn.

He drew in a breath and tried to swallow, but his throat was dry. Suddenly, all he wanted to do was close the distance between them. Perhaps he could still have the evening he’d imagined with Persephone before Hera had ruined it all, but then Persephone dropped her gaze.

“The souls in Asphodel never cause trouble,” she said.

“You think I am wrong.”

He wasn’t at all surprised.

“I think you do not give yourself enough credit for having changed and therefore do not give the souls enough credit for recognizing it.”

Her words surprised him and stirred something warm within him.

“Why did you greet the souls?” he asked, curious about what had motivated her to approach.

“Because they were afraid, and I didn’t like it.”

He wanted to laugh, but he managed to suppress it. “Some of them should be afraid, Persephone.”

“Those who should will be, no matter the greeting they have from me.

The Underworld is beautiful, and you care about your peoples’ existence, Hades. Why should the good fear such a place? Why should they fear you?”

Once more, he would have laughed at her assessment if she weren’t so serious. If anyone had been listening, they would never suspect she was talking about him, the God of the Underworld, and though there was perhaps a grain of truth to what she said, it was only that, and he feared the day she discovered otherwise.

“As it were, they still fear me. You were the one who greeted them.”

“You could greet them with me.”

She spoke as if she feared he might reject her suggestion as quickly as she had made it.

“As much as you find disfavor with the title of queen, you are quick to act as one,” he observed.

The smile her words initially brought to his face vanished as he noted how she hesitated, asking, “Does…that displease you?”

“Why would it displease me?”

“Because I am not queen.”

Hades did not like those words. It was as if she were distancing herself from the idea, and as she stood and took the book from his hands, he spoke.

“You will be my queen. The Fates have declared it.”

He noted how she straightened, her chin jutting in defiance. She had not liked what he said, and instead of confronting him, she turned and headed into the stacks, book in hand.

Hades followed, appearing before her as she made her way down one of the aisles.

“Does that displease you?” he asked.

“No,” she said, brushing past him, and while he followed, she continued to speak. “Although, I would rather you want me as queen because you love me, not because the Fates have decreed it,” she said as she returned the book to its place.

He frowned, waiting for her to face him before he said, “You doubt my love?”

Her eyes widened, and her lips parted. “No! But…I suppose we cannot avoid what others may perceive about our relationship.”

Hades raised a brow and drew a step closer. “And what will others say, exactly?”

Again, she averted her eyes and shrugged as she answered, “That we are only together because of the Fates. That you have only chosen me because I am a goddess.”

His brows slammed down over his eyes. Those sounded oddly like things her mother would say.

“Have I given you reason to think such things?”

He hadn’t.

He already knew the answer.

“Who has given you doubts?”

“I have only just started to consider—”

“My motives?”

“No—”

He narrowed his eyes. “It seems that way.”

She took a step away, though she had little room to put distance between them as her back hit the bookcase, which did nothing to dispel the tension between them.

“I am sorry I said anything,” she snapped, her arms crossing over her chest, as if to put a barrier between them.

“It is too late for that.”

“Will you punish me for speaking my mind?” Her eyes flashed, full of defiance, but those words interested him.

“Punish?” he asked, closing the space between them. He guided her hands away from her chest, his cock growing thick and heavy as he rested against her hips. “I am interested to hear how you think I might punish you.”

She inhaled, her chest rising, and Hades could see the want in her eyes, yet she fought it, unwilling to give in to temptation. “I am interested in having my questions answered.”

He’d forgotten everything that had come before her suggestion of punishment. “Remind me again of your question.”

She looked at him shyly and took a moment to speak. All the while, he grew harder, still pressed between her thighs.

“If there were no Fates, would you still want me?”

An unsettling shock rippled through him as he considered her words.

If there were no Fates, would you still want me? He took a moment to comprehend them, to let them cycle through his mind, but there was a part of him that could not quite grasp why she felt inclined to ask such a question. In the end, did it matter?