‘I’ve decided to repay the favour,’ he says. ‘And I would finally like to see that paradise you created.’
‘Wecreated,’ I correct. I glance at the scrolls in front of me. It’s the kind of work I have no interest in doing but need to sort through if the human trials have any hope of working. ‘I don’t think I have time. I need to get this done.’
‘I thought I was managing this side of things?’
‘Yes, but this relates so specifically to what happened in the mortal-soul trials yesterday that, by the time I explained it all to you, I might as well just have done it myself. We’re both so busy I didn’t want to waste more of your time.’
‘Well, I appreciate your efficiency. But I would very much like to spend some time with the woman I love. If I help when we get back, can we make time for paradise?’
I flick through the sheafs of parchment, trying to gauge whether, even with Hades’ assistance, it’s possible to get through it all. He has no idea how much there is to do, how much my mother is throwing the Underworld into disarray. There’s too much – even with him. But I’m hardly focusing. I need a break.
And, as much as I’m loving everything we’re doing together, I do miss spending time with him – actual time, talking and laughing, telling stories and creating stupid little jokes.
‘All right,’ I agree.
I allow myself a few hours. We walk through the world of the humans, and I watch Hades’ eyes light up at everything he sees, catching all the details he created. We settle by a lake and pick at food until we’re sleepy and full, then I lie with my head on his stomach, his fingers entwined with mine.
‘I love you so much,’ he whispers, pressing his lips to my forehead.
It’s a reminder of what waits on the other side of all the admin. If I can get through my mother’s torment, there’s a life of lying in my husband’s arms in paradise to look forward to.
Soon it’s a struggle to find any time together at all, though we make the most of it when we do.
‘Are you sure you have to go?’ Hades breathes between the kisses he trails along my arm.
‘Yes,’ I say, even though I’d love nothing more than to wrap my arms round his neck and kiss him until I’m light-headed. But I can’t expect everyone else to work hard and not do so myself. ‘And more importantly so do you.’
Hades is overseeing the court again – uttering the wordsI never thought I’d hear from him that ‘the scrolls can wait’ – so I can put my full focus to the human trials, which are as overwhelmed by the increasing numbers of souls as everything else.
‘I thought we were supposed to live in paradise now.’
‘The mortals live in paradise. We live in a constant state of stress.’
‘Well, I can provide some stress relief.’ He tugs my hand, pulling me towards him, and I fall forward. His pupils are still swollen, skin warm and salty with sweat. I know how that skin tastes.
‘You know what would relieve my stress?’ I whisper, drawing a finger down his chest, noting the way his breath catches in his throat. ‘If you did your job and let me do mine.’
‘I believe I just did my job remarkably well.’
I flush at the memory: his roaming hands, the way he’d growled ‘Do you want me to continue?’ when he reached the edge of my skirt and I’d frantically whispered ‘Dear gods, yes’ as his fingers slipped beneath.
‘You seemed to enjoy yourself,’ he continues. ‘And there is so much more fun we could have.’
The way I’d lost my breath, pressed my lips to his bare shoulder to moan into his skin as his fingers traced places I’d only ever explored myself and the heat built inside me like a crescendo until, just when I thought I couldn’t bear it any more, it crashed, trembling, consuming, euphoric …
Now I run my hands along the soft hair of his chest until I reach the fabric gathered at his waist. I do, desperately, want to make him feel that way too. He arches back only to glare as I pull his robes up rather than down.
‘Another time,’ I insist, the words almost a whine because I want to, I really want to, but I’ve already spent too much time here and there’s so much chaos to manage.
Hades’ eyes meet mine, his grin devilish. ‘Oh, you can count upon it.’
It’s not just that it’s busy but that every day it gets busier. I leave earlier and come back later, falling wearily into bed. It’s all we can do to hold each other as we fall asleep. Our whole relationship becomes tiny moments that we snatch away.
Like when we both get back early one evening and take to the roof to stargaze because we were too distracted that first time. We’re both exhausted, nearly too tired to move, so we just lie on top of each other and make up stories about the patterns we find in the stars.
Or when we press against one another in an empty hallway, snatching kisses like seconds until we pull apart and return to work, distracted and unfocused and hungry.
Or when we both bring work home with us because we need to do it but can’t bear to be apart longer than necessary. We don’t talk at all but we sit next to each other, reading through documents and writing our responses and it’s enough just to breathe the same air for a little while.
