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“I don’t remember most of the last day,” I reply softly.
“Days,” Hades says. “It’s been a few days that we’ve been here, lass. I’ve had Magda coming to check on ye four times a day.”
I raise my eyebrows, surprised. “Days? I know I had a fever, but I didn’t realize so much time had passed.”
Hades shrugs a shoulder and walks to the primitive kitchen. “I’m just glad you are firmly back in the land of the living. How does toad in a hole sound?”
I scrunch up my face. “I don’t know what that is.”
“It’s eggs and toast, fried together.”
My mouth starts watering at the idea of eggs. “Honestly? It sounds amazing.”
“Right.” He turns away from me, busying himself with butter, bread, and eggs. It’s hard to tell what he is thinking.
He moves around the compact kitchen with the same ease as he does any and everything. Precisely, accurately, and lightning fast. As soon as he puts a pad of butter in a frying pan and adds bread, my stomach starts growling. In no time at all, he plates a steaming, delicious-smelling piece of toast with an egg in the middle and sets it on the tiny breakfast nook table.
He doesn’t even have to tell me to come get it because as soon as he sets it down, I fall on it like I’ve been starved for a fortnight. I wolf it down without waiting for a fork.
Hades casts a gaze over me as he begins making another one, smirking a little.
“Good?” he prompts.
I look up, my mouth crammed full of bread and egg, and blush ten shades of red. Nodding, I make myself slow down and actually chew the food in my mouth. All I want is to inhale this plateful and demand that he make me another. When I am crunching the last bite of crust, he asks the question that I so desperately want to hear.
“Do ye want another piece, then?”
I look at him with an embarrassed smile.
“If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, yes.”
“Persephone, I’ll gladly feed ye any place and any time that ye’ll let me.” Hades comes over the table and slides another piece of toast onto my plate. “Here, lass.”
“Thank you so much.” I look up at him, my eyes suddenly filling with tears. My emotions are all over the place right now and there is no regulating them.
He smiles softly and turns away. But I grab his hand, pulling him back. I stand up, throw my arms around him, and hug him as hard as I can. I take all the love and caring and gratitude that I feel inside and try to show him that by clasping him against my body extra hard.
His hands come up to clumsily pat my back at first. But then he closes his arms around me, encasing me in his embrace. I press my face into his shirt, inhaling his unique scent.
Hades brings his hand up and caresses the back of my head.
“Right now, I feel so safe. So cared for,” I murmur against his chest. Closing my eyes, I exhale a full, deep breath. “I want our daughter to feel this way.”
“Ach.” Hades grips me tighter for just a second before he loosens his grasp and pulls back. “Penny, I can’t believe I am holding ye. I can’t believe ye are real. And…” His brows quirk, his expression emotional. “I wanted to say that I am sorry that I made ye test to see if the baby’s mine. I should have known ye wouldn’t lie to me.”
I blow out a breath. “As long as you are satisfied now, I can forgive and forget.”
“Aye. I would say I’m more than satisfied.” His eyes are hard against mine. “I’ve come to care for ye, Persephone.”
My heart hammers against my chest.
“You do?”
“Aye. I would think it is apparent. It’s not every lass that comes along that I make breakfast for.”
“Just the ones carrying your baby?” I tease.
The corner of his mouth curls up. “Just ye, for now. Yer as much as I can handle.”
