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It would change everything.
He waited, and her eyes fluttered closed as her lips parted, inviting his own. She took a breath, her chest rising and falling against his own. He leaned in, ready to capture her mouth when she admitted the truth.Tell me you desire me.
“Just cards.”
He drew away lightning fast, despite his raging desire, and attempted to mask his frustration at her response. It took some effort, and his fingers curled into fists, nails piercing his palms. The pain made it easier, helped him focus on something other than his hard-as-steel cock.
Fuck me, he thought.
If she would not own up to her lust, he would not continue to make a fool of himself.
“You must wish to return home,” he said, turning from her and leaving the stacks, pausing to look back.“You may borrow those books, if you wish.”
She blinked, as if she were under some sort of spell, before gathering the books and following him into the main part of the library.
“How? You withdrew my favor.”
“Trust me, Lady Persephone,” he said, keep his tone void of emotion.“If I stripped you of my favor, you would know.”
It would be painful, like skin stripped from bones.
“So I’m Lady Persephone again?” Her voice held contempt, and he wondered at her response. Was she angry with him?
“You have always been Lady Persephone, whether you choose to embrace your blood or not.”
“What is there to embrace?” she asked and did not meet his gaze.“I’m an unknown goddess at best, and a minor one at that.”
Hades frowned; those beliefs were the bars that kept her true nature caged.
“If that is how you think of yourself, you will never know your power.”
Hades had nothing more to say. He had a nymph to interrogate, energy to expend, and Persephone had made it clear she wished to leave. He started to gather his magic and teleport to Nevernight, when her sharp command stopped him.
“Don’t. You asked that I not leave when I’m angry, and I’m asking you not to send me away when you’re angry.”
He dropped his hand.“I am not angry.”
“Then why did you drop me in the Underworld earlier?” she asked.“Why send me away at all?”
“I needed to speak with Hermes,” he said.
“And you couldn’t say that?”
He hesitated.
“Don’t request things of me you cannot deliver yourself, Hades.”
He stared at her. Her line of questioning helped him understand a few things about her. He had hurt her feelings when he dropped her in the Underworld earlier. She felt ignored and discarded.
We are equals, she’d said on their second encounter. When she had come to ask that his mark be removed. She was making the same plea now.
After a moment, he nodded.“I will grant you that courtesy.”
She exhaled, and Hades wondered if she had expected him to say no. The thought made his chest tighten.
“Thank you.”
Her words relaxed him, and he extended his hand.“Come, we can return to Nevernight together. I have…unfinished business there.”
