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"I'm pregnant," she whispered. "With twins."
Persephone had never seen the expression that crossed Hades's face. He was shocked to his core. It seemed to pass in the blink of an eye because he suddenly grabbed her tight.
Shadows exploded around them, and Persephone barely had time to realize what was happening.
They fell through a doorway into nothingness, and then she was standing in Hades's bedroom in the palace in Elysium. A table and chairs were in one corner, and a large bed was covered in blue and black linen. Soft rugs of the same colors decorated the stone floors.
Hades sat her on the bed before carrying a chair from the other side of the room and sitting in front of her.
"Say that again," he said. Gone was the human guise that he regularly wore. He looked the way he did when they took on Darius Drakos, fully divine and fully pissed. He wasn't wearing his armor, but his hair was longer around his shoulders, and he was wearing a black and silverexomiswith shadows curling about his feet. Persephone was scared and turned on at the same time. It sucked how much she wanted to crawl into his lap and stay there.
"I am pregnant with twins. I found out a few days ago, and I freaked the fuck out, which, to be honest, I still am," she said in a hurried burst. "I heard Isis summoning me to her island, so I convinced the twomalakaswho tried to kidnap me to take me to her."
"Why didn't you come to me?" Hades asked, his tone hurt.
"Because I needed to figure out how I felt about it without you or anyone else in the Court getting in my face about it! It's my body and my life. You know how I feel about mothers, and I had to figure out how I felt about becoming one myself. You..." Persephone took a deep breath and tried again. "You make me want to give you whatever you want. I love you more than I love myself, Hades, but in this case, I had to chooseme."
Hades leaned back in his chair. "I understand. So what did you decide to do?"
"I want to keep them. I know it's not what you expected and that it's going to change our entire lives. I'm still terrified for them and me. But I want them," Persephone replied, her hands crumpling the skirt of her dress. "Will you say something?"
Hades reached out and brushed the tears off her cheeks with his fingertips.
"I love you more than I love myself as well, baby," he said, resting her forehead against hers. "I'm scared too. I never thought this would happen to me, but I'm happy about it."
Persephone looked up in surprise and saw that he was smiling at her. "My beautiful sunshine girl, how could I not be? Anything you bring into my world is a blessing, and these children will be the same."
"I thought you would be mad," she replied, running her fingers through his hair.
His eyes narrowed. "Oh, I'm furious about you running away and hiding from me, even if I understand. The babies, I'm happy about. I thought you were leaving me."
It was so rare for Hades to show how vulnerable he was, even to her.
"I'm so sorry I made you feel that way. It wasn't my intention. I barely knew what I was doing until I had done it. You are the best thing in my life," Persephone said, wrapping her arms around him and pressing her face into his neck. Hades lifted her off the bed and settled her into his lap, where she belonged.
"If I ever make you unhappy, you will tell me so I at least have the opportunity to change my ways," he murmured against her hair. "You scared me half to death. I apologize in advance for the tyrant I'm about to become for your safety. I can't… I can't lose you, Persephone."
"What if the birth is bad, and you have to choose between me or them?" she whispered.
Hades's grip on her tightened. "That won't happen. If it does, the answer is always you.Always.I can live without a lot of things, but not you. I wouldn't even want to. I've done it before, for so very fucking long, and I won't do it again."
Persephone pressed herself closer to him, her heart so full it made her speechless. He always had a way of making her feel more cherished than she ever had in her life before. There was nothing she wouldn't do to keep his heart safe and in her care.
"I love you so damn much." She kissed him until they were both breathless. Then she took his hand and put it on her stomach. "Are you sure you are okay with this? I know you already look after so many people. The Court…"
"Are all old enough and smart enough to look after themselves. They will see these children as theirs too, just so you know," Hades grumbled. "They will interfere as much as possible."
Persephone laughed softly. "I know. It takes some of the pressure off us. I'll have to decide what to do about who will run the companies when we aren't there."
"We will figure it out. I've probably been hanging onto it much longer than I need to. Styx is safe and stable enough for me to take my hands off it for a while," Hades said and nibbled on her ear. "I'll have to find other ways to keep them busy."
Persephone hummed, her body clenching up in the most delicious of ways. "Like changing nappies?"
Hades chuckled. "I'll assign that task to whoever is pissing me off that day. The babies will be out of that stage quickly anyway."
"Isis and Ashirah told me. I'm scared of how fast they will grow."
"They will, but we will handle it. What else did Isis tell you?" he asked, a glimmer of heat in his gray eyes.
