She had expressed her embarrassment when she’d had to find out about his charities through someone else, so it was no surprise that she was angry now.
He reached for her, his hands gripping her shoulders. There was a strangeness beneath his skin, a volatile need to touch her. It was likely fueled by how he’d spent the past several hours of his life, and he wished to channel it into something far more productive than violence.
“You were never to come here. This place isn’t for you.”
Hades did not expect her to wince, and he hated that he had hurt her, though he didn’t understand why until she spoke.
“Leuce works here,” she countered, as if they were one and the same.
“Because it’s Leuce. You told me to give her job back, so I sent her here. You…you’re…different.”
“Different?” She pushed away from him. “What does that even mean?”
Hades’s frustration was acute, pounding through his head. He gritted his teeth. “I thought we’d established this. You mean more to me than anyone—anything.”
“What does that have to do with keeping this place from me?”
Aside from the fact that it was dangerous?
She might not like what she saw—what it made him.
“Everything here is illegal, isn’t it? The Magi are here. What else?”
He stared at her, knowing that he could not escape answering but wondering if he could prolong it.
“What else, Hades?” she demanded.
“Everything you’ve ever feared.” Or perhaps thought to be impossible. “Assassins, drug lords…”
He housed crime families and madams, relic dealers and thieves, arsonists and smugglers. Anyone and anything that could benefit him was within the walls of this club, but as he watched Persephone’s face pale, he questioned just how much she was ready to learn.
So he trailed off, and after a brief silence, Persephone whispered, “Why?”
“I created a world where I could watch them,” he said.
Watch and control.
“Watch them do what? Break the law? Hurt people?”
“Yes,” he said, his frustration at a breaking point. Why did it feel so impossible to introduce her to the scope of his world? How was he supposed to illustrate lifetimes of work, built to reach both the heavens and the depths of depravity?
“Yes? That’s it? That’s all you have to say?”
“For now.” He was at a point where he did not want to explain. If she wished to think so poorly of him, then perhaps he should let her.
“Who brought you here?” he demanded.
“A taxi.”
It was not the answer he sought, and she knew it. Someone had told her about this place, fed her the information on how it worked. Hades narrowed his eyes. “You think I won’t find out?”
In fact, he thought he already knew.
“I have free will. I chose to come here of my own accord.”
Hades’s eyes darkened, and he touched her again, drawing her closer. His body felt rigid, run through with wire. He felt too agitated, and he wasn’t going to get through this if he didn’t find some kind of way to release this energy. He needed to fuck, and he needed it to be unkind and ugly, and Persephone was primed to offer it.
Except that she pushed his hands away.
His gaze hardened as he stared back at her.
She could not say she did not know his intentions. His cock pressed firmly into her stomach, and despite her initial rejection, her body bowed to his desire.
“Are you telling me no?”
Truly, if she did not want him, he would release her, but she shook her head once and his resolve crumbled. He spun her around and guided her forward so her hands pressed flat against the mirrored wall, hiking up her skirt and shoving her legs apart. He brushed his palm over her round ass before giving her a light smack, which caused her to yelp. For a moment, he thought he might have hurt her, but when he met her gaze in the mirror, she offered a small nod, and he continued, bending to kiss the skin he had touched while guiding her underwear down.
Once they were off, he placed them in his pocket and turned his attention to her center. Slipping his hand between her thighs, he let his finger trail along her entrance, slick with her arousal. She groaned and arched, her stance growing wider with the hope that she would soon accommodate more of him.
And as much as he wanted to be inside her, he wanted to prolong her pleas for pleasure more.
“So fucking wet. How long have you been like this?”
“Since I got here,” she offered in a whispered moan. He liked the way she pressed into the mirror, how exaggerated her back arched and elevated her ass. “I wanted you on the dance floor. I willed you to manifest from the dark, but you weren’t there.”
“I’m here now,” he said. Rising to his feet, he kissed her shoulder and down her back before drawing his tongue over her round ass. All the while, his fingers continued their exploration, curling inside her, isolating her pleasure. Another hand worked her clit, and beneath him, she hummed and sighed and cried.
Sweat broke out across his skin, and his head felt hot. There were so many parts of her he wanted to touch and taste, and his cock grew thicker and heavier, desperate to sink into her heat, to feel her clench around him, to fill her to bursting with his come.
This was possession, and right now, he wanted to own all of her.
“Hades…please!” She gave a guttural, breathless sob, looking at him from under her arm, and he knew she was just as desperate to come. He could see it in her eyes, feel it in the heat of her skin. He withdrew, fingers sticky with her arousal, and chuckled at her cry of frustration. When she started to straighten, he held her hips in place.
“Stay,” he ordered, an edge of darkness to his voice.
She offered an angry glare, and he knew she did not like the command. Still, he smiled.
“It wouldn’t be punishment if I gave you what you wanted when you demand it.”
Her lips slammed into a hard line. “Don’t pretend you don’t want me.”
The sound of his zipper followed his reply. “Oh, I’m not pretending.”
He guided the head of his cock to her entrance and thrust, sinking into her heat and grip. He stayed there a moment, fully sheathed, enjoying the pressure that held his cock so firmly. He could stay here forever, lost in this heady pleasure, but beneath him, Persephone writhed, her body demanding movement.
Still, he held off, brushing his hand along her back before bending close to squeeze her breasts and tease her nipples. Finally, he began to move, small thrusts, a grinding that caused them both to groan. He reached for her hair, wrapping it around his fist like a line of rope, and drew her toward him, kissing her neck and jaw. Their mouths connected, tongues twining in a desperate attempt to taste each other’s souls.
Then he released her all at once, though he kept an arm wound around her middle. She watched him in the mirror as he slowed his pace despite wanting nothing more than to slam into her.
“This is for us,” he said, pulling out, holding her attention like embers in the night. “You will share this with no one else.”
He thrust forward, and her breath caught in her throat.
“Some things are sacred to me,” he said, repeating the same teasing motion. “This is sacred to me. You are sacred to me. Do you understand?”
She nodded, resting her face against the wall.
“Say it! Say you understand.”
“Yes! Yes, gods-dammit. I understand! Make me come, Hades!”
He pulled out of her and lifted her from her bent position. She spun to face him, eyes wild, and he kissed her, gripping her jaw, pressing her into the wall. There was something sweeter about the taste of her now, on the other side of this anger and frustration. His hands fell, smoothing down her body until he reached her thighs and hoisted her up, leveraging her so she hovered just above his cock before guiding himself back to her entrance and letting her slide down on him.
This position offered little in the way of movement, but it was the closeness they needed. Persephone’s hands were tangled in his hair, as if she were ready to pull him to her once more, but Hades remained at a distance, studying her face.
“I have never loved anyone as I love you,” he murmured as if he wanted no one else to hear, though he would gladly share those words with the world. “I can’t put it into words—there are none that come close to expressing how I feel.”
“Then don’t use words,” she whispered, and when their lips collided once more, Hades turned and lowered to the floor. As soon as he hit the ground, she began to rock against him, uncaring that he had slipped from inside her during their descent, though she was quick to guide him back, slamming down on him with a force that made their bodies slap together.
He watched her use him for her pleasure, fingers twining with his own as she dragged his arms up and over his head, giving him access to her breasts. He teased them with his tongue and teeth before he could no longer handle staying still.
“Fuck!”
He broke her hold and gripped her hips, fingers digging into her soft skin as he helped her move, meeting each downward slide with an upward thrust. Their breaths came hard and fast, and when she began to tighten around him, it was enough to send them both over the edge. He came hard, in a gush of heat that continued as her head fell back in listless pleasure.
She sank against him, her heart hammering, and though they were both slick with sweat, he liked the heaviness of her body against his and he wanted this forever.
“Marry me.”
The words slipped out, and once they were in the ether, there was no taking them back. Not that he would want to. Marriage to Persephone had been his plan all along.
Persephone sat back, and as she did, his cock moved with her.
“What?”
It was not the emphatic answer he was looking for. He knew she had heard him, though he could not blame her for hesitating—or even saying no. They had never spoken about marriage, even if he had mentioned their fate.
“Marry me, Persephone. Be my queen. Say you’ll stand by my side…forever.”
He spoke and recalled Hecate’s words—that no one but the Fates could unravel their future—but what if Persephone never said yes?
“Hades…I…” She hesitated. “You were just angry with me.”
“And now I’m not.”
“And you want to marry me?”
“Yes.”
She rose to her feet on shaky legs, and when Hades tried to help, she pushed him away.
“I can’t marry you, Hades,” she said, her voice breaking. “I…I don’t know you.”
Hades’s lips tightened, and his brows slammed down over his eyes. “You know me.”
“No, I don’t.” She gestured to their surroundings. “You kept this place from me.”
“Persephone, I have lived forever. There will always be things you learn about me, and you should know you won’t like some of them.”
“This isn’t one of those things, Hades. This place is real, and it exists in the present. You hired Leuce to work here. I deserved to know, just as I deserved to know about Leuce!”
Hades tightened his jaw. She wasn’t wrong, but she also did not know what she was asking for. Did she think she could handle the truth of this world?
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked.
“Because I was afraid,” he snapped, frustrated by the hurt in her voice.
“Why?”
“Obviously because of your moral compass.” He rose to his feet and restored his appearance. After a few moments, he turned to face her. “I wanted time to think about how to show you my sins. To explain their roots. Instead, it seems, everyone wishes to do it for me.”
Persephone frowned, but at his admission, her expression turned gentle.
“I’m sorry, Hades,” she said, voice quiet.
Hades frowned. “What are you apologizing for?”
“I guess…everything,” she said. “For coming here…for telling you no.”
“It’s okay. It’s a lot to ask of you right now,” he said. “With Lexa and your work. And I have put a lot on you tonight, shown you a side of me you haven’t seen before.”
“You aren’t…upset?”
He would not say he was upset, not with her, and while he would have liked to end this night engaged to her, it was more for his own peace of mind when dealing with Hera.
“Do I wish you’d said yes? Of course,” he said, and before he could continue, she spoke.
“I’m just…not ready.”
“I know,” he said, pressing his lips to her forehead.
When he pulled away, she was crying.
“Tell me,” he implored as he brushed her tears away.
“I ruined everything,” she said, pressing her face into his chest, her arms twining around his waist.
“You ruined nothing, my darling,” Hades assured. “You were honest with yourself and with me. That is all I ask.”
“How could you want to marry me now? After I have told you no?”
How could he not? She had told him no, and with good reason.
“I will always want to marry you because I will always want you as my wife and queen.”
It was the truth. He felt it in his soul, though he wondered if tonight had fractured her truth.
“Will you show me more of this place?” she asked, rubbing at her face to erase the tears.
“More of Iniquity?” he asked, surprised, feeling a little of the warmth drain from his face.
“Yes,” she said.
“Do I have a choice?”
They had just reconciled, and he really did not feel like fighting anymore, though he had to admit, the fact that she had asked to see more and not left him in a hurry was promising.
“If I am ever to be your queen? No.”
She had a point. If she eventually agreed to marry him, she was going to inherit more than a kingdom.
She would have an empire.