“She shakes with her revulsion even when I seek to comfort her.” He released me and angrily stalked away.
Head swimming, I bent forward, placed my hands on my knees, and focused on my breathing. In and out. Nothing else mattered. Just one breath then the next. In and out. Calm. No fear.
“Be as you once were,” Hades demanded. “Love me again.”
I couldn’t. I couldn’t do it. I was so fucked.
Falling to my knees, I sobbed my heart out, and when the building started to shake around me, I curled on my side and continued to cry uncontrollably. Eventually my tears dried and the shaking stopped, but I didn’t get up. I lay there, feeling dead inside and staring at the cracks in the stones in front of me. My exhales nudged a tiny bit of stone. That was it. That was the extent of my power. I could nudge a stone a little bigger than a grain of sand.
Let the world tremble, I thought bitterly.
Something scuffed against the floor behind me.
“She still smells of the sun,” he whispered. “I could take her now and free her from her torment.” He made a pained sound. “To sink inside of her. I need. I want.”
A hand brushed my hair, and I couldn’t bring myself to move. He could do whatever he wanted.
His fingers moved to my chin, stroking the skin then applying pressure so I would turn my head. His beautiful face swam into view.
The blanketed numbness vanished when he dipped his head and brushed his lips against mine. Pleasure slithered inside of me followed by a bolt of panic. My pulse jumped, and my breathing sped.
“Yes. Feel me. Want me,” Hades murmured against my lips. “Want me as I want you.”
I jumped to my feet and ran.
I didn’t see where I was going until too late.
Wall kissed my face.
Then there was nothing.
* * *
The throbbingin my head nagged my consciousness until I was fully aware again. I didn’t open my eyes, though. My head hurt like a bitch with them closed, and I didn’t want to push it. That didn’t keep reality at bay, though.
I could feel the bed beneath me, rather than the stone where I’d been. No, wait. That wasn’t right. Hades had acted on his crazy talk about rape and had kissed me, and I had found my will to keep fighting it.
Only, my fight hadn’t gone well.
I’d pulled a Hades and had run straight at a wall.
I silently groaned and gingerly touched my head where the throbbing pain was concentrated. The large, tender knot there radiated heat. Wincing, I forced myself to feel for blood before pulling my dry fingers away.
“It is not your place to suffer,” Hades said from nearby. “It is mine.”
A blink later, the throbbing in my head disappeared. I didn’t bother to check that the lump was gone. What did it matter if he healed me? It didn’t change anything.
I was stuck in Hell with a god who was not only known for his cruelty but one who’d shown his love of it again and again. And he thought I was Persephone,hisgoddess. I could only imagine how much she’d suffered at his hands. Or what I would suffer at his hands when he discovered I wasn’t who he thought I was.
A shaky exhale escaped me, and I wondered what I was supposed to do now or if I even cared.
The sound of a door closing didn’t immediately register. When it did, I was slow to open my eyes. I focused, instead, on pushing down my fear. It took longer than it should have for me to sit up and longer still to look around. The room was the standard Hades suite with bed, chamber pot, vanity table, and a slice of bread. The only thing it was missing was Hades.
My gaze drifted to the door. Would he come back in as soon as he heard me leave the bed? Would he start screaming in my face again, demanding that I touch him and love him and look at him? My breath caught on the start of a sob.
Rather than giving in to more tears, I pushed back the covers I was laying on top of and crawled under, pulling them over my head. A few tears still managed to escape before I dozed for a bit.
When I woke the second time to my stomach growling, I debated emerging from my little bubble of false safety. Although I’d rather starve then face Hades again, I knew whatever was keeping him away likely wouldn’t work forever. I needed to take this reprieve for what it was.
