“Would you allow me to touch you, Ashlyn?”
“Intimately?”
He nodded.
“My biggest fear is that, if I allow you to touch me while you believe I’m her I will be the one to suffer in some way when you finally see the truth. So, I guess whether or not you touch me like that should depend on if you really believe I’m Ashlyn or if you still think I’m Persephone. And that’s something only you’ll know.”
He studied me silently then reached out to trail his hand over my arm. When I didn’t visibly react, his gaze shifted from my face to my skin. He stroked my arm from shoulder to fingertips and back again, pausing to touch the bangle. When he reached my shoulder, he didn’t stop but smoothed his hand up my neck to cup my jaw. His thumb brushed over my bottom lip, and he closed his eyes.
It took everything to control my breathing and appear unaffected by his casual caress.
As I watched, the words on his chest moved and rewrote themselves, three contracts becoming one.
“I have craved this, g-Ashlyn.” He opened his eyes. “What payment do you demand for a breach in this contract?”
I slowly shook my head.
“Persephone demanded payments in blood. Ashlyn doesn’t. If you forget and call me Goddess, I’ll simply remind you just like I’ve been doing.”
The words finished writing themselves and winked out of existence.
Hades wrapped both arms around me and pulled me close, snuggling me on his lap.
“My name is only a small part of who I am,” I said, tracing my fingers over the spot where the new contract resided. “Test me. What’s something that Persephone would never do or allow? Something non-sexual, please.”
“You would never allow our children to see you like this.”
“Persephone would never,” I said.
“Yes. Persephone.”
“What wouldn’t she allow them to see?”
“You sitting comfortably in my lap.”
“Okay. Who do you want to summon to see this, then?” I asked, tipping my head back to look at him.
“All of them.”
It felt like my stomach fell to my toes.
“All of them?”
He slowly nodded.
“As Ashlyn-the-human, the idea of being in a hall filled with creatures who would like to eat a human is a bit terrifying.”
“None would dare harm you,” he said, his hand smoothing over my shoulder.
I let the touch soothe the rough edges of my fear and sighed.
“Okay then. Summon away.”
I shifted a little in his lap, turning slightly toward the main hall in preparation.
“My children!”
His unexpected yell made me jump so hard that I almost toppled off his lap. As he steadied me against his chest, I fought to calm my racing heart. The last thing I wanted was to show any sign of fear in front of any creatures.
