“It is rather beautiful from this perspective,” she said without looking at me.
I glanced at her head, but she hadn’t turned to face me or moved. Her hands rested on the golden balcony. Her small hands looked nimble, and her nails looked much longer than they had appeared when I took her from the plains.
“I would like to think so,” I said quietly as I moved behind her until the fragrant floral scent of roses reached me.
“Has there been any word from my Mother?” she asked stiffly.
“Not to me,” I said honestly.
Her head snapped around, and her brownish-amber eyes glowed with anger.
“Do you expect me to believe you that my Mother isn't looking for me?”
Ah, yes, this was the fire I was looking for—her fighting spirit.
“No one has contacted me regarding your disappearance, Queen of the Underworld,” I said, dipping my head down to her.
“Liar,” she cried and tried to swipe my face with her long nails.
As much as I wanted to feel her touch, this was not how our union would begin. I caught her hand and twisted it around her back until the front of her body was pressed against mine. When she lifted her other hand to strike me, I pulled out the shadows from the corners of the balcony to bind her hands together.
I held her hips as she let out a long tirade of abuse, and I let her because I’d left her to her own devices for long enough.
Chapter 7
Persephone
My body and mind had been through every possible emotional conflict, and after being trapped in the House of Hades for days, my frayed nerves snapped with his sudden appearance. I felt his ominous energy behind me before I saw him, looming in the darkness like the slab of ice that he was.
Unable to move my hands, I squirmed against him, but his hands slid past my hips and rested on the curves of my backside. I froze at his intimate touch and tried to back away from him.
He wore a pewter-coloured crown with a matching cloak around his shoulders and a short chiton. There was little material to the scrap of cloth around his waist that his belt kept in place.
I paused when I noticed his chest, arms, and neck littered with various symbols and patterns. There was a black pattern on his forearm that looked like the veins of a leaf spreading open as the picture grew larger. I swallowed and tried to ignore the feel of his body pressed against mine. Once I had gathered my courage, I glared into his eyes.
“I am not the Queen of the Underworld,” I hissed angrily at him while looking at his dark eyes.
His expression never changed and his eyes were always lifeless. I glanced at his rich dark brown hair; like my mother, he had several shades in his hair and beard. It reminded me of the peeling bark tree, which had several shades like Hades, going from a rich copper shade to a dull greyish-brown shade. Many plants were chameleons because they had to adapt and survive.
I frowned at the thought, and many questions about Hades rushed around as they had done during my solitary imprisonment. Hades was brother to my father, Zeus, and mother, yet I had never seen him on Mount Olympus. It wasn’t a matter I had ever questioned before.
Hades' hand moved up to rest on my lower back, and the other covered the back of my neck and my hair. He lowered me until my back rested over the balcony, and my heart began to beat rapidly.
Would he throw me off the tower balcony?
I had never heard that he was cruel, only cold. The mortals feared him as much as they loved us, but they had such short lives they had every right to fear death.
“You are not only my Queen, sweet Goddess, you are my wife,” he murmured before his lips brushed across my cheek.
I gasped at the contact. It was the first touch I received since being brought here. I hugged and kissed my Mother several times a day. The shock of the contact left me, and my eyes filled with tears as the familiar ache stabbed at my core.
I missed my Mother.
“Find someone else. I am not a suitable match for you, Hades,” I choked out as the tears rolled down the sides of my face.
I blinked rapidly to clear my tears and read into his expression. As soon as my blurred vision faded away, I looked into Hade's eyes and saw they burned with a determined desire. It was a similar look to the one I had when I began a new project with my mother. I closed my eyes, not wishing to see my reality mingled with his.
“I’m afraid it's too late, Persephone. I will never release you.”
