Page 62 of Curse the Flame

Aiden reaches through the crown of fire, stroking my hair with his long, slender fingers. “Zeus is overreacting,” he says at last, and I know for sure that he was there in the shadows, witnessing the entire exchange with Daphne and Alex.

And that just goes to prove how much he loves me—and how much control he has on his god—because he let Daphne offend him again and again without reacting at all.

“He has to be,” Aiden murmurs. “If there was a real threat here, he wouldn’t be playin’ his games mirrorside. Playin’ landlord and matchmaker. He’d be here in the Other, being the king of the gods he swears he is.”

Would he, though? In my experience, Zeus seems like a master manipulator. He thinks it’s for good reasons, sure, but don’t most master manipulators?

There’s a war brewing. That’s what Daphne told me the first time she came to ask for Aiden’s help. Ares, the god of war, is building an army made up of all the soldiers in the reborn village of Sparta, and that, to me, seems like the bigger threat to the Other right now.

But that’s not my story. That’s not our story.

More importantly, my husband has told me of his past. Of who he was when he still lived on the other side of the mirror. It was such a shock to know that he was born eighty years before I was, but that doesn’t change how he was from a generation that was taught it was patriotic to go and fight and kill. He went to war once. I know Aiden. He doesn’t want to go again, no matter the reasons behind its waging.

And if Aiden doesn’t want to join with the gods and goddesses who have always cast him aside unless they think he’s suddenly useful… I’m not going to use my influence as his wife to cajole him into doing anything he doesn’t want to.

Maybe, in my own little way, it’s how I can save him.

CHAPTER 17

THESEUS

WILLOW

I’ve gotta say, there are disadvantages to being married to the Lord of the Underworld.

Not many, admittedly, and none that are Aiden’s fault.

Aiden is devoted, attentive, terrifyingly protective, and so handsome that I have occasionally lost track of entire conversations because the low flames along the walls caught the sharp edge of his cheekbone in a particularly distracting way. He also makes sure the kitchens keep a steady supply of my favorite foods for me now that I can eat down here, has threatened at least three dead kings for speaking to me with less respect than his queen deserves, and lets Sir sleep at the foot of our bed each night despite insisting that a three-headed hellhound has no business pretending to be a lapdog.

So, no, I don’t have many complaints.

Still, whenever the dead arrive in numbers too great for the judges to process without Hades personally intervening—or there are certain cases meant specifically for the god of the Underworld—my husband disappears into the megaron for hours. Sometimes days. And he does that because he knows that—despite accepting that I am Persephone—I don’t like that part of the job. I’m aware that Hades expects his wife to be an equal partner in his duties, but Aiden accepts that Willow is too much of a such touch to do much good.

If it were up to me, I’d give everyone a second chance, no punishment required. Well, no. People who rape or kill or do some seriously bad stuff… yeah, punish away. But the Underworld has strict guidelines about who goes where, and there are certain cases where I think mercy is warranted and Hades disagrees.

Then, of course, Aiden sides with me which means that he has to argue with his god. I hate when that happens, especially if it’s my fault. It leaves Aiden on edge after he forces Hades back, and considering Hades throws it into Aiden’s face as often as he can that he should be allowed to be the lead personality—that a Greek-killer doesn’t deserve a bride like Persephone—it does something awful to my husband whenever Hades opens his big mouth.

I don’t want Hades. I want Aiden, and I’ve spent the last six months showing him that I mean it. I know his past. I know his history. I know how he was manipulated by his old boss to kill those who were meant for this realm before they had the chance to discover who they really were.

I doubt it was on purpose. If gods and goddesses don’t awaken until we’re on the other side of the mirror, how did his boss even know who he was sending poor Aiden after? Only Zeus can cross between worlds easily, and even he found out who the souls belonged to after it was too late. It was a coincidence, and one my husband has been paying for for the last eighty years.

No one shows him any mercy, and he even spares it for me by letting me off the hook when it comes to dealing with the dead of the Underworld on his own.

He always promises to come back as soon as he can, and I believe him. Aiden would abandon a meeting with Zeus himself if he thought I needed him. That doesn’t mean I enjoy watching him pull on his suit jacket woven from shadows before leaving our chambers, his expression gradually losing the softness he only seems willing to show me.

“Busy day?” I ask.

“Looks like.”

He leans down to kiss me, one hand settling against the back of my neck as though a simple goodbye requires enough contact to reassure himself I won’t vanish while he’s gone. The kiss begins gently. It doesn’t stay that way for long.

It rarely does.

By the time he lifts his head, I’m holding the front of his shirt in both fists, and the white light beginning to glow beneath his black irises suggests Hades has opinions about leaving me, too.

“You could tell them you’re unavailable,” I murmur.

Aiden’s mouth brushes mine again. “I could. I want to, Blossom, but⁠—”