Goddess of Spring (Goddess Summoning #2)(88)

She drew back and met his eyes. "Do you want to be free?"

He lifted her into his arms and held her tightly against his body. "Never," he breathed into her hair.

"Never, beloved."

She led him to her bed. While she stroked him he explored her body. The chemise was so thin that it felt like she had been wrapped in mist. He found her nipple, teasing and suckling it through the transparent material. He remembered the touches that brought her pleasure, and he did not need her to guide his hand. She responded to him as if they had been lovers for centuries. Suddenly she sat up and pulled the chemise from her body. When he moved to take her back into his arms, she stopped him.

"What is it, beloved?"

"I want you to do something for me."

"Anything," he said.

"I want you to make love to me with your eyes closed. Pretend you cannot see my body." She peered into his face as if she were searching for an answer written there. "Can you make love to me without looking at me?"

He smiled and closed his eyes. Blind, he opened his arms to her and she fel into his embrace. Surrounded by her scent and touch, Hades existed in a world of Persephone's sensations. Without seeing her, he had to pay more attention to her smal sounds and fol ow the flow of her hips and the movement of her body. When her breathing quickened and his name sighed from her lips he did not need to see her flushed face to know he was bringing her pleasure. In his soul he felt her need and Hades responded with caress after caress. And then he fil ed her body and they rocked together in an ancient rhythm that needed no sight or sound - only feelings. Later she nestled against him, her head resting on his shoulder. He didn't know it yet, but he had helped her to make her decision, and now that she had made it, she felt at peace. Whatever happened next, she would survive it. Nothing could ever be as terrible as the black nothingness of Tartarus. With Hades' help, she had found her way free of that ultimate nightmare, and now she must be free of al the lies remaining in her life. She wasn't wil ing to hide the truth from him any longer. Demeter's anger be damned, she would tel him. He deserved to know everything. He loved her soul.

"Hades, I have to tel you something."

The God smiled. "May I keep my eyes open?"

Lina laughed softly. "Yes."

She sat up so that she was facing him, the silk sheet wrapped around her naked body. Hades grabbed a few pil ows from the disheveled bed, and propped himself comfortably against the padded headboard. He raised his dark eyebrows questioningly.

"I didn't mean to go to Tartarus. It was an accident. I was too upset to realize where I was until it was too late."

Hades frowned. Just the thought of how close she had been to losing her soul made his stomach tighten. "I know, beloved. You don't have to explain it to me. It was my fault. If I hadn't hurt you - "

"Sssh..." Lina leaned forward and pressed a finger against his lips. "Let me finish." The God looked uncomfortable, but he remained silent.

"Tartarus was," she shivered, "horrible. It cal ed to me. It knew things about me - every bad thing I've ever done, or even ever thought about doing. Every mistake I've made. It caused me to lose myself. I could feel it capturing my soul. There was nothing I could do." She took his hand and laced her fingers with his. "Then I heard you. You cal ed me back. Me, Hades. The real me - the soul inside the body."

"I had to get you back. I love you," he said.

"And I love you, too. But you need to know more than that. I am not who you think I am. I am not

- "

" Enough, Persephone!" Demeter's voice cut through Lina's words. "Your time here is finished. You must return."

Appal ed, Hades shot from Persephone's bed. Giving no thought to his nakedness, he faced the Goddess who had materialized in the middle of his beloved's chamber.

"What do you mean by this intrusion, Demeter?" he chal enged. "This is not your realm. You have no right to trespass here."

"You dal y with my daughter, Lord of the Underworld, and I have come to reclaim her. I am her mother. That is al the right I need."

"You are not my mother." Lina enunciated the words carefully so that there could be no mistaking what she was saying. She stood next to Hades, clutching the sheet to her br**sts. Demeter sighed. "Let us not play these childish games, Daughter. Your adventure has ended. It is time you return to your own reality."

"I know I can't stay, but I won't leave without tel ing him the truth. He deserves to know. He loves me."

"You are being a young fool," Demeter said.

"As you know very well , I am not young. And let me tel you once and for al , I am not a fool, either." She faced Hades and looked into his eyes. "I'm not real y Persephone. My name is Carolina Francesca Santoro, but most people cal me Lina. I am a forty-three-year-old mortal woman who owns a bakery in a place cal ed Tulsa, Oklahoma. Demeter exchanged my soul with her daughter's." She glanced at

Demeter and her mouth twisted into a sardonic smile before she looked back at the God. "She said she would help me out with a problem I was having, and in exchange I needed to do a little job for her in the Underworld."

The God's eyes widened.

"Remember when you overheard her reminding me how immortals love? She wasn't reminding me, she was explaining it to me because I'm a mortal. The whole thing was new to me."