A Game of Fate (Hades Saga #1)(63)

“I don’t want Minthe,” he growled.

“I don’t want you.”

He wanted to snarl at the bitter taste in the back of his mouth as he tasted her lie.

“You don’t…want me?” he asked.

“No,” she said, but her voice was a hoarse whisper.

Hades’ eyes dropped to her kiss-swollen lips before lifting to her eyes once again. After a moment, he asked, “Do you know all of my powers, Persephone?”

He noted the way her throat constricted as she swallowed. He wondered why, after what they had shared in the pool, she was nervous. Perhaps she did not trust herself to maintain this fa?ade of indifference.

“Some of them,” she answered.

He tilted his head, inching close. “Enlighten me.”

“Illusion,” she said, and as she spoke, his lips brushed along the column of her neck.

“Yes,” he whispered, continuing to explore and taste her skin.

“Invisibility?”

“Very valuable.”

“Charm?” she breathed as his lips moved toward the sensitive skin of her breasts.

“Hmm.” He paused and looked up at her. “But it doesn’t work on you, does it?”

“No.” She shivered as she answered, and a smile threatened Hades’ serious composure. He drew a finger down the center of her chest, hooking around the towel and exposing her breasts.

“You seem to not have heard of one of my most valuable talents.” He took one tight bud into his mouth and sucked, enjoying the way Persephone’s breath caught loudly in her throat. He pulled away and leveled his gaze with hers.

“I can taste lies, Persephone. And yours are as sweet as your skin.”

She planted her hands on his chest and pushed him away.

“This was a mistake.”

That was not a lie, and the truth of it shattered his soul.

Persephone gathered the remainder of her clothes and the crown Ian had made. She held them to her chest like they were a shield, as if she were ashamed of what she had let happen. Hades stared as she retreated up the stairs.

“You might believe this was a mistake,” Hades called, and Persephone halted, her head turning only slightly so he could see her profile. “But you want me. I was inside you. I tasted you. That is a truth you will never escape.”

And it was that truth that gave him hope, because Hades knew he could build affection with fire.

He watched as Persephone shivered and ran.





CHAPTER XIX – THE HALCYON PROJECT




Hades teleported to his chambers, naked, cock straining, desperate for release.

She left me, he thought as he took a long pull straight from the whiskey bottle he had swiped from his bar. He paced, body rigid. The more he moved, the more he was reminded of his need.

Fucking Fates. Fucking Minthe.

This is a taste of my own medicine, he thought. I left her, too. Is this how she felt?

The thought was both pleasing and agonizing at the same time.

He paused, drank once more from the bottle, and threw it into the roaring fire. It shattered, and for a moment, the flames raged, the perfect representation of how he felt on the inside. As the blaze died down, he braced himself against the table and wrapped his fingers around his swollen length, gritting his teeth and closing his eyes.

In the darkness of his mind, he teleported to Persephone, finding her splayed on her bed, legs apart, fingers buried inside her, giving pleasure just as he had taught her in the baths. Her heels dug into the bed, her back arched, her breathing grew heavy. She was beautiful, exposed skin bathed in moonlight—a silvery goddess in the throes of passion.

Then she moved onto her knees and rocked back and forth, rolling her hips as she rode her hand.

“Tell me you’re thinking about me,” Hades said, and his hand gripped his cock, stroking lightly, savoring the pleasure that rushed to his head.

Persephone turned, her wide green eyes meeting his in the dark. Even in this light, he could see her cheeks were flushed. Her hair fell in disarray around her face, and her nipples strained against her nightshirt.

“Well?” he prompted.

“Yes,” she breathed. “I was thinking about you.”

He growled low in his throat. “Don’t stop on my account.”

She rose onto her knees and pulled her shirt over her head. His eyes roved her beautiful body, full breasts and dark nipples. A small waist he wanted to hold as she rode him to release, and wide hips that would cling to him as he drove into her.

The goddess began again, parting her flesh to pleasure herself. For a while, they maintained eye contact, and as she moved up and down, Hades stroked himself, increasing in urgency the more he witnessed her passion, head rolling back, breasts bouncing, teeth biting down on her bottom lip. Soon his hips moved, thrusting into his hand.

“Come for me,” he commanded. “Come, my darling.”

Her cries gave way to his own as his body jerked, hand filling with hot release. He collapsed against the table, breathing hard. Despite his need to catch his breath, he laughed.

He laughed because he had just had one of the hottest sexual encounters of his long life. Because his goddess—his future wife—had pleasured herself—and she had thought of him.

***

“Tell me why you are taking Minthe to the Olympian Gala tonight and not Persephone?”