A Touch of Darkness (Hades x Persephone #1)(70)

“Still hot?” he asked against her skin.

“An inferno,” she breathed.

“I could free you from this hell,” he said. His lips trailed up the column of her neck and she swallowed hard.

“We’re just getting started,” she answered.

His breathy laugh was warm against her skin, and she felt cold when he pulled away and returned to his seat to deal another hand.

Persephone smiled when their cards were on the table and said, “I win.”

Hades kept his gaze narrowed upon her. “Ask your question, Goddess. I am eager to play another hand.”

She bet he was.

“Have you slept with her?”

Hades’ jaw tightened and after what seemed like an eternity, he answered. The word was like a stone, dropped right in the pit of her stomach.

“Once,” he admitted.

“How long ago?”

“A very long time ago, Persephone.”

She had other questions, but the way he said her name—soft and gentle, like he really regretted having been with Minthe at all—kept her from saying anything else. It wasn’t really an option anyway, he’d already given her two answers—she’d only won the right to one.

She swallowed and looked away, surprised when he asked a question.

“Are you…angry?”

She met his gaze. “Yes,” she admitted. “But…I don’t know why exactly.”

She thought it might have something to do with the fact that she was not his first, but that was silly and irrational. Hades had existed in this world far longer than she, and to expect him to abstain from pleasure was ridiculous.

He stared at her for a moment before dealing another hand. Each snick of the cards made her more and more tense. The air in the room was thick with the deal they’d made. When he won the second round, he requested her earrings. That was slow torture, as he’d taken them out and nibbled her earlobe. She’d gasped at the scrape of his teeth, clenching the edge of the table to keep from threading her hands through his hair and forcing his lips on hers.

When he sat down in front of her again, she was still trying to catch her breath. If Hades won the next round, he’d ask for the only thing she had left—her dress. She’d be naked before him, and she wasn’t so sure she could withstand him undressing her.

She was spared from finding out when she won the next round. She had another burning question.

“Your power of invisibility,” she said. “Have you ever used it...to spy on me?”

Hades seemed both amused and suspicious of her question, but she was asking for a very important reason. She needed to know if he had been in her bedroom that night or had her desire for him simply caused her to fantasize?

“No,” he answered.

She was relieved. She’d been completely consumed by her own pleasure and hadn’t thought twice about the appearance of Hades at the end of her bed...until after.

“And will you promise to never use invisibility to spy on me?”

Hades studied her, as if he was trying to figure out why she was asking this of him. Finally, he answered.

“I will promise.”

As he started to deal another hand, she asked another question.

“Why do you let people think such horrible things about you?”

He shuffled the cards, and for a moment, she thought he might not answer, but after a moment, he said, “I do not control what people think of me.”

“But you do nothing to contradict what people say about you,” she argued.

He raised a brow. “You think words have meaning?”

She stared at him, confused, and as he continued to speak, he dealt another hand.

“They are just that—words. Words are used to spin stories and craft lies, and occasionally they are strung together to tell the truth.”

“If words hold no weight for you, what does?”

Their eyes locked, and something changed in the air between them—something charged and powerful. He approached her, cards in hand, and placed them on the table—a royal flush. Persephone stared at the cards. She had yet to reach for hers, but she didn’t need to. There was no doubt in her mind that he had won this round.

“Action, Lady Persephone. Action holds weight for me.”

She rose to meet him and their lips collided. Hades tongue twined with hers, and his hands gripped her hips. He twisted, sitting down and dragging her into his lap. He pulled the straps of her dress down and cupped her breasts, squeezing her nipples until they were taunt between his fingers.

Persephone gasped and bit down hard on his lip, eliciting a growl that made her shudder. His lips left hers and descended upon her breasts, licking and sucking, grazing each nipple with his teeth. Persephone clung to him, fingers twining in his hair, freeing it from its binding, pulling the strands hard the longer he worked.

Then she felt his hands pulling up her dress, and he lifted her, laying her back on the hard table.

“I have thought of you every night since you left me in the bath,” he said, and spread her legs wide, pressing in against her. “You left me desperate, swollen with need only for you,” he gritted out. For a moment, she thought he might leave her desperate, but then he said, “But I will be a generous lover.”

He lowered and kissed the inner part of her thigh, following with his swirling tongue until he reached her center. Then his hands spread her further and she felt him there—a testing tongue, then a deeper exploration, and she arched off the table crying out. She reaching for him, wishing to tangle her fingers in his dark hair, but he grabbed her wrists and held them against her sides and spoke against her. “I said I would be a generous lover, not a kind one.”