A Touch of Malice (Hades & Persephone #3)(12)

“What is this?” His question was almost a hiss.

Apparently, word hadn’t reached him yet.

“A woman poured coffee into my lap,” Persephone explained.

“Poured?”

“If you are asking if it was intentional, the answer is yes.”

Something dark flashed in Hades’ eyes. It was the same look she’d seen last night when she’d brought news of Adonis’s death. After a moment, he knelt before her. A wave of magic burst from his hands, settling into her skin until she no longer felt the pain of the burns or saw the scalding upon her skin. Despite being healed, Hades remained on his knees, hands drifting to the back of her legs.

“Will you tell me who this woman was?” Hades asked, his lips grazing the inner part of her thigh.

“No,” she said, inhaling sharply, her hands coming to rest on his shoulders.

“I cannot…persuade you?”

“Perhaps,” she admitted, the word escaping on a breath. “But I do not know her name, so all your… persuading would be in vain.”

“Nothing I do is in vain.”

Hades’ grip tightened on her, and his head dipped between her legs—his mouth closing over her clit. Persephone gasped, her fingers threading into his slick hair.

“Hades—”

“Don’t make me stop,” he said, his voice rough.

“You have thirty minutes,” she said.

Hades paused, looking up at her from the ground.

Gods, he was beautiful and so fucking erotic. The heat in the bottom of her stomach melted her insides. She was wet for him. By the time he put his mouth on her, she would come—he wouldn’t even need to coax an orgasm from her.

“Only thirty?”

“Do you need more?” she challenged.

He offered a wicked grin. “Darling, we both know I could make you come in five, but what if I’d like to take my time?”

“Later,” she said. “We have a party to attend, and I still need to make cupcakes.”

Hades frowned. “Is it not a mortal custom to be fashionably late?”

Persephone raised a brow. “Did Hermes tell you that?”

“Is he wrong?”

“I will not be late to Sybil’s party, Hades. If you wish to please me then you’ll make me come and on time.”

Hades smirked.

“As you wish, my darling.”





CHAPTER IV – NEVER HAVE I EVER

Persephone manifested on the doorstep of Sybil’s apartment with Hades.

A shiver shook her spine.

It was a combination of the cold and thoughts from the last hour spent with the God of the Dead on his knees. She should be used to Hades’ wickedness, but he still found ways to surprise her— pleasuring her as she stood, one leg drawn over his shoulder. His tongue had tasted and teased, devoured and savored. She’d pressed into him, unable to keep her body from bearing down upon his mouth. She’d come, coaxed by a growl that erupted from deep in Hades’ chest. She’d finished with enough time to finish the cupcakes for Sybil’s party.

Another shiver wracked her body. The cold was piercing, like needles sinking into her skin. It was unnatural weather for July and nothing—not even the happiness Hades’ love had inspired—could quell the dread she felt as the snow continued to fall.

It’s the start of war.

They were Hades’ words; spoken the night he had proposed, this time on a bent knee with a ring. It had been the best moment of her life but overshadowed by Demeter’s magic. Suddenly, the tips of Persephone’s fingers tingled with power, reacting to the sudden shiver of rage that shot up her back.

Hades’ hand tightened around her waist.

“Are you well?” he asked, no doubt sensing the surge in her magic.

Persephone had not yet completely managed to keep her magic from reacting to her emotions.

“Persephone?”

Hades’ voice drew her attention and she realized she had not answered his earlier question. She tilted her head, meeting his dark gaze. Warmth blossomed in the pit of her stomach as her eyes fell to his lips and the inviting stubble on his jaw, recalling how it felt against her skin, a delicious friction that teased and taunted.

“I am well,” she replied.

Hades raised a doubtful brow.

“I am,” she said. “I was just thinking about my mother.”

“Do not ruin your evening thinking of her, my darling.”

“It is a little hard to ignore her given the weather, Hades.”

He lifted his head and stared at the sky for a moment, his body going rigid beside hers, and she knew he was just as concerned but she didn’t ask for his thoughts on the matter. Tonight, she wanted to have fun because something told her, that beyond this night, nothing would be.

She knocked, but instead of seeing Sybil, a blond man answered the door. His hair fell in soft waves just above his shoulders. His eyes were hooded and blue, and his jaw marked by stubble. He was handsome, but a complete stranger.

Weird, Persephone thought. She was certain this was Sybil’s apartment.

“Um, I think we might have the wrong—”

“Persephone, right?” the man asked.

She hesitated and Hades’ arm tightened around her.