A Touch of Ruin (Hades x Persephone #2)(102)

She sighed and rose to her feet, wandering through Hades’ garden, halting when the god walked into view from the opposite direction. He was in his Divine form, his strong frame draped in robes, and his long hair was pulled up into a messy bun. His horns were like black slashes, rising into the sky. He looked exhausted and pale and beautiful.

She held her breath in his presence, feeling as if there were oceans between them.

“Are you well?” he asked.

The question always warmed her, but this time it ignited her. She felt so much for him in a single moment, she could hardly make sense of it all, love and desire and compassion.

“I will be,” she answered.

Hades watched her for a moment, gaze searching.

“May I join you on your walk?” he asked.

“This is your realm,” she answered.

Hades frowned, but said nothing, and as she moved forward, he fell in step beside her. They didn’t hold hands or walk arm-in-arm, but now and then their fingers would brush, and the sensation was electric. Every inch of her skin felt like an exposed nerve. It was so strange, after everything they’d been through in the last few days, her body still responded to him as if none of that had happened.

She found herself wondering if Hades felt the same, then noticed his fists clench at his side.

She took that as confirmation.

They walked in silence until they came to the edge of the garden, where Persephone had found herself last night before venturing into the Forest of Despair. Finally, Hades turned toward her and spoke.

“Persephone. I...I don’t know what you saw but you must know—you must know—it wasn’t real.”

He sounded so broken, so desperate for her to understand.

“Shall I tell you what I saw?” She whispered the words, and while she didn’t feel angry, she, too, wanted him to understand. “I saw you and Leuce together. You held her, moved inside her like you starved for her.”

She shook as she spoke, and her nails dug into her palm.

“You took pleasure from her. Knowing she was your lover was one thing, seeing it was…devastating.”

She closed her eyes against the nightmare as tears streamed down her face.

“And I wanted to destroy everything you loved. I wanted you to watch me dismantle your world. I wanted to dismantle you.”

“Persephone,” Hades whispered her name, and then she felt his fingers beneath her chin. He tilted her head up and her eyes fluttered open. “You must know that wasn’t real.”

“It felt real.”

Hades fingertips slide across her skin, collecting her tears.

“I would take this from you if I could.”

“You can,” she said, drawing close. “Kiss me.”

Hades lips pressed to hers. His tongue teased her lips before thrusting into her mouth and coiling with her own. His mouth was brutal and bruising, and he tasted smokey and sweet, and as he explored, her hands sought, running down the planes of his hard stomach and gripping his cock through his robes.

An unnatural groan escaped his mouth and he pulled away; his gaze burned into hers.

“Help me forget what I saw in the forest,” she said, breathing hard. “Kiss me. Love me. Ruin me.”

They collided, tearing at each other’s clothes until they stood naked beneath the pallid Underworld sky. Their lips crashed, tongues tasting, breath mingling. Hades’ hand cupped the back of her head, the other moved down, over her belly and into the nest of curls between her thighs. She moaned as his fingers dipped into her hot flesh. For a moment, she was lost in the pleasure of him, in the ache at her core.

When Persephone could no longer stand, Hades knelt with her. She settled back, cradled by his robes while he sat on his heels, staring at her unclothed body, eyes like the fires of Tartarus.

“Beautiful,” he said. “If I could, I would keep us here in this moment forever, with you spread out before me.”

“Why not fast forward,” she said. “To when you are inside me?”

Hades grinned. “Eager, darling?”

“Always.”

He pressed a kiss to the inside of her knee, and then trailed them down her thighs until his mouth closed over her cleft, his tongue playful, before parting her slit and spearing her. She bucked against him, and Hades pushed her knees down, spreading her wider. She could feel herself clenching around him, her arousal so heightened, it was almost painful.

She came, gasping his name, threading her fingers through his hair so she could pull him up her body to kiss him. His lips crashed against hers, trailed her neck, and then her breasts, his tongue swirling around each tip, making them rock solid.

“There was no greater torture than feeling your anguish,” he said. “I knew I was somehow responsible, and I could do nothing about it.”

She pressed her fingers to his swollen lips. “You can do something about it.”

She reached between them, where Hades’ hard-as-steel cock pressed into her leg. She guided him to her center. They came together viciously. Hades’ hips dug into hers as his cock split into her and she reveled in the ache of him filling and stretching. Her head snapped back, pressing into the ground, and she arched against him, a guttural cry escaped her mouth. Hades bent to kiss her lips, capturing the sound. She couldn’t find a place for her hands. Her fingers clutched at his silk robes, at the grass, then his arms.