A Touch of Ruin (Hades x Persephone #2)(110)

“You were right,” Persephone whispered. She was referring to Lexa’s end. Her breath catching in her throat; her fingers twined into his hair.

“I did not want to be right.”

“I should have listened,” she said, and moaned as a wave of pleasure rocked through her.

“Shh,” Hades quieted her. “No more talk of what you should have done. What is, is—there is nothing else to be done but move forward.”

As the first orgasm shook her body, Hades gripped her hard. “My queen,” he hissed.

“Hades,” she moaned his name.

They reveled in the feel of each other, deepening their connection before collapsing together in a heap of skin and sweat and sex.

At some point, Hades rose with Persephone and moved them before the fire. She rested on her back, Hades on his side.

“I’m going to quit New Athens News,” she said.

The god lifted a brow. “Oh?”

“I want to start an online community and blog. I’m going to call it The Advocate—it will be a place for the voiceless.”

“It sounds like you have thought about this a lot.”

She smiled. She was taking Hecate and Lexa’s advice. She was crafting her own life, taking control.

“I have.”

He placed his fingers beneath her chin. “What do you need from me?”

“Your support,” she said.

“You have it.”

“And I’d like to hire Leuce as an assistant.”

“I’m sure she’d be pleased.”

“And...I need your permission,” she added sheepishly.

“Oh?”

“I want the first story to be our story. I want to tell the world how I fell in love with you. I want to be the first to announce our engagement.”

Kal and Demetri had tried to take that away from her, but now she saw it as a path toward empowerment.

“Hmm,” Hades feigned considering this. She could tell because of the look in his eyes. He was part amused, part admiring. “I will agree under one condition.”

“And that is?”

“I, too, wish to tell the world how I fell in love with you.”

He kissed her slowly at first, his tongue sweeping sweetly over hers, and then deepened the kiss.

They spiraled and lost themselves in the heat of one another again.

***

Lexa’s funeral was scheduled three days after her death.

Persephone hadn’t been able to visit Lexa in Elysium since the day she arrived in the Underworld, so seeing her body, anointed and pale, adorned with a wreath and coins, brought her to tears.

Hades attended and kept a protective arm around her.

She could feel the emotions in the room—curiosity and anger and sadness. These mortals obviously wondered why Hades had let Lexa die, wondered how Persephone could stand beside him. Once, she had wondered the same thing, and now that thought brought her immense pain.

Hades looked down at her, touching her cheek.

“You could never make them understand,” he said, guessing her thoughts.

She frowned. “I do not want them to think poorly of you.”

He offered her a small, sad smile. “I hate that it bothers you. Does it help if I tell you the only opinion I value is yours?”

“No.”

After Lexa’s funeral, they spent the next few days cleaning out her room and packing items into boxes for her parents to store. It was a strange day, and left Sybil, Zofie, and Persephone feeling unsettled in their own apartment.

“I think we should move,” Sybil said.

“Yes,” Zofie said. “This home it...smells of death.”

The two looked at the Amazon.

“Persephone?” Sybil said. “What do you think?”

She opened her mouth, and then closed it.

“I’m...engaged,” she blurted.

Sybil and Zofie shrieked in excitement, and Persephone laughed.

Over the weekend, Persephone recruited Leuce to help with her new business. They met at The Coffee House and worked together over vanilla lattes.

“I’ve called every news outlet on your list,” Leuce said. “They’ve all agreed to run your story. The Divine said it would be front page news.”

“Excellent,” Persephone smiled.

She’d asked Leuce to cold call several newspapers and magazines to announce her new business venture—and her engagement to Hades. It was a strategic move that would automatically guarantee she had a readership for her blog where she would share the story of how she met and fell in love with the God of the Dead.

It would also enrage he mother. Persephone new Demeter paid attention to the news from all the instances she’d scolded her for writing about gods.

“Several have requested reviews,” Leuce continued. “I said you wouldn’t be available for them for another two weeks. I’ve put them in a spreadsheet. It took me forever—how do you use this…keyboard…so easily?”

Persephone laughed. “You’ll learn, Leuce.”

Sybil joined them later. Persephone had tasked her with creating a website that communicated simplicity and power and the results were stunning. The Advocate was scrawled across the top of the page in a rich shade of purple. Sybil also showed her a timeline for how the website would evolve as they added content—pages for health of all kinds and arts and culture.