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She stifled a yawn at the back of her throat and glanced around the elaborate, pillar-lined hall. This was her first time to Olympus since Demeter didn’t care to bring her daughter around.

Of course, given Zeus’s too-friendly greeting, Rose now saw why.

The hair on the back of her neck prickled and she stood straight. Was someone watching her?

She turned, scanning the room, and nearly gasped aloud at the sight of the man lurking in the shadows nearby.

He was enormous. Easily seven feet tall, like most gods. But where the ones she was

accustomed to seeing—Demeter, Hermes the messenger, and the empty-headed nymphs—were

lean and supple, this man was all corded muscle and iron strength. He looked intimidating.

Forbidding. Frightening. His eyes were as dark as his hair, and a purple cloak swirled around his big shoulders.

And he was watching her with an intensity that threw her. There was possessiveness in his gaze as he watched her.

He wanted her. Her eyes widened. In a sexual way?

Demeter had gone on and on about the lecherous men of Olympus. This was why they never came to the realm of the gods and stayed on earth. Of course, that didn’t sit well with Muffin’s plans since Muffin wanted her to shack up with the guy in charge of the underworld and steal a flower. Then again, the fairy godmother had also made herself very scarce since dropping Rose here. Maybe she’d forgotten?

Rose clutched her stole tighter about her shoulders and glanced over again. He was definitely staring at her. Dark. Scary. Handsome. Towering. Was this the lord of the underworld? Oh lordy.

Muffin hadn’t prepared her for a guy like that, she thought, shivering with emotion. It wasn’t fear… not exactly. No one could touch her while she remained at Demeter’s side.

But a shiver of emotion continued to tremble through her body and her nipples hardened. But what if… what if she did hook up with him? Muffin wanted her to get to the underworld. What if she had to seduce the lord of the underworld to get there?

What if she were left alone with him? What would he do to her? And why did that send a bolt of pleasure rocketing to her pussy?

“Come, child,” her mother said sharply. “We must return to the human lands. You have been presented. It is time for us to go.”

Startled at Demeter’s words, Rose lost her train of thought. She quickly bowed again, unable to resist glancing back at the dark man in the shadows once more as they turned and quickly walked out of the throne room.

He still watched her… but that was it.

Wasn’t he supposed to approach her and invite her to stay with him for this to work? How else was she going to get to the underworld if Demeter kept dragging her away?

Biting her lip, she bowed her head and dutifully followed Demeter out the door.

~*~

“I want her,” Hades told Zeus. “I was promised a bride if I would take the underworld to rule. I rule it. I want my bride.” He pointed down the now empty hall, where Demeter and Persephone had left. “The goddess of spring.”

Zeus snorted, lounging indolently on his throne. “The god of the underworld cannot have the goddess of spring. There is no spring in the underworld. She would be useless to you.”

Hades narrowed his eyes at the chief god. His brother. His wily older brother who never kept a promise unless it suited him. “She is the one for me.”

There was something different about Persephone today, and he was intrigued. He’d seen her before when he’d had business that coincided with Demeter’s. Then the pretty girl had quivered in terror at the sight of him, hiding behind her mother’s skirts.

Today? Persephone had looked boldly at him, and he’d seen a flare of interest in her eyes. He didn’t know what had caused her change of heart, but he liked it.

But Zeus only stroked his beard and then shook his head. “You cannot have her. Her mother would be furious.”

“Then give Demeter a boon of some kind. I don’t care what. The underworld is full of gems.

I’ll fill her coffers in exchange for her daughter.” He burned for the beautiful maiden. He kept seeing those bare, delicate feet in his mind, imagined her toes curling as she walked on the cool marble floors of his palace in the underworld.

“You cannot have her,” Zeus said idly. “Bacchus wants her.”

That drunken lout. Fury burned through Hades. “The king of the underworld takes

precedence over your son.”

“So he does,” Zeus said and then stroked his beard again. “Unless I want her for myself.

Choose someone else, brother.”

Hades’s burning glare simmered with anger. So that was it, then. It wasn’t that Bacchus wanted the girl—it was that Zeus had his eye on her himself. “So you will deny me my bride, brother? You would break the vow you made to me?”

Zeus gave a lazy shrug. “She’s only a woman. There are dozens of goddesses in Olympus and hundreds of nymphs. Choose one of them.”

“No,” Hades said, his voice icy with anger. “We shall speak of this again later.” And he turned and strode away without waiting for Zeus’s permission. He didn’t care what his brother thought of his bad manners.

Bacchus wanted her. Zeus wanted her, too.

She was his. She belonged to him. To
Hades
.

And if Zeus wasn’t going to give the girl to him, he’d simply take her for his own. Those that entered his kingdom never left.

Ever.

A diabolical plot forming in his mind, Hades headed for his chariot.

Rose lay on her back amidst the flowers, staring up at the endless blue sky overhead. She didn’t see the beauty of the lovely day or smell the fragrance of the flowers swaying in the breeze. The laughter of the nearby nymphs as they cavorted went unnoticed.

Her mind was still on the dark, possessive gaze of the lord of the underworld.

She knew who he was, now. She’d asked innocent questions of her terse mother until she’d come upon the knowledge she needed. Hades, Demeter had told her, was a surly, dark man who wore a purple cloak and hid in the shadows. That fit her admirer to a tee. Demeter also warned her that if she saw the man to run in the other direction.

Sound advice.

Except… Rose was thinking of the fairy godmother’s bargain. She could stay in this place where she had a life and magical powers as long as she managed to get a flower of the underworld.

And the lord of the underworld was
interested
in her. She just had to get to him somehow and ask him to take her to the underworld. Rose kept thinking of his fierce gaze as it had roamed over her. Her hand idly trailed over her flat stomach, thinking of his muscles. She’d never been able to get close to any of the humans of this plane—Demeter protected her from them, too—but he was taller and broader than any she had seen. Handsome, too. She recalled the hard set of his mouth, his firm, square jaw. He was clean-shaven, which was interesting to her. Most of the gods chose beards because it made them look older, more dignified, she supposed, and that appeased the mentality of their worshipers.

He didn’t seem like the type to concern himself with such things.

So, she had a sexy lord of the underworld that gave her hot, delicious stares and no way to get to him. That was frustrating.

Rose rolled over in the grass when the nymphs giggled and danced away. Stupid nymphs.

She was bored. It was a quiet, lovely day like any other, but for some reason, this was dissatisfying to her. Every day was exactly the same. Some days it rained, some days it didn’t.

Every day she would walk the fields, careful to avoid humans, and tend to flowers, sowing bits of her magic. Then she would return to her mother’s temple, receive prayers, and go to sleep.

It was boring as hell.

Rose wasn’t complaining, of course. Here she was given a second chance at life and some pretty cool powers… that Demeter was determined not to let her use. And so she was mostly stuck hanging out in fields with nymphs, who had the collective brainpower of a really dumb rock.

Olympus had been interesting, she thought idly. She wanted to go back there. Would Tall, Dark and Sexy still be there? If she saw him again, would he speak to her or simply give her that hot stare from the shadows? Her sex grew slick at the thought, and she glanced at the nearby nymphs, frowning.

She wanted privacy to think about the dark god, and the nymphs were too silly to realize that she would want to be alone. With a wave of her hand, she made the flowers at the far end of the meadow twist into a riot of colors, blooming wildly. The nymphs shrieked with delight, racing for the flowers.

Hey, at least they were easily distracted by pretty objects. Rose took the opportunity to slip away.

She moved through the field and into the distant trees, cutting through the greenery. There were no nymphs in this area that she could feel. The air was missing that subtle charge that told her the trees and plants were inhabited by one of the sprites. This was perfect, then. She continued down the path, her bare feet light on the ground, until she spotted just what she was looking for.

In the distance, a small pool glimmered in the sunlight. Vines hung over the spring at the base of a cliff, and the little spot was incredibly lovely, with greenery hanging over the edge of the water. Green and wet and lovely…

And private.

Rose slipped off her chiton and draped it on a nearby bush. With an internal flex of her magic, she made the bushes grow tall and thorny, shielding the water from onlookers. Perfect.

Another nudge of her power and she parted the bushes to pass through and gracefully dove into the water.

It was cool and refreshing, and she wiped water from her streaming hair, examining the bushes again. They’d moved back into place after she’d gone into the water, enclosing her in a perfect little fort of greenery.

Pleased, she lay on her back in the water and waited a moment before letting her hands slide to her breasts, cupping them.

She’d learned that Demeter still saw Persephone as a child. That meant protection from everything and everyone. She even had a small cot inside Demeter’s own room, which had been
really
awkward. Persephone was an adult—why was she treated like a little kid? It made no sense, and it was horribly inconvenient. Demeter was a light sleeper, too, so any time that Rose so much as rolled over in bed, Demeter was awake.

It made it impossible to masturbate, and she was feeling antsy from need.

The few times she’d mentioned human men and their wives, or any sort of marriage,

Demeter had shut her down fast. She wasn’t stupid, of course. Her modern brain knew all about sex even if she hadn’t experienced it herself. And for a place that liked for women to walk around with one boob hanging out? They seemed pretty stuffy about the actual deed. The one time Rose had brushed her hand over her own breast, Demeter had chided her, railing about lewdness and demanding that she remain chaste in both mind and body.

Rose had agreed, of course. No one dared disagree with Demeter, least of all her so-called daughter. But when she felt… urges, she hid in the woods and touched herself when she was alone.

The truth was she
liked
to touch herself. The feel of her hands on her body was delicious, and she cupped the heavy weight of her breasts, stroking her thumbs over her nipples. She thought about Hades, the lord of the underworld, and his dark, dark eyes. Did he touch women like this?

Her nipples grew tight, the ache in her body building. She wanted to be touched, too.

By Hades? She didn’t know. But he’d stared at her so fiercely that she wondered, maybe, if he’d seen the difference between Rose and Persephone. Perhaps he wanted Rose instead of just Demeter’s nubile daughter? She rather liked that thought.

Her fingers toyed with her nipples a bit longer and then she slid a hand between her legs, biting her lip. It was delicious to touch herself there, where her body pulsed and throbbed with need, but it seemed to be where all her need was centered. One finger stroked through the lips of her pussy, and she was not surprised to find it slick with her body’s own moisture. She ran a finger up and down her pussy, feeling a jolt of her body when she brushed her hand over her clit and thought about Hades’s dark eyes again.

A shudder rocked through her, the need intensifying. She continued to rub at her clit, arching her back and plucking at her nipple with her other hand. She was so close to the edge, so close to relief…

And yet, nothing was happening. She rubbed and stroked to no avail—she couldn’t get off.

With a moan of frustration at the heat pulsing through her body, Rose dunked herself, trying to cool down.

What was with her today? She was irritable, distracted. Normally she could come just from her own touch, but thinking about Hades and his big form made her shiver all over. It was like thinking about him brought too much sensation, too much need for one person. Which was silly.

And yet… here she was. On fire with need and unable to relieve herself.

She ignored the vaguely unfulfilled feeling and lay on her back in the water, floating. Calm.

That was what she needed. Calm and quiet. Her gaze moved over the ridge overhead, admiring the greenery at the top of the cliff.

There was a flower there that she didn’t recognize.

Rose sat up in the water, moving to the edge of the pool. Was she imagining things? She knew every flower and every plant in this realm. As the goddess of spring, it was like they were implanted (no pun intended) in her brain. She knew every flower and how to grow them. Blooms were her domain. But up above her, there was a dark flower amidst the yellow petals, like a stain on fabric. It didn’t belong there. Intrigued, she sent a surge of her power to the flower to make it grow large enough for her to get a better look at it from the pool below.

It didn’t respond.

How… how could a flower not respond to her?

Was this the flower Muffin had been looking for?

Excited, Rose stepped out of the pool, the thorn bushes parting with a flick of her hand. She eyed the cliff and then made another gesture and thick, clinging vines twined and formed a ladder. She quickly scaled the rock, ignoring her dress below. She had to know what this flower was and if it was the one she needed. Maybe the flower of the underworld could grow