Descent into Desire (3 page)

Chapter Two

Hades sat in his chair by the fire waiting for the door to open. He could feel Persephone’s conflicted emotions mixed with her confused arousal. He wanted to pull her to him and finally make her truly his as soon as she arrived. But he wasn’t going to do that. He vowed not to confuse her even more. She needed to see and feel his love more than anything.

He’d been aroused by her passionate reaction to Hypnos as much as he’d been jealous. Yet Hypnos had been correct. Her words had made his anger and jealousy evaporate. She’d asked him to take her away with him before she’d known who he was. She wanted the man she’d been talking to, the man she’d come to care for.

But she hadn’t said she loved him.

He felt her arrive outside the door. “Come in.”

She opened the door slowly and followed Cerberus in. She took a long time closing the door behind her, and then finally faced him. She looked afraid, and he didn’t like that.

“Persephone, don’t be afraid of me.”

“I’m not.”

He stood and walked toward her. “You are. I can feel it.”

“You have every right to be angry.”

“Because of how you behaved?”

She nodded.

“I’m not going to blame you for becoming aroused.”

She met his gaze. “But you’re angry with me. Aren’t you?”

“It was my fault. I haven’t given you what you wanted.”

She blushed a bright red, and he smiled. He could feel her heart racing. He walked around behind her, brushing the hair off her right shoulder and pulling her close. She gasped when he pressed his body close to hers, and then she sighed when he ran his finger over the place Hypnos had kissed her.

“You respond to my touch,” he whispered.

“Of course I do. I was just…” She didn’t seem to know what she meant.

“Frustrated?”

“I guess.” She tried to turn so he couldn’t see her face.

“After all the things we’ve talked about and everything we’ve shared, are you really going to start being shy now?”

She shrugged.

He laughed and gently kissed her neck. He made sure no spot went untouched by his lips. He moved his hands upward to unbutton her dress. She sighed as he cupped her breasts and massaged them. He found it hard to resist as she moved against him so sweetly. After a moment, he pulled away.

She opened her eyes and turned to look at him. “What’s wrong?”

“We aren’t ready yet.” He ran his hands over her breasts, admiring how perfectly they rose and fell with each breath.

Her hands went straight to her hips as she backed out of his reach. “What? Almost losing my virginity in the hallway with another man is no big deal, but us having sex is?”

He tried not to smile. Her shyness was now completely gone, and the fire in her eyes was very promising. “I know Hypnos would not have done that, no matter how tempting or willing you were. If you can admit how inexperienced you are, why can’t you trust my judgment?”

“Then why did you kiss me? Why did you touch me like that?” she asked as she buttoned her dress.

“So you would remember my touch, not his.”

“You are angry then. This teasing is my punishment!”

“No, it isn’t.” He sighed. Most of his lovers had been mortal, so he was used to arguing about feelings as well as actions and their consequences. Goddesses didn’t have love spats like this. They didn’t form arguments and make points. They got angry and used their powers. Aphrodite had zapped her share of males, as had Hera. He liked how mortal Persephone was. She rarely used her powers and enjoyed being around ordinary people. They had a certain kind of vivacity and urgency about them he found very appealing. He’d once tried to explain it to his brother Poseidon, who had married a mortal woman. Layla had adjusted to being a goddess since Zeus had granted her immortality, but she still acted very human. He’d thought his brother would understand, but he hadn’t. Poseidon loved Layla for who she was, but he didn’t see her former mortality as part of that. Hades felt no one would ever understand mortals the way he did or get why he found them so fascinating.

Except, maybe, for the woman glaring at him furiously.

She tapped her foot in impatience. “Are you going to say anything else, or do I just have to stand here and wait for a decree?”

“I’m sorry. I was just thinking.”

“Then tell me what you’re thinking.”

“Persephone, I want you to stay with me forever. That’s a very long time.”

She rolled her eyes. “I think I know that.”

He shook his head. “You don’t understand. If you marry me, you can never leave. You could go above or to the mortal world, but when the sun sets in our world, you have to be here. I’m different from other gods, as are Thanatos and Hypnos. Marrying me means eternity with me.”

She turned away and paced a few steps, looked back at him, then went a few more steps to the right.

“You see why it’s more significant than you thought,” he said.

She turned to face him. “How did we get to marriage? We haven’t even had sex, and you’re talking about marriage.”

Her logic gave him the overwhelming urge to throw something. He held back and calmly said, “Persephone, I’m going to be very honest right now, all right? I’m in love with you, but I know you don’t feel the same way. That’s why we haven’t made love. You like me. You’re having a good time. This started out as rebellious fun, but now you aren’t getting your way. You will, however, play by my rules.”

“What if I want to go home?”

“I granted you very special privileges. You may come and go as freely as Zeus himself.”

She considered this for a few moments. He wondered if she was angry enough to leave. They’d argued before, and the result had been her online silence for a few days. But he knew that, if she left, she might not come back.

“Will you have a drink with me as you consider?”

She eventually nodded.

He went to the small bar behind his desk. Zeus was going to be very angry when he found out, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t going to let her leave. “You like martinis, right?”

“Yeah. Fruity ones anyway.”

“Gin or vodka?”

“What’s the difference?”

He smiled. “Depends who you ask. Gin it is then.” He poured gin into two martini glasses, and then touched their rims.

Persephone looked over his shoulder as the glasses filled with a dark red liquid. “Magic to impress me?”

He handed her glass to her. “A pomegranate martini. I think you’ll like it, even if it doesn’t make much of an impression.”

She looked down at it for a moment, and then moved to the couch. “Let’s talk about this then.”

After she sat down, she took a sip. He moved to sit beside her, putting his own drink down on the table. “I hope my honesty means something. I’ve made my intentions known to Zeus.”

“He approved of your choice? Someone like me as queen of the Underworld?”

“Yes. Zeus and Hera love you and think highly of you, even if others do not. Others don’t know you as they do. As I do.”

She took another sip and licked her lips. “This isn’t what I imagined. I want a boyfriend, not a husband.”

He shifted in his seat and dared to ask, “Will you ever want one?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know.”

He felt his heart sinking. He knew her love could match his. He knew it. How could she be so indifferent to him when moments earlier she’d been melting in his arms and longing for his touch?

“I see.”

She groaned. “You know, I didn’t know who you were. You can’t blame me for not taking this as seriously as you want me to. We’ve been together one day, and you were gone most of the time. You want to trap me just the way my mother did, lock me up and keep me for yourself.”

His hands balled into fists. “Do you really believe that?”

She set her own drink down. “A little, yes.”

The hurt of her words grew worse as he looked at her drink. “Then you’ve very quickly made a fool of me.”

“What? Because I’m not in love with you? Look, I’m crazy about you, but I can’t marry you. Not now.”

“No, because I proved you right.” He couldn’t look at her. He couldn’t bear to think of what her reaction was going to be.

She touched his arm and shook him. “What are you talking about?”

He looked up at her. “I said that you could leave. Now you can’t.”

“What? That’s not fair! What did I say? Let’s talk this through.”

“It won’t matter.”

“Why not?”

He stroked her hand. “The drink. You drank something made with my magic. You can’t leave.”

“No, you can do anything you want. You can take me home.”

“No, I can’t. You cannot leave the Underworld for a hundred days.”

She pulled her hand away, her eyes fixed on the fire.

“I was afraid you would leave. I made a mistake.” He expected her to scream at him, hit him or run from the room. She sat perfectly still.

“Persephone?”

She stood up and unbuttoned her dress. It fell to the floor. She wore nothing underneath it.

“What are you doing?”

Her eyes were cold as she knelt before him. “Submitting to my master.”

He turned away. “Stop it.”

She took his hands and rubbed them over her body. “This is what you want. You know it is. A prize to keep all to yourself.”

He hadn’t expected this from her. She knew just how to touch his heart and make him love her. He hadn’t realized she’d also know exactly how to hurt him. He realized he had far more reason to fear her than she did to fear him.

“Please get up,” he said as he pulled his hands away.

“Oh no,” she said as she stood up and moved in front of him. “I need to be punished for wanting to leave.”

“Persephone, please!” He stood up and headed for the door.

She ran ahead of him and blocked it. “You wanted this.”

“Not like this.”

“You should have thought about that earlier.”

“I know.”

She sighed and moved away from the door. A new dress appeared on her. It was black velvet and tight, nothing like the pink lacey one she’d been wearing. “I’m not going to forgive you any time soon.”

“I don’t expect you to. If I let you read my mind, will you believe I’m sorry?”

She backed away. “No, I don’t want to read your mind.”

He was puzzled. Why did the idea frighten her? “Persephone, I made a mistake, several of them, because of how much I love you.”

“Stop saying that!” she yelled. The entire room shook, and Cerberus whined. She went to kneel by the hound and petted his back.

“So that’s why you’re angry, why I need to apologize?”

She stood and patted her leg so Cerberus would follow her. “I want to go to my room now.”

“Of course.”

She still didn’t look at him. “Please leave me alone.”

“I promise.”

“You promise? I think I’ll lock my door.” She left the room quickly. Cerberus looked back for a moment, but still followed her.

Hades sighed and covered his face with his hands. A sharp blow from behind sent him sprawling onto the floor. He turned and looked up at his brother Zeus.

The king of the gods glared at him furiously. “You tell me why you don’t deserve a good thrashing.”

“Because you’ve made worse mistakes, done worse things, over nothing more than sex. I’m in love with her.”

“And this is how you’ll win her? She’s stubborn, Hades, and stronger than you think. A hundred days is nothing to her. She’s endured longer captivity, as you well know. You’re going to cause nothing but heartache.”

“When she calms down, she’ll talk to me. She’ll understand. She opens up to me. She does.”

“You’ve lost every ounce of her trust. And ours. We won’t help you manipulate her more.”

“I wouldn’t ask you to.”

“You may grow desperate. You certainly didn’t plan this, did you?”

“Are you here to do something or just warn me?”

“If you use magic on her again, I will bind you in Tartarus until her hundred days are up, and then I will come take her home myself.”

He knew his brother meant it. “All right. I promise.” After a moment, he asked, “Why not just break the spell? You could.”

“That’s not the way I do things anymore. Better to let it run its course and let her punish you in the process instead of simply taking her away and forbidding you to see her. She’ll teach you a far better lesson than I could, and doing so will help her deal with what she’s feeling.”

“Hmmmm. I can’t say I’d agree with you, but I guess my opinion wouldn’t matter.”

Zeus looked at him seriously. “What were you thinking?”

Hades dared to stand up, as Zeus’ temper seemed to have cooled a bit. “That I’d lose her forever.”

“You may still lose her.”

Hades knew Zeus would be angry, but he took the chance and asked, “May I see Aphrodite?”