Page 30 of Learn My Lesson
A thrill courses through me despite common sense whispering that crossing this man is a mistake, even in a game. I’m still furious at Meg. Last night changes nothing. But like with Hades, I want her enough that it clouds my judgment, and the protective urges that drove me to make this bargain in the first place haven’t disappeared. Hades obviously knows that and plans to use it against me. Is Meg in on this particular game? Our short history more than proves that I can’t trust her. “Okay,” I say slowly.
“‘Yes, Sir’ is the proper response.”
“Yes, Sir,” I immediately repeat. I have a lot to think about, but in the end it changes nothing. I gave my word. If I didn’t know the reason Hades wanted me, that’s on me. I charged in here thinking I knew everything I needed to know and ended up in over my head as a result.
Embarrassment heats my face. All I want is to do good, but every time I turn around, I’m fucking things up worse than they were before I arrived. I can’t keep up with the major power players no matter how hard I try. I don’t even know if I’m capable of thinking about the long game the same way Zeus and Hades do. Every time I try to slow down, my instincts get the best of me and I jump without checking for water.
I need to change that about myself, and I don’t even know where to start.
Hades studies me as if he can divine my thoughts right out of my head. “There’s no shame in the impulsiveness of youth, little Hercules.”
I try for a laugh, but it comes out bitter. “Are you a mind reader now?”
“I don’t have to be when you wear your thoughts on your face for anyone to see.”
“I don’t know how not to.” I don’t know how not to do a lot of things.
He leans forward and braces his elbows on his desk. “Time and pain are the best teachers. You’ll learn. Maybe not soon enough, but you’ll learn.”
I should end this conversation, but he’s actually talking to me with something almost like compassion. I can’t trust it—I know enough to know that—but I also don’t want it to end. “Were you ever like me? When you were my age?”
“No.” His smile is quick and bittersweet. “I was much, much worse. Or better, I suppose, depending on how you look at it. You had the self-awareness to realize all was not as it seemed and to look past your father’s charismatic mirage. I didn’t.”
I can’t imagine a Hades with stars in his eyes. It’s possible he’s lying to me about this too, but my gut says it’s the truth. I clear my throat. “I’m sorry for what he did to you.”
He takes off his glasses and pulls out a black cloth to clean the lenses. It’s such a mundane action, but it leaves me breathless. “Meg will be in her office. It’s the next floor down.” He glances up. “Tonight, we’ll have another lesson.”
That’s a dismissal if I’ve ever heard one. I should be happy to leave this man’s presence, but reluctance weighs me down. That was almost a full conversation without animosity or manipulation. Almost. I push slowly to my feet. “I’ll see you later, then.”
He lets me get nearly to the door before he speaks again. “And, Hercules?”
“Yes, Sir?” I pause but don’t turn around.
“Next time you walk through that door, I don’t want you wearing anything but your skin.”
1 You’ll never find the “I’m into kink because my trauma makes me so DARK and BROODY” trope in my books. Trauma and kink can go hand in hand, but lots of people are kinky just because, which is where I lean when it comes to my characters.
2 He really is too precious for this world.
3 When there’s a mystery, so often the characters are sure that answers will make them feel better. Life rarely works out that way.
4 LOL. SURE, JAN.
MEG
As much as I love the late nights in the Underworld, mornings are my favorite time of day. The entire building feels like it’s a slumbering dragon, and I’m the only one around to witness it. The cleaning crew comes through before I’m up, so everything glistens and shines and feels brand-new. Part of my job is ensuring they didn’t miss anything, but I enjoy walking the empty lounge and back rooms without the bustling energies of people filling it to the brim it feels like…mine.
Mine and Hades’s, though he stopped doing these quiet walkthroughs with me years ago.
It doesn’t stop me from looking for him every single fucking morning. I should know better by now, but my stomach still drops a little when I don’t find him waiting for me in the lounge.
I circle the bar that gleams in the low light and then check all the booths. Our cleaning crew is the best, so this is mostly a formality. Next is the public playroom behind a locked door. When the Underworld is filled with patrons, this door is usually manned by Allecto or one of her people. I push through, putting my disappointment into movement in an attempt to exorcise it from my body.
The public playroom holds a little bit of everything. There are spanking benches and St. Andrew’s Crosses and various racks for suspension play. Scattered throughout the room, there are also couches and other furniture for people to observe or fuck or do whatever they want to. The only limit is consent.
Everything is as it should be. The room smells faintly of citrus and I inhale deeply. It doesn’t completely banish the sick feeling in my stomach, but it dilutes it. All my complicated feelings for Hades don’t make a difference when I’m in this room. Knowing I’m responsible for the people who work here, that they depend on me for guidance and safety. It’s a heady sensation. Hades might have paved the way for me to take this position, but I earned their trust on my own.
Next are the back rooms. They’re all themed, from a mundane bedroom to a study to a doctor’s office to a stable. During the day, the viewing wall is transparent, so I don’t have to enter the rooms to check them. Clean. Perfect. Ready for tonight.
