Page 65 of Raising Hell
“Don’t ask this of me.”
The furies were his sticking point. If I could convince him to let me get close to Megan and talk to her, he’d see the truth. That I really was Megan’s friend and not bitch-Persephone. But I needed to give him the same level of trust I wanted him to give me.
I gently untangled myself from his hold, stood, and faced him.
His eyes flared red when I lifted my skirt to my knees and placed one on the seat beside his thigh. He didn’t need more of a hint. He grabbed my waist and pulled me forward so I was straddling him on his throne.
Lust filled his gaze as our hips met.
“I trust you enough now to do this. But trust should go both ways,” I said. “Trust me with Megan.”
“This is trust?” he asked, his fingers kneading into my backside as he slightly rocked into me.
“I’m trusting you not to take what you want. Just like I’m trusting you not to hurt me when you finally realize I’m exactly who I say I am.”
He cupped my face and drew my mouth to his, capturing my lips in a kiss that erased all thoughts of furies and saving the world.
When he pulled back, I was breathless and dazed.
“I already know who you are. Mine. You will not harm your mother, no matter what she does to you,” Hades said without looking away from me.
“Yeah…Ashlyn’s still not my mom,” Megan said from behind me, breaking through the spell Hades’ kiss had woven around me.
“But I get what you’re saying,” she continued, “and I promise to keep her safe.”
He stood and brushed the tip of his nose over my cheek. It took a few seconds longer than it should have to let my legs unwind from his waist. I didn’t want to let go.
All three furies were watching me when I finally straightened my skirt and turned away from him. I blushed scarlet for the show I’d given and calmly walked to Megan. Her expression didn’t give her thoughts away, but I saw the way her gaze shifted to Hades before she motioned for me to walk with her.
The scuff of her shoes on the floor was the only sound until we reached the halfway point, and the lower murmur of voices rose behind us.
Megan stopped and turned toward me.
“Are you okay?” she asked softly.
“Yes and no. I’m in Hell, Megan.”
“I know. I’m sorry we didn’t find you sooner.” She glanced at Hades. “We think sending you to Hell woke Hades. We learned from an Oracle that we need to appease him to send him back to sleep.”
“But he wasn’t sleeping,” I said. “He was a skeleton with holes in his shriveled, decaying skin. He didn’t even have a mouth.”
She smirked a little at me.
“His mouth doesn’t seem to bother you now.”
My face heated further.
“He thinks I’m Persephone, but she’s dead. Or sleeping? I don’t know, but she didn’t start moving like he did when I walked into their room. He’s messed up, Megan. He was chained to the wall, and I think she put him there. She tortured him in so many ways and made this place a real hell. I’ve been getting him to change things to prove that I’m human so he’ll let me go. But he flips out a lot and makes everything shake. He tends to calm down when I’m…um, affectionate with him.
“The attempts on my life aren’t good, and not just because I don’t want to die. He thinks someone is trying to kill his wife, who he loves above all else.”
Megan frowned.
“Yeah, that’s not good. Maybe you should hold off on trying to prove you’re human until I can come up with a plan with Zayn. Pretending to be Persephone might help us figure out what can appease him.”
I was already shaking my head.
“I have ten days to prove my humanity. If I can’t or give up before then, I’ll need to pay Persephone’s debt. He wants sex, Megan. That was their deal. She made him miserable and withheld sex, and he wants it so badly he’s destroying the world.”
