Page 48 of Devils and the Dead
Besides, Savior Mountain was the only acceptable spot for Clinton’s pack. They’d already drilled wells, put up solar panels, and built houses. They couldn’t move, and there was no way the pack could continue to live on a haunted mountain. It wasn’t just the dead elves that needed help, it was the werewolves as well.
And as we’d all learned, unhappy werewolves made for an unhappy Accident.
I looked up at Hades. “I’ll trade the Everbloom for the town’s safety, give Bronwyn’s gift in return for Tinsel’s freedom. Then I’ll come home.”
“But you might not come back.” Hades held out his hands. “You’ve lived with fae your whole life. You know how they are. The queen will take the Everbloom from you because she considers it hers, and she’ll take the gift as well. Then she’ll find some loophole that means she can keep you in her kingdom forever.”
Cassie wouldn’t let that happen. Neither would any of my sisters or their mates. But it would still take forever for them to figure out how to reach me in the elven lands and in the end I still might never be free.
“I have to do this.” I rubbed my face, trying to think of some way this might work. “There’s no other choice, and I’ve made a deal. Fae take these bargains seriously. There’s no going back on a deal. If I don’t show up, then she’ll consider it an act of war.”
Hades took my hand, entwining his fingers in mine. “I…I know of a way to keep you safe, to prevent the elf queen from holding you hostage. You’ll be able to return home. Well, not home actually, but somewhere safe. And then I can bring you home from there. But you’d need to trust me, and to trust me, I need to tell you something first.”
I caught my breath. He had a way out? My biggest fear hadn’t been that the elf queen would kill me. From what I knew of fae courtesy, murdering me was out of the question. We had negotiated a contract. I was bringing her the item she requested and a gift. I would be considered a guest in her kingdom. But there was nothing in their convoluted societal rules to keep her from refusing to let me leave and imprisoning me forever.
I did trust Hades. And I was absolutely on board for whatever he was about to propose.
“Go on,” I urged him.
He took a deep breath. “I was married once. Before.”
My eyes widened, then I felt a fool for being so shocked. I’d read the myths and legends, and while they often got things wrong, there was usually a good bit of truth in them.
“Persephone?” I asked.
He nodded. “It was a long time ago. We were both young. And looking back, it was a terrible match. But I was so in love and I tried to do anything I could to make her stay. Anything. In spite of that, she was never happy. She wanted to live half the year apart and half with me, and I agreed. We did that for centuries. I was miserable when she was away. She was miserable when we were together—which meant I was basically miserable all the time. One year she never returned, and I found our bonding token on my doorstep. No word. No explanation. Nothing.”
“Oh, Hades.” My fingers gripped his. “I’m so sorry.”
I knew what it was like to love someone, only to have them ghost you. The lack of resolution was crippling. I’d spent months thinking Cameron might come back, wondering if I’d done something wrong. I hated that Hades had gone through the same thing.
He smiled at me. “I’m okay now. I mean, I don’t love her anymore, and like I said, looking back I realize how horribly wrong that relationship was. She needed a constant stream of new and exciting, and I’m very content with my routine and familiar comforts. We were a terrible match.”
I nodded, still thinking of Cameron. He’d been the same way. And looking back, we’d been a terrible match as well. He’d done me a favor by leaving that day, I just wished he hadn’t done it in such a dickhead way.
Hades let out a breath and smiled sadly. “But I’d be lying if I said the whole thing left me unscathed. I have been reluctant to risk my heart again. I’ve thrown myself into my work. When I met you, it was like a lightning bolt struck me and lit me up from inside. Every moment I spend with you, I admire and care about you even more. I felt the stirrings of love for you there in that bar, and they have grown in the days since. But I need to proceed slowly. I’m afraid that I might make a mistake again—a mistake my heart may not recover from this time.”
I squeezed his hand. “I feel the same about you. And I’ve had a relationship end much like your marriage did. It leaves scars.”
His smile warmed. “We’re both equally scarred. And while I’m sad that you were hurt as I was, I know that a shared experience means we can truly understand each other’s feelings and fears.”
I let go of his hand and clasped my fingers together, trying to work up the nerve to confess my own secret, but he continued.
“I’m a bit embarrassed to admit this, but when Persephone and I married, part of the ceremony included something where I could always call her to my side.” He shifted, looking down. “I didn’t trust that she’d come home to me. That was a huge red-flag, as the humans would say. I should have known then that the marriage was doomed, but we went on with the ceremony. In addition to our marriage token, she ate an enchanted fruit which was spelled to always bring her to my side if I called her.”
Hades took a round and red fruit out of his pocket and put it on the table.
I stared at the pomegranate, then at his pants. “Did you have that in your pocket the whole time? Do you normally walk around with fruit in your pants pockets?”
And how the hell did that thing actually fit in his pocket anyway? I liked to think I would have noticed if Hades had a huge round bulge that was to the left of where I’d expect to be seeing a huge round bulge.
What else was he carrying in his pants? A pineapple? A tennis racket? A 1990 Geo Metro?
“It’s a magical item,” he explained. “I called it to me. I don’t carry it around in my pocket all the time. It’s not like I ever expected to use it again. Ever. The first time…that was disastrous. It showed a lack of trust on my part, and I’m mortified to even be confessing this to you. The only reason I’m telling you about it is because I think in this case, the fruit might actually be used for something good.”
I suddenly realized where he was going with this, and I felt my face heat up—just as embarrassed as he was at the idea. We were nowhere near this point in our relationship. Not at all. We hadn’t even kissed yet, let alone be at the marriage-token, pomegranate-eating stage.
He pushed the fruit over to me. “If you accept my marriage token and eat the fruit, then no matter where you are, I can always call you to my side. The elf queen can never keep you against your will. No one can.”
