Page 50 of The Catacomb King
I wiped my lips. I met Hades’s eyes. My stomach was hot with embarrassment — how could I have lost control like that in front of him? — but I kept my stare as defiant as I could.
Hades had been, once again, staring at me. Like he had at the graveyard.
I almost whispered,Gestörbunlund, chaosgötten, Lümerlund.
Then Hades said, “You could say thank you.”
I threw the bowl at him. He dodged. It shattered on the wall. He scoffed. “Wow. I don’t know how you humans say thank you, but let me tell you, that isn’t how we do it here.”
“Take me back to the surface, and I’ll consider saying it differently!”
“I’m just saying. You do realize I could have fed you anything just now, and you would have eaten it?”
“Fuck you. I would not have.”
Hades raised his eyebrows. Slowly, from his pocket, he drew that blood-red fruit.
I felt my skin flush. My mouth watered.Gods, I was so hungry. I sat on my hands so I wouldn’t hold my nose against the sweet, tangy scent — or, worse, reach for the fruit. I wanted to close my eyes against the sight, but it felt too dangerous to take my eyes off the Prince.
He murmured softly, “Just admit it. You’d do anything I wanted, wouldn’t you?”
“In your dreams,” I spat. I was nearly trembling. I hoped to the gods he couldn’t see. I was painfully aware of my own nipples, hard against the sweet silk fabric of the nightgown. It was the cold, I told myself. It was fear, I told myself. I felt his gaze flick down to my breasts. My stomach. The darkness between my thighs where the silk pooled, hiked nearly up to my ass from where I’d sprawled, starving, on the floor.
“Indeed,” he said. “I am going to have to chastise Elke for giving you that outfit.”
“It’s your fault. You said I needed pajamas.”
He hadn’t moved, but he was so close. The underground air was chilly, but Hades’s large, hard body was hot. I couldn’t help imagining him pressing against me, the way he’d carried me through the tunnels. Warming me up. His breath ghosting over my breasts through the fabric. His weight on my pelvis against the stone floor, or, better, atop the soft rug in front of the fire…
“Do you want it?” Hades whispered.
“Of course I want it,” I snapped. “That doesn’t mean I’m going totake it.” I didn’t know whether we were talking about the heavy red fruit, or. Or something else.
Then he put the fruit back in his pocket.
I almost keened when it disappeared. It was all I could do not to clap my hands over my mouth. I wassofucking hungry.
Hades stood. “Okay, then,” he said nonchalantly.
His cock was hard.
If I sat on my knees and leaned forward I would have my mouth on it.
“Gods,” I whispered. It was huge. Fuck.
My mouth watered again, for a very different reason this time.
Was I imagining it, or was Hades angling his hips toward me?
I was almost afraid to look up at him.
So I didn’t. “Put that thing away,” I said haughtily. “I want nothing to do with it.”
“Well, you can’t blame a person,” Hades said stiffly. “I walked in on you sprawling on the floor half-naked in lingerie with your ass in the air. It gets a person going. If you don’t want people to be attracted to you, maybe reconsider your choices.”
My stomach sparked. “Are you saying you’re attracted to me?”
“In physical form only, I assure you. Certainly not the personality.”
