The wall they’d been pressed against was a door.

Hades cleared his throat, and Persephone buried her head into Hades’ chest.

“Good evening,” Hades said, she was surprised by how calm he sounded when he spoke. He wasn’t even breathless, though she could feel his heart beating hard against her ear. She thought Hades would excuse himself and vanish, but instead he said, “The Lady Persephone and I are famished, and we wish to be alone.”

She froze and jabbed him in the side.

What was he doing?

All at once, people started to move, clearing away plates, silverware, and huge platters of untouched food.

“Good evening, my lady—my lord.”

They filed out of the dining room with glittering eyes and wide smiles. Persephone kept her gaze lowered, a perpetual blush on her cheeks as Hades’ residents paraded into the hall to dine elsewhere in the palace.

When they were alone, Hades wasted no time leaning into her, guiding her back until her legs hit the table.

“You cannot be serious.”

“As the dead,” he answered.

“The…dining room?”

“I’m quite hungry, aren’t you?”

Yes.

But she had no time to respond. Hades lifted her onto the table, stepped between her legs, and knelt as a servant would kneel to their queen. Her dress rose as his hands trailed up her calves. He teased, lips skimming the inside of her thighs before his mouth found her core.

Persephone arch off the table and her breath hitched as Hades worked, his tongue ruthless in its assault, his short beard creating a delicious friction against her sensitive flesh. She reached for him, tangling her fingers into his hair, writhing beneath this touch.

Hades held her tighter, his fingers digging into her flesh to hold her in place. A guttural sound escaped her when his lips fastening around her cleft and his fingers replaced his thrusting tongue, filling and stretching until pleasure exploded throughout her body.

She was sure she was glowing.

This was rapture, euphoria, ecstasy.

And it was all interrupted by a knock at the door.

Persephone froze and tried to sit up, but Hades held her in place and growled looking up at her from his place between her legs.

“Ignore it.” It was spoken like a command, his eyes ignited like embers.

He continued ruthlessly, moving deeper, harder, faster. Persephone could barely stay on the table, she could barely breath, feeling as though she were clawing her way to the surface of the Styx again, desperate for air, but content in the knowledge that this death would be a happy one.

But the knock continued, and a hesitant voice called out, “Lord Hades?”

Persephone couldn’t tell who was on the other side of the door, but they sounded nervous and they had reason to be, because the look on Hades face was murderous.

This is how he looks when he faces souls in Tartarus, she thought.

Hades sat back on his heels.