“Shall I tell you what I saw?” She whispered the words, and while she didn’t feel angry, she, too, wanted him to understand. “I saw you and Leuce together. You held her, moved inside her like you starved for her.”

She shook as she spoke, and her nails dug into her palm.

“You took pleasure from her. Knowing she was your lover was one thing, seeing it was…devastating.”

She closed her eyes against the nightmare as tears streamed down her face.

“And I wanted to destroy everything you loved. I wanted you to watch me dismantle your world. I wanted to dismantle you.”

“Persephone,” Hades whispered her name, and then she felt his fingers beneath her chin. He tilted her head up and her eyes fluttered open. “You must know that wasn’t real.”

“It felt real.”

Hades fingertips slide across her skin, collecting her tears.

“I would take this from you if I could.”

“You can,” she said, drawing close. “Kiss me.”

Hades lips pressed to hers. His tongue teased her lips before thrusting into her mouth and coiling with her own. His mouth was brutal and bruising, and he tasted smokey and sweet, and as he explored, her hands sought, running down the planes of his hard stomach and gripping his cock through his robes.

An unnatural groan escaped his mouth and he pulled away; his gaze burned into hers.

“Help me forget what I saw in the forest,” she said, breathing hard. “Kiss me. Love me. Ruin me.”

They collided, tearing at each other’s clothes until they stood naked beneath the pallid Underworld sky. Their lips crashed, tongues tasting, breath mingling. Hades’ hand cupped the back of her head, the other moved down, over her belly and into the nest of curls between her thighs. She moaned as his fingers dipped into her hot flesh. For a moment, she was lost in the pleasure of him, in the ache at her core.

When Persephone could no longer stand, Hades knelt with her. She settled back, cradled by his robes while he sat on his heels, staring at her unclothed body, eyes like the fires of Tartarus.

“Beautiful,” he said. “If I could, I would keep us here in this moment forever, with you spread out before me.”

“Why not fast forward,” she said. “To when you are inside me?”

Hades grinned. “Eager, darling?”

“Always.”

He pressed a kiss to the inside of her knee, and then trailed them down her thighs until his mouth closed over her cleft, his tongue playful, before parting her slit and spearing her. She bucked against him, and Hades pushed her knees down, spreading her wider. She could feel herself clenching around him, her arousal so heightened, it was almost painful.