Hades continued to trace shapes against her skin. “Why do you wish to mentor her?”

Persephone shrugged. “Because, I think I know how she feels.”

Hades raised a brow. “Explain.”

“She’s been a tree for thousands of years, suddenly she’s normal again and the whole world has changed. It’s...scary…and I know how that feels.”

Hades was quiet for a long moment, and then he said again, as if to make sure, “You want to mentor my former lover?”

Persephone sighed loudly and rolled her eyes. “Don’t make me regret this, Hades.”

“I don’t want you to, but are you sure?”

“It’s weird, I admit, but...she’s a victim. I want to help her.”

It was a hard thing to say to him, given that he was the reason she’d been a poplar tree. Granted, what Leuce had done was wrong, but was it worth losing out on thousands of years?

Hades touched her chin.

“You amaze me,” he said.

She giggled. “I am not amazing. I wanted to punish her at first.”

“But you didn’t,” he said. “There are no other gods like you.”

“I haven’t lived long enough to be jaded like the rest of you,” she said. “Perhaps I’ll end up like the others before long.”

“Or perhaps you will change the rest of us.”

They stared at one another, bodies pressed together until Persephone sat up, straddling Hades. The god beneath her had one hand behind his head. He looked arrogant and she supposed he had reason to be—he had made her come over and over and he had been ruthless in his pursuit.

“Eager for more, my lady?” He asked, growing harder and thicker under her.

She smiled. That wasn’t why she had sat up. She’d had something to say and she wanted to say it now before she forgot, but at his question, she realized she was eager for more—eager to take control of his body, to use him as an instrument.

“Actually, I’m afraid I must make a few demands,” she said, and she slid onto his shaft, filling herself completely. She let out a breath, sore from their previous coupling. Hades hands went to her thighs, squeezing.

“Yes?” he said from between his teeth.

“I don’t want to be placed in a suite on the other side of the palace, ever,” she said, rolling her hips, feeling him everywhere. “Not to get ready for balls. Not when you are angry with me. Not ever.”

She punctuated each of her statements by slamming into him.

Hades fingers dug into her skin.

“I thought you would want privacy,” he said.

She paused in her movements and bent over him. His eyes burned into hers.

“Fuck privacy. I needed you, needed to know you still wanted me despite...everything.”