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Hades poured them both a glass of whiskey.

“Drink,” he said as he handed it to her, and he watched her sip it before downing his own. “Do you wish to sleep?”

He asked because he didn’t, and he wouldn’t blame her if she never wished to return to their bed again. Right now, he wasn’t certain he could.

She glanced at the bed. He had burned away the blood with his magic so that no trace of it remained, though he knew that would not erase the memory. At least that was true for him.

“Come sit with me.”

Hades sat by the fire, barely touching her as he guided her into his lap, but once she was settled and she rested against him, he held her tighter.

Her body grew heavier against him and her breath evened, and it was not long before she was asleep. For a long while, he did not move, afraid to disturb her, but then he feared that if she began to dream again, he would only make it worse by holding her.

There was another issue at play, and it was that the longer he relived what had happened tonight, the more violent he felt.

He didn’t like to feel this way, especially while he held Persephone so close. He rose to his feet and carried her to bed, laying her down on his side before covering her with the blankets. As he straightened, he summoned Hecate in a whisper.

She appeared, pale in the night.

“What is it?” she asked, worry coloring her tone.

“I need you to stay with Persephone,” he said. “Only for a little while.”

He told her of the nightmare and her magic, the way fear had made her nearly explode. As he spoke, bile rose in the back of his throat.

“I just…need someone to be here in case she has to face him again.”

“Of course,” Hecate said. “But where are you going?”

He studied the goddess’s face. “Do I really need to say?”

“I suppose not.”

Hades left then and arrived at the edge of the Forest of Despair. Opposite him, a weak and dazed Pirithous appeared. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he collapsed.

“Get up,” Hades ordered.

The demigod looked up, meeting Hades’s gaze, and a guttural cry burst from his mouth.

“No, please,” he begged. “Please, my lord.”

“Get up,” Hades said again. The command was low but it vibrated the very air, a warning that brought Pirithous to his shaky feet, though he continued to plead as he sobbed.

“Please,” he said, and it turned into a whisper as he said it over and over again. “Please, please, please.”

“Did Persephone beg for you to stop too?” Hades asked.

“Shewould forgive me!” Pirithous insisted through clenched teeth, and the words cut through Hades like a blade.

There were a number of things he wanted to say, but he settled on one as he dropped his glamour, the magic curling away from his body in the form of sharp shadows with only one purpose—to hunt.

“Run,” Hades ordered.

“Please, no,” Pirithous said as he stumbled back and fell, quickly scrambling to his feet.

Hades ground his teeth.

That fucking word.