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When he woke, Persephone was gone.

He rose from bed and found her on the balcony, looking out over the dark sea.

As he watched her profile, he knew she was troubled, and he could guess why. They had left New Athens tofind refuge on an island in the middle of chaos, and Persephone felt guilty.

“Why do you frown?”

She jumped and turned to face him. She looked warm and rosy, her lips still swollen from his kiss, and she gazed at him possessively.

“You know we cannot stay here,” she said. “Not with what we left behind.”

He wished her possessiveness would override her guilt.

“One more night,” he bargained.

“What if that’s too late?”

It was a little childish, to indulge in his desires when there were so many threats, but he had never run before. He had been present for every challenge, even those that did not belong to him. At least here, he could protect the person he valued most.

He crossed to her and held her face between his hands.

“Can I not convince you to stay here? You would be safe, and I would return to you every free moment.”

“Hades, you know I won’t. What kind of queen would I be if I abandoned my people?”

“You are Queen of the Dead, not Queen of the Living.”

Though he could not deny that this was what he loved about her—she cared about everyone, even when they did not deserve it.

No one deserved her, not even him.

“The living eventually become ours, Hades. What good are we if we desert them in life?”

He took a breath and then rested his forehead against hers, almost mournfully.

“I wish that you were as selfish as me.”

“You are not selfish. You would leave me here to help them, remember?”

To please her.

He would do anything to please her.

He pulled back enough to hold her gaze and then kissed her. He would take advantage of every spare moment until they returned. His hands slid beneath her robe, over her soft skin to the space between her thighs where her curls were damp with need.

“Hades.”

He could not discern her tone, if she was warning him or inviting him, but she did not pull away.

“If not another night, then at least another hour.”

She sealed their agreement as her arms slid around his neck and he lifted her to the edge of the balcony, wedged between her thighs, pushing them wider. Her flesh felt swollen from their earlier coupling, but she was still wet, still needy.

“You were wrong,” he said as he pulled out of her heat, her arousal thick on his finger. He took it into his mouth to taste her. “I am selfish.”

“Only an hour,” she said, eyes darkening as she widened for him.

He wasn’t sure if she was reminding him or herself.