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“I’m not locking my knees,” Hades whispered back, though he wasn’t sure why. “Why would you tell me that?”

“I’m not saying you are. I’m sayingdon’t.”

Well, now he was worried. What if he passed out? He practiced bending his knees just to make sure he knew the difference between bent and locked knees.

“You look like an idiot,” said Hermes.

Hades glared, but then the music started—played by a small group of souls who sat off to the side—and his eyes shifted to the end of the aisle.

His heart raced in his chest and throughout his whole body as he waited for Persephone to appear, and then she did, and she was so fucking beautiful it physicallyhurtto look at her. All he could think was that everything he’d ever done or fucked up was worth it for this one moment.

He worked to memorize it—every detail of her approach—from the baby’s breath on her head to the silhouette of her gown to the way her eyes lit up when she saw him and the smile that followed.

Gods, he never thought he would be grateful for the Fates.

True to her nature, she stopped to hug those closest to her, including Apollo and Hermes, and then she was finally in front of him, and he felt a profound and euphoric rush of pure joy.

She took a step toward him when Lexi pulled her back to take her bouquet. Hades chuckled, and the crowd laughed.

“Eager, darling?” he asked.

“Always,” she said, and when she finally stood opposite him, he took her hands. “Hi.”

“Hi,” he said, grinning. “You are beautiful.”

“So are you.”

He thought it would be easier to breathe once she was in front of him, but it wasn’t.

Hecate cleared her throat as she stepped between them, looking from him to Persephone.

“I knew this moment would come eventually,” Hecate said. “I have seen love—all forms and degrees—but there is something dear about this love—the kind you two share. It is desperate and fierce and passionate.” She paused to laugh, and so did everyone behind them. “And perhaps it is because I know you, but it is my favorite kind of love to watch. It blossoms and blazes, challenges and teases, hurts and heals. There are no two souls better matched. Apart, you are light and dark, life and death, a beginning and an end. Together, you are a foundation that will weave an empire, unite a people, and weld worlds together. You are a cycle that never ends—eternal and infinite. Hades.”

Hecate gave him Persephone’s ring. Her eyes widened when she saw it, and he knew she was just now realizing she didn’t have one, but she had no need to worry. He had prepared for this moment.

“Do you take Persephone to be your wife?” Hecate asked.

“I do,” he said as he slipped the ring on her finger.

“Persephone,” Hecate said, giving her a black ring. “Do you take Hades to be your husband?”

“I do,” she said, and as she slid the ring on his finger, Hades felt like she had given him the greatest gift.

He had the honor of being her husband.

“You may kiss the bride, Hades.”

He took her radiant face between his hands.

“I love you,” he said and pressed his mouth to hers,gentle at first, thinking it would be enough, but it wasn’t. He pulled her against him, parting her mouth with his tongue, deepening the kiss, and it was strange to say, but it felt different. Maybe it was because he had never been so happy. Either way, he was very aware that this was his wife, his goddess, his queen.

“Get a room!” Hermes shouted.

He held her in his embrace a little longer just for that. When he pulled away, he pressed his lips to her forehead before taking her hand and turning to the crowd.

“May I present Hades and Persephone, King and Queen of the Underworld.”

The crowd erupted in great applause, and they returned down the aisle as husband and wife. Once they had come around the copse of trees, he paused to kiss her again.