Page 95

He wasn’t even sure she realized it, because she never once looked back at him, but he didn’t take his eyes off her, which was how he witnessed the sudden change in her. The flowers that had bloomed in her wake vanished as her steps faltered, and she came to a sudden, shocking halt.

Hades slowed to a walk and came up beside her, his hand brushing hers at her side. She didn’t look at him, her gaze fixed somewhere on the horizon.

“Are you well?”

She took a shuddering breath.

“I just remembered that Lexa was not here,” she said, and when she looked at him, tears welled in her eyes. It hurt his chest to see her like this, so…broken, and in theaftermath of a moment of complete bliss. “How could I have forgotten?”

“Oh, darling,” he said and pulled her to him, pressing a kiss to her forehead. He held her close for a moment, uncertain of what to say because he knew there were no words that would bring comfort. This was her grief and her guilt, and the only thing either could do was wait until the feelings ebbed.

He only let her go when she seemed ready to move, and then he took her hand and led her to the picnic area where the souls were gathering to feast. Yuri led them to their blanket at the very front of the field, beneath the eaves of Persephone’s grove. He helped her sit, and he fed her and filled her cup with wine, unable or unwilling to take his eyes off her as he watched joy creep back into her expression, and it all seemed to come from watching the souls—his people.

“What are you thinking?” he asked, curious.

She was sitting with her legs crossed and picking apart a roll in her lap. At his question, she seemed to realize what she was doing and set it aside, brushing the crumbs into the grass.

“I was just thinking about becoming queen.”

“And are you happy?”

She seemed to be, but he remembered a time when she would have resisted that title.

“Yes, of course,” she said and paused. “I was just thinking of how it will be. What we will do together. If, that is, Zeus approves.”

Hades stiffened at her final comment, frustrated that she was even thinking about Zeus at all. He supposed it was more that she obviously doubted his promise, that they would marry even if his brother did not approve.

“Just keep planning, darling.”

A small smile ghosted across her lips, and she looked away, her gaze trailing over the vast field, to Asphodel and to the castle that loomed in the distance like a dreadful shadow.

“I would like to speak about earlier,” he said. “Before we were interrupted, you asked if I trusted you.”

She stiffened at his comment, and he noted how she hesitated before she spoke.

“You did not think I’d come to you when Hermes summoned me to Lemnos,” she said. “Tell me, truthfully.”

He swallowed something thick in his throat, and a feeling of shame washed over him. He let his eyes fall to his hands.

“I did not,” he admitted and then quickly met her hurt gaze. “But I was more concerned about Aphrodite. I know what she wants from you. I worry you will try to investigate and identify Adonis and Harmonia’s attackers on your own. It isn’t because I don’t trust you but because Iknowyou. You want to make the world safe again, fix what is broken.”

“I told you I wouldn’t do anything without your knowledge, and I meant it.”

Her eyes and tone were fierce. He had often sworn oaths to her, and this felt like one now.

He believed her.

“I am sorry,” he said. He felt so wrong for doubting her, worse for letting her think he did not trust her.

She did not say it was okay or even that she accepted his apology. Instead, she used his words against him.

“You once said words had no meaning. Let our actions speak next time.”

He nodded once.

For a moment, a strange tension lingered between them. Hades almost felt as though he needed to say something else, to apologize again, but he also knew those words wouldn’t matter. It wasn’t long before they fell into an easier silence, and Hades shifted onto his back, resting his head in Persephone’s lap.

She laughed as he did it but seemed content to thread her fingers through his hair. He liked the feel of it, and it lulled him into a sense of calm.