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I thrust harder, deeper, grazing the womb from which her innocence birthed a realm.

She cries out. I moan.

And then we come undone together, shattering. Pieces of us explode like stars into the sky only to settle like dust in the aftermath of our lovemaking.

I waste no time gathering her into my arms, against my chest. I do not want to let her escape me this time.

For the last week, she loves me and leaves me quickly.

She is grieving, that much I know. I simply do not know what she grieves. I do not know why she doesn't tell me.

Something happened in that cave with Hydra. Something happened that hurt her. The thought sours the afterglow of having her.

My fingers tangle in her hair, and she sighs against my chest.

“I am taking you to see the Moirai.”

She stiffens, and then she peels her face from my chest to look at me.

Her deep green eyes are troubled, and the tiny wrinkle between them tells me she's terrified. But I don't think she's terrified of the Moirai.

I think she's terrified of what they might reveal to me. That they might uncover the secrets she keeps.

She finally responds. Her voice is soft with the undertones of pain. “I don't want to.”

“We don't have a choice.” I force the words through the blade that cuts me deep. Her pain is mine. It will always be mine. “We need to discuss those carvings on the cave walls.”

“I told you everything I saw.”

“We both know that's not true.” She stiffens. I hold her eyes. “I know there's something you're not telling me.”

She sniffles, cutting her eyes from mine.

“Hades, please.”

“Persephone, this is important.” I know she knows this. “Those carvings foretell that you will return to Olympus. That you will walk the halls with Zeus and Demeter.” The very idea is enough to spill fire through me. I know my skin heats. I know she feels it. But somehow, it does not scorch her even as it threatens to incinerate the very bed we lay on.

I force myself to cool as I ask, “Is that not what you saw on the walls of that cave?”

“It is but?—”

“No buts. We don't have time for buts.” Tension is growing inside me. “We must take action, and we must take it quickly. The Moirai gave you those visions for a reason.”

“Hades.”

“They pulled you to Tartarus—to Hydra—for a reason. So that you would again see those carvings. So that we would be prepared for what is to come.”

“Hades—” There is sorrow in my name on her tongue.

I've never hated the sound of anything more.

I sigh, pleading, “What aren't you telling me, little goddess?”

Her eyes mist, and she pulls her body from mine. Her hands find the sheets crafted of the weeping pines, and she gathers them around her body, hiding herself from me. The God inside me simmers.

I remain still, patient, waiting.

Finally, her voice so small, she whispers, “I'm pregnant.”