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“Persephone.” I can’t help but smile a little at his exasperation.

“There's a lot of Demeter, a lot of Zeus.” His eyes dip to my lips when I frown. “They were so—theyareso ugly. So black inside.” I shiver at the memories of the God and Goddess that rise in my mind. “They make my parents; myrealparents seem so beautiful.” Needing something to do, I push my hands through the water. “They weren’t perfect, you know? They had their faults, of course.” I sniffle. “But they loved me fiercely, Hades. They protected me when protecting me was so hard. They wanted me safe and happy. God—” The tears I’ve been fighting to contain finally slip free. A sob hitches my breath. “They loved me, Hades.”

He's no longer on the other side of the pool. I’m in his lap now and his arms are around my body. His scent, so warm andhimsurrounds me.

He murmurs through a kiss against my temple, “I know, little goddess. I know.”

“I miss them.”

He sighs a weighted sigh; this is yet another thing he can’t give me. They’re stacking up, and I know that’s weighing heavy on him. “I know.”

“Will I ever see them again?” I pull back to catch his eyes.

“Yes,” he vows. “When it is their time. When they have lived.”

“Will they—remember me?”

“Yes.” His voice is so gentle, so full of love.

My aching heart weeps with it. With all that I’ve gained and all that I’ve lost. All that I stand to lose still.

“I feel so tender,” I confess. “I don't know if it's because I'm carrying my own girls now, but the love my parents gave to me, the protection and the encouragement, even if it was sometimespushy…” I laugh. “I appreciate it more now. I see it differently. I wish…”

When my words drift off, Hades prompts, “You wish?”

“I wish that I could be for them what my parents were for me.” Hades’ eyes follow my hand where it rests on my belly. “I wish thatwecould be for them what my parents were for me. That we could fight in their corner, even if they don’t see it. That we could encourage them, even if they think we’re being pushy. I just wish we could be their parents.”

“We are their parents, Persephone.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Wewillbe their parents.”

I blink back the burn in my eyes. “We won't, Hades.”

“Yes, we will,” he vows. “We will watch them grow from afar. We will encourage them, again, from afar. And when they are women, I promise you, they will return to us.”

“You can't know that.” Even as I say it, I’m praying it is true.

“I do. I have seen it.”

I stiffen in his arms. “What do you mean, you've seen it? Did the Moirai show you something they didn't show me?”

Hades sighs. “It is not something I can discuss, but I do know that we will be with them again one day. Please, little goddess, believe me.”

I want to argue. I want to push. But as I search the dim flames that dance in his eyes, I know I can’t. I know he won't budge. Can’t budge.

I feel my shoulders fall even as I lean forward to press my lips softly to his. “I won’t push.” I can taste his relief as I kiss him again. “Thank you for loving me even when loving me is hard.”

His big hands sink into my hair as he cups the back of my head. “Loving you has never been hard.”

He forgets I have my memories, I think, as I sink into his kiss.

I’m not sure that loving me has ever been anything but hard.

Chapter

Fourteen