Page 54 of A Game of Queens

No hint of hooves or claws or fur.

Gorgeous—but there’s nothing familiar to me. I don’t feel a sudden flash of recognition at his appearance, though my body seems to remember him all too well.

“Have I failed to restore your memory, love?”

Shivering with aftershocks, I hug myself, trying to hold myself together. Endorphins buzz through my system, making my brain hazy. There’s something I need to remember. It’s important.

He sighs and wraps his arms around me, cradling me against him. Closing my eyes, I drink in his scent. Sleepy poppy and frankincense. Black velvet and myrrh. Dreams blurring with reality.

His body feels right against mine. This, I know. He feels safe.

Slipping deeper into oblivion, the fuzzy curtain in my head parts just for a moment. Cerberus. Elysian Fields. Death. An altar in the depths of darkness.We’re gods that time forgot.

I try to tip my head back to look up at him, but my neck wobbles and my muscles don’t want to cooperate. He cups my cheek, lifting my face toward his. Maybe I’m asleep already but for a moment, I could swear that thick, black horns curl in a spiral on either side of his head. “Hades?”

His arm tightens around me, and his other palm spans my jaw and throat in a fierce grip The ghostly white of his eyes is gone, leaving them to glitter like shards of black ice. His lips peel back in a fierce snarl. “I’ll empty the very bowels of Tartarus to find you.”