Page 53 of Bride of Death

Yet his cruel smile now isn’t familiar at all as he murmurs, “Hello, Persephone.”

Chapter 13

Hades

My mate staresat me like she can’t believe I’m here. “Hades,” she breathes.

I smile. “So you’re not going to pretend I’m a stranger this time?”

She swallows, her blue eyes captivating me just as much as her former brown ones. Both versions of my mate are beautiful, but in entirely different ways.

Even her scent is unique in this form, yet exquisitely captivating nonetheless.Like a bouquet of blooming fire lilies, I muse, inhaling deeply.

“The dream was real,” she whispers, causing my eyebrow to lift. “You came to me my first night here and told me your name was Hades. I… I thought it was a dream. Why did you let me think it was a dream?”

Her voice gains power as she speaks, her pretty eyes sparking with a blue flame that excites my inner Alpha. I rather like this feisty energy. It’s a new trait, one that’s unexpectedly arousing.

“So you’re Hades.” She utters the words like she’s evaluating me. Her gaze runs over me, her lips pursing. “Hmm.”

She turns around to focus on something on the counter, effectively dismissing me.

Maliki shoots me an amused look before disappearing. I didn’t exactly expect him to stay, but I’m a little surprised he didn’t comment before leaving.

Regardless, this is my task now.

“You’re going back to pretending we don’t know each other, then?” I guess, her words about the dream a not-so-clever way of explaining how she knew my name. “Haven’t you grown tired of this game, Persephone?”

“My name is Sera,” she replies without looking at me. “And I’m not the one who pretended to be a dream, so don’t accuse me of playing games.”

“I didn’t pretend anything, little mate. You made an assumption, and I chose not to correct it.” And that’s assuming I even believe her.

Which I don’t.

When she continues to give the counter more attention than me, I move around to her side and arch a brow at the pot of soil she’s tending to.

Picking up the packet beside it, I read the rose breed and scoff. “If you’re going to pretend you don’t know me or our history, then perhaps you shouldn’t pick a flower that’s so much like your favorite one from our home realm.”

Her hands still. “What flower?”

I study her profile, noting the way she’s stopped blinking. “Fire lilies, like the ones our nuptial invitations created.” Which I assume is why she’s suddenly wanting to groom a similar plant to life.

That explains the scent, I think.

It’s everywhere here.

And it’s obviously not just coming from her.

Though, I don’t see any other flowers in her little hut. A strange development, as Persephone always needed life blooming around her in our Mythos Fae palace.

Her vines and flowers died shortly after her disappearance.

Despite her betrayal, I did try to care for them. But I’m death, while she’s life. Living objects tend to wilt beneath my attention as a result.

And they did horribly after she left.

Pretty sure my heart shriveled up and died right along with all her precious lilies.

“This is an Autumn Damask rose, not a lily,” she tells me. “Very different species.”