Page 55 of Bride of Death

One that has me regretting my instincts instantly, as I’m already aroused by her anger, and now I’m enjoying the view of her breasts being pumped up in that tight tank top of hers.

“Are you even listening to me?” she demands.

“It would be impossible not to hear you, darling,” I murmur. “I’m fairly certain everyone in the village is listening to you right now.”

Not that I care. She’s my Omega. If she wants to yell, then so be it. Though, I’m not quite sure what I’ve done to deserve such ire. Nor did I know my mate was capable of such fury.

She scowls, the expression more adorable than it should be. “You’re infuriating.”

I arch a brow. “I’ve barely spoken.”

“I know!” she snaps back at me. “Yet you assume I’m yours because of some soul bond?” She huffs at the question she’s voiced. “I don’t know you, Hades. Nor have you tried to get to know me. So I will not be marrying you.”

“The nuptials are a formality to inform the kingdom that you’re mine,” I tell her. “But we are, in fact, already wed,wife.”

“In another life,” she replies. “A life I don’t remember.”

“So we’re back to this game again?” I ask with a sigh. “All right, darling.”

She throws up her hands and looks at Maliki. “Is he always this impossible?”

“Yep,” he says without hesitation. “Popcorn?” He offers it to her without looking at me.

My jaw ticks. “Why do I feel ganged up on?”

“No idea,” the male I often think of as mybest frienddrawls. “Did you want popcorn, too?”

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Maliki wanted me to talk to Persephone, as did everyone else. And now he’s going to make me feel like a fool for doing so?

“I don’t know you, Hades,” Persephone repeats, the words sounding far too genuine. Too practiced. Tooreal.

“I love you, Persephone, but I don’t believe you,” I admit, my eyes opening once more to meet her new-to-me gaze. Everything about her is physically different. Yet I can sense her soul. The one that hurt me. Nearly destroyed me. And ruined all of Mythos Fae kind.

She has to be punished for her sins. It’s unfortunately my job to carry that sentence out, and I absolutely hate that I have to potentially hurt her.

“You love a soul that supposedly exists inside me,” she replies, her voice shifting to a softer tone, one that almost sounds defeated.

I’m not sure I care for it. Though, it does remind me of the Persephone I once knew.Did she use this tone to manipulate me then?I wonder.Is she doing it again now?

I’ve spent millennia trying to understand how I miscalculated my mate’s intentions, how I missed her motives and devious acts.

But I’m paying attention now.

Because I won’t be tricked again.

“My sister doesn’t remember any specifics from the past,” she goes on. “If you don’t believe me, ask Orcus.”

“She’s not your sister,” I tell her. “Not even in human form.” Their biological parents were different; they were just raised by the same assigned mother and father.

Her version of the Human Realm is unique, her experience theredark.

Children of her home world are produced to mate monsters. To do that, many human offspring are genetically created in a clinical setting.

It’s not well known to the mortals of that world, but I know Persephone is aware.

Because Alina knows the truth.

The two of them grew up in a contrived household with a pair of humans designed as their caregivers. They thought they were their parents.