Page 29 of Unleash Hades (Ungoverned Spaces #5)

Calissandra

I t had grown dark when I was dressed and ready to head back to the house. He’d proudly declared that there were no cameras here. He was sure of it.

I trusted him.

“As far as the gate,” he said, “Then I will set you free back into the land of the living.”

We walked in silence, hand in hand in the darkness, the moon casting a silver light between the leaves of the trees.

“Have you…” I started to ask, before I shook my head. “Never mind.”

“Ask me,” he said, pulling his arm in, drawing me into his side.

I was about to ask a stupid question. Why would he ever…

“Have you been with anyone else?” I blurted out and covered my lips in embarrassment. “I’m sorry… I…”

“I was with three women, before I met my wife–”

“You were married?” Bellamy had been telling the truth after all.

“We divorced before I joined the Legion.

I was celibate during that time because there wasn't an opportunity, until a certain journalist found her way into my room.” He frowned, trying to hide a smile.

But the sparkle in his eye gave him away.

“And I have kissed that journalist a few times since, and been inside her twice.”

“And… and no one else?” I was surprised.

He was a specimen of a man. Rough, his skin worn, but still so masculine. His hands, his muscles, his rugged looks… It was the kind of appearance that turned the heads of women who craved a bit of danger and excitement. Women like me.

“No one else.”

I let out a breath.

I don’t know why I cared. I shouldn’t. It had been ten years, and a lot of celibacy.

“Though there is…” I almost stumbled as he spoke. I looked at him as he chewed his lower lip. “I have a bit of an unhealthy addiction. At least my friends say so.”

“Addiction… like…?” I prompted.

I truly knew so little about him, but I wasn’t afraid of that. The uncertainty didn’t bother me in the least.

“Porn, I suppose.”

“What!?”

He chuckled. “I keep watching this girl on camera in her bedroom. Sometimes just as she goes about her day, but sometimes at night she…”

“You’re teasing me.” I slapped his chest, and he massaged the spot as if I had hurt him.

“ Oui, I do that sometimes.”

I tilted my head. “Really?”

He shrugged. “No, not really.”

He wrapped an arm around my shoulder, pulling me close. I felt giddy, and alive. Cherished.

We were nearing the house. I could see the warm, golden glow of the house’s lights in the distance.

“I bet you’re taciturn and cross all the time.”

“Not with you.”

“I like that.”

“ Moi aussi. ”

We walked, almost somberly, to the moment we would have to part. At the gate, we stopped, and lingered, facing each other, our hands clasped.

“This was the best part of the last ten years,” I whispered as our foreheads tilted together. “Being with you.”

“This is the worst part of the last ten years,” he parroted, leaning down to kiss my lips. “Letting you walk away.”

“If I cannot have you tomorrow,” I took his right hand in both of mine and placed his palm against my lips. “I hope I don’t open my eyes after tonight.”

I pressed his hand against my cheek, and felt more tears come down. I had cried an ocean today and I was embarrassed to cry more. But Hugo didn’t care.

“You will have me tomorrow, and the next day, and the next until eternity.”

“The poetry of the French,” I sniffled, feeling a longing that had been dormant for so long.

“You’re French too, ma belle ,” he smiled. “You’re as French as I am.”

“I was,” I smiled. “But I don’t know what I am anymore.”

“ Tu es ma femme. ”

I smiled. Literally, his words meant: “You are my woman”. Yet, at the same time, it also meant: “You are my wife.”

And I was.

I was more his wife than I ever was to Richard. If being a wife was a feeling, or a sentiment, then I was his and he was mine.

“Go,” he said. “Before I break my resolve and keep you in the Underworld with me.”

“My sweet Hades,” I said. “Persephone always comes back.”

He smiled, stepping away from me.

“Again, and again,” he affirmed.

He took another step away.

Our hands stretched in the space between us, unwilling to let each other go.

“Tomorrow, and tomorrow,” I responded. A promise.

My fingers slipped from his grasp, as I took my own step backwards.

“Tell Chloe hello for me.”

He was purposeful with his words.

He was reminding me of what I had in the house. What I had in the light.

I couldn’t stay in the dark with him. Not yet. But I would if I could. My sweet Hades.