My Lord Hades (33 page)

There was another loud crash and the shattering of glass. Shouts followed.

Drawing upon her limited magic, she placed the false fronts over her magic and pushed the rest deep inside. She stretched, letting the dress ride higher up her legs before she sat up. Two burly Titans stood beside the door, their gazes not on her, but the healthy length of thigh revealed to them. They looked ready to eat her alive. It was the same look that entered Hades’ eyes, but it never chilled her to the core.

She imagined Hades when she smiled at them. One took a step forward and the doors

opened. A squat, white haired god entered. She knew instantly that this Titan was dangerous and empty inside. He watched the world around him with dark eyes. And she knew they had met

before. Coronus.

“Who are you?!” he demanded.

He knew who she was. She saw the truth in his eyes. She needed to be very careful, or be

caught in a lie.

She swung her legs over the side of the bed and straightened her skirts. “Persephone,

daughter of Demeter and Zeus, and Hades’ prisoner and wife by ancient law of abduction.” Her voice quivered and the words rankled in her mouth, but she spoke them despite the half-truths.

His eyebrows arched. “I take it you don’t like him much.”

She let the anger she felt toward these intruders color her emotions. “He stole me from my mother,” she snarled. “He forced me into a marriage I didn’t want. I want to go back! I want my mother. I want my flowers and the sun. I want my freedom.”

Coronus grinned. “Maybe we can help each other, little goddess. Use your power to release me and my men and I’ll return you to your mother.”

“I-I hoped you could help me. It’s why I let you in. Hades bound my magic so I couldn’t

leave.”

“What?!”

She knew it to be the worst possible offense and she’d hoped the act horrified even him. “I tried to escape his attentions, so he made sure I couldn’t do it again.”

“Check her,” he commanded one of the Titans.

The guard stomped toward her, jerking her from the bed. His very touch invoked the most

primitive emotions and a man curled in a corner, afraid of the dark. His power washed over her, overconfidence and cruelty threaded through the whirling crush. She could have squashed him, but she played her part, howling as if his power was stronger than anything she’d felt before. He tossed her back on the bed and she collapsed upon it, struggling with the newly awakened part of her nature. The Phlegethon wanted to make them disappear.

“It’s as she says. The magic is there, but blocked.”

“Watch her,” he barked, leaving the room.

She watched him leave with a secret smile. It wouldn’t take him long to work his way around the situation she’d presented him with. Meanwhile, she had another situation to present to him.

Rising from the bed, she glided across the room, unpinning the broach at her shoulder as she smiled at the guards and exposing the top of her breast.

“I feel the need to play. Who wants to be first?”

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

“THEY ARRIVED a few moments ago,” Thanatos told Hades, leading him through the halls

of Tartarus to the small crowd around the two Titans. “Those who saw it say they just appeared and fell over.”

Hade took one look at the men and blinked. “Are they sleeping?”

Thanatos shook his head. “I can’t tell you. If they are, the dreams are pleasant.”

Crouching down, Hades touched one of the Titans. His flesh was clammy, chilled, and the

hint of Persephone’s perfume clung to his skin. Rage flared. He stood, gathering his magic around him, ready to bring his errant wife to him. He was going to kill her.

“There’s another one,” a shade called out.

A hand dropped on his arm and he turned with a snarl. Leuce stood beside him, her husband at her side. “Stop it now!”

“He touched her! She let him touch her!”

“Did she?” Thanatos said. “He’s here, Hades. Bound and delivered.”

“Four less soldiers,” Leuce’s husband interjected.

“Think like the warrior you are, not the jilted husband you think you are,” Leuce said.

“Women have little power in war. We are at the mercy of those with more power—”

“She’s the one with more power!” he growled.

“Exactly.” Leuce touched his arm. “What woman, given the chance, wouldn’t sacrifice

herself for the ones she loves? Your Persephone is a strong Queen and a most surprising woman.

She’s a worthy opponent and I feel sorry for the man who thinks to hold her.”

“It’s time to attack the palace, and fight for what is ours,” Thanatos said.

“But Persephone—”

“Had the chance to defeat the enemy and she took it,” Eris interrupted, kicking the Titan as she passed. “It was you or her. One of you had to stay behind with Coronus while the other drew Adman out.” She glanced at Thanatos and smiled. “I never promised. Did you Thanatos?

Besides, his anger at her served its purpose and it’s time for his fear for her to kick in.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Persephone’s plan. I didn’t know she could be so devious. Did you? Tried to make me

promise not to tell. Now, are we going to war or not?”

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

THE SHADE shoved Persephone roughly against the wall, his hands slipped under the dress

and caressing her thigh, heading upward. Persephone squirmed, hoping the other would move just a little closer for a piece of the action before she had to either make good on her promise or betray her intentions.

His hand gained access to her hip and she touched the shade, belatedly realizing the hard part wasn’t his thigh. He groaned and rubbed himself against her. She cringed. Enough was enough!

She made him disappear.

Turning, she rushed at the other man. He screamed as she grabbed hold of him and he too

disappeared. What did that make, twenty, twenty-eight? Fifty more and she might make a dent in the ranks, but at this rate she’d need a week and she’d be lucky to have another hour. It was time to think big scale and hope she could escape before Coronus could use her against Hades.

Smoothing the front of the seductive red dress, she repositioned the angle of the bodice and tried to make it as modest as she could, not that it was possible. The dress swirled around her body, exposing a peek show of flesh and womanly curves. The cloth draped over her left

shoulder, dipped low over her right breast, overlapping at her right hip, leaving her back open to the air, and fastened together by a ruby broach at her left hip.

She closed the doors and headed toward the kitchens on bare feet. Hades was coming and she would be ready.

She knew her enemy now. She knew the horror Coronus had brought to her kingdom and to

her life. He’d come for the Iron Queen and found twin Phlegethon daemon-goddesses. He’d

come to force Persephone into marriage, taking what he thought was his by divine right. And Persephone made sure he didn’t get what he’d come for. She’d fought him and they’d all lost.

Persephone, Kora, and Coronus had been in the center of the explosion of power. Coronus’

greed had robbed her of her memories, her magic, and her sister. He wanted power. She’d give him power.

THE SMALL force of twenty men and three women, if Eris could be called a woman,

entered the palace under the cover of night and swiftly took out all opposition that stood between them and their goal. Fanning out, groups of five men each, they headed down one of the four halls, dispatching the drunken men passed out there. The one group of five men and three women followed the main hall to the throne room.

Hades stopped at the door, feeling the subtle scent of Persephone’s power calling to him. He nodded to the five men and they ranged out, fading into the shadows until needed. The two unarmed women remained with him as did Eris. He reached out and pushed open the doors. The time for subtlety was at an end; it was time to retrieve his wife.

As the doors swung open, they revealed the trap he knew was there. The hall was filled with armed men. Sitting on his throne was Coronus, and chained at his feet was Persephone dressed in a very revealing red dress.

“You’re sitting in my throne. And that’s my wife.”

“A most delightful creature. We were just getting reacquainted.” He caressed her bare

shoulder. Persephone didn’t react. She sat like a statue, her eyes empty of all emotion. “How remiss of you to misplace her.”

Hades held his fury in careful check. Rushing to her rescue wouldn’t save her; it would

probably endanger her further. “I left her in my bed where she belongs.”

Her eyes flared with anger or passion; he wasn’t sure which. “No wonder the gods hated

you,” she said laughingly. “You’re incorrigible.”

He clenched his fist, fearing that the accusations in his mind denouncing her as a traitor was right and that Leuce and the desire in his heart saying she loved him was wrong. The subtle shift of power in the air and the sweet scent of lavender and honey threaded itself through the chamber. Taking a deep, calming breath, he braced himself for what must be done.

Persephone rose and chains clanked. “If I was I free, I’d—”

Hades laughed. “Kill me? I’m a god, sweetling. I may bleed, but I don’t die.”

“When this is over, Hades, I have a cell in Tartarus with your name on it. I might even let Coronus be your jailor—”

Coronus jerked on the chain and she fell against his legs. “I’ll not remain here another

minute, my dear. Release us, and I promise to remove this hardship from your hands Hades.”

She hissed at him, like a small cat. Coronus struck her and Hades took a step forward. “Keep your hands off my wife!”

“Or what?”

Hades glanced at her. As long as she stood at Coronus’ side, he could do nothing. He

wouldn’t risk her.

Persephone smiled and inclined her head. The doors behind Hades closed. Magic flared,

shades all over the throne room began to glow.

Persephone glanced up at Coronus. “Sorry. But this will be one battle you’ll have to fight alone. I don’t think I want to be here when he’s done with you.”

And then she disappeared, and every shade she’d touched in the room disappeared with her, leaving the enemy to face Hades and Eris alone.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

PERSEPHONE STOOD outside the palace, staring at the trampled garden. If she’d been a

contrite wife, as she’d been a daughter, she might’ve waited in her rooms for Hades to complete the task of crushing the remainder of this rebellion and try to explain her actions, but she wasn’t the same woman. She was the Iron Queen, Ruler of the Underworld and a six-hundred-year-old Phlegethon daemon-god.

So instead of hiding in her rooms, she came to her garden, not to think as she once may have, but to forget the past six days in a place planted in love, only to find ruin.

She sighed. The knee-high tree was the only thing left standing and even it looked in poor condition. It wasn’t right. He’d planted this garden, an outward show of the love in his heart, love that she knew to be true. It deserved better than this.

She touched one of the cold, golden buds nestled among the sparse leaves and the bud

bloomed into a golden flower. She laughed, for the idea that flowers should welcome their caregiver delighted her. Removing her shoes, she walked among the rows of flowers, letting the magic seep into the ground. Plants sprouted and budded and bloomed in seconds, revealing a sea of sparkling gems in white, purples, reds, blacks, yellows, and blues.

She walked the uneven rows Hades had planted, the energy around her warmed, and she let

the emotions of love and joy fill her heart. Hades loved her, and although she feared he might be angry by her deception, she knew he loved her still.

She closed her eyes. The feelings ebbed and flowed around her as a gentle caress. And that was when she heard the gentle humming. A sound so familiar and so foreign that she had to seek it out. She followed the sound to the far corner of the garden, and found the purple flower she’d dug up in the meadow the day Hades abducted her. She’d forgotten the singing flower but Hades must have found it and planted it here.

She knelt before the wilted flower and the tears of sorrow flowed down her cheeks and

cleansed her soul of the emptiness in her heart.

It was dying here in the sunless Underworld. Its vibrant petals faded. She reached out to touch it and remembered the day she’d created it. The day she’d first met Rhea. The day she first learned the truth about of Hades. The day she gave the singing flower to the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen because she asked for it.

She leaned down, breathing life into the flower. Its velvet petals changed to warm stone.

Amethyst to replace the purple, topaz replaced the tongues of yellow fire along the top, silver metal for the underside, and emerald for the stem and leaves. But she didn’t stop there.

She stood and blew magic across the field. The singing flowers emerged from the ground.

Her flower wouldn’t be alone again. Just as she wouldn’t be alone again. Just as Hades wouldn’t be alone. They would share their lives and rule the Underworld as it should have been.

Reaching out with her magic, she sensed him in the pits of Tartarus. The rebellion was

crushed. Coronus was bound in his prison. She shivered at the evil she felt in Adman. He needed to be restrained for the good of everyone.

“Hades,” she called to him. “Come to me.”

She closed the link she’d created before he could reply and turned her attention to her garden.

Now that she had the resources, she would create a place for her and Hades.

CASTING THE last of the enchantments upon the cells of the prisoners, Hades conferred

with the other gods, surprised to find Thanatos there. He made sure everything was secure and everyone was all right, when all he wanted was to return to Persephone. He knew she wasn’t in any danger, but there was something strange about her behavior, and she’d shut him out before he could learn what it was.