Page 32 of Spring's Descent
“It’s convenient she’s made The Dark Faction evil, despite Hecate supporting all of her magically inclined family.”
“Don’t claim to know what the Goddess of Witches condones.”
“Or what? I’d be just like all the witches in your coven?”
My cheeks flared a bright red as embarrassment washed over me. Because he was right. It wasn’t like Mother had met Hecate.“The High Matriarch communicates with Hecate on behalf of the coven.”
“Sure she does,” Aidoneus said, rolling his eyes. “I’m sure convincing the elders that demons were responsible for all that is going wrong in The Realm of the Living was easy with witches believing that.”
My brows furrowed at his flippant tone as he turned and walked toward the nearest pool. He acted as if the death magic ravaging our world wasn’t his doing. And that Hecate somehow accepted those in The Dark Faction despite them having bound their souls to The Underworld.
“I’ve seen the destruction unchecked death magic—your magic—has on the world above,” I seethed, following close behind. “You can’t mean to tell me that’s been a lie.”
Aidoneus spun, the speed at which he moved causing me to stumble into him. There was another zap where our bodies touched, the sensation both painful and frighteningly good, like the scrape of teeth before a kiss. All thoughts left me as my breathing deepened, his masculine scent of frost and darkness spurring my body on.
I wanted him to lean further down, to press his lips to my mouth the way he’d teased my neck earlier. I wanted to forget about all the reasons I couldn’t want him. To know exactly what it would feel like if Aidoneus kissed lower, sucking and nipping as he went. I hated everything he stood for. Everything he’d done in his long, terrible existence, but that selfish, stupid part of my heart yearned for him anyway.
Aidoneus’s eyes grew hooded, looking at me as if he could hear every filthy thought I’d had. I licked my lips, salivating for a taste of him. His gaze dipped to the small movement, and I wondered if he was imaging what my mouth would look like filled with his cock.
“You were meant to be raised in The Underworld, Persephone.” His voice was low, strained, as if took every bit of will power he had to hold himself in place.
A denial was poised on the tip of my tongue, but he silenced me with a shake of his head. “You were meant to know kindness and unconditional love among the women of The Elysian Fields until the eve of your twenty-first year. At which point, you would take your rightful place as Queen of The Underworld.”
I stared into Aidoneus’s eyes, needing to see his unguarded expression as I asked the next question. Because if what he said was true, my entire life had been a lie.
“My mother uprooted our entire coven because of an attack from The Dark Faction ten years ago.”
He shook his head. “There was no attack from The Underworld.”
“There was,” I insisted even as my knees weakened and my heart raced. “The High Matriarch before my mother was killed. All of us were taken into hiding, cut off from the source of our power in The Crystal City. You’re saying all of it was staged to keepmefrom Hades?”
“Demeter always had plans to take the High Matriarch position, but yes. I believe hiding your power was her main concern.”
Silence resonated between us. My chest heaved as he held my gaze, the sound of my blood whooshing in my ears. Mother sacrificed her comfort, the good of the coven, she’d slaughtered our High Matriarch… for me? I was both horrified and strangely touched.
Despite the years of verbal abuse that had spiraled into physical abuse, the endless hours of neglect, even gifting me to Cyrus as if I were nothing more than an animal to trade and barter, could some small part of her actually care about me?
It was foolish to hope, but I replayed the night Lark and I ran, searching my memory for any evidence that Demeter might not have been a part of what Cyrus had planned. Everything had been based on what we’d heard Cyrus say, and whoever was in the room with him—the woman wearing the thin bracelet with the teardrop diamond dangling from it.
I desperately wished I could talk to Lark right now. My mother was a horrible person. I wasn’t deluded enough to think otherwise. She’d kidnapped Lark’s sister and kept Lark as a servant—a prisoner—for years. But maybe she didn’t want me dead. Subdued and compliant but not quite dead. And I had repaid her years of keeping me hidden from The Dark Faction by running right into the arms of a demon.
Thedemon. The Hound of Hades, the very one who intended to return me to his master. Because as much as I had wanted to believe becoming Queen of The Underworld was a weak ploy to get me to come with him willingly, it was becoming alarmingly clear that there was more going on that I understood.
I already felt the prick of tears at the corners of my eyes as my gaze locked with his. “If my mother hadn’t hidden me, I would’ve what? Been offered up to Hades on a silver platter the moment I was awakened?”
Aidoneus tilted his head to the side, brows pinching as if he couldn’t understand why I was angry. “On your twentieth birthday, the courtship would’ve begun, ending with your bonding on the day of your awakening a year later.”
My hands fisted at my sides. “You still have every intention of delivering me to The Dark Palace?”
“Yes.” His blue eyes were open. Honest. And I loathed him all the more for it.
I wasn’t sure what I’d expected him to say or why I thought things might’ve changed since first entering The Underworld, but that single word felt like a spear through my chest. The forceof it caused me to flinch as if I’d been physically struck. Fighting to gain control of the threatening tears, I dipped my head, not wanting Aidoneus to see.
His two fingers grazed the underside of my chin, tipping my head up until my eyes locked with his. The gesture was so tender, conveying the type of intimacy that I’d always craved but never conquered. “Come, Persephone. You need to wash and rest.”
My world had flipped upside down. Again. By his own admission, Aidoneus was the bad guy, and my mother had been trying to keep me safe in her own way. Finding a way back to The Realm of the Living had always been the plan for Lark’s sake, but it felt more urgent now. Like if I didn’t find a way back soon, I’d end up giving into Aidoneus in more ways than one.
I followed his gaze to the clear pool beside us, the gentle bubbles breaking over the surface. The way he spoke to me felt like we’d known each other for years. It felt like he was talking directly to the broken, lonely parts of myself that I kept hidden from everyone. It had to be some type of dark magic because every part of me wanted to give into him. To believe he would keep me safe regardless of the promise he’d just confirmed that he intended to deliver me to Hades.