A Game of Retribution (Hades Saga, #2)

by Scarlett St. Clair

People were unpredictable, obsessive, and cruel. He did not trust them, and perhaps it was because he saw the impact of one bad seed. It took one man or woman to turn against a culture, and after a few well-delivered words, a nation was suddenly at war.

He would dismantle the world, and he would only feel remorse for Persephone, who would grieve for humanity.

“Darling,” he said, his voice low and fierce. “I would burn this world for you.”

“Speak another’s name in this bed again and know you have assigned their soul to Tartarus.”

He could recall exactly why he’d been drawn to capture the moment too…because she’d looked so perfect among his flowers, and he remembered not understanding how he’d gone so long without her presence among them. The picture was a reminder of his awe that she was his.

the perfect light to his darkness.

It was how he saw her—a moon, a star, a sun, a sky at the center of his universe.

Hearts did not break the same. They did not heal the same. They would not beat the same.

Hermes crossed the room to a stack of folded towels and threw one at him. “Get wet, Daddy Death,” Hermes said.

This was possession, and right now, he wanted to own all of her.

“You cannot tell me you wouldn’t break every Divine law in existence for me.” Hades’s power preened at the thought. “Make no mistake, my lady, I would burn this world for you.”

And after she was spent by his hand, he would draw her into his lap, take out his cock, and help her ride him until he came inside her so hard, she could taste it in the back of her throat, and even in that aftermath, he would lay her down and put his mouth on her clit and revel in how she tasted like him.

“Let me be perfectly clear,” he said, leaning close as he spoke. “I do want to fuck you. More importantly, I love you—deeply, endlessly. If you walked away from me today, I would love you still. I will love you forever. That’s what Fate is, Persephone. Fuck threads and colors…and fuck your uncertainty.”

“I love you. Even if the Fates unraveled our destiny, I would find a way back to you.”

“You would burn the world for me?” she said, and there was an energy gathering

around her that was both feral and volatile. “I will destroy it for you.”

“I love you.” Those words flooded him with a sense of relief. He had said before that words held no meaning, but that was before Persephone had uttered those three.

“Funerals are for the living.”

“You,” he said between his teeth. “Being inside you, the feel of you gripping my cock, the way you tighten around me just before you come.” “You just described sex, Hades.” He laughed, though he panted too. “I described sex with you. There is a difference.”

“Persephone,” he said. “I would have chosen you a thousand times over, the Fates be damned. Please…become my wife, rule beside me, let me love you forever.”

But he had known then that she was his forever. Fuck, he had known before that, from the moment he had laid eyes on her on the floor of Nevernight.