A Game of Fate (Hades Saga, #1)

by Scarlett St. Clair

She is yours, a voice echoed in his head, and something inside him snapped. Claim her.

He would pry the bars from around her body, free her from this self-constructed cage of hate, and in the end, if she did not love him, at least she would be free.

“I can do this,” she offered, and started to rise, but Hades held her in place. “Allow me this.” He wanted this—to take care of her, to heal her, to ensure she was well. He could not explain why, but the part of him that desired this, it was primal.

His body reacted like it was on fire and desperate to be smothered. He felt ridiculous; he had kissed and fucked, but he had never felt this…whatever it was. This burning desire, this desperate wish to claim and protect and to love.

“Why does it bother you so much?” she whispered. Because you are mine, he wanted to say, but those words froze in his throat.

“Let me show you what it is to hold power in your hands. Let me coax the darkness from you. I will help you shape it.”

He’d been hoping to guard his heart, build a cage around it so thick that nothing—not even Persephone and her compassion—would find its way through. Except now, she was the only person he wanted close to his heart. It was her compassion he sought. It was her love he wanted.

He raised a brow. “You think words have meaning?” A line appeared between her brows, and he dealt another hand. “They are just that—words. Words are used to spin stories and craft lies, and occasionally, they are strung together to tell the truth.”

“I want you. Be my first, be my everything.”

“Tell me you want me.” He needed to hear her say it, because he had not completely told the truth. Words did matter, and the only ones he had heard since the night before were the ones she’d spoken on the steps of the baths. I don’t want you.

“I want you inside me,” she said. “Fuck me, say my name as you come. Dream of me, and only me, for the rest of eternity.”

Take her, and I will destroy this world. Take her, and I will destroy you. Take her, and I will end us all.

“You must not assume you know her mind just because you have fears. Those are your demons, Hades.”

“What do you want?” she asked. “You,” he said. “Always you.”

“I will never forget how I felt when I first saw you,” she said. “Tell me,” he urged. Despite the warmth of the fire nearby and the sweat beading across their skin, she shivered. “I felt your eyes on me, like hands touching my whole body. I had never felt so inflamed. I had never felt so afraid.” “Why afraid?” he asked. He bent closer to her lips, and she shifted, her legs spreading farther apart to accommodate his movements, which had grown in tempo. “Because…” she started, and then paused. “Because I knew I could love you, and I wasn’t supposed to.”