The Power of Hades (The Hades Trials, #1)

by Eliza Raine

'I'm sorry,' he said quietly, and I watched the words form on his lips, before his image vanished under black smoke again. 'I struggle to control myself around you.'

'Wait, before you do,' I said quickly. My heart was racing. 'Have you been talking to me? In my head?' The smoke flickered. 'I want you to lose the Trials, but I don't want you to die doing so,' he answered eventually.

'I thought you were here to offer comedic relief,' I sighed. 'Not deep and meaningful pep talks.' 'Your wish is my command. Did I tell you about the time Dionysus tricked Poseidon into having sex with a tree?'

'You and I were friends, once. I know you don't remember that, but I won't forget it,' Hermes said, his voice crystal clear and his face open and cheerful.

'What-' I started but my words fell away as I laid eyes on Hades. It was him. The real him, under the smoke. My breath caught and desperation filled me as I stared at his face, into his swirling silver eyes. Home. He was home. He was mine.

'You were never cruel, Persephone. You were fair and kind and I...'

'I hate this place,' I whispered and he flinched. 'Please, please make me understand how this was once my home. Because I know it was. I know you were.'

'It wasn't always like this. It was before you came, and it was again after you left. But when you were here...' His eyes bore into mine. 'You brought light, and life, to a place where I thought none could exist.'

He loved me. I could see it in his face, hear it in his broken voice, feel it in his electrifying touch. All this time, all those years alone in New York, and someone, somewhere, loved me this much. And I never knew.

Chapter 25 I stared at Hades, my mind spinning. He was a god. King of the Underworld, Lord of the dead, and he'd just wiped a tear from my cheek. 'Light and life,' I repeated, my stomach feeling like it was filled with butterflies. 'Are those things you wanted here, in this place?' 'Not at first. I just wanted you.' Desire skittered through my core at his words, and I saw his eyes flash with something new. 'Damn Aphrodite,' he muttered. I raised my eyebrows at him and he sighed. 'Her music, her power. She always does this at balls, and the smoke can only keep so much of it out. She's powerful.'

'Love is powerful,'

'I don't like that I'm not in control of my body though.'

'Aphrodite's power won't make you do anything you didn't already want

'I missed you,' he murmured into my skin. 'Gods, I missed you.'

'I need you,'

'But you don't love me.'

'Of course you don't. You are not the woman I married. You are someone new.'

'I'm Persephone,' I said thickly. 'We must not do this to ourselves. You can't stay here and this would be folly.'

'What?' I felt like I'd been punched in the gut, a hollow feeling of loss and rejection making anger spike inside me, fueled by the passion still making my pulse race. 'You're mad at me because I don't love you? A man I've just met? A man surrounded by death?'

It's cold when I'm scaring on purpose, he had told me. 'And that, little human, is why you can not stay,'

Hecate stumbled towards me. 'I know that smoke bubble,' she slurred. 'You and Hades were getting it ooooon.' She waggled her eyebrows at me, a stupid grin on her face. 'Are you drunk?' 'Yep.'

'You dare enter my realm, and try to kill her?' His voice carried so much power, so much terror, so much danger, that my limbs collapsed. 'You dare to try to take her from me?' The

Then light, green and vibrant filled my vision and something incredible flooded through my veins, sending pulsing energy to every part of my failing body. Something rich and strong and fierce. Something alien and familiar all at once.

It was power. I had my power back.