The Passion of Hades (The Hades Trials, #2)

by Eliza Raine

I would never let her go again. I couldn't. She was light and life and love, and she was mine.

'You channeled your rage into earth magic. You regrew a tree that you used to keep alive here,'

A pink blossom petal wafted down from the overhanging branches and landed on my wet hair. 'You used to laugh when they fell in your soup,'

'We ate in here?' He nodded. 'I knew I felt something about these chairs when I first saw them,' I muttered.

'You had them made for us. You said that there should be a place in my kingdom where I didn't have to be a king, so you made the chairs to show our powers equally. To share my burden.'

I gazed at the intricate

detail on the arms and wondered how the hell I'd ever come up with something like this. But the more I looked, the more familiar it felt. The shape of the roses, the curve of the skulls, the patterns of the vines... Maybe I could see that same spark of creativity that went into my garden designs here.

'I never thought I'd see you again,' he said. 'Let alone hear you say those words. I-I don't want you to leave.'

'But you said I couldn't stay.' 'I know. But, I can't do it. I can't let you go again.'

'I- I don't know if I belong here,'

'But I do know that I feel something for you. Something I have never felt before.'

'We are bound,' he said quietly. 'But you have not fully accepted it. If you...

'I'm sorry,' I said, meaning it. I wanted, more than anything, to make him happy. Not just because of how much I wanted him physically, but because it was unbelievably important to me that he was happy. That must be the bond he was talking about, I supposed.

'I'll make you a deal,' he said. 'If the bond awakens, and you feel it, I'll do everything in my power to keep you here. But if it is truly gone, then I swear you'll go back to New York, with no memory of me or Olympus.'

'Are these bonds always this impractical?'

'Yes,' he smiled, and kissed me, his lips like feathers and fire at the same time. 'But they say love conquers all,'

It hit me then. The reason he wouldn't be with me without the bond. He didn't want to 'do things by halves'. He wanted me to love him, as much as he already loved me.

I respected him, I realized. I admired him as much as I feared him.

'Dionysus drown me in wine, he's a big bastard,' breathed Skop.

A skull with a snake emerging from its left eye was carved on it.

He was so emaciated his body was barely more substantial than a skeleton, his pale skin paper thin and covered in blistering sores. He stood rigid against the tree, his sunken eyes hollow and staring, his thin lips withered and pulled back from his teeth.

She’s gonna have to endure seeing him die of thirst isn’t she? 😭