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March 14 - March 15, 2025
Or try and catch me in a lie.” There’s a glint in his eyes as he suggests this. All right. I’ll bite. “Favourite colour?” “Black.” Of course. “Favourite food?” “Roasted venison with pomegranate.” “Favourite season?” The briefest of pauses. “Spring.”
No one asks when you don’t have a dad. It’s dumb, it’s sexist, but they get it. We’re used to it as a society. Dads leave.
“All right,” I say, not remotely satisfied. “Can you get sick? Poisoned?” “Are you trying to learn how to kill us? Because it sounds like you’re trying to learn how to kill us.”
“I mean, it’s not like I like you, it’s just a little bit dull around here.” “And I am not?” he says, with a flash of a roguish grin. “No. You are many things, but not boring.” He takes a step closer. “And what am I, pray tell?” “Aside from incredibly irritating?” He raises an eyebrow. “Am I really that irritating?” “Perhaps.” His grin is halfway between sly and soft, and I dislike how it slithers into me, dislike noticing anything about his mouth at all, really.
“Then why be sweet in the first place?” “I can’t help it.” “Why can’t you help it?” He blinks at me blearily, as if the answer is obvious. “You disarm me.”
“Is this a thank you for yesterday?” “Maybe I just want to spend time with you.”
I inch up his shirt and pry the bandage away from his skin. The wound has healed over, leaving only a pink line behind. “That’s insane.” He smirks, inching closer. “If you wanted to undress me, love, you could have just—” I place the spoon from his pan against his lips. “Don’t you ever get tired of flirting?” “Yes, actually. But it’s nice to do it with someone new.”
“I’ve just installed a secret door in the library, should you wish to eavesdrop.” “What?” “You heard.” He winks at me, and sweeps off after Emetria. I tiptoe along to the library. In the corner of the room is an ostentatious black door with the gold words, ‘I am a secret door’ emblazoned across it, along with a winky face. Very subtle, Hades.
“Why did you let me overhear?” “Just because you live in the Underworld, doesn’t mean you should be kept in the dark.” He does not look at me when he speaks, staring instead at the black polish on his nails.
“In real life, love is rarely that transformative, and real monsters don’t change because someone loves them. Beauty lucks out because her beast wasn’t really a monster at all.”
It’s nice to believe you can save someone just by being yourself. You don’t need to be strong or smart or ride into battle. You just need to be there for someone.”
“Wait,” I say, “you told me you could only go to the mortal realm twice a year, but you went after Samhain, to see my father—” “I did.” “But… isn’t that your two times?” “Yes.” A strange realisation dawns. My stomach murmurs with something between panic and gratefulness. “You spent your only other allotted day doing that for me?” “Well, what else was I going to do?” “Thank you.” Hades shakes it away. “It was nothing.” “It wasn’t nothing,” I insist, “and thank you.”
He takes my hand, and doesn’t let go when he’s on his feet. I don’t let go either. I try not to think about the warmth and the weight of his fingers linked into mine, but I feel their absence when we’re standing in the glade and they fall away.
“Sephy, relax, it’s just an illusion.” I stop shrieking. “Oh. Of course. That makes sense.” He’s still smiling. “You tried to put me out.” “Automatic reaction. It’s not like I like you, or anything.” “Of course,” he says, his narrow smile flickering.
Hades glowers, his bright eyes burning. “I wish I could despise you,” he hisses. “But you can’t.” “No,” he says, as if the word was being wrenched from him. “I cannot.”
“Oh-ho! What are you going to do? Throw me down on the bed and ravage me? You have my full permission.” I shove him back on the seat. “I am not going to ravage you. Why would you want me to? You don’t even think I’m pretty.” He frowns at me. “Because you’re not pretty,” he says, and tugs me into his lap. “You’re beautiful.”
“Oh my, the big scary Lord of Night thinks I’m beautiful, should I be flattered or scared?” “Please be flattered,” he says, a tremor unhidden in his voice. It almost sounds like begging. My cheeks feel hot. “All right,” I say breezily. “I’d return the compliment, but I think it’s already very obvious that you are somewhat inhumanly attractive.” Hades swallows. “Perhaps,” he says, just as nervously, “but I wouldn’t be adverse to knowing you found me attractive.” I bop his nose, and wriggle away from him. “You’re very pretty, Hades.” “Ugh. Even when you’re telling the truth you sound like you’re
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“Need any help getting to bed?” “Only if you plan to undress me again.”
“And Hades?” “Yeah?” “You really don’t have to be drunk to spend time with me. You can spend time with me whenever you like.” He smiles. “A dangerous offer. What if I always want to spend time with you?” “I’ll call your bluff.” “But I can’t lie.”
“Why did you show me that?” I ask him, my gaze half-on the dancers still. “Are you trying to like, er, woo me, or something?” He pauses. “If you’re asking whether I brought you up here in order to seduce you, the answer is no.” His phrasing is strange, and I know there’s something else he’s not saying. “But?” I prompt. “I am not entirely adverse to the suggestion of seduction in principle.”
“I don’t trust anyone. Why do you think I let skeletons guard the borders? Dead men tell no tales.”
The pirates of the Caribbean reference went so hard for me
I wheel around, and Hades is behind me. My gasp falls away as he slides a hand around my waist and glides the other against my palm. The heat of his skin ripples through me, and he’s close, so close. He spins me around the room, and I’m light and heavy all at once, like I’m floating and sinking in the same breath. I feel flushed and drunk and delirious, and the music feels like it’s transformed into something tangible, thicker than a fog, heavier than a summer heat. Colours have shapes and edges, sharp as knives and soft as feathers. I am terrified of the music stopping. I am terrified of it
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“You’re trembling,” he says. “It’s the music.” “As long as you’re not frightened of me.” “No.” But I am frightened. And not because of last night, and the pale memory of a monster. I’m frightened because I’m attracted to him.
“New song,” I say quickly. “What?” “New song. Something classic rock.” “Most faeries find that far too modern. What would the purpose be?” “Fun, Hades. Fun is the purpose. You know fun, right?” “Barely, until recently.” I try to ignore the weight of that, the impossibly sad truth of it, and the heaviness of ‘recently’. I swallow both away. “Classic rock, please.”
“Not exactly what I’d call dance practice, Lord Hades.” Hades sticks his hands in his pockets and shrugs indifferently. “I don’t need to practise.” “She does,” says Irma. “Rude,” I say. “True, but rude.” Irma whips out a golden notebook and a feather pen. It hangs in the air and starts to write itself. “I’ll add you to my to-do list,” she says primly. “I’d add her to my to-do list too, if she’d let me,” says Hades. His smug smile makes me want to slap him. “Ugh,” I groan, “you’re impossible!” “But irresistible?” “Resistible!” I insist, trying to ignore the hot bubbling sensation inside me.
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When I was a little girl, my father told me the story of the original Hades and Persephone. My heart swelled with sympathy when I thought of him in the Underworld by himself, and I hugged my stuffed bunny and came close to tears. “Poor Hades,” I sighed. Dad wasn’t impressed. “No, no, Sephy, you’re missing the point. He kidnapped her. We don’t kidnap people. It’s not nice.”
“But he was so lonely!” “Reasons don’t matter, daughter. Actions do.” I thought about this for a moment, not willing to stop defending him, even if, in principle, I did agree that kidnapping was bad. “How do you know he kidnapped her?” “What?” “It says he took her. You take me to the park. You don’t kidnap me. Maybe she saw he was lonely and wanted to cheer him up. Maybe she wanted to run away from her mother. You don’t know.” “That… is a good point.” “I guess we don’t know, do we? The girls never get a chance to speak in these stories.” He patted my head. “Also a good point.”
“So, faerie smut is a really popular mortal genre right now.” Something wicked glimmers in his eyes. “And what do these wings and tails do in your stories?” My mouth goes dry. “All sorts of things.” “Oh?” He takes a step closer. “Please be more specific.”
😮💨
“I think it’s sweet, when people babble. It’s like holding out a part of yourself, beckoning others to join, like making a treat of your person. And with bigger stuff, it’s like offering a sliver of your soul, and trusting the other person not to break it.”
“She was a fool,” I say, “for not seeing what you were. It… it was a she, right?” He smiles. “Yes, a she. But she was no fool.” “But—” “It does not matter, Sephy. Not now.” He crosses the chamber, lifting my knuckles to his lips and kissing them, and I blush down to my bones.
“If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be?” Hades pauses. “I am not sure I can answer without scaring you.” I knit my brows. “Well, now you have to tell me.” “No where,” he says. “Somehow, I find that this, at the moment, is exactly where I want to be.”
“You’re actually the best thing about this whole misadventure,” I tell him, fighting my rising blush. “I am?” He cocks his head thoughtfully. “How so?” “You must know I enjoy talking to you.” “I did not know,” he says. “Until now.” The intensity of his gaze is alarming, and I half-want to bolt. The other half of me feels like an insect, drawn towards the brightness of it, of him.
“You’re only thirty-two?” I grin. Hades scratches the back of his neck. “That’s the equivalent of eighteen in human years.” “Practically a child.” “Oh, shut up. I have the entire High Court looking down on me for my inexperience. I don’t need it from you, too.” “As you wish, boy.” He elbows me in the side. “I could learn to dislike you.”
“Could you? Could you really?” “It’s possible. It would take a lot of time and you would have to do a lot worse than that, but it could happen.” He pauses. “It’s doubtful, though. I think I would forgive you anything.”
“You, young lord, your services are no longer required. Go out on patrol—” “But—” “There’s nothing for you to do here, and Mistress Persphone needs a few more lessons.” “Hmm, Mistress Persephone. I do like that. Lady Persephone works well too—” “Out!” “I’m going!”
“Make any jokes about me undressing you, and I will never do this again, I swear.” He smirks. “Wouldn’t dream of it.” “How is that not a lie?” “We can usually get away with metaphor, when there’s no attempt to deceive. Plus, I can confirm that I have never dreamed of making jokes about you undressing me. You actually undressing me, however…” I punch his shoulder. “I will knock you in.” “How is that a punishment?” Annoyed with his smile, I do just that, only he clearly wasn’t actually expecting me to go through with it so he grabs my wrist out of instinct and we both plunge into the soapy
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He summons a pile of them, and I snatch one up, pulling him down beside me and shoving one into his lap. “What’s it for?” “Cuddling.” He raises an eyebrow. “The Lord of the Underworld does not cuddle.” I blink at him. “That’s a lie, surely?” He shrugs. “I have been somewhat lacking in opportunities.”
“I thought the clothes weren’t to be glamoured tonight?” Hades looks down. “No one will be expecting me to have something made for you.” “Right. I’m just a decoration.” “To them,” he says. “But not to me. Never to me.”
I drop down to the ground and lace my fingers into his, pinning them solid. “Just while nobody else is here,” I assure him. “I’ll let go when they start arriving.” He squeezes my hand. “And what if I don’t want you to ever let go?” “That would be terribly inconvenient for us both.” “I would cope.”
“Lord Hephaestus.” “Lord Hades.” He gives a bow which looks more like a shrug. “I’d apologise for being late, but I didn't want to come.” “Neither did I.”
Mood
“Most often, when you lie, you do it to help people, to make the world seem less awful,” he says. “Tell me more of your beautiful mortal lies, Sephy, and let me drown in them.”
!!!!!!!!!!!
“But you can if you want. I won’t say anything to anyone. I promise.” I lean forward and kiss his cheek. “I know a mortal promise isn’t worth a great deal, but you have it nonetheless.” I start to move from the bed, but his hand catches my wrist before I can leave. “A promise from you is worth far more than nothing,”
“We are more than what people do to us. We are so much greater than how others make us feel.”
He tosses his fine head of dark, silken hair, and I swear he actually glitters. I hate it. Stupid, dumb, beautiful boy.
“Have you ever cried because something was simply too beautiful?” I ask. I expect him to make a joke, ‘every day when I look in the mirror’ but his next words startle me. “No,” he says, “but I have cried from wanting something that was.”
“Well, if you insist…” He tosses the toppers over his shoulder, vanishing them into nothing, and sweeps me up into his arms. His wings unfurl and we drift upwards with the snowy breeze, me struggling against him. “What are you doing?” I shriek. “Putting you on top of the tree, angel.”
I lean up and kiss his cheek, lingering longer than I should. “You missed,” he says, when I draw back. “What?” “My lips. They’re right here—” I push him away from me. “In your dreams!” In mine, too. “Frequently,” he says. He’s still smiling, but there’s a ghost of a sigh. He cannot lie.
If someone talked to me like that I’d fold instantly, idk how FMC’s have the restraint.
“I wish we could eat together more often,” I say, “I know you’re busy—” “You want to eat with me?” Hades looks up, eyes bright. “The Underworld be damned. Persephone wants to eat with me. I’ll be back at six every night.”
He yawns as he takes my arm and steers me into the corridor. “Are you sure you’re not too tired for a walk?” “I’m never too tired to spend time with you.”
It is an utterly beautiful place to be, but my favourite part of any day is the time that’s filled with him.
