A Touch of Ruin (Hades X Persephone #2)

by Scarlett St. Clair

She quickly learned it was one thing to have magic, another to use it properly.

Hades was near, and her body knew it.

Mortals know what leads to eternal imprisonment in Tartarus, she thought.

“Although, I would rather you want me as queen because you love me, not because the Fates have decreed it.”

“Do you know how I knew the Fates made you for me?” His voice was a hoarse whisper, a tone he used in the darkness of their room after they made love. Persephone shook her head slowly, ensnared by his gaze. “I could taste it on your skin, and the only thing I regret is that I have lived so long without you.”

“Trust me, my darling, leaving you is the hardest decision I make each day.”

“I’ll be here when you return.” Hades frowned. “I will make it up to you.” She arched a brow and commanded, “Swear it.” Hades’s eyes simmered beneath the glow of the crystal lights. “Oh, darling. You don’t need to extract an oath. Nothing will keep me from fucking you.”

She didn’t want to be someone’s possession. She wanted her own identity, to be credited for her hard work, but dating a god took that away.

“You and your boy toy are official.” Persephone glared. “Man toy?” he offered. She still glared. “Okay, fine. God toy then.”

“Not a favor then,” he said. “A date.” She offered the god an annoyed look. “Do you want Hades to gut you?”

Persephone couldn’t explain why it was important for her to be known for writing; it just was. She’d spent her whole life being horrible at the one thing she was born to be, and despite that not being her fault, she’d worked really hard in college. She wanted someone to see that hard work, and not just because she wrote about and dated Hades.

“Goddess or not, you are my lover.” She didn’t mean to stiffen, but she wasn’t a fan of that word. She knew by the way Hades’s eyes narrowed, he had noticed. He continued, “It is only a matter of time before someone with a vendetta against me tries to harm you. I will keep you safe.”

“Nothing is ever insignificant when it comes to you,” he said.

“I’m afraid seconds will not do,” she said. “I’m owed pleasure—hours of it.”

“That look,” she said, as if it explained everything. “The one you have now. Your eyes are dark but there’s something…alive behind them. Sometimes I think it’s passion. Sometimes I think it’s violence. Sometimes I think it’s all your lifetimes.”

“Darling, I would burn this world for you.”

“You are my favorite flavor,” he said. “I could drink from you all day.”

“Pray to me,” he commanded.

“What about Sybil? Are we just supposed to let her suffer?” Persephone asked. “No, we’re supposed to be her friends,” Lexa said. “Which means I should do everything in my power to ensure Apollo is exposed.” “It means you should do what Sybil wants you to do.”

“If I want you, I will find you.” “And what if I want you?” “Then you have only to say my name,” he said.

“You have glass walls, Hades.” “Are you trying to deter me?” She narrowed her eyes and teased. “Exhibitionist?” “Hardly.” He leaned a little closer, and she felt his breath on her lips. “Do you really think I would let them see you? I am too selfish. Smoke and mirrors, Persephone.” She leaned into his heat. “Then take me,” she whispered.

I want to know your greatest weakness, your deepest fear, your most treasured possession.” His expression grew serious then, and he stared at her with an intensity that made her insides shudder. “You,” he answered, his fingers teasing her kiss-swollen lips.

“You are my weakness, losing you is my greatest fear, and your love is my most treasured possession.”

She shouldn’t have to convince anyone, but instead of a world recognizing a psychopathic god, they saw one that had just fallen deeply in love. They equated his relentless pursuit of men and women as romantic and those who rejected him as unworthy. It was fucked up.

“I don’t think he sees the problem with what he did.” Pirithous smiled in his sad way. She got the sense that he understood her situation more than he wanted to admit. “They often don’t,” he commented. “I don’t understand.” He shrugged. “Men just don’t think.” “That is really a horrible excuse.” “It’s not an excuse, really. Just a reality. All you can do is keep fighting for what you want. If he wants you, he will work to understand you.”

“I know how history treats women.”

“Oh, Hecate. What do I do? I hurt Hades. I didn’t think…well, I didn’t think at all. I was so—” “Hurt,” Hecate said. “Hades hurt you too. You hurt each other. The answer is simple. You apologize.” “It doesn’t seem like enough.” “It is enough. It’s enough because you love each other.”

“My dear, there’s darkness inside you, and we have only touched the surface.”

“Magic is balance—a little control, a little passion. It is the way of the world.”

“It pains me to know I hurt you. What can I do?” She was surprised by that question. “I…don’t know. I suppose what I have done must make up for it. I told you I wouldn’t write about Apollo—I promised you—and broke that promise.” Hades shook his head. “We do not make up for hurt with hurt, Persephone. That is a god’s game. We are lovers.” “Then how do we make up for hurt?” she asked. “With time,” he answered. “If we can be comfortable being angry with one another for a little while.”

How could I ever question your love? Your trust? Your word? When you have my heart.”

She was ruthless, but so was Hades.

“I can see why Hades is taken with you,” he said, his eyes trailing her body, making her feel sick to her stomach. “Beauty and spirit, well-spoken and opinionated. Qualities I admire.”

“I have free will. I chose to come here of my own accord.” “A choice that cannot go unpunished,” he said and reached for her. Instinctually, Persephone pushed his hands away. His eyes gleamed. “Are you telling me no?” She knew if she said no, he would stop, but she couldn’t deny she wanted to see his punishment through. It would mean intense pleasure and it would be angry and rough and primal, and she needed release.

“This is for us,” he said. “You will share this with no one else.”

“I have never loved anyone as I love you.” He spoke like he was confessing. “I can’t put it into words—there are none that come close to expressing how I feel.” Persephone tightened her hold on him, bending toward his lips. “Then don’t use words,” she said.

“Marry me.” Persephone sat back. Hades was still hard inside her, and the movement made his eyes glitter like coals. “What?” There was no way she’d heard him correctly. “Marry me, Persephone. Be my queen. Say you’ll stand by my side…forever.”

“How could you want to marry me now? After I have told you no?” “I will always want to marry you because I will always want you as my wife and queen.” She was comforted by the promise in his voice and hoped that when he asked again, she would be ready.

“We cannot all be good, but if we must be bad, it should serve a purpose.”

There was something relaxing about baking. Maybe she liked it so much because it felt like alchemy, measuring each ingredient to perfection, creating something that would bewitch the senses.

“I hope I didn’t wake you.” “You didn’t wake me,” he said. “Your absence did.” “I’m sorry.”

He was impossibly handsome, unimaginably powerful, and he belonged to her.

“You cannot tell me you wouldn’t break every Divine law in existence for me.”

“Make no mistake, my lady, I would burn this world for you, but that is a burden I am willing to carry. Can you say the same?”

“There is no way I can be the goddess he wants.” Apollo snorted. Persephone glared. “What?” The god raised his brows. “It just sounds like you think he wants something other than you, which is not what I witnessed when I came to punish you in the Underworld.”

“If you cared, you would have been there!” “I was there!” “You never once came with me to the hospital when I had to watch my best friend lie unresponsive. You never once stood by me while I held her hand. You could have told me when Thanatos would start showing up. You could have let me know she was…choosing to die. But you didn’t. You hid all that, like it was some fucking secret. You weren’t there.”

“Create the life you want, Persephone, and stop listening to everyone else.”

The Goddess of Harvest should be renamed the Goddess of Divine Punishment, because she was definitely fond of torture, and her methods were vicious, often forcing mortals into starvation or cursing them with an unquenchable hunger. Now and then, when she was really pissed off, she would create famine, killing off whole populations.

She missed Hades. His comfort. His conversation. His touch. His teasing. His passion.

What the fuck are you doing, Persephone? she whispered aloud. Your best, she heard Lexa reply before she fell into a deep sleep.