Hades III

demons & chemistry

Hades

Stella seemed unfazed by the entire thing with Persephone. Yes, I could feel she wasn't completely chill yet, but she was getting there.

She bit her lip and checked the food in the oven.

I didn't want to move, I liked being in her company.

"Do, uhm, do the demons and that know I was in their wing?" She asked.

I stood, I had to. "Listen, Stella," I said. "There is nothing to fear. I know if they've been too close to anyone down here, and they're not allowed. My punishments for that can be brutal. And yes, they will know someone was there, but people have gotten lost in that wing before, so it's not like they will seek you out. They won't. They're not revengeful, they just like to mess with people."

She looked at me, her eyes huge and so blue. So incredibly blue.

I wasn't sure how to look away. She was gorgeous. I wanted to look at her, to take her in. It had been too long since I'd really spent time with her. And here or on Earth didn't matter, I just wanted to be in her presence.

She broke the spell by looking away. She took out the tray from the oven. It was bread, it smelled heavenly, and it had to be filled with something, though I couldn't quite figure it out.

She put the mittens on the table and looked at me.

I had no idea if you could actually feel chemistry with someone, but I was a hundred percent sure we had chemistry.

Her breath came out shakily.

Stella

He was staring at me. My heart was pounding in my chest. From the way he looked at me? Like he'd missed me. Or was seeing me for the first time. Or like he wanted nothing more than to just stare at me. I might have been looking at him the same way, because I'd never truly seen him before. I'd been too busy looking away. Looking was better. Way better.

He took a tentative step closer to me, almost careful to reach out. His thumb traced my bottom lip.

My breathing hitched in my throat, and I was caught up in his dark, dark eyes. They were almost black, but they were glowing and warm.

"Stella," he said. "Do you want me to stop?" He whispered, his voice cracked when he said 'stop'.

"No," I breathed.

He kissed me.

Just like that, his lips were pressed to mine. His hand was on my neck, holding me close.

I had my hand wrapped around his wrist.

Neither of us did more than that.

Fuck! He kissed me! I was kissing him! I'd dreamed about him for so long and finally!

It was even better than I thought, though I hadn't allowed myself to think about it. For some reason, I knew I'd kissed someone before, because I knew what I should do without being nervous about it. Those rules were weird!

He broke the kiss and rested his forehead against mine.

I smiled. "That was unexpected," I whispered.

"Yeah," he sighed. His breath was warm against my face.

I met his dark eyes. Can I ask you a weird question?" I whispered.

He withdrew a little, his hand was still on the back of my head. "Always."

"Uhm, when we got here, that group ish thing I arrived with? We all turned, like, twenty-five again?"

He smiled. "Yes," he said, his hand slid down my shoulder all the way down to my hand. He took my hand and let it dangle between us. "When humans are around the age of twenty-five, they're cognitively fully developed. At some point it was a bit earlier. Then, when you get here, you can choose to grow older, after a year of being down here, it's all being explained. Then you can grow old, you can 'reset' your memory and live again, starting older or younger. Some grow older, their forties, and have kids staying, because some either come here as children or choose to be children again."

"What if children get here?" I asked.

"They have to actually grow up, but they won't remember they miss their mom and dad, these foster parents are their parents."

I nodded.

Hades kissed my forehead. "Persephone is coming back, and I don't want to give her another excuse to yell at you right now." He let go of my hand.

I nodded and turned toface the bread. I had prepared a salad to go with it – honestly, I'd neverbaked this before. But it smelled amazing, and I was positive it would taste good. Also, it gave me something to do.

The door was opened, and Persephone entered the kitchen. She made a show of avoiding me.

I focused on my dinner, mixing the salad and setting the table.

She made herself a salad of something from the fridge before stalking past me and out the kitchen again.

Melinoë entered as Persephone left. "Always interesting, what happened?" she asked and helped me set the table.

I shrugged. "She called me a whore for no reason, and she hates me, I've no idea why." I figured it would have something to do with Hades, but I had literally no idea. No feelings of déjà vu here to help guide me.

Melinoë looked at Hades with a half-way knowing look. "She either loves the housekeeper or hates them, there's no in between."