Beneath

Chapter Thirteen:

"At least you took me back to my apartment this time, instead of assuming I wanted to go straight to the Und-"

Hades turned me in his arms as his warm lips found and covered mine, tongue teasing the corner of my mouth until I parted it on a sigh and he explored, running his hands up and down my back as I arched myself against him, tasting cinnamon, nutmeg and campfire-roasted marshmallows and moaned, ever so slightly, bringing my hands up between our bodies.

"I said I'd stay in the Underworld, not be with you," I said, shivering as his teeth found a sensitive spot on my earlobe. "Tartarus doesn't change anything."

"It changes everything," Hades snarled, low in his throat. "You've been taken from me one too many times, Emma, and it's driving me insane. I denied our connection because I didn't want to admit that I'd screwed up, where Persephone was concerned. If I had waited a couple of millennia more - if I hadn't been so desperate for someone to spend my life with, I would've waited, and would've found you first."

"But you didn't," I said, trying to wrestle free even as his arms around me tightened. "I meant what I said before; I won't be that person. I won't be with you while Persephone is cursed."

"What if it's forever?" He asked, eyes boring into mine. "What if my efforts to win her back fail and she willingly marries Prometheus? What if he never manages to convince her, and she stays cursed here, in Portland? In either scenario, I lose her, Emma. What happens to us then?"

"I don't know, alright? But this," I said, indicating the crushed space between us, "isn't a solution. It's a reprieve for how guilty you feel right now."

"Guilty?"

"Yes." I shoved against his chest again and he let me go, stepping back. "If you hadn't saved my life from the Fury, Poseidon wouldn't've kidnapped me, you wouldn't've had to come to my rescue, and we wouldn't be in this situation right now." I strode towards the doorway, stopping short when he blocked me in.

"You want me to ignore the way I feel about you, is that it?" He asked, eyes hard. "That's great coming from someone who tried for years to get my attention."

"Do not go there again," I hissed.

"How long do you want me to wait, Emma?" Hades asked as I stomped into the kitchen. "How long before I'm forced to forfeit Persephone to Prometheus and Portland? Before you're allowed to act on your feelings for me without so much goddamned guilt?"

"I don't know, but not right after I was almost forced to marry your dad. Give me a little space, please." I shoved a filter into the coffee pot, measuring out some grounds with hands that trembled. I felt him join me - could physically feel the heat that emanated from his body, reaching across the space to me, but didn't dare turn around.

"I'm the only man you've ever met - will probably ever meet - who you can be yourself around. Who you don't have to hide anything from, because I understand what you're going through. The Fates never make a mistake, Emma," he said, and the low vibration in his voice rubbed itself along my spine.

"I don't give a crap what they want; it's my life, and I'll love who I want to love and right now, that doesn't include you." I smacked a mug to the countertop, mixing milk and sugar together as I waited for the coffee to stop dribbling into the base.

"You can convince yourself that's true, but I know you," he said. "The thought of the Fates binding you to me excites you; it's probably one of the only reasons you keep coming back, even after everything."

"No," I said slowly, turning to face him. "You bound me to the Underworld, remember?"

"Oh, come on, Emma," he said, the hint of a smile flitting across his face. "You and I both know that you could've talked me into releasing you, so don't use it as an excuse. Haven't you ever wondered what it would be like to be with me?"