Page 104 of Queen of Shadows and Roses

‘But first, I’m going to bathe you.’ Her eyes were like two jade moons, and a soft smile graced those plump lips. Persephone’s gaze held mine, and her breath caught as I stripped her bare, lifting her into the water. Slowly, deliberately, I bathed her, my hands and the warm water gliding over her skin in a rhythm that felt like worship. I lingered on her breasts, then between her thighs, circling her clit with my thumb until her moans filled the room, sweet and broken.

When I finally lifted her from the tub, she clung to me, water dripping from her body like liquid moonlight.

‘Now, Hades,’ she whispered, voice trembling with need. ‘Please.’

‘Patience, Persephone.’ I gave her a half-smile, and her eyes narrowed. By the time I’d dried her body and wrung out as much wetness from her hair as I could, my cock was pulsing—hard and heavy, demanding her. Every inch of her gleamed like temptation incarnate.

I lifted her, and she wrapped her legs around me. Our gazes locked as I pressed her against the wall. ‘I can taste your need,’ I murmured, my voice rough. ‘Sweet and warm as syrup.’

‘Yes. Need. Hades, please…’ she groaned.

Holding her with one arm, I freed myself, my erection springing against her slick heat. Shadows coiled around us like living silk as I sucked her taut nipple into my mouth, then thrust into her with one driving stroke. ‘Fates,’ I growled.

‘Holy gods,’ she gasped, arching as my shadows teased her nipples and slid lower, exploring her ass. I filled her entirely, lost in the tight, pulsing heat of her body. Her moans turned ragged, wild, as I thrust deeper, harder—each movement a promise, each sound a prayer. She spasmed, meeting each grind of my hips, my cock pulsing with fierce, unrelenting need.

‘I will never disrespect you,’ I whispered fiercely against her ear. ‘No one will ever harm you. Your every desire is my command.’ I gripped her chin, forcing her gaze to meet mine. ‘In a world filled with nightmares, you are my paradise.’ Each declaration fell in time with every deep thrust. ‘I would doanythingfor you… You are my power, my pleasure, my everything. I will love you until all that remains of us are memories… and our bones are returned to the stars.’

Then I set a brutal rhythm—fast, hard, relentless. Her nails tore at my shoulders as my mouth devoured hers, wild and desperate. She shuddered, her voice growing hoarser with every cry. The tremor in her lower body turned into spasming contractions as she writhed and bucked, and when I bit her, she arched and screamed my name, pleasure breaking her apart. My hips drove into her over and over as she orgasmed again and again, until the tension coiled at the base of my spine exploded, and her spasming pussy milked my cock.

‘I love you, Hades.’ Her soft breath brushed my lips. ‘You are my every desire… wrapped in the safety I never knew I needed.’A slow smile curved my mouth as I pressed a kiss to her damp forehead.

Our breaths came in jagged gasps as I carried her into the bedroom, laying her gently on the bed. We devoured one another—hungry, reverent, insatiable—until the world beyond us ceased to exist, and love became the only thing left between our shattered breaths.

Her head rested on my chest, and our limbs intertwined. Persephone slept, her languid breaths steadying my own as sleep pulled at me like a tether; yet even in rest, I held her close. I wasn’t letting go. Not now. Not ever.

She is the sun that blazes through my darkest night, my muse, my distraction—my reason for enduring this immortal life.

She is my salvation; she is home.

She is my one and only, and she is mine again.

At last.