Or at least that’s the fairy tale.
I sink my fingers into her pink hair. “You’re teasing.”
“Sorry.” But she doesn’t look the least bit sorry. That’s okay. I’m not either. Aurora presses a prim little kiss to my pussy, and then she goes after me with abandon. She gives herself completely, unabashedly.
I wish I could enjoy this for what it is. If it was just us in the room, I would. Aurora and I have played plenty of times before without Hades present, and I’ve never had a problem focusing everything on her. But now? I should feel powerful in this moment. I’ve made my submissive feel good. She’s driving me closer and closer to orgasm. I should be walking on top of the world.
Instead, I look at Hades and Hercules, and I feel my reality fracturing in a way that has nothing to do with pleasure and everything to do with unwelcome pain. Change always hurts. Always. Hades might think he has control of this situation, but I don’t. I’m out of control and spinning out.
Hercules shifts, drawing my attention fully. He’s hard again. I might laugh if there was more air in the room. His attention seems to be everywhere at once—the curve of Aurora’s back, her mass of pink waves as she licks my pussy, my flushed body bared on the couch. His finally meets my gaze and sticks. Those blue eyes are wide and hot, and he looks like he’s been led into hell and only now realized that there’s no going back.
Welcome. Plenty of suffering to go around.
Aurora sucks my clit hard, setting her teeth against the sensitive bundle of nerves. My orgasm surges, and I don’t know where to look, Hades or Hercules, Hercules or Hades. In the end, I close my eyes and shut them both out, letting Aurora tease me through the waves. My body finally gives way, and I slump down on the couch. “Well done, pet.”
She makes a happy sound and climbs up to cuddle against my side. This is as important as the rest, the opportunity to bring us both down. I stroke her hair idly, letting her warmth sink into me. I don’t want to open my eyes yet. I truly don’t. The second I do, the next stage begins, and I don’t know if I’m ready for it. I don’t know if I can survive whatever Hades has planned, tonight or in the future.
There once was a time when I didn’t even question it, when I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was first in Hades’s world. First before the Underworld, before all who patronized the place, first even before his ambition. I would walk into a room and it didn’t matter what he was doing; he would level that intense focus on me and smile. We’d talk for hours, and fuck, and talk again. He built up the trust that had been fractured with Declan, the asshole who convinced me to bargain myself away.
Some people looked at us and assumed that Hades built me into the woman I am. It’s not the truth. He simply gave me the platform and freedom to figure out who I was meant to be. To explore the dominant nature I dimmed for past partners, for the world itself. To lose myself in the freedom of submission.
We plotted and planned and together we boosted the Underworld into the hub of power in the center of Carver City that it is today. No one fucked with us, and that was partly because of my role, my plans, my help.
Until it all changed. Not at once. I didn’t even notice at first. Our conversations shortened and eventually stopped almost completely. Hades started shutting me out, and I didn’t know what to do but shut him out in return.
I know this man better than any other person in this world, but right now he feels like a stranger to me.
“Meg.”
I obey the command and look at him. So cold, those dark eyes behind his black frames. As cold as they were when I first came to the Underworld, before he let me in. It takes everything I have not to tense. “Yes, Sir?”
“It’s time.” His expression thaws as he looks at Aurora. “You did well.”
I can actually feel her blooming under his regard. I don’t blame her for it. Impossible not to feel like the sun has turned in your direction when his smile is warm and genuine. She sits up a little. “Thank you, Hades.”
“Would you like to watch what comes next?”
Aurora nods quickly. “Yes, please!”
“Meg.” A snap of command in his voice in response to my reluctance. I bite down a sigh and slide out from my spot. I round to the cedar chest on the other side of the chair and pull out a blanket. I take my time wrapping it around Aurora, partly to spite Hades, partly because I don’t want her to feel anything but warm and fuzzy about our scene.