Neon Gods (Dark Olympus 1)

She wants it. I want to give it to her. That’s enough of a reason for me.

Persephone stirs against me and opens those hazel eyes. She smiles. “Morning.”

The dull thump in my chest that happens more and more around her gains teeth and claws. I can’t help smiling in response, even as part of me wants to get the fuck out of this bed and start walking and not stop until I have myself under control. Just because I’ve never felt like this before doesn’t mean I’m not aware of what’s happening.

I’m falling for Persephone.

Maybe there’d be time to save myself if I backed out now, but I’m not so sure. Either way, it doesn’t matter. I’m not stopping until I have to, no matter how much pain it causes at the end of this. I smooth her hair back again. “Morning.”

She cuddles closer and lays her head on my scarred chest as if the sight doesn’t repulse her. Who knows? Maybe it doesn’t. She’d be the only one, though. I had one relationship very early on where I was naked with my partner, and his response was strong enough to ensure I never did it again. Maybe others would have been more welcoming, but I never gave them the chance.

Not like I’m giving her the chance now.

“Are things going okay?” Her hand quivers like she wants to touch me, but then she seems to forcibly still it on my waist. Respecting how hard it still is for me to lie here in the morning light with my scars exposed. “You haven’t said much this week about supply lines and the like.”

I release a slow breath and try to relax. I don’t know if I want her to touch me or not touch me. I don’t know shit when it comes to this woman, apparently. It’s almost a relief to focus on the greater problem outside this bedroom. “We’re in a holding pattern. The supplies keep dwindling, but we were prepared for that. Zeus hasn’t so much as prodded our borders.”

She tenses. “I can’t believe my mother would be so cruel. I’m so sorry. I honestly thought…” She gives a mirthless laugh. “I don’t know what I thought that first night. That no one would miss me if I disappeared? It seems very shortsighted when I look back now.”

“It wasn’t shortsighted so much as you were terrified and reacting.” But I know Persephone well enough now to know that acting without a plan amounts to an unforgivable sin. “It just means you’re human. Humans get scared and run sometimes. It’s not something you need to beat yourself up over.”

She huffs out a breath, but she’s still staring at things beyond this room. “I don’t get to be human. Not when my whole future hangs in the balance. And even then, I should have been thinking of someone other than myself.”

So we’re back to this.

I gather her into my arms and hold her close. “Do you trust me, Persephone?”

“What?” She cranes her neck to see my face, her dark brows pulled together. “What kind of question is that?”

“A legitimate one.” I try not to hold my breath while I wait for a response.

Thank the gods she doesn’t make me wait long. Persephone nods, suddenly solemn. “Yes, Hades, I trust you.”

The clawing feeling in my chest only gets stronger. It feels like my heart is trying to dig its way through calcified tissue to get to her. I’m rapidly reaching the point where I’d cut my chest open and dig my heart out just so I can present it to her. What the fuck is wrong with me? She’s leaving. She was always leaving.

I never thought she’d take my beaten-up heart with her when she walked away.

“Hades?”

I blink and push the new revelation away. “If you trust me, then trust me when I say you’re doing better than anyone else would have in your situation.”

She’s frowning at me again. “It’s not that simple.”

“It’s exactly that simple.”

“You can’t just decree it to be so and wipe all the doubt from my mind.”

I chuckle. “I wouldn’t even if I could. I like you when you’re difficult.”

Persephone shifts, sliding a leg over my hips and moving up to straddle me. With her hair a mess and her body backlit by the faint morning sun sneaking through the curtains, she looks like some kind of spring goddess, all warm and earthy.

She holds my gaze. “Since we’re on the subject of trust, I want to talk about protection.” She holds perfectly still, as if she doesn’t notice my cock hardening against her. “As in, I would like to stop using it.”

My breath catches in my throat. “You don’t have to do that.”

“I know, Hades. I don’t have to do anything with you that I don’t want to do.”