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(Warning ⚠️ Matured contents ⚠️)
The Citadel's dark spires loomed behind us as we rode back in tense silence. The cool wind brushed against my face, but it couldn't push away the heaviness sitting in my chest. Not after what had happened in the clearing.
Hades was quiet, almost too quiet. His jaw was clenched, his eyes fixed on some distant point ahead. Even his aura, usually a steady thrumming of power, was erratic—dark tendrils curling and retreating like restless shadows around him.
Alyssa rode beside me, her fingers drumming lightly against her reins, her face unreadable. Lycan and Aries lagged behind, the former still nursing the wounds from his brutal clash with Hades. That image of them fighting—Hades a storm of shadow and fury, Lycan a beast of claw and sinew—was still burned into my mind.
I didn't know who I was angrier at. Lycan, for revealing something I hadn't been ready to hear? Or Hades, for losing himself so violently? Or myself… for the confusing way my heart had raced watching them, not out of fear but out of some strange, unnamable ache.
We reached the castle gates, the massive black stone yawning open to swallow us whole. The guards bowed low. Hades didn't even glance at them. He strode off toward the main wing, his cloak snapping like a whip behind him.
"Hazel," Alyssa murmured, putting a hand on my arm before I could follow. "Give him time."
I shook my head. "I've given him nothing but time."
I left her there, the sound of her sigh echoing off the marble as I pushed past the towering doors and into the hallways that felt colder than usual. My boots clicked against the obsidian floor, the rhythm matching the beat of my pulse.
I found Hades in his private chamber—not the sex room, but the war council chamber adjacent to his quarters. He stood at the window, hands braced on the frame, his head bowed as if the weight of the underworld sat squarely on his shoulders.
For a long moment I just watched him. The dim light spilled over his form, turning his black hair almost blue, his muscular back tense beneath his tunic. He looked… human, somehow.
"Why do you do this?" The words left me before I could stop them.
He didn't turn. "Do what?" His voice was rough, low, like the echo of thunder in a cave.
"Confuse me," I said. My throat felt tight. "Push me away, pull me close, fight like a demon for me and then act as if I don't matter."
His shoulders stiffened. Slowly, he turned to face me. His eyes glimmered—dark, endless, but softer than I'd ever seen them. "You think I'm not confused?"
I crossed my arms, though my hands trembled. "Then say it. Say what you feel, Hades. Stop hiding behind this—this King of the Underworld mask."
He closed the distance between us in two strides. The sheer power of his presence made me suck in a breath. "Hazel…" he murmured, my name a dark promise on his tongue.
I tilted my chin up, defiant, though my heart thundered against my ribs. "What do you want from me?"
His gaze burned into mine, and for once, he didn't hide. "Everything."
The word shattered something inside me. I didn't know who moved first, him or me. All I knew was that his mouth crashed down onto mine, hot and demanding, yet trembling with restraint.
I gasped against his lips, my fingers clutching the fabric of his tunic. His hands framed my face, rough palms surprisingly gentle as he deepened the kiss. The taste of him was intoxicating—dark wine, smoke, and something electric that made my skin shiver.
"Hades…" I whispered against his mouth, but he broke the kiss, his forehead resting against mine. His eyes searched me, desperate, almost vulnerable.
"Tell me to stop," he said hoarsely. "If you don't want this… tell me now."
I swallowed hard. The memory of his hands on me last night, his drunken breath, flickered through my mind. This was different. His touch now wasn't desperate or clouded—it was careful. Real.
"I don't…" My voice shook. "I don't want you to stop."
His eyes darkened, but not with anger—with something warmer, deeper. He brushed his thumb over my lower lip, then kissed me again, slower this time, like a man savoring a forbidden fruit.
His hands slid down to my shoulders, then to the ties of my dress. He hesitated, his breath ragged. "May I?"
I nodded, my pulse roaring in my ears.
He undid the ties with almost ceremonial slowness, peeling the fabric away from my body. My skin prickled in the cool air of the chamber, but his gaze—hungry yet reverent—set it aflame. My heartbeat thudded louder and louder as each layer fell away.
When I stood before him, bared in a way I'd never been, his eyes softened completely. "Gods…" he whispered, as if he'd been struck.
He pulled me close, his hands sliding along my arms, my waist, but never too far—always asking, always waiting. "You're trembling," he murmured.
"So are you," I whispered back.
He let out a low laugh, almost pained. "I've conquered kingdoms, Hazel. But you—" He broke off, kissing the hollow of my throat. "You undo me."
I tilted my head back, the sensation of his lips against my skin making me dizzy. All the walls I'd built, all the caution I'd clung to since waking up in this world, crumbled under the weight of him.
His fingers traced slow, circling paths down my back, igniting shivers. When his lips found mine again, it was no longer a clash but a merging—gentle, molten, inevitable.
He lifted me effortlessly, carrying me to the edge of the bed. His forehead rested against mine once more, his breathing ragged. "If we do this," he murmured, "I won't let you go. Understand that."
I stared into his eyes—those endless, stormy eyes—and for once, they weren't unreadable. They were full of fear, desire, and something like devotion.
"I understand," I whispered.
Then his mouth claimed mine again, and the world fell away.
Before she could even try to compose herself, he held her head in his hand, pulling her towards him and kissed her passionately, disarming every sense or doubts and tension once more.
He then deftly maneuvered between her legs with his other hand. By the time she barely managed to recover, it was already too late for her. His intrusive hand had already reached its destination.
She couldn't keep it in anymore, and moaned as he moved his fingers, Hazel's eyes widened, flinching at the tingling sensation his actions brought to her body. His playful hand was already touching her area and a part of her was still lucid enough for her to turn crimson red.
"You're so beautiful... And you're too wet for me already, love."
Hades feverishly murmured on the skin of her cheek. This was the first time Hades called her 'Love' and him speaking erotic words in her ear built up whatever she was feeling to the peak.
She gasped and moaned, clenching unto his muscular arm when Hades fingers began caressing her folds, he traced her slippery lower lips, further making her body submit to him.
Eventually, her back arched as she felt a familiar tension building within her. "I..."
"Tell me what you want Hazel," Hades practically ordered.
"I--I don't know..." She stuttered. She wanted him to do more but she didn't know how to say it. Ariana had always been bold and loved to take control, but right now it seemed Hazel was the one in control. How could she be so submissive in bed?
"Do you want to feel good, Love. It feels good when i touch you like this right?" He whispered onto her lips, followed by yet another round of licking and suckling as he kept up his attack.
"Uhm..." She helplessly nodded. Ah... She felt like she was being possessed. Her hips were moving on their own, her core desperately wanting to brush itself against his hand.
Seeing her reaction, Hades cursed, followed by letting out a pained groan of his own. There was nothing stopping him now, not when she was this defenseless against him.
"Ahh!"
She gasped in pleasure when she felt something slide inside her wet entrance, his fingers strummed delicately against her flower, the wet, squelching sounds of her tight core echoing in their ears.
"Fuck Hazel, you're so wet and hot... I can't wait to put my cock inside of you and claim your body as my own."
Hades erotic words no longer resounded in her head, she was too consumed on the pleasure his fingers gave her, pumping in and out of her dripping slit.
"Hades..." She sobbed in pleasure as Hades sucked one of her hard nipples. Her body arched once more. Her mind too lost in the pleasure flooding her senses. She was moaning hard.
"Yes my queen?" He answered, whispering into her ears as he licked and nibbled on her earlobe. Slowly he begun to exert pressure, accelerating his pace with his demonic inhuman speed, methodically taking her very will to resist him.