❛THEY WOULD TELL YOU OF A KING WHO STOLE ME HELPLESS FROM MY SUNSHINE GARDEN.❜
They won't tell you about the woman who came to him sublime, lily eyes and lily lips. A king does not ask permission from his prize, but she, oh she, she knelt, kissing m...
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ROYAL CHAMBERS, THE UNDERWORLD.
PERSEPHONE
"WHAT DO YOU THINK IT'LL BE? BOY OR GIRL?"
I met his eyes in the mirror in front of which I sat perched, the handmaidens combing out the tangles in my hair. He attentively observed me, his gaze admiring even as I stuck my tongue at him, giving him a cheeky grin.
He snorted in response, throwing himself back on the bed.
"Boy or girl, I'm sure they'll be just as good looking as their mother," I muttered. One of my ladies laughed.
"Oh, I see," Hades murmured. "You mean to say all women swoon over me for nothing? And men too," he added thoughtfully, scratching his chin.
I rolled my eyes at him before the ladies took our leave. Wrapping myself in a dressing gown of painted indigo and silver, I tied the belt. The sleeves dragged along the floor, leaving soft, gentle whispers in their wake.
Climbing onto the bed, I clambered up on top of him and settled myself unto his arms. He wrapped me into him, brushing my hair to the side.
"Do you think... do you think that letter stopped her?" I asked, fear coloring my voice. I had been hesitant to believe, but I dared to hope - to hope that she understood. That I had to stay here.
"Perhaps," he said. "My spies tell me that the plague is dying slowly, and the deaths are no longer piling up like before. But forget that. Boy or girl?" he whispered into my ear, his lips grazing softly across my neck.
"Hecate thinks it's a girl."
"Hmm," his arms enveloped me, crushing me to his chest. I flung my hands around him as he buried himself in the warmth of my neck. "I bet she looks just like her lovely mother. A miniature version of you."
I grinned, imagining it. A tinier, smaller version of me. I strained to see it clearly, but the image in my mind seemed blurred. As if obscured by textured glass. No matter what, I could not see it in my mind's eye.
"With your pink cheeks. And this long hair," Hades continued, twirling a strand of my hair around his finger. "And umm... my grey eyes maybe?" he paused to think, before breaking into a wide smile. "With her tiny little fingers and perfect pink toes," he sighed, lost in his daydream. "Our little peach."
Seeing him so lost in his happiness, I felt such contentment, such relief. "Or do you think her hair will be black? Long, like yours - but black. Like mine. And she'd have your exotic green eyes but my stubborn nose."
The quiet satisfaction hit me hard as I watched him in his joy - knowing that the poor man had hardly ever felt such emotion in his life before. Moisture welled up in my eyes, overflowing with overwhelming feelings. I could not wait for this. Could not wait to hold her in my arms, to kiss her tiny cheeks.
