by Tee, Marian
Perhaps it was safe to say that immortals were more likely to bet on Zeus giving up his philandering ways than on Hades divorcing his new wife. The Greek god was said to be so enthralled with his ghost-turned-goddess consort that he had been seen doing things completely out of character. Things such as actually smiling and laughing in public, and just days ago, there had even been reports of public sex...in Mt. Olympus no less!
If even a tenth of such stories was true, it was still more than enough to convince the immortals that Lady Saoirse had her husband wrapped around her once-mortal finger. And if her coronation was to push through, and news of Gaea, the goddess of all goddesses, attending the event did come true...
A scent of spring drifted towards the Lord of the Underworld, but the chiseled features of the god remained impassive even though he found the scent familiar...and vastly unwelcome.
Silence descended upon the courtroom of the Goddess of Justice as Persephone came to stand before her former husband.
She was dainty and nearly ethereal in her beauty, and as if wanting to emphasize what she had divine dominion of, the goddess even wore a crown of cherry and plum blossoms over her flaxen head.
"Hello, Hades."
Her ex-husband inclined his head. "Persephone."
"I am sorry it has to come to this."
"Things always happen for a reason."
Rage blazed in his former wife's gaze, but it was gone so fast Hades knew no one else would have likely caught it.
"You obviously haven't changed at all." Moments passed, and the goddess' lips tightened when it became obvious that her ex-husband no longer felt inclined to answer her. If there hadn't been anyone else around them, Persephone would have long flown into a rage and start throwing objects at him...as she had typically done in the centuries they had been married.
But because they were not alone—-
A sad smile touched the spring goddess' lips. "We were lovers once, Hades. Is your wife so short-sighted that she would now forbid you—-"
The heavy thud of the goddess of justice's gavel striking the sounding block cut off all speech. When in her courtroom, no one save the unseen God was above Eunomia's authority, and everyone turned towards the judge's table at the second strike of her gavel.
A courtroom clerk came to stand next to the judge's bench. "Everyone is requested to take their assigned places."
Persephone joined her counsel at the plaintiff's table, and the goddess of vengeance gave Persephone a smug smile before nodding tellingly towards the defendant's table. Only Hades was there, and as for the despicable woman he had been foolish enough to marry...
First to be sworn in was Nemesis as Persephone's counsel, followed by the Lord of the Underworld himself. Stunned gasps erupted in the courtroom when the clerk named Hades as counsel for the defendant, a reaction which Hadrian's ARM privately found ludicrous.
When the clerk asked for Persephone to take the stand, the spring goddess made a show of placing a badly trembling hand on top of the ancient bible that the archangel Gabriel had personally entrusted into the goddess of justice's safekeeping.
It was a bible like no other, and this was not merely because each of its page was made of the thinnest layer of glass.
"My name is Persephone, and I am the goddess of spring."
As it had done with the others, the bible released a bright golden light, and with this Persephone's claim was proven admissible and true.
Gabriel's bible only exhibited power within the judicious walls of Eunomia's courtroom, and to not lie about one's identity was all the bible demanded. This, however, was not limited to the individual's given name or age. One's divine dominion was also covered by this ruling, and Nemesis believed that this was their ultimate key to stripping Hades' new wife of everything that once belonged to Persephone.
Her title.
Her powers.
And if her client could play her cards right, Persephone might even reclaim her right to the Lord of the Underworld himself.
"The court now asks for the defendant, the Lady of the Underworld, to take the stand."
A taut silence filled the courtroom as they watched the goddess of justice turn towards the empty seat next to the Lord of the Underworld.
The clerk rushed to Hades and bowed before bursting into speech. "May I ask about your wife, milord?"
"She should be here soon," the god answered calmly.
The clerk started fidgeting in his feet. "The opposing party would have to agree to wait—-"
The Lord of the Underworld turned to the goddess of vengeance. "Would you agree to wait for my wife, Nemesis?"
"Is she so lacking in manners...or is it a matter of lacking intellect that she thinks it is still fashionable to be late in this kind of occasion?"
The sound of the courtroom doors flying open saved Hades from replying—-
"Fuck."
This was from the spring goddess herself, and Hades' lips pressed together upon hearing it.
Finally.
Slender arms wrapped around his neck from behind a moment later, and uncaring of the number of gazes upon them, Hades turned his head and surprised his wife by catching her mouth in a long and drugging kiss.
It was only now, with her soft lips under his, and his tongue driving deep into the moist sweetness of her mouth...
Only now did the god realize how her absence had made him feel cold and empty. Without Saoirse beside him, he had found himself becoming Hades again, and only now that she was back in his arms...
While the rest of the world saw him as the Lord of the Underworld, to this woman he was simply the man she had fallen in love with. Instead of seeing him as a god, Saoirse only saw him as her Hadrian, and it was for this reason he also knew...
No matter the results of today's hearing, he would never give her up.
Saoirse appeared dazed when Hades lifted his head. "Um..." Her tone was soft and breathless. "Wow?"
Hearing this, the crowd of immortals cheered and laughed, and Eunomia herself had to fight back a smile even as she banged her gavel hard and called for order. It was quite, quite wonderful to see dear Hades acting like a young man again, but since rules were rules, and her divine dominion required that she be strict—-
Hades' lips twitched as he watched a squirming Saoirse, now standing inside the witness box, alternate between hanging her head in shame and mumbling an apology as Eunomia lectured her over proper courtroom etiquette.
The fact that she had been missing for almost twenty-four hours was something the god would also like to lecture her about, but for now...
His chest tightened as he watched Saoirse listen attentively while the clerk explained how she would be sworn in...along with the deadly and eternal consequences she would pay if she were to lie about her identity.
Hades himself hadn't been lying when he told Saoirse he had long given up actively trying to keep her out of trouble. Be that as it may, however, such a decision did not preclude him from feeling fear and worry. He still experienced that in fucking spades, and Hades couldn't keep himself from clenching his fists as he watched his beloved wife take the bible from the clerk's hands——
Gaea bewitched!
Oh my Gaea!
Gaea save me!
Cries of horror filled the courtroom when Saoirse accidentally lost hold of the bible—-
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
—-only to bend down and catch it in time.
Explosive sighs of relief followed, and even Eunomia herself looked as if she had been seconds away from having a heart attack.
Been there, done that, Hades thought resignedly, and he truly wouldn't wish this kind of feeling even on his worst enemy.
For Saoirse's second attempt to swear in, the clerk had decided to play it safe and keep the glass bible securely in his possession. "If you please, milady, would you place your hand—-"
Saoirse's hand slammed so hard on the glass bible the clerk let out a squeak of terror—-
Hades closed his eyes.
This was fucking torture.
He opened his eyes...and saw that the clerk looked close to crying as he shakily assured Eunomia and the rest of the courtroom that the glass bible was still intact.
"I'm sorry," Saoirse said in a small voice.
"It's fine, milady," the clerk said quickly. "But if you could please place your hand very, very gently..."
Everyone held their breath as the current Lady of the Underworld oh so slowly lowered her hand—-
So, so very slowly and carefully that everyone who had held their breath was now struggling with what little oxygen remained in their hands.
And as her palm finally came into contact with the cold, hard glass of Gabriel's bible, Saoirse began to speak in a soft, clear voice.
"My name is Saoirse. Wife to Hades—-"
Persephone's lips tightened in fury.
"And thus Lady of the Underworld—-"
Saoirse's lips curved as her gaze met her husband's.
"And the reincarnated Heavenly Goddess of Luck."
A stunned silence swept over the room, and even the goddess of justice herself was staring at Saoirse as if questioning the other woman's sanity.
Nemesis glared hard at the bible. Come on, come on. Turn fucking red now, you little piece of—-
"AAAAAAAH!"
Rays of light shot out from the bible under Saoirse's hand, and the sight had the crowd of immortals expelling their breaths in simultaneous gasps of amazement. That light! They had never seen the bible release rays of light so blindingly bright they practically dazzled like beams of gold.
For Gabriel's bible to make such a visually powerful confirmation was completely unprecedented, and the air inside the courtroom began to crackle with anticipation as the crowd saw the spring goddess stagger back in disbelief while the present Lady of the Underworld and newly-proclaimed Heavenly Goddess of Luck—-
Saoirse winked at her handsome husband and just had one oh-so-eloquent word to say.
"Boom."
The End
Author's Note
Thank you so much for spending your precious time reading Hadrian and Saoirse's newest adventure. I know their story is unconventional in so many ways - not quite paranormal romance, not quite urban fantasy, and sometimes, it probably doesn't even fit the normal parameters of paranormal women's fiction.
But even so, I love these two.
Every time I need a bit of magic in my life, I always end up either re-reading their previous books...or checking in on them to see if they're up to something new (and likely dangerous, since that's just how our LOTUS rolls > . <).
Thank you again, and please don't forget to subscribe to my Alice Bloome newsletter if you'd like to be the first to know about Book 5 for Hadrian and Saoirse. :)
Until our next adventure,
Marian Tee x Alice Bloome
P.S. If you enjoyed this book and would like to see more of Hadrian and Saoirse, I would appreciate it so much if you could write a review for One Hella Lucky Goddess. Even something short and simple would do, or if not that, then Amazon also allows you to rate the book without having to type a review. That would be a huge help as well. Thank you so, so much in advance!
Mr. Hell, Meet Ms. Haunted
If you haven't read the first book of Hadrian and Saoirse, here's the prologue for you to enjoy!
THE WORDS 'tall, dark, and handsome' popped in my mind the moment I saw the man walking inside the high-ceilinged lobby of my apartment building. He only had a black hoodie over his denims (also black), but his long, muscular build made the clothes look as if they cost thousands of dollars. Or maybe they really did. Who cared, really? All I wanted to know was whether Tall, Dark, and Handsome was single or married, and my curiosity only grew when I saw him head for the stairs rather than the elevators.
What's up with that?
And before I knew it, I was already out of my seat and hurrying after him.
The stairwell was empty as expected, and although he took the stairs at a fairly steady space, by the time we made it to the seventh floor, I had already seen enough to question whether he was even human or not. Shouldn't he be catching his breath by now, even just a little? And they hadn't even taken a single break, not even for a few seconds—-
The stranger suddenly turned, and my jaw dropped when I saw him stare straight at me. "Why are you following me?"
He had seen me!
"I...I..." I tried thinking of a lie but could only come up with the truth. "I'm scared to be alone."
"Why?"
"Because..." Lie, Saoirse, lie!
He raised a brow.
"My apartment is haunted?"
Silver eyes narrowed at me. "And your basis for thinking that?"
I had been prepared to hear him respond in a hundred different ways, but the one thing that hadn't even crossed my mind was for this too-beautiful stranger to take me seriously. "That's really what you're going to ask?"
A frown creased his forehead. "Should I have asked something else?"
"You're kidding, right? Or am I being dense here, and you're actually being sarcastic?"
"Neither."
And because it did seem like he meant both, I said uncertainly, "9 out of 10 people would have thought I was crazy."
But this only had him shrugging. "I've always been the 1 out of 10 type."
The words should've made him sound like an obnoxious butthole, but there was just something so attractively self-assured about him that the words seemed more like a factual description. It made me wish I was still in the position to ask him out, but...
"You really like staring, don't you?"
Oops. He got me there, and I could only smile sheepishly in apology. "I'm sorry. I guess I just got used not being called out for it."
"Hm."
I fought back a grin. While it wasn't my first time to hear a man grunt like that, I was only kinda used to hearing Henry Cavill doing it when playing Geralt in The Witcher. I was almost inclined to think that this man might be actively imitating the actor, but...
Nah.
If anything, it would be even more believable if this man turned out to be the inspiration behind those grunts. This man simply didn't seem the type to fake—-
"If there's nothing else..."
Seeing him about to leave made me panic. "No, wait—-" And when he turned back to face me, I said in a rush, "I...I meant it about my apartment being haunted." At this point, I was willing to say and do anything, just to get him to keep me company.
"And you want me to check it out?"
I was half-incredulous, half-hopeful. "You'd really be willing to do that?"
"I have the time for a brief look, I suppose—-"
Oh my God, he was! I beamed up at him. "I'll take you up on the offer then. My unit's 13B—-"
"My unit's across yours." He was already hitting the next flight of stairs as he spoke, and I hurried to keep up with him.
"I'm Saoirse, by the way."
"Hadrian." The briskness of his tone didn't change, and I took it as my cue to keep my mouth shut for the rest of our trek to 13/F. When he faced me again, we were already in front of my apartment, and I quietly thanked God that the lock was digital as I punched the necessary digits. A moment later, the display screen flashed Welcome, and I turned to him with a smile. "Here we are!"
"Hm."
"You don't like talking much, do you?" I couldn't help asking.
"No."
Rhetorical obviously wasn't in his vocabulary, I thought ruefully as the door swung shut behind us, and he began studying my old apartment-—oh, shit. It suddenly but belatedly occurred to me just how wrong this whole thing was, and that I needed to come clean before I ended up getting him in trouble with the current owners. "Um...actually—-" But I ended up losing my train of thought when I saw the way his gaze suddenly snapped back at me. "W-What is it?"
"I thought you were simply joking," he said abruptly.
I held my breath.<
br />
"But you weren't, apparently."
His silvery gaze bored through me, and my heart jumped in my chest.
"Something is haunting this apartment...and I'm looking at it right now."
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Olympus Bewitched
This book also exists in the same universe as The Midlife Goddess series.
IN THIS WITCHY POLICE procedural, rookie agent Blair Vavrin of the Circe Security Initiative (CSI) gets her first dose of supernatural danger when a storm of stray thunderbolts strikes down the magical town of Silver Mist.
As Mt. Olympus goes into lockdown and both humans and non-humans panic at the looming threat of a Category 4 Hurricane, Blair suddenly finds herself yanked out of Local Misdemeanors and tasked by her Horae boss to team up with mysterious handsome detective Paul Theodore.
Their mission: find an antidote for Zeus’ murderous mood swings.
Their first clue: a sprinkle of gold dust...that leads to one missing siren.
Their probability of success: not terribly good.
With the thunder god’s descent to madness growing deadlier by the minute, can Blair and Paul save the world before Zeus becomes mankind’s worst nightmare?
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