by Alexa Silver
She stretched out on a blanket, soaking up Helios’s intoxicating rays, a draught of wine taking her further into the realm of dreams.
“Persie?”
Her husband’s sultry voice rumbled deeply through her core. Persephone curled up on her side and reached out to touch his bare chest, thread her fingers in the soft hair covering taut muscles…
And discovered her loaf of bread.
She awoke from her fantasy and rolled onto her back, startled to discover a dark-haired man smiling down upon her…
An extraordinarily handsome man in a gleaming white chiton, his sculpted arms and well-muscled shoulders hinting at the athlete under the linen.
She sat up. She should really be afraid, but his presence was calming.
“Persie—”
He knew her?
“Darling I’m so glad I found you.”
The rich timbre of his voice gave him away. Her eyes widened at the realization. “Hades!”
He bent down and clapped his hand over her mouth, giving her a chastising look before kissing her tenderly. “Persie, love, we have to be careful. I’m not supposed to be up here.”
He had changed, or time on Earth had changed her. “You look different. Is it your hair? You’ve combed it.”
He lifted a brow. “My hair?”
A challenge. There was something else, then. She pushed him to arm’s length and studied him. “Your beard! You’ve shaved your beard!” Every perfect feature on his gorgeous visage was now on display. She placed her hands on his cheeks. “I just want to kiss your naked lips.”
His perfect face shone as he smiled and lowered his mouth to hers. His kiss was soft, smooth, delicious. An enticing fresh fragrance filled her senses, a scent of herbs and pine.
“Hmm. You smell clean.”
He pecked at her lips. “I took a bath, Persie. A bath in water, not a bath in ash and mud. I didn’t want to scare the mortals.”
“A bath?” She clasped his hand, scrutinizing. “You’ve even scrubbed under your nails.” She gazed up at him, happiness spreading her smile into a grin. “Did you do this all for me?”
He smoothed a curl behind her ear, continuing the delicate caress down to her collarbone. “Darling, I would endure the wind-whipped peaks of Mount Olympus for you.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Oh, Hadie.” She pulled him down to kiss his lips. He licked and nipped playfully, but she needed something else. She craved a darker passion.
She gripped his hair, pulling at the roots as she sucked his tongue into her mouth. His growl of appreciation preceded his parry. He drew his velvet tip across the roof of her mouth then tangled their tongues together.
She relaxed and submitted to him. It felt so good, so right to finally be back in his arms.
“Persie, my love,” he said, nibbling along the pulse point of her neck, “I simply cannot live without you.”
His touch tickled. “As God of the Underworld, you don’t really live, Hadie.”
He let out a heavy sigh. “That is beside the point. And I’m trying to be poetic.” He glanced at her book. “In your absence, Eros’s accursed arrow is like a dagger twisting in my heart.”
“Oh, Hadie, that’s lovely.” Persephone tenderly brushed her lips across his, teasing him with the tip of her tongue.
A gurgling noise in her stomach interrupted her seduction. She giggled.
“What, by the immortal gods, was that?”
“The sound of hunger, husband.” She grabbed the bread and tore a piece off and ate it. “I’m famished.” She tore another piece off and plopped it in his gaping mouth.
He rolled his eyes as he chewed and swallowed. “There is another sort of hunger I feel instead, my beautiful wife.” He tugged at the fibulae fastening the sleeves of her peplos. The top of her dress fell open. He reached out to palm her breasts.
Persephone pulled back. “You would have me submit on an empty stomach? I get cranky, you know.” She ate another chunk, then held the bread out for him.
Hades sighed and took the loaf, examining it before tearing off a piece. “With your appetite I cannot understand why Demeter fell for the story of only four pomegranate seeds.”
Persephone took a swig of wine and passed the jug. “Not feeding me is Mama’s worst nightmare, and Papa knows that. You two played into her fear. She knew I had to eat something. She forgave me my indiscretion.”
Hades smirked as he gulped down the liquor. “We should have said you ate four cows. That would have been more believable.”
She laughed. “I’ve missed this. The two of us together. Alone.” She drew the pads of her fingers across his clean-shaven cheek, the softness so alluring. “I could get used to this look.”
He snatched her hand away and grappled her to the ground. The weight of him pressing against her, controlling her, spurred arousal deep within.
“I think you should try shaving once,” he growled.
“What? Where?”
One corner of his mouth curled lasciviously. “Down there.” He nodded toward her crotch before grinding his hips against hers. “The question is, shall I tie you up while I do it, or have the keres hold you down?”
Lust shimmied up her spine. Having the servants witness her ravishment held definite appeal. “You know how I love to be tied up.”
“I do.” He slowly kissed his way down her neck, his breath hot and humid against her delicate skin.
He pulled her arms over her head and tightly gripped her wrists. His commanding presence pumped contentment through her. She eased into the stretch, arching her back, giving him better access to her exposed breasts.
His hot tongue swirled and laved a yearning nipple, his attentions shooting sparks of pleasure along the length of her, to the tips of her fingers on down to her toes. Desire pooled and smoldered in her belly.
She wanted to touch every immortal inch of his body. She struggled. He chuckled against a breast and gripped her more tightly.
“I see I need more effective restraints.” He glanced around. “Unfortunately, I left everything at home.”
Home. Their home where they had a huge bed and a box full of erotic toys. “You are a god, my love. Can’t you just make your horsewhip appear before you?”
He grinned a glorious grin, lighting up his naked face. “Ah, yes, but Zeus disables me when I’m up here. Otherwise there would be death and destruction left in my wake.”
“We’ll have to make do, then, I suppose.”
“We’ll see about that.”
He let her go and perused their surroundings. Persephone perched on her elbows and watched him. He had that faraway, thoughtful look in his eye. A look that suddenly dissipated into a salacious gleam.
He grabbed her around the waist. She squealed in delight. He clamped his hand on her mouth in warning, then lifted her in his arms. He quickly carried her to the edge of the lake, to a quiet cove fringed with tall reeds. He untied her golden girdle, then laid her on a mossy, muddy bank. In one swift movement, he stripped off her dress and pulled her further down the mud until water lapped around her thighs.
They’d made love amidst glowing coals, in the center of a conflagration, in flowing lava even. But never in water.
Hades grabbed a fistful of reeds and wrapped and knotted them around her left wrist. He did the same with her right, tugging and testing the strength of each of the holds. Satisfied, he smiled his devastatingly alluring smile, made more seductive by the now-visible dimples.
Persephone just wanted to kiss those dimples until he squirmed in protest.
His chiton tented at his crotch, the shadow of his arousal more pronounced against the white cloth. He tore the garment off, tossing it in the air. It floated a moment then fluttered to the dirt.
He extended his body over her, his feet splashing cool water on her heated skin, honed pectorals grazing her tender nipples. “Ah, my little virgin, shall I take you on a journey of pleasures only immortals may know?”
Persephone gasped. He had sedu
ced her with those very words. He had bound her hands with the horsewhip, secured her to his golden chariot, and had proceeded to—
“Oh, my lord!”
Two fingers thrust into her cunt as he lapped at her clitoris with an enthusiasm he’d never before shown. She bucked and flailed until his strong hands gripped her thighs, holding her down. Mud squished and oozed along her legs.
She gave in to the wonders of his flicking tongue, his sucking lips. All sensations of mind and body gathered at the tiny bundle of nerves as he relentlessly laved, taking her to the place where desire met rapture. She pressed into him greedily, wanting more. He held her at the point just before release, letting her slide back down a tiny bit before taking her to the apex once again. A nip of his teeth sent her over the edge. She gasped sharply, swallowing a wail.
Instantly he was stretched over her once again, his cock poised at her entrance. He gazed down at her.
“My life is empty without you, Persie. I love you with the power of Death itself.”
He slammed inside her, iron hard, forge hot, his force laying bare his desperation for their union. And his desperation for her.
She understood the depths of his need for she felt it as well. Why, in the realm of the living, must she be denied love which made life worth having at all? Why was it she could only experience love in the depths where death reigned?
She wrapped muddied legs around Hades’s taut butt, his muscles flexing and straining under her calves with every lift and thrust. She clung to him as he ploughed into her, taking her on that sensual journey only immortals may share.
For love made one immortal. She understood that now.
He grunted and growled, a carnal rhapsody in her ears. He was lost in his own ecstasy until she nuzzled him, her nose against his smooth cheek. He met her gaze, his eyes as black as the eternal night of Hell.
“I love you, Hadie. I love you forever.” A tear escaped and perched on her cheekbone. From the corner of her eye it glistened like a jewel.
“Oh, my love.” He kissed her cheek before licking the tear away. “Don’t cry. Forever is what we have.”
He pressed his mouth to hers as he increased his thrusts below. She clenched around him with all her might, wanting him to stay inside as long as possible. But his quickening pace betrayed he was at his own brink. With a final jolt he came, his scorching emission bathing her with the serenity of release.
He smiled as he untied her. Freed from nature’s bindings, she embraced him. Her wet hands warmed in the heat of his satiated flesh.
“My love, my husband, we must find a way to be together.”
Resolve mixed with doubt flickered in his eyes. “We will. But for now, let us enjoy what we have at this moment.”
*****
Hades breathed in the fragrance of love and lust as his eyes opened lazily from his after-sex nap. Darling Persie, his wife for all eternity, lay at his side, muddy and smiling. He cradled her more securely in his arms knowing such simple pleasures would soon end.
Persephone woke, stretching into the curve of his body. “Am I dreaming? You’re still here.”
“You are not dreaming, love. This is all very real.” Too real. It was tearing him apart.
“Tsk, tsk. What have we here?”
Hades jerked up, dragging Persephone more fully into the cocoon of his arms. He looked up to find Hermes, smug and scowling, leering at them.
Persephone gasped and covered her privates.
“Made a whore by the Lord of Hell, our little virgin seeks out dark-haired lovers to relive her wanton experience.”
Hades grabbed his chiton and tossed it to his wife. “Darling, don’t listen to him.” He stood and faced his rival.
Persephone pulled on the sodden and soiled garment.
Hermes sneered. “By the stars, if it isn’t the Dark Lord himself.” He gave Hades the once over, his gaze lingering at his crotch. “I didn’t recognize you…wet.” He turned and called out behind him. “I found her.”
Demeter came running, with Zeus trailing sluggishly, his mop of silver curls bouncing with each heavy step.
“Oh, my child!” Demeter rushed past Hermes but stopped short when she saw Hades. She glimpsed his sated cock and flushed crimson. “You cur.”
“I could call you worse names for bursting in on a private tête-à-tête between husband and wife.”
“Unhand my daughter, blackguard.” Demeter’s eyes flashed with hatred.
“As much as you do not want to admit it, your daughter is with me willingly, madam.”
Persephone came up from behind and clung to his side. “Mama, just because you and Papa don’t get along, doesn’t mean my husband and I do not get along.”
The furrow between Demeter’s eyes pinched tighter as she took in the sight of Persephone dressed in men’s attire. “It’s true, then. He has made you wanton.”
“Demeter,” Zeus scolded, a little out of breath. “Our daughter is in love. We should respect that.”
Demeter rounded on him. “You are partly at fault here. Letting that foul scoundrel have his way with an innocent.”
“Mama! It wasn’t like that at all! I wanted him to…” Persephone trailed off. She hid her blush behind his shoulder.
Hades kept his smile to himself. Persephone was more the scoundrel than he. She had craved his seduction, had thrilled at his abduction so much she had developed a fetish for reenacting the scene.
“Mama,” Persephone continued with a calmer tone, “Hades and I are in love. We fell in love here on Earth. Please do not think ill of him. I’ve missed him; he’s missed me. And he found a way to be with me if only for a moment.”
“I think it’s quite touching, really,” said Zeus.
Demeter raised her palms in defeat. “All right. I will have to believe what you say is true. I’m only trying to protect you.” She shot Hades a contemptuous look.
Persephone clasped her mother’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Does he have to leave, Mama?”
Zeus smiled woefully at his daughter. “I’m afraid so.”
“But he ate some bread!” Persephone exclaimed pointing to the remains of their modest repast on the grass above the bank.
Hades stifled a chuckle. Not only was his wife beautiful, she was quite clever.
Zeus cleared his throat. Hermes muttered an oath.
“I’m sorry, Persephone, darling,” Demeter said softly. “It doesn’t quite work that way.”
“Why not?” Persephone protested. “I ate the pomegranate seeds in Hell and now I have to be down there part of the year. I would argue Hades ate at least eight morsels of bread. And he had some wine. He should be in the upper world at least eight months out of the year.”
Demeter sighed heavily.
Zeus’s chuckle resounded like thunder. “She’s got you there, Demeter,” he said. “I did not sire a fool.” He turned to Hades. “What about the judgment of the dead? Minos, Aiakos, and Rhadamanthys are only advisors. They cannot judge without their king.”
Right. Work. “Let me keep my chariot parked on Earth and I can be in Hell faster than Kerberos can take down a fleeing soul.”
The dubious gleam in Zeus’s gray eyes faded to hope. “I will allow that. If you fall behind in your duties, though, I will have to take measures.”
“Understood.” Hades wrapped his arm more tightly around Persephone.
Demeter was not impressed. “Where will he live? I cannot have the God of Death under my roof.”
Meaning Demeter did not like the idea of her daughter having sex in her house. “Don’t worry,” Hades said with a sigh. “I’m staying with Poseidon.”
Demeter grunted warily. She’d probably check up on that.
“But Persephone sleeps at home,” she said. “During the day she may visit with you. And one day of every week I get her all to myself.”
He’d give her that much. If all he could have was his Persie during the day, most days, then he would take that. The negotiations were going far
better this time around probably because Persephone was there. All involved loved her and her presence forced them to put aside their pride.
Except Hermes, of course. The wily god tapped his winged boot and crossed his arms with a scowl. “This is the thanks I get for tracking down your daughter’s villain?” he grumbled to Demeter. He shook his cadeusus at Persephone. “Don’t expect me to deliver love messages, ’cause I’m not helping anyone anymore.”
Zeus laced Demeter’s arm through his. “Let’s give the newlyweds some privacy, hmm?” He turned to an incredulous Hermes and landed a swat on his head. “You too.”
Hades enveloped his wife in his arms as he watched the three leave. “It seems love has won.”
Persephone raised herself on her toes to plant a kiss so tender it melted his heart.
“Welcome home, husband. I think you’ll like the summers in Enna.”
About the Author
Regina Kammer
Regina Kammer is an award-nominated, Amazon best-selling, multi-published writer of erotica and historical erotic romance. Her short stories and novels have been published by Cleis Press, Go Deeper Press, Ellora’s Cave, House of Erotica, The Naughty Literati, and her own imprint, Viridium Press. She began writing historical fiction with romantic elements during National Novel Writing Month 2006, switching to erotica when all her characters suddenly demanded to have sex.
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Spring Training
Suz deMello
Chapter 1
March, SacTown Scamps Training Center
Valley of the Sun, Arizona, USA