by Bella Klaus
“Show me,” he rasped.
I slipped my hand between my legs and placed my index finger on my clit. “When I touch myself, I usually start there.”
“How?” His hot breath warmed my fingers and spread across my sex.
Ignoring the flush racing across my cheeks, I rubbed a tight circle around my engorged clit.
“You should see yourself,” he said, his voice strangled. “It’s so fucking erotic, I could just cum from watching that finger tease your pretty clit.”
A whimper caught in the back of my throat. At this rate, it wouldn’t take long before I climaxed.
“Put me in your mouth,” he said, his voice a deep command.
“Yes.” Balancing myself with one hand, I laid the other on the mattress to steady myself, and ran my tongue up his shaft. When I reached the top, I engulfed his tip into my mouth.
“Fuck,” he hissed through his teeth. “Watching you play with yourself while you suck my cock is the most decadent of pleasures.”
I slid his erection down my tongue, letting it hit the back of my throat and eliciting the most erotic groan. The finger over my clit quickened its pace, making Hades moan even louder.
At this rate, I would probably climax before I’d even given Hades half the satisfaction he had given me before the ball. I pulled my head back and bobbed up and down around his shaft.
When my movements faltered, Hades pumped his hips back and forth, gliding himself in and out of my mouth.
“Mmmmm.” I hummed around my mouthful.
“Fuck,” he moaned. “Do that again.”
This time, I made a sound at the back of my throat that made him arch off the bed.
“You’re really quick with those fingers,” he said. “Now I know how rough you like it.”
A protest formed in the back of my throat, but one thrust from Hades pushed it away. How would I know whether I liked it rough or not? Nothing mattered until we tried.
Now that he had taken control of the blowjob, I could concentrate on my clit. I switched from circular movements to up-and-down strokes that set my core aflame. Hades pulled me further down to his head and penetrated me with his tongue.
I moaned around the thick length in my mouth, my inner muscles clenching and unclenching around his tongue as he slid it in and out of me with deep strokes. My eyes fluttered shut, and I could feel the taste buds, the textures, the twist and turn. Pleasant shudders ran down my spine, making me ache for more.
Hades quickened his pace, and I sped up my finger with a flurry of hard strokes that brought me closer to a precipice. The pleasure built up until every limb shook except for the one with the hand that pleasured my clit. That one kept steady, focused only on the mounting ecstasy.
The next few thrusts of his tongue sent increasingly powerful ripples through my insides until all my muscles clamped. Blood roared between my ears, punctuated by a booming pulse.
I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t do anything but take the pleasure he was pouring into me and swallow around his huge erection. Somehow, the only part of me that seemed to work was the fingers busying themselves at my clit.
Tingling warmth pulsed behind the sensitive bundle of nerves, building, stretching, growing in intensity as Hades continued thrusting in and out of me. His moans and groans reverberated across my sex, adding to the sensations.
My head spun, and I was glad to be on a bed, even if I was balancing my weight on just three limbs, which wouldn’t stop trembling. As his thrusts quickened, and his moans escalated, all the pleasure he’d given me exploded in a climax that made my eyes roll to the back of my head.
The entire room fell away, leaving me with the sensation of floating on air with only Hades’ tongue and thick length keeping me from tumbling through the clouds. I clenched and spasmed around him, feeling like the rapture would never end.
With a roar, Hades erupted, filling my throat with thick and creamy liquid. I drew back, desperate for a taste, only for the bitter fluid to set off another climax.
As my climax faded, he withdrew his tongue, and pressed a soft kiss on my folds.
“You delight me,” he said in a deep voice that pulled me into a blissful state of relaxation. He rolled me onto the mattress and ran his hands up and down my thighs. “Sleep, Kora. I will take care of the rest.”
All thoughts of dryads, parasitical seeds, and murderous goddesses faded into the ether, leaving me wondering what manner of pleasures tomorrow would bring.
Chapter Seventeen
I had one of the best nights of sleep in Hades’ arms, even if we were both covered in chocolate syrup. By the time sunlight streamed through my eyelids, and I rolled over, he was standing over me, already dressed in a black leather military outfit that accentuated his muscular frame.
“Good morning.” He leaned down and kissed me on the lips.
“Where are you going?”
The joy in his features faded. “War Council meeting. As much as I want to spend the entire day exploring you, I can’t, now that those seeds are sprouting across the Fifth Faction.”
I bolted upright. “She’s spreading those plants?”
Hades tightened his lips. “Two teams have reported villages within the Asphodel Meadows consumed by her monsters. And she has created another of those giant stalks with the body of a mountain nymph.”
“Why is she growing plants out of nymphs?” I asked.
“Their magic is more compatible with hers,” he muttered. “Namara will bring you something to eat. Make sure to teleport if you want to return to your apartment, and stay off the streets.”
I swung my legs out of bed and stood in front of him with my arms spread. “Suit me up. I’m coming with you.”
Hades stepped back and raised his palms. “Hell isn’t safe for you with Persephone—”
“We need to work together,” I said, not wanting to hear the rest of that sentence. “Don’t be stubborn. We could secure the Fifth by pouring some of my magic into it—”
“Have you forgotten?” He cupped the side of my cheek. “Persephone would drain all that power in an instant with her plants.”
I jerked my head to the side. “You can’t keep me hidden like some kind of reserve battery. Maybe if I stayed by your side and deployed some of the enforcers you’ve sent to watch over my apartment, we might have better defenses over the Fifth.”
Hades stared down at me, his brow creased into a frown. “Of course.” He placed another kiss on my lips. “If you would like to attend the war council meeting and my session in the throne room, you are more than welcome.”
“Suit me up, then.”
He drew back, the corners of his lips curving into a smile. “You must love me if you feel comfortable enough to rant.”
“It’s not me who rants at people.” I glanced down at my body to find myself already wearing a set of green armor so dark that it appeared black. “And thank you.”
Hades wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me to his side. “Would you like something to eat before we leave for Hell?”
My stomach churned. “Actually, I think I overindulged in that chocolate.”
He shook his head. “Didn’t I warn you about mixing your drinks?”
“Chocolate is a food.”
“But chocolate syrup is a liquid. So is spunk.” He tapped me on the nose. “They both have different effects on the body, and you’ll find them both rich and creamy and utterly delicious.”
I rolled my eyes. “Maybe I should cut down.”
“On the chocolate?” he asked.
“Maybe both.”
“I absolutely forbid it.”
Our surroundings flickered, and instead of standing within Hades’ bedroom in his St. James’s Palace office, we now stood within the stone room that he called his inner sanctuary.
Hades walked us to the fire pit and waved his finger over the flames, turning them to liquid. When a group of demons appeared, reading pamphlets, he frowned.
I turned to him and asked, “What’s this?”
“The pool usually informs me of threats brewing in my realm. If I visit it every day, I get to quash rebellions before they become problematic.”
“That’s helpful.” I turned my gaze back to the demons leafing through their reading material. “Did you make this yourself?”
He shook his head. “The water that powers this enchantment came from the tears of a powerful seer. With a bit of my magic, I enchanted it to look out for threats to the Fifth.”
I stared into the liquid, seeing nothing else but a bunch of demons crowding over pieces of paper. “Can it track Persephone?”
“Not while she’s dormant.” Hades walked us around the pool’s left and toward a door at the end of the room. “Just to be consistent with the name given to you at the Demon’s Ball, I will introduce you as Queen Hades. Any objections?”
“If everyone knows Kora means maiden, I suppose it’s for the best,” I replied with a shrug.
Hades pushed the door open, which led to a three-foot-long block of space followed by a white door suspended in mid-air.
I clung to his arm and stared down at the endless expanse of nothingness. “What’s that?”
“Security.” He opened the second door with his magic and stepped across the void. “Anyone attempting to enter or leave the inner sanctuary without my permission remains suspended in the abyss until I release them.”
“Oh.” As we entered the second door, I turned, only to find the void missing and replaced by a familiar stretch of hallway. It was the same route Captain Caria had taken me after I had burned the demon twins with my lightning.
I shook my head, marveling at his use of magic. This had to be more complicated than willing things into existence.
Hades and I stepped into the dark war room, where plate-sized fire pits on tall metal stands illuminated walls etched with detailed maps of what I now recognized to be the Fifth Faction.
The same huge table I had seen on my first day in Hell still stood in the middle of the room, with a number of demons and regular-looking people standing around it, listening to Captain Caria. As we strode through the room together, I took a better look at the table’s surface, noting how the rivers of lava flowed through land masses such as hills and mountains and valleys.
Captain Caria stopped mid-conversation and straightened. “I wasn’t expecting you, Your Majesty.”
All the people standing around the table dipped into curtseys and low bows, wishing Hades a pleasant morning.
“How is our special project?” he asked the captain.
She tightened her lips, employing a similar expression of frustration I’d seen on Hades. “Our subject has gone into hiding, but with time, I am certain she will resurface.”
My brows rose. They were talking about Persephone.
“I’m taking you off that team,” Hades said.
Captain Caria flinched. “Your Majesty?”
“We need a fresh perspective to handle this situation.” Hades strolled to the center of the table, placed both hands on its surface, and stared at a patch of land by a meadow that I was sure was the scene of last night’s battle. “One without such a close connection to the subject.”
The captain’s gaze flickered to me before landing back on Hades. “I don’t understand.”
He exhaled a long breath. “I’m not ashamed to admit that I was unable to use the full force of my magic to subdue the subject last night.”
“As you shouldn’t,” the captain snapped.
Whispers spread across the war room, making my skin tighten. After two thousand years of them all working together, I thought it would be common knowledge that Hades and the captain were father and daughter. Perhaps they were unaccustomed to her challenging him in public. The captain had never hesitated to snap at him when the demons weren’t around.
Hades rose from the table and turned to meet the captain’s eyes. The height difference between them wasn’t great—four inches at the maximum—but Hades was so broad and muscular compared to Captain Caria.
She raised her chin. “Who can you trust but me to make sure we capture her humanely?”
“The subject is as big a threat to the Fifth as the large soulkin we apprehended.”
Captain Caria’s features fell, and all the blood leached from her face.
I swallowed. In her position, I would feel the same, but my own mother was a Satan-marrying psycho I desperately wanted to electrocute.
“Who will take my place?” she asked from between clenched teeth.
“Aello,” Hades said, still staring into his daughter’s eyes.
A gray-skinned demoness with glowing white hair bowed, revealing a massive beak in the back of her head. “Your Majesty?”
“You and your harpies will capture a red-haired goddess whose power derives from plants—”
“Hades,” Captain Caria hissed.
“The goddess is not to be harmed,” Hades shouted over the sound of her voice.
Aello inclined her head. “Of course, Your Majesty. May I ask where we should begin our search for this target?”
“Captain Caria will supply you with your target’s latest whereabouts,” he replied, still glaring at his daughter.
For the next several heartbeats, Hades and the captain stood locked in a silent glare. From the stillness of their features, it looked like they had taken their conversation to the privacy of their minds.
I wrapped my arms around my middle, resisting the itch to eavesdrop. It wasn’t like I could do it in a matter that was stealthy, and if they had wanted me to join in, they would have allowed me to listen.
With a curt and sarcastic bow, the captain turned on her heels and strode around the other side of the table. All the demons standing around the war room’s table followed her with their gazes, none of them moving except for Aello.
Hades watched the two females leave, and as soon as the door clicked shut behind them, he turned to address the people standing in the room. “The Fifth is under the biggest threat it’s experienced since the Great Divide.”
A handsome blond man with tight curls raised his hand. He was one of the few who wore white robes and looked more like an angel than a demon. “Permission to speak, Your Majesty?”
Hades inclined his head. “Yes, Hermes?”
“Is this threat related to the mission you gave Aello?” He paused as Hades nodded. “I would like to suggest you employ the Furies.”
“Why them?” he asked.
“Based on your criteria for choosing Aello and her harpies, it looks like you would like your target apprehended by female warriors. The Furies are the most efficient at getting the job done.”
Hades shook his head. “We’ll use them only as a last resort. You know how those three get carried away by their hunts.”
“Sire,” said another demon, a red-skinned male with tusks larger than his horns. “If this target is indeed our largest threat—”
“No.” Hades slammed his fist on the table, upsetting the three-dimensional map. Chunks of dirt rose from its surface, and the participants of the war council stepped back.
My throat dried, and I shifted on my feet at his side, my heart pounding a steady beat. We still hadn’t discussed what might happen to me if Persephone got hurt.
“I want you all to be the first to meet my co-ruler and bride.” Hades swept out an arm and pulled me into his side. “You will address her as Your Majesty, or Queen Hades.”
For a second, nobody spoke, and the pulse in my throat fluttered. Had these people worked out what was happening behind the facade of calm? I gulped, wondering if they knew I was Persephone’s corrupted soul, stuffed in a new body, or if they thought I was one of Hades’ conquests that he had turned into a wife.
The demon with the tusks was the first dip into a low bow. “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Your Majesty.”
“Thank you,” I said, wishing I had something better to say.
Other people
from around the table bowed and curtseyed, easing some of my tension, but not all. Two-thirds of the room’s occupants were demons, and I wasn’t sure if the others were people who knew Hades from his Underworld days, mages, or useful souls condemned to Hell.
“They’re minor deities,” Hades said into our mental link.
“You were listening to my thoughts?” I asked.
“Your emotions are as easy to read as an audiobook,” He gave my waist a gentle squeeze. “One can barely shut them out.”
For the next hour, I stood at Hades’ side, soaking up information about the room’s inhabitants and their overall purpose. The war council mostly consisted of beings who lived in the living world with access to demons affiliated with other Factions.
According to Hades, demons had a form of camaraderie when they were outside Hell, which meant that they often betrayed secrets related to their Factions. Captain Caria headed up a division of supernatural enforcers that policed the activities of all demons within the Human World, which meant she could gather important information during the interrogations of demons who had fallen afoul of the law. The War Council’s job was to gather this intelligence and report back to Hades on the activities of the other Factions.
“There has been great unrest in the Second since Samael took the throne,” said a tall demon with a hooked nose and eyes like an owl. “He has slaughtered Varaha’s former inner circle and nearly half of his lieutenants.”
“Now he’s actively recruiting demons residing in Europe, the United States, and Africa,” added a red-skinned male at his side.
Hades rubbed his chin. “That might explain the reading material that’s suddenly become popular among certain members of the Faction.”
The meeting continued for a few more minutes on the subject of Samael’s recruitment drive before someone mentioned the Third Faction. A red-eyed woman who glanced at me several times during the meeting cleared her throat with a high-pitched cough.
“Your Majesties?” She raised her hand.
Hades inclined his head. “Speak, Kimaa.”