Abducted (Hades and Persephone #1)

by Bella Klaus

  Samael clapped his hands together. “Well said.”

  Anger stirred in my gut, filling my mouth with bitter rage. She acted like she wanted to protect me, when she’d kept me a prisoner my entire life.

  “Why did you come here?” I snarled

  Her eyes softened. “Kora—”

  “That’s not even my name.”

  She spread her arms wide, her hand still clutching the dagger. “I didn’t have the heart to give you a name when I knew misfortune might take your life.”

  “Corporality sickness?” I asked. “Is that why you made me think I was dying my entire life?”

  Her expression faltered. “You mustn’t listen to any of that creature’s lies. He’s a liar, a seducer, and only wants your ruin. He brought you here to steal what belongs to Persephone, and when he gets it, you will be discarded.”

  My throat dried to the consistency of parchment. Did it matter if Hades decided he never wanted to see me after the bargain?

  “Did Hades ever explain to you the reason Persephone left? Did he tell you how he had hurt her?”

  Hades stiffened at my side but didn’t speak.

  Samael’s slit-mouth parted to reveal a mouthful of serrated teeth.

  I swallowed hard. Whatever she said next would cast doubt on my association with Hades. Mother would say anything to keep me off-balance and under her control. She would say anything to get me back in her clutches.

  “He already told me,” I lied. “It was a shock, but two thousand years is a long time to hold a grudge.”

  Mother’s smug expression tightened into pursed lips and a scowl. My chest flared with triumph.

  The tension in Hades’ muscles loosened as he exhaled, and I filed away that little tidbit for later.

  “Interesting how you’re willing to sling harsh truths but Hades wanted to protect me from what you did to my memories.” My voice shook. “Since you’re in a sharing mood, tell me what you did to make me think I was only twenty.”

  “I would do it again to keep you safe.” Her eyes flared with conviction.

  “Ladies and gentlemen.” Azriel jogged into the room, his palms raised. “There will be no fighting at the Devil’s Ball. Please return to your couches or you will forfeit this century’s payment.”

  “And who will take care of your condemned souls?” Samael snapped. “The moment the barriers around Hell break, every tortured spirit will spill out into the Human World. Some of them will even reach your precious Heaven.”

  The angel’s face fell, and his eyes darted around the room. I filed that comment away for later consideration and focused on my two worst enemies.

  I turned to Mother, looking her straight in the eye. “Samael sent assassins after me.”

  Her features hardened. “It was a rescue attempt disguised as an abduction.”

  Hades’ arm tightened around my shoulder, but I couldn’t stop staring at Mother. Her chest rose and fell with rapid breaths, and sweat beaded across her brow. All that talk about protecting me from Hades sounded like an excuse for something more sinister.

  “Why I can’t remember these past centuries?” I asked. “Why did you keep me confined and ignorant?”

  She shook her head. “Hades has been obsessed with me since we were children. He’s been bitter ever since I rejected his advances.”

  Hades scoffed. “You’re a possessive, overbearing wretch who wanted love so badly you had a daughter in secret and hid her away from the world.”

  Azriel stepped between us, his wings glowing an incandescent white. “Ladies and gentlemen, I must insist you return to your seats.”

  Samael placed a hand on Mother’s arm, leaving a smear of black ink. “Come, Demeter. There is nothing you can do if Hades insists on flouting the rules and getting your daughter killed.”

  “What?” I whispered.

  His smile widened past his cheekbones. “Did your abductor not tell you? The food here is poisonous to all who eat it without permission.”

  Mother wiped away a tear. “That’s why I came here.” She sniffled. “To prevent your annihilation.”

  “Don’t listen to them.” Hades pulled me further into his side. “This is part of their plan to destabilize the Fifth.”

  My lips tightened. If preventing my death had been Mother’s biggest worry, she would have told me the food was poisonous first instead of all that bullshit about Hades corrupting me because he secretly wanted her. This was another of Mother’s lies.

  I turned to Azriel and frowned. “Is the power safe?”

  He inclined his head in a nod. “For the assigned monarchs and their co-rulers. Anyone who partakes without permission will perish.”

  “You see?” Mother lowered herself into the seat next to Lucifer’s, making sure to place as much distance between herself and Samael as possible without falling off the edge of the couch.

  Samael sat in the middle of the seat, grabbed a passing reaper, and pulled her onto his lap. Her tray of bonbons fell to the floor with a clang, but she didn’t try to stand. I swallowed hard and glanced away, only to see a reaper riding the face of one of the men on the couch on the other side.

  Someone screamed. It was the woman who Samael had grabbed. The wretched creature had bitten a chunk out of her arm.

  I clapped a hand over my mouth and turned to Azriel who stood in the middle of the room with his arms folded, his features held in a mask of disapproval.

  “Aren’t you going to stop him?”

  “If there is a loophole, Samael will find it,” Azriel said, his lips thinning. “Unfortunately, the rules of the Devil’s Ball don’t state that the guests cannot eat the servers.”

  Static electricity crackled across my body, prickling my skin into goosebumps. My heart pounded. My breathing turned rapid and shallow. Blood roared between my ears.

  Samael locked gazes with me, his black eyes glinting with amusement. He tilted his head to the side as though to ask me what I was going to do next.

  “Mother.” My voice sounded distant. “Are you going to sit there while your husband eats an innocent girl?”

  She shifted uncomfortably on her seat.

  Silence stretched out across the room, and the monarchs sitting on the nearby couches stared at Samael with varying degrees of scorn. Lucifer stopped eating his grapes to curl his lip at the other fallen angel, while Isis sat up in her seat and hissed.

  Gathering my lightning into my hands, I headed toward Samael, but Hades grabbed me around the waist. “Don’t.”

  I turned to meet his fiery eyes. “How can we let him eat a woman?”

  “He wants us to attack him,” Hades said. “The instigator of any attack forfeits their throne, leaving a void in the Fifth Faction.”

  Azriel stepped toward us. “For once, Hades is correct. The only thing I can do is maximize the concentration of power he receives from each bite and hope that she gives him indigestion.”

  The angel turned to the other monarchs within the circle and raised his arms, making every molecule in the room shiver. Every server standing at the couches stumbled under the might of his power.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” Azriel said, his voice echoing. “Due to an unforeseen misinterpretation of our rules, I have increased the magical content in the room. Your next mouthful will provide you with the power required to carry out your duties. After which, we will open portals to your respective factions.”

  All the trays drifted from the servers’ hands and floated in front of the couches. I could barely take notice of the food on our platters through the woman’s pained sobs. She leaned forward, obscuring her face with a curtain of blonde hair, but her white outfit was covered in Samael’s black handprints.

  I tore my gaze away from her and glared at Mother, who sat on the edge of her chaise, her nose wrinkling.

  Hades stroked my arm. “One more bite of her, and he’ll have to stop.”

  One of the monarchs shot out of his seat and roared, knocking aside two naked and unconscious men. He wa
s a four-armed demon who looked like he’d evolved from a wild boar. Blue blue and black paint covered his naked body, but fortunately for everyone’s eyes, his hairy belly hung halfway down his muscular thighs.

  “Nobody told me we couldn’t eat the staff.” He shook a leg of what I hoped was lamb.

  “Next century, the invitation will be better worded to restrict the menu to only the food,” Azriel snapped. “Please be seated and remember that your next mouthful will provide you with the rest of the power you need to run your faction for the next century.”

  The demon bit into his meat before tossing it over his shoulder. “Bugger that,” he said through his mouthful. “You promised me a night of fucking and feasting, and that’s what I’m going to get.”

  I turned back to Azriel and raised my hand. “How much magic will I get?”

  With a frown, the angel reached into thin air and pulled out a parchment. “Twenty units for the years the secondary throne was unoccupied plus another for the upcoming century.”

  “That much power will kill my precious daughter,” Mother said with a gasp.

  Azriel’s features hardened. “I can assure you that it will not.”

  Another scream pierced the air, making me shudder. Samael bit into the woman’s face and tossed her to the floor. I swallowed hard to keep down the contents of my stomach. The edges of my vision turned red, and the only thing I was aware of was the lightning crackling from my fingertips and pointing toward Samael.

  Hades grabbed my wrist. “With twenty-one centuries of that magic, our throne will be powerful enough to strike out at him,” he whispered into my ear. “Don’t let Samael goad you into making a mistake.”

  He was right. I squeezed my eyes shut, sucked in a deep breath, and tried to force myself to calm. It was over. Samael couldn’t hurt the woman anymore. All I had to do now was give Hades that power, and we could leave.

  “Promise me you’ll find a way to kill him,” I whispered.

  Hades pressed a kiss on my cheek. “Samael marked himself for death when he sent assassins after you. Every ounce of fear and disgust you suffered because of him will be repaid with his screams.”

  “Thank you.” I exhaled a long breath and opened my eyes.

  Hades ran his hands down my cheek, sending waves of calm across my skin. I turned to meet his fiery gaze, and my breath hitched.

  The passion in his eyes burned hotter than the lake of lava and with a passion that promised me hours of ecstasy. Hades threaded his fingers through my hair and brought our faces close. My nostrils filled with his masculine scent of mint and juniper and musk. As his lips brushed mine in an almost-kiss, the entire room disappeared.

  My pulse quickened, and my skin flushed with a tingling anticipation. There was no Mother or Samael or Devil’s Ball—just the face of a man who looked into my soul and found something he adored.

  “It doesn’t matter what obstacles people put between us.” His deep voice echoed in my skull. “I will tear through them and reach you.”

  Mesmerized, I drifted a millimeter forward.

  His thumb grazed my cheek. “No matter how many memories they strip from your mind or what form you take, I will always find my beautiful bride.”

  My heart stuttered an irregular beat. Was he talking about me or her or did he still think I was Perrsephone?

  “Varaha.” Azriel’s sharp voice cut through my haze. “Please leave. You have already consumed your allotted power.”

  “Bugger off.” The boar demon grabbed an unconscious man on his couch, bit into his neck, and hummed his pleasure. “I’m not leaving this shit hole until I’ve eaten my fill.”

  A heartbeat later, he dropped the man to the floor and clutched at his throat with a massive paw. “What are you doing to me?”

  “You broke the rules.” Azriel folded his arms across his chest. “Now you must suffer the consequences.”

  His eyes bulged, and he charged toward Azriel with all four hands curled into fists. With a guttural roar, all the color leached from his blue skin until he turned white. As he took another step, his body dissolved into tiny white crystals.

  I sucked in a deep breath, my heart pounding painfully against my ribcage. If the boar got punished, what about Samael?

  He turned to me and smirked. “Angel Azriel made the rules clear. Varaha consumed more than his due and now the Second Faction’s throne lies empty.”

  “Everybody has a minute to finish their power or it will be forfeit,” Raphael said.

  Mother picked up an olive from a nearby tray and offered it to Samael.

  “No,” Azriel snapped. “Each Monarch is to consume their own power.”

  Osiris stood. “I gave most of mine to Isis last year.”

  Isis rose from her seat. “You can’t change the rules.”

  Azriel narrowed his eyes. “Forty seconds.”

  Hades grabbed a shot glass and knocked back its contents. He turned to me and said, “You must take a drink.”

  “Don’t do it.” Mother’s voice shook. “You’ll turn into a pillar of salt.”

  A lightning storm of panic tore through my heart. Mother was a filthy liar who would go to any lengths to keep me under her control, but what if she was right?

  “Azriel said it was safe.” Hades placed a hand on my back. “Don’t waste two thousand years of magic.”

  “You will die,” Samael shouted from the other side of the room.

  “Kora, my darling,” Mother screeched. “Hades only wants me to see you die. Don’t fall for the words of that deceiver.”

  A breeze drifted across the room, hitting my skin with Varaha’s salt crystals and reminding me of what would happen if I made the wrong decision. I swallowed back a lump in my throat.

  “Twenty seconds.” Azriel’s voice cut through me like a dagger.

  I reached a trembling hand toward the tray of glasses. Some were barely larger than a thimble, a splash of liquid, while others stood tall and full among whiskey glasses and flutes of champagne. I selected the smallest and rubbed the back of my hand over my lips to wipe away the salt.

  The pulse between my ears thudded hard enough to drown out Hades’ words of encouragement, Mother’s cries for me to stop, and Samael’s mocking laughter.

  Despite my ragged breaths, my pounding headache, and the blood roaring through my skull, Azriel’s countdown still reached my ears.

  “Ten seconds.”

  Hades’ eyes bore into mine, his features held still. Could I trust him, not knowing why Persephone had left and gotten herself killed?

  “Nine,” Azriel said.

  Something large and white moved on the edge of my vision. It was Mother rushing toward me, with Samael holding her back.

  “Eight.”

  My throat dried. Was I legally Hades’ wife?

  “Seven.”

  I met his flaming eyes. This was the man who had burned out his eyes to connect with my magic because I had refused to have sex.

  “Six.”

  This was the widower who had never lost hope of being reunited with his wife.

  “Five.”

  My breathing slowed, and realization fell over me like a warm blanket.

  “Four.”

  Hades was a lot of things—evasive, mysterious, and devious—but he wasn’t evil.

  “Three.”

  Even if I was wrong, the Fifth Faction—the one that held the most powerful souls—would fall into the hands of Samael.

  “Two.”

  I knocked back the drink, let its contents burn a rapid path down my throat. Then, I swallowed.

  “One.”

  My body jerked forward with a shudder.

  Azriel clapped his hands together, and the floating lotus lights burned brighter than daylight.

  “Are you alright?” Hades cupped my face with both hands and tilted my head up to meet his burning eyes.

  “Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for attending the twenty-first Devil’s Ball,” he said, his voice now muffled. �
�Please make your way toward the portal of your faction, and I will see you again in another century.”

  My brows pulled together into a frown. “Nothing’s happened.”

  Hades’ face fell. “You didn’t feel a surge of power?”

  “Nothing.”

  Mother’s shrill laugh rang through the air. “Well done, Kora, even if you did disobey.” She rose from her seat and stepped toward a circle of silver within the floor. “Hades, you daughter-defiling dastard. Enjoy what’s left of your domain over the Fifth.”

  “I look forward to all those delicious souls.” Samael gave us a jaunty salute before taking Mother’s hand and jumping into the portal.

  His hands dropped from my face, taking away their warmth, and he turned his gaze around the room. “You heard them,” he said to the remaining monarchs. “If he takes the Fifth, your factions will be next. Meeting in Duck Island, St. James’s Park, London, open to anyone who wants to stop Samael from reuniting the Factions of Hell.”

  Lucifer rose from his seat and nodded. “See you in ten minutes.”

  “Give us twenty,” said Osiris.

  “Count me in,” added Hel from the couch on our other side.

  Guilt clawed at my chest. If only I’d managed to keep my head after Varaha had crumbled into salt. Mother and Samael had caused me to hesitate. Pain spread through my lungs and up the back of my throat.

  I placed a hand over my neck. Somehow, I had to make things right. “Hades, I’m sorry.”

  He shook his head. “Demeter has a way of getting inside people’s minds. She’s been like that since the beginning.”

  “What are we going to do?”

  He offered me a hand. “First, we need to put you somewhere safe.”

  I let Hades pull me up, but as I rose, the entire room felt like it tilted upside down. All the blood drained from my face, and my head filled with clouds. My limbs grew heavy, my knees buckled, and I fell against his chest.

  “Kora?” He wrapped an arm around my back.

  A knife of anxiety twisted through my insides. What on earth was happening now?

  “Twenty-one centuries of power is a lot for one to consume in a single sitting.” Azriel’s voice drifted into my ear.