Charlene Teglia

She was here. She was his.
Hades regarded his golden treasure in triumph. She
shone like a precious gem in this room, the dark and
masculine setting contrasting with her feminine beauty. Her
skin glowed like a pearl above the ebony satin she’d clothed
herself with. Her hair caught highlights of amber and gold
from the fire behind her. Her eyes seemed deeper, filled
with mysteries like the midnight sky. Her lips trembled, but
otherwise she gave no sign that she was alarmed to wake
here, nude and alone.
Pride kept her spine straight, pride and the knowledge
that she was the offspring of gods and cherished by them.
Here was a woman who knew her worth. Yet she knew
nothing of why he valued her. He’d stripped her of her
gown and left her by herself to wake on his bed,
accompanied only by the flower he’d created to seduce her
senses and the carvings to seduce her imagination. She
might guess what he wanted of her. She couldn’t know. He
wanted that uncertainty between them.
He could see the rapid beat of her pulse at the fragile
hollow of her throat and below that, the tightly budded
nipples that stood out clearly beneath the satin she wore like
a second skin. The fabric draped and clung, revealing every
curve from the swells of her breasts to the pubic mound at
the apex of her thighs.
“Persephone.” He shaped her name with his mouth and
found the sound of it, as pleasing as the sight of her here, in
his chamber.
“Hades.” She inclined her head slightly, her voice low
and musical. He wanted to hear that voice drop into a lower
register, to go hoarse as she cried his name out in passion.
“Return me at once.”
“You are in no position to make demands.”
Her chin rose higher. “You are in no position to debate.
If you return me now, before I am missed, I will let the
matter remain between us. If you keep me against my will,
you will be forced to release me. You stand only to gain by
giving me what I ask.”
“I stand to lose a great deal.” He stalked forward,
feeling fierce and predatory at the very thought of releasing
her. “Here stands Persephone, beautiful, untouched. A
maiden. Mine for the taking. Let you go? How will I be
compensated for such a loss?”
Her lips tightened. “You speak foolishness.”
“I speak the truth. You took the flower I offered you. I
took you in turn. Now I have you here in my realm, in my
chamber. I will have you in my bed. Having gone to great
lengths to win this prize, I will not be robbed of it.”
“So you see me as a prize in some game.” She
regarded him steadily. “You will not return me untouched?”
Hades came closer, until his body heat warmed hers
from proximity and the heady scent of her made his head
swim. He touched a fingertip to the pulse at her throat, and
traced it down until it rested at the top of the fabric fold that
marked her cleavage. He both heard and felt her sharp,
indrawn breath, and felt the satin threaten to slip. His cock
reacted, hardening in anticipation of the moment the sheet
would fall away. His eyes burned into hers. “No. I will not
return you untouched.”
He wouldn’t return her at all. He had chosen her, and
she, whether she knew it or not, admitted it or not, had
chosen him. He could not woo her any other way, so he had
sent his blossom to speak for him. If she had not wanted it,
he would have left her to her solitary wandering. But she
had wanted it. Had clung to it tightly, and defied him over it
as if she expected him to take it from her.
“Then you claim me as your bedmate?” Persephone
tilted her head back to ask her question, not shying away
from his gaze.
“Bedmate. Concubine. Mistress. Queen.”
She blinked, unable to hide her shock. “You would
make me your queen?”
“I would.”
She considered that, thoughts flickering over her
expressive face too quickly for him to read. “I would never
be able to leave here.”
“You will never leave here in any case,” Hades
informed her. “Refuse my bed, and you will still remain.”
“As your prisoner.” Was that hurt that flashed in her
eyes?
“My guest.” He stroked his fingertip along the line of
her cleavage, dipping lower. “All that I have is yours. My
kingdom. My treasures. Myself. I will deny you nothing.”
“Except my freedom.” Her voice broke, cracking his
heart in the process.
“I will never let you go.” His tone was harsher than he
intended, but Hades was resolute. The sooner she accepted
her fate, accepted him, the easier it would be for her. She
must put aside the foolish hope that he might relent.
If she had not wanted him…well, that would be a
different matter. But she hadn’t backed away from him,
hadn’t resisted when he took hold of her. Instead, she had
gazed up at him while she knelt in the grass as if she found
him strange and wondrous. Her hands had trembled in his,
but she had not pulled free. She had left them in his grasp.
And when he bent to kiss her, she did not evade. She left
her face upturned to his, and when his lips touched hers, she
had opened them in invitation.
He had captured Persephone’s maiden imagination as
surely as he had captured her body. Now he had only to
capture her heart, and she would be his in full.
“You will not be permitted to keep me.” She spoke
softly, but clearly.
“You are wrong,” Hades said. “I am lord here. My
word is law. None grant me permission. I do as I will. And
outside of my realm, sweet Persephone…” he bent to brush
a kiss against her temple, “none know that I have taken you.
To the world above, you have simply vanished.”