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Demeter would not have approved, she thought with a snort.

Of course, Rose realized with a somewhat light heart, Demeter wasn’t here. She had no domain in the underworld. The haughty battle-axe was not around the corner to frown

disapproval or to chide her daughter.

For the first time since appearing on this plane, she was free.

Well, in a sense. She’d more or less traded one captor for another. Yet she suspected that Hades wouldn’t push her away from hedonistic pleasures. It seemed that he wanted to see her enjoy herself.

Perhaps she should test this theory.

Before she could ponder this thoroughly, a servant entered the room and bowed to her. “Lady Persephone,” she said in a soft voice. “Lord Hades has bid me to give you this.” She set a tray down on a nearby table and stepped backward, watching Rose.

Rose sat up, an eyebrow raised. The table was full of meats and fruits and a few delicious pastries. A goblet of wine had been poured for her. And while she didn’t know a lot about the underworld, there was one thing she’d been able to overhear from humans. If she ate or drank anything in this place, she’d never be able to leave.

And that was total crap. She wasn’t about to fall for that old trick. Rose eyed the food and drink. “Does Hades think I’m stupid?”

The girl’s eyes widened in shock. “N…no, of course not, lady.”

“Any human that partakes of food or drink in the underworld cannot leave. And I’m pretty sure that I’m half-human.” Or so she’d been told.

“Pretty… sure? You don’t know?”

She didn’t, actually. “Whatever. My point is, does Hades think I’m stupid enough to fall for this trick?”

“I am sure he did not—”

Rose gave her a pointed gaze. “Take that stuff away. And bring me clothes. Something that covers
both
breasts. I’m going exploring.”

~*~

She didn’t see Hades again that day. Or was it day? Here in the underworld, there was no sunrise or sunset. When she was tired, she slept. When she wanted to explore, she did so. When she was hungry or thirsty—well, she ignored it.

But so far, the underworld was turning out to be a very interesting place.

Hades had a beautiful marble palace set deep in the rock, filled with attendants. Gems spilled from coffers, and ghostly handmaids were nearby to await her every pleasure. There was even an underground garden that surrounded his palace, and Rose wasted no time in heading there.

No flowers. Damn it.

She’d explored the rest of the palace, though, and every nook and cranny possible. She’d surveyed the grounds around the palace and had even gone to some of the closer planes with an escort. No flower. She was determined to keep looking, though. She’d find one somewhere.

Even though she couldn’t seem to find the object of her weird quest, she didn’t mind so much. This place was not boring. Not in the slightest. The sunny fields above? Dull and full of even duller nymphs who couldn’t hold a conversation if it was handed to them. The underworld palace? Full of gems and ghosts with stories, monsters, visiting immortals, and other crazy shit that was fascinating. This place was anything but boring.

Still, she was alone for the most part. Where was Hades? Why was he ignoring her?

~*~

Rose woke up from a nap when one of the servants approached her bed and bowed. “Lady, the lord wishes for me to serve you.”

Rose yawned and stretched, adjusting her chiton. “Serve me? How?”

“He knows you have been walking the palace grounds and that you are not eating. He is concerned. May I give you a massage to relax you, lady? My fingers are quite gentle.”

A… massage? That sounded heavenly. She smiled. “A massage would be awesome. Go for

it.”

The woman nodded and gestured at a nearby low couch. “Disrobe and lie here.”

Rose unfastened her chiton and let it fall to the ground, stepping out of it. She was naked in front of the nymphs quite frequently, and Hades’s ghostly attendants were much like them. It didn’t bother her, and she lay down on the couch with a small sigh.

At her side, the woman produced a small jar of scented oil and poured a bit into her hands.

She rubbed them together and then slicked them over Rose’s back.

Rose groaned with pleasure. The woman’s hands were warm with oil and stroked over her skin. “That feels wonderful.”

“I’m glad you like it,” the woman said in a soft voice. Her fingers glided over Rose’s skin.

“Hades thought this might please you.”

He knew her well, Rose mused. She closed her eyes and lay her head down, relaxing under the massage. The woman’s hands stroked over every inch of her skin, back and forth, her motions calming and soothing as she worked through Rose’s muscles. Her hands glided down Rose’s thighs and between them, lightly brushing over the sensitive, intimate skin of her sex.

Rose’s eyes flew open at the touch, even as it sparked something deep in her belly. She stiffened, wondering if she had imagined it.

The girl’s hands continued to move over her skin, stroking and smoothing over muscles. Her fingers spread and she worked over the rounded globes of Rose’s bottom, her thumbs brushing against the crease that was beginning to seep with moisture.

Definitely not imagining things. A dark shudder of desire racked her. Was this what Hades had sent to her? He wanted her to let this woman touch her? Pleasure her?

That wicked, naughty man.

When the girl’s hands stroked between her legs again, Rose fought the moan rising in her throat. She clamped her legs shut and sat up on the table, wrapping a long swath of fabric around her body. “You’re really nice and all, but this isn’t what I want.”

While the servant’s hands felt good, Rose didn’t want her touch. She thought of Hades’s big body looming over her own, stroking his cock as he gazed down upon her. He’d wanted her…

but hadn’t touched her. Why?

The woman looked taken aback. “If I have offended you, lady—”

“You haven’t,” Rose said in a soft voice. “But I want you to take me to Lord Hades.”

If she was going to get worked into a frenzy of desire, she wanted to do it with him. Not a servant.

The woman nodded and gestured at the door. “Follow me.”

Wrapping the silky fabric around her oil-slicked body, Rose did. The hum of desire still throbbed within her body, ever present as they walked down long corridors and dark, twisting hallways. Eventually, they came to a large door and the handmaiden paused. “He is inside, but he is not alone.”

Well, then, he shouldn’t have kidnapped himself a goddess if he didn’t want to be disturbed.

“Open the doors,” Rose said. “I wish to see him at once.”

The doors opened upon a vast cavern.

Rose took a step forward, surprised at the sight. She stood upon a carved marble ledge of an amphitheater. The steps led downward, and at the bottom of the seating sat Lord Hades upon a jewel-encrusted golden throne. In the seats of the theater, ghostly shades waited for their turn to approach the lord. On the floor before Hades, a line of souls waited to be judged.

All eyes turned to her as she entered the room, skin gleaming, hair disheveled, her body tense and strumming with need. Silence fell.

Rose could feel Hades’s eyes on her like a burning brand. She lifted her chin. Let him look.

Let him guess why she’d come here. For some reason, the heat of his regard made her all the more excited. She liked that he was looking at her with that hot, dark gaze.

“You cannot be here, my lady.” A guard came to her side, frowning.

She gave him her best goddess look, dismissing him with a glance. “I wish to see Lord Hades.”

“He is busy with the judgment of souls. He is not to be disturbed. He—”

“Leave us.”

The cold, quiet order came from the center of the room. All eyes turned back to Hades, who had stood from his throne.

“Leave us. I wish to speak with my bride.” His gaze swept over the crowd. “Privately.”

She should have corrected him. Pointed out that she wasn’t his bride quite yet. But it was rather pleasing to her ego to have an entire room cleared for her. To have the natural processes of the afterlife stopped for her.

Her. Someone so
very
vital to day-to-day operations, she doubted anyone on Olympus had noticed she was missing yet. Someone so unimportant in the scheme of things that Demeter could override all her powers, and Rose could switch bodies with Persephone and have a radically different personality and not a single person had noticed the difference.

No one, except this man.

And this man had stopped everything for her. Heady stuff.

She remained in place as the audience shuffled out of the room through a door on the

opposite end of the amphitheater. The guards followed them out, ghostly spears rattling. After a long, long minute, the room was emptied.

Hades gestured for her to come to his side.

Rose glanced back at the double doors that she’d entered, but the handmaiden had shut them fast behind her. Shrugging her silky wrap closer, Rose descended the steps regally, her eyes on Hades.

“To what do I owe this pleasure?”

Was her visit a pleasure, then? That pulse of desire fluttered low in her belly once more, and she moved to stand in front of him, a few feet away. Now that she was here, she had no idea what to say. Or how to ask for what she wanted. “I…”

He raised a dark eyebrow at her, as if daring her.

It did the trick. “Your handmaiden was touching me.”

“I sent her to give you a relaxing massage. She must touch you in order to massage you. I thought you might enjoy it.” Though his tone was innocent, the look in his eyes was anything but. “Was it not to your liking?”

“She touched me… inappropriately,” Rose said, feeling flustered. Her nipples felt hard against the fabric she clutched to her chest, and when she shifted on her feet, her oiled thighs brushed against each other, the slick motion making a spiral of desire move deep inside her again.

“And you did not wish this?” Not accusing. Merely assessing. His handsome face with the strong, square jaw watched her as if she were the only thing in the entire underworld. She rather liked that intense, devouring gaze. “You have my apologies, then. I did not wish to alarm you.”

Her chin lifted. He made her sound like a frightened child. “It is not that I did not want to be touched. But if I am to be touched, I would rather…”
that it be by you
. But the words died in her throat and she added hastily, “That it not be by a… stranger.”

Those dark eyes watched her for a long moment. “Do you want me to touch you?”

Yes,
she wanted to say, but again, the words died a shy death in her throat. “I don’t know,”

she said defensively. “You haven’t even kissed me yet. Should we not start with kissing?”

A hint of a smile touched his grim mouth, and she saw a flash of masculine beauty in his hard, intense face. He sat back down on his throne and gestured at her. “Then come and kiss me.”

She gave him a wary look.

“I promise I shall not touch you. I will keep my hands here.” He placed his hands on the arms of the chair, arms that were jeweled lions, she noticed. “You are free to kiss and explore me as you like.”

Rose considered him. On his throne he was a strong, confident god. And here she was, oily and half-dressed and all too uncertain of herself. But she remembered the sight of him looming over the bed, unable to stop stroking himself as she touched herself in wicked ways.

And she was suddenly very curious. And aroused.

She took a step toward him, then another. He continued to watch her with an almost taunting expression, as if questioning her bravery. Rose closed the distance between them and then stood in front of him.

He adjusted on his throne, his knees shifting, and gave her an expectant look.

He wanted her to sit on his lap? The thought irritated and titillated her. Why didn’t he assist her with this?

But he wouldn’t even twitch. That was part of what made him so very safe to play with. And a wicked idea crossed Rose’s mind. She wanted to play very much indeed.

She let go of the fabric she wore wrapped around her body. It dropped to the floor in a heap, and her naked body was bare before his eyes.

His hands clenched on the arms of the throne, though his face remained motionless.

Interesting. She wondered how much she could tease him, feeling the power of her sexuality and enjoying it.

Rose slicked her hands over her breasts. “Oh dear. I’m a little oily from my massage. Are you sure you want me on you?”

“Get over here,” he rasped, his knuckles white.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” she murmured sweetly and stepped closer. She paused in front of him for a moment, as if waiting to see if he’d grab her. When he did not, she placed her hands on his shoulders and climbed into his lap, straddling him and brushing up against him until her breasts were pressed to his chest, her thighs wide over his. His face was inches from her own, and he smelled wonderful—like dark incense and masculine skin.

Hades turned his face up to hers—dark, intense gaze upon her. “I can feel your heat through my robes.”

A blush crept over her cheeks. “You asked me to come and sit on you. I sat.”

His hips rocked and she felt the hard bulge of him press between her thighs, eliciting a gasp from her. “Make no mistake, Persephone,” he said. “I enjoy this very much. I enjoy your new boldness very, very much.”

New boldness, hmm? Liquid heat was beginning to roll in her lower body. She felt the

strangest urge to rub up against him, but he wouldn’t hold her close, of course. He’d promised not to touch her. “Shall I kiss you now?”

“If you like.”

“If I like?”

His gaze dropped to her mouth where she’d wet her lips. “You can touch me all over,

Persephone. Explore me.”

Explore him? The thought was titillating. She ran a hand tentatively up and down one large arm, testing the muscles under his sleeve. His skin was hot against hers and it made her ache.

“You’re very different from me.”

“I am.” His voice had a raspy quality to it, as if he were struggling to keep control.