“Are you ready?”
Persephone grins up at me, but it’s her happy smile—her real smile. “You’ve asked me that a dozen times in the last hour.” She bumps her shoulder into mine. “Are you nervous?”
Nervous is too mundane a word. In the last two weeks since stepping out of the shadows and into the glittering vipers’ nest that is the upper city, I’ve had a lot of adjustments. Persephone has been at my side every step of the way, expertly guiding me through each media interaction. I don’t know what I’d do without her.
I hope to the gods I never have to find out.
But tonight? Tonight is just for us.
“I’m not nervous,” I finally say. “If you’re not ready—”
“Hades, I’m ready. I’m more than ready.” She looks at the door leading into the playroom. It’s too soundproofed to be able to hear the people gathered behind it, but we both know they’re present. Waiting.
Persephone takes a breath. “How do I look?”
It’s another question she’s asked half a dozen times since I walked into our room and found her getting dressed. “You look like perfection.” It’s the truth. She’s left her long, blond hair loose and done something to give it waves, and she’s wearing Juliette’s newest creation. It’s another black dress that hugs her body, dripping down her neck in a halter top and skimming over breasts and stomach and hips to flutter about the tops of her thighs. It’s also backless, and every time she turns around, I have to fight the urge to go to my knees and kiss the dip at the bottom of her spine. “Little siren—”
“I’m ready.” She bounces up and presses a quick kiss to my lips. “I’m really ready. I promise.”
I take her at her word. “Then let’s go.”
We’ve already talked about how this will go. I’ve played it out for her step by step. There are times when surprise is part of the game, but I don’t want anything to ruin Persephone’s night. Our night. Not when this feels like a particularly meaningful step in the midst of a pair of lives that have been turned upside down.
I lead the way into the room. Once again, it’s set up to my specifications. The furniture surrounding the dais has been moved back a bit, a clear indication that this is meant to be a show and not an invitation to participate. The lights are down low and every spot is filled.
Persephone’s grip on my hand is loose and trusting, and she happily follows me as I weave through the chairs and couches to the dais. Before I can give her one last chance to change her mind, she steps easily up and into the light. She gives me a look over her shoulder as if she knew exactly what I’d been about to do. I bite back a grin and follow her up.
The lights give a different sort of privacy than the shadows do. I can see every inch of Persephone, but the rest of the room is a blurred glare. Another adjustment that can be made later on if this becomes a repeat thing; tonight, everything is orchestrated to ensure she has the best time possible.
I point to the center of the dais. “Stand there.”
“Yes, Sir.” She says it primly, as if there isn’t a wicked smile already curving her lips.
I circle her slowly, building her anticipation. Gods, she’s so fucking perfect, I can barely believe that she’s mine. That she’s made me hers as surely as if she’d tattooed her name on my very soul. I would do anything for this woman. Conquer the upper city. Knock the other Thirteen from their ivory towers. Give another endless interview with a gossip columnist.
I flick the hem of her dress, making it flutter around her thighs. “If I flip up this dress, am I going to find that you have no panties on?”
Her smile widens. “Only one way to find out.”
“In a moment.” I manage not to grin at her blatant disappointment and step closer to slide my hands up her arms, over her shoulders, to cup her face. I lower my voice, speaking just to her. “You have your safe word, but if you want this to stop at any point, just tell me. It stops.”
She lightly grips my wrists. “I know.”
“Good.”
“Hades?” Persephone smiles at me. “Would you like to see the best thing about this dress?” She doesn’t wait for an answer, the little brat, before reaching to the back of her neck and unclasping it. The fabric flutters down her body and floats to the ground, as delicate as a flower petal.
She’s not wearing a single thing beneath it.
I take her hand and lift it over her head, urging her into a slow spin. “You want to put on a show, little siren? Let them see.” I enjoy the way a blush steals across her golden skin in response.
I drop her hand long enough to walk to the edge of the dais and grab a chair I had placed there earlier this afternoon. It’s made of black metal with a wide seat and a back just high enough to bend over comfortably.
I motion for her to sit in the chair. “Spread your legs, Persephone.”
Her breath is coming in little gasps now, and when I place my hand on the back of her neck, she leans hard into my touch. Because what my little siren needs isn’t only to be on display; it’s to have me grounding her while she is.
I lean over the back of the chair and stroke my hands up her thighs, wrenching them wider. A light stroke of her pussy finds her wet and needy. I press my lips to her temple as I stroke her. “They look up here, and do you know what they see?”
“No,” she gasps, lifting her hips to try to guide my touch. “Tell me.”
“They see their golden princess fallen.” I push two fingers into her. “Their dark goddess rising in her place.”
She whimpers and I can’t help myself. I catch her mouth. With Persephone’s taste on my tongue, I temporarily forget myself. Forget the audience. Forget everything but doing whatever it takes to cause her to make that sound again. I press the heel of my hand to her clit as I slowly fuck her with my fingers, driving her desire higher. Her movements get more frantic as she chases her pleasure, riding my hand even as I give her exactly what she needs to send her soaring.
I break the kiss to say, “Come for me, little siren.”
And she does. Gods, she does.
I send her wave cresting again twice more before I finally gentle my touch and ease my fingers out of her. “I’m going to bend you over this chair and fuck you now.”
Persephone gives a dazed smile, her hazel eyes full of love. “Yes, Sir.”
She’s a little wobbly as I help her up and guide her into the position I want, bent over the chair back. I nudge her feet wider and step back to get a good look at her.
Fuck.
The trust this woman places in me. It makes me want to be a better man, to ensure I never fail her. She shivers, and I close the distance between us, smoothing my hands over her ass and down her back. “Ready?”
“Oh my gods, just fuck me already.”
A chuckle moves through the room in a wave, multiple voices joining mine in response to her. I give her ass a light smack. “Impatient.”
“Yes. Very.” She wiggles a little. “Please, Hades. Don’t make me wait any longer. I need you.”
In the end, I don’t want to tease her any more than she wants to be teased. Another time, perhaps. The need is riding too high tonight. I free my cock and grip her hip as I guide my length into her. Persephone lets out a low moan that almost masks my sharp exhale.
I’ll never get tired of this, either. The way she clamps around me as if she never wants to let me go. How she pushes back against me, needing me as deep as possible. Her little whimpers and moans.
The rest of the room might think they’re getting access to this, too, but their only role here tonight is to amplify her pleasure.
I reach down and wrap her hair around my fist, tugging until she looks up into the darkness surrounding the dais. “They’re watching. Greedy for whatever bits of you we’ll allow. Tonight, they’ll be chasing their pleasure to the memory of me fucking you.”
“Good,” she moans. “Harder.”
I give a rough laugh and obey. Fucking her in harsh strokes even as I hold her in place. There’s no hiding from the fact that we’re on display, and from the way she clenches around me, she’s loving every moment of it.
And then she’s orgasming, her cries sharp and needy. It takes everything I have not to follow her over the edge, but tonight is about her. Not about me. I take a slow breath and ease out of her so I can tuck my cock back into my pants. Then I pull her up and toss her over my shoulder. Persephone’s squeal has me biting back a grin. I turn in a slow circle. “I hope you enjoyed the show. It’s over now.”
“We did!” Someone from the audience shouts. It sounds a bit like Hermes.
I shake my head and climb off the dais, Persephone’s laughter trailing behind us. She sounds so fucking happy, the sound a perfect match to the warmth in my chest. I stride to the throne and sink onto it.
This is our kingdom, our throne, ours.
Persephone’s still laughing a little as she arranges herself on my lap. “‘I hope you enjoyed the show. It’s over now.’ Really?”
“Succinct and to the point.”
“Mm-hmm.” She shifts to straddle me. “I was going to suggest a second throne down here.”
I grip her hips lightly, letting her guide this. “The person who created this one still lives in the lower city. I can commission a second if you’d like.”
“No.” She palms me through my pants. “I like sharing. It gives me access to you.” Persephone leans down until her lips brush my ear. “Did you hold off coming so I could fuck you on this throne, Hades?”
“Yes.”
She laughs again. Gods, I love her laugh. “Insatiable.”
“Only for you.” I smooth my hands up her sides. “I love you, little siren.”
“I love you, too.” She kisses me, a slow, decadent kiss that makes the room spin away for several long moments. Persephone digs her hands into my hair and grins against my lips. “And it’s a good thing you’re just as insatiable as I am, because I’m nowhere near done with you yet.”
