But he did none of those things. A chill descended over his face, turning those hot eyes to ice. His tone was similarly cold. “I don’t rape.”
Don’t you dare feel bad.
“Then send me back to my home.” Though pleading went against her nature, she swallowed her pride. “Please. I swear, I didn’t bring myself here. I really did just step out of my bath and into your…” She gestured to encompass the palace.
He leaned back on his haunches and studied her closely. “You honestly didn’t know how to escape the bonds I put on you. Or how to conjure clothes.”
Though he didn’t seem to be waiting for a response, she shook her head.
“And you can’t send yourself back?”
More pride swallowing. “If you can’t tell yet, I wouldn’t have the foggiest notion of how to transport myself anywhere in my own world, let alone across worlds.”
He gave a short laugh, and she thought she heard him mutter to himself, “She has no idea.” Hades raised his voice. “Very well.”
She scrambled to her feet, and he rose as well, more slowly. “What?” Had she misheard? That had been too easy.
His eyes narrowed. “Did you think me so lacking in decency that I would imprison you when you didn’t knowingly invade my domain? No, wait. Don’t answer that. It’s clear what you think. Go home, Persephone, daughter of Demeter. Make sure you tell your mama and the other ass-lickers up on your mountain how awful and evil Uncle Hades was, ’kay?”
Damn it. The pinch of guilt was stronger now, and she opened her mouth to recall her words. “I—”
He cut her off, raising his hand in a short, sharp gesture. Unable to help her body’s response, she flinched.
“If I wanted to hit you, I would have already,” he growled. “Now, begone, female.”
Sad, she thought, as she prepared herself for that dizzying rush of energy, that the last image she would retain of him was such a frightening one, with his face tightened in fury.
But her meadow didn’t suddenly rise up to embrace her, nor did she see the beautiful architecture and people of Olympus.
His anger dissipated into confusion. “Why are you still here?”
She shook her head, off balance from the slew of emotions running through her. “I don’t know.”
He raised his hand again, but she remained in front of him. “What the fuck?” He tipped his head back and roared, “Cerberus!”
“You rang, master?”
Hades moved aside, and Persephone gasped. Behind him stood a dog. A dog with three heads instead of one. This was the famed Cerberus, the most fearsome companion to Hades. He was huge, his body easily coming to her chest and covered in sleek midnight-black fur. Only the center head matched the body. The one on the right was a pure white, while the one on the left was tawny yellow. Their eyes were identical, fierce and black, and they glowed with the same red fire as Hades’s gaze. Most pertinent to her state of mind, they all had really sharp, shiny teeth.
The better to eat me with.
Hades pointed to her. “Why is she here?”
All three heads cocked. The middle head, whom she assumed was the mouthpiece of the group, spoke. “I am not sure, sire. I saw the ripple when this intruder breached our world. I assumed, since she entered your throne room, you summoned her.”
“I bloody hell did not summon her. I didn’t summon her, and now I can’t send her back. Why the fuck is that?”
“I am unsure, sire. Everything is functioning fine in the rest of the realm. Souls are still coming in. Try again.”
They both looked at her, and she prepared for the mind-jarring, nauseating rush of energy she’d experienced when she’d been sucked down here after stepping out of her bath.
Nope. Nada.
A deep growl of anger resonated from Hades’s chest, turning gradually into a full-fledged roar, startling her. “Someone’s blocking me. Who the fuck would dare to interfere with my world?”
Not her, she thought privately when he turned those endless eyes on her. Geez, when they called Hades territorial, they weren’t kidding. He was filled with rage at the idea of someone interfering with his dominion.
“Cerberus, find her a room.” He turned on his heel and walked away, his broad back and tight buttocks flexing. Not that she noticed. Much.
She frowned. Wait a minute. “Hey. What am I supposed to do now?”
He glanced over his shoulder at her. “I can give you hundreds of suggestions, bit, but they’d all involve me deep inside of you in one way or another.”
Sounds goo…bad. Very, very bad.
“I’m serious.”
“As am I. No? Fine, then, you can do what females do best…twiddle your thumbs while I handle the problem.”
That arrogant horse’s ass.
She watched him leave, wishing she had the courage to say it out loud, but she wasn’t about to pit herself against the Lord of the Underworld any more than she already had. She couldn’t help herself from sticking out her tongue at his cursed, sexy back though.
Which she promptly pulled back in, shocked, when she felt the phantom brush of an invisible tongue against it. His laughter echoed down the hall back to her.
Chapter Two
Persephone didn’t know what she should gape at first, her once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the palace of the Lord of the Underworld or the three-headed dog leading her through the maze of stairs and hallways.
“Do you like to throw balls?”
She blinked at the tawny head, the first words the creature had spoken directly to her. “I beg your pardon?”
It turned to her. The other two heads stared grimly ahead, though she thought she saw the white one roll its eyes.
“Throwing? Not just balls. Sticks will do too. I do. Well, I like to catch stuff. I can’t throw much because I have no opposable thumbs, but I do so love to catch things that other people, that is, the master, will throw. Sometimes he throws fireballs, and then we get to catch them, though they make my breath smell after, the master says—”
“Silence,” the middle head growled.
Cowed, the chatty head lowered. It cast her a sideways glance. “Sorry.”
She would not feel bad for a hellhound. She would not feel bad for a hellhound. She would not…
“I thought you guarded the entrance to the Underworld,” she said after an uncomfortable silence.
The middle head grunted. “Cerberus does.”
Oh, that cleared things up. Not. “Isn’t that you?”
The tawny head once again looked at her, its tongue hanging out of a doggy grin as if it was pleased as punch to be making conversation again. “Oh, there are lots of our kind, but we’re the only ones the master allows in his palace. He loves us sooooo much. We’re special.”
Middle head, who could easily have been a proper butler, gave a delicate snort. “You’re the special one.”
“That’s what master says. I’m the head that makes this Cerberus special.”
“You’re lucky you didn’t get us drowned upon creation.”
Before tawny head could be chastened again, Persephone intervened. “And you’re all called Cerberus?”
Tawny nodded. “That’s our collective name. Though master calls me—only my head, because I’m special…” it shot a triumphant look at the others, “…Bob.”
Okay. “I see. None of the rest of you have names?”
Middle head gave a put-upon sigh. “Our sire calls me Middle, and…” he indicated the eerily quiet white head staring straight ahead as they plodded, “…it is called Right.”
Not a very imaginative guy, this Hades.
“You can call me Bob too, if you like, my lady.”
“I’m not your lady.”
“You are a deity,” it said simply.
Barely.
She didn’t speak, but Bob had clearly decided that she was fine with its prattling, because it chattered nonstop. Its favorite topic of conversation, she discovered quickly, was Hades.
“Do you like to scratch dogs’ heads? My master scratches my head just right…”
“My master doesn’t even get mad when I gnaw on the souls in Tartarus…”
“My master lets us sleep near him when I have a nightmare…”
“My master…my master…my master…”
She found it kind of endearing, actually, and wondered if this Cerberus really had been in danger of being destroyed when it became evident that Bob was not exactly the grim face of terror. If so, it was a point in Hades’s favor that he hadn’t done so—indeed, he even seemed to indulge the nonsensical creature.
Don’t you go indulging him just because he cares for a goofy dog.
They came to a halt in front of a set of double doors that flew open on its own. “This will be your room for the time being…” Middle began, and then stopped.
She waited for it to finish, but its gaze was focused on something behind her. Indeed, all six eyes were looking past her. “Cerberus?”
Bob craned its neck. “How’d you—? Ow.” It frowned at Middle, who had knocked their heads together. “What?”
Middle ignored it. “My lady. I hope your room pleases you.” It dipped its head and stood to the side to allow her entrance.
She entered and drew in a sharp breath. Scarlet-red curtains hung from a decadently large bed centered in the middle of the room. The rest of the furnishings were a dark brown—so dark it appeared black—while the floor was covered in a carpet that made her want to kick off her slippers and sink into it. It looked like a madam’s room in a whorehouse.
She loved it. It was utterly different from her room at home, which while pretty, looked girlish in comparison with its pastel floral décor. This was very clearly a woman’s room.
If only it wasn’t so devoid of natural light. There was a large alcove for a window, and a plush red velvet seat, but no actual glass. The light came from gas lamps scattered around the room.
“Thank you, Cerberus. This will do nicely.”
“Is there anything else you require?”
Sunshine. Flowers. Home. Those thick arms— She cut off that thought. “I guess food or drink is out, huh?” Not that she needed food or water to survive, but she enjoyed it as a novelty and as a comfort, particularly if it was something she’d grown herself.
“Alas, those rumors are true. If you consume any food or drink in the Underworld, you remain in the Underworld.”
Was that a hint of warning she heard? She turned to the hellhound. “How long will I be here?”
“I will see if there is any news and come to you post-haste if there is.”
“Thank you.”
Its body took a step away, but Right spoke. She wasn’t surprised to hear that its voice was rusty with disuse. “Have a care, lady. Bob may be foolish—”
“I am not.”
“And Middle may be polite, but should you cross Lord Hades, neither will stop me from ripping off your limbs and feasting on them.” It flattened its lips and pulled them back so she could see its sharp canines and gums. Saliva dripped down to darken the white fur around its mouth.
She shivered as it stalked out, the door closing on Bob’s chiding voice. “That wasn’t very nice…”
Persephone chafed her arms with her hands as she wandered around the room, finally sinking with a sigh onto the window seat. She hated this feeling. Would there ever come a time when she wouldn’t feel like a particularly limp yo-yo, jerked from one world to the next?
“Hey, my little tulip.”
She turned with a jerk at the loud, booming voice. “Zeus?” She hadn’t seen Zeus in years, and then only for a brief time before she’d left Olympus, but he looked relaxed and hearty, his light brown hair long and flowing. He had grown facial hair since she had seen him last, a neatly trimmed Vandyke beard. His eyes were a matching light brown and danced with merriment, but Persephone knew they hid a ruthless and cunning mind. He wasn’t completely solid; she could see the door through him. “Is that really you?”
“Of course.”
Her eyes narrowed. She may not have spent a lot of time around gods, but she knew their trickery. This could very well be some plan of Hades. “Prove it.”
“Oh, my suspicious rose. Okay. First time I met you, you were crying.”
Of course she was crying—she’d been running from horny Hermes. Little winged bastard could flit around fast. That didn’t prove Zeus’s identity, as any number of people could have seen her or heard the story from him. Gods were a gossipy lot. “You need to do better than that.”
He glowered. “Fine. Last time you saw me,
I
was crying.”
Wincing in remembered sympathy, she smiled. “I’m sorry that nymph kicked you where she did.”
“Trust me, so am I. Ugh. So this is how Hades decorates, huh? It’s so garish.” Zeus studied his surroundings with a small curl to his lip.
“It’s not so bad.” As she said the words, she wondered why she was defending that boor. To cover her slip, she rushed to speak. “I assume you’ve never been here then?”
“Nope. Hades forbids all of us from entering.”
He sounded remarkably cheerful for someone who was breaking a massive rule. “So why are you here? For that matter, why am I here?”
“Well, I’m here—sort of here—to put some of your worries to rest. Don’t have a lot of time, so I’m going to have to use my considerable soothing powers to calm you quickly.”
His angelic countenance didn’t fool her. “And why am I here?”
“Oh, that. I put you here.”
The third time Cerberus cleared its throat, Hades poked his head out of his large walk-in closet. “What?” he snapped.
Only his demon dog would dare intrude upon him when he was in this mood. Middle spoke. “Sire, I merely wanted to assure you that Lady Persephone is settled nicely in the red room.”
“Great, good.” The red room, which happened to be next to his room. Not that that mattered—he had a better chance of fucking Medusa than he did Sephie.
Once again…not that that mattered.
“She is quite an interesting young lady.”
He grunted, which shut up Middle, the very proper and conscientious head, but had no affect on Bob, who set the hound’s tail to wagging in its eagerness. “Do you know what she’s the goddess of, master?”
“No. And I don’t care, as long as I can figure out who has the giant balls to fuck with me.” He found what he was looking for shoved into a corner on the bottom shelf of his closet, and he grabbed it.
There was only one person he could think of who had the aforementioned testicles, the absolute gall, to tamper with his life. He pulled the silk wrapping off the large glass sphere and thunked the priceless artifact on his desk. “Zeus!” he yelled. “You stupid git. I want to talk to you.”