Content Warning: Sexual Content

Everything about her was perfect: the softness of her skin, those whimpers that escaped her as he pressed his arousal to her core, the bite of her fingers against his neck as she fought the need to grind against him. That last part was going to be his undoing; he was losing the same battle. The next roll of her hips was going to snap what little restraint he had left. 

He didn’t bother to close the bedroom door as he lay her on the bed. Trailing his fingers down her sweater, the fabric came apart like a zipper opening before vanishing from her body. Naked now, she was laid out like a delicacy before him. She didn’t shy away from him; that wasn’t who she was. Though small, her body was all warrior, powerful and lithe. There were no doubts that she could handle everything he had planned for her and more. He wished they had more time.   

“You are mine,” he growled as he traced a line between her breasts to the column of her neck. He gently wrapped his fingers around her throat. “I want to mark you, claim you, so no one dares to look at you. Then I want to fuck you until your screams shake the Underworld and your body remembers that only I can please you like that.”  

She shuddered beneath him, a whimpered “do it” falling from her lips as she watched him. “Mark me. Claim me. Own me. I am already yours.” 

He released her neck and slid his palm down her body. He cursed when his hand slipped between her thighs, and he felt her wet heat. She was ready for him.  

Keeping his hand pressed against her heat, he let his eyes roam over her again, savoring her naked flesh. Her white-blonde hair haloed around her head. The white strands against her alabaster skin made her look like a living statue. Even the gray of her eyes played into the illusion. Only the blush that washed over her skin indicated she wasn’t marble. He would find a way to influence artists on the Upperworld to capture her beauty, because he wanted the world to know.   

Satisfied, he stepped between her legs, ready to claim her.  

***  

They had moved from the bed at some point. He had no recollection of when, but it didn’t matter. He drove her back against the wall, one arm propped next to her head so he didn’t collapse against her. They fell apart together in a symphony of moaned names and holy praises that would become his nightly prayer. When they finally came down from the high, she sagged in his arms, and he held her tightly.  

Despite his earlier protestations, he managed to remain in control. For the most part. A bite wound marred her neck, a thin stream of blood staining her skin. With a gentle lap of his tongue, he sealed it closed. Licking it wasn’t necessary for the magic to work, but he couldn’t deny himself the taste. She was better than anything he’d ever had.  

“There will never be anyone but you,” she whispered into the silence that fell over them. “I might not wear a physical brand, but it will always be you.”   

Happiness rolled through him. It didn’t last. The taste soured from a sudden realization that he didn’t want to name yet, even if the inevitable lingered just out of reach. Ignoring it a while longer, he moved to the bed, gently settling her in the center and slipping in next to her. She curled into his side, her palm resting over the rapidly beating heart that he’d forgotten existed.   

“You are my everything,” he whispered against the crown of her head. “I’m just sorry that I cannot do more.”   

“As long as your heart belongs to me, I don’t care if the world knows.” She traced lazy patterns over his chest as that gods damn thought kept running through his head.   

“Pandora…” He pulled back so he could see her face fully. “My heart and soul are yours. They have been since the moment I laid eyes on you when you appeared with Marcus. Nothing and no one,” he placed heavy emphasis on ‘no one’, narrowing his eyes to drive home his point, “will ever change that.”   

She was quiet a moment as she traced his face with gentle fingers, memorizing his features. The revelation hung heavily in the room. It was a silent weight that she could feel, too. They were stalling. 

He was going to have to let her go.   

It had been a month since she arrived, but time moved faster in the Underworld. That wouldn’t stop Athena from raising questions about her Champion, not after how traumatic her death was. If the goddess started asking questions, prying eyes were going to turn towards him.  

He’d given Pandora what she needed: the rest she so cruelly denied herself.  

“You’re going to send me away, aren’t you?” she asked, reading the sudden stillness within him.   

He couldn’t answer because that would make it real. He held her tighter against him, begging the Fates to appear and change their curse. Maybe they’d realize how foolish it was to punish someone as innocent as Pandora. They’d revoke it and let him suffer alone.   

It was too late for that. They would both suffer; they just didn’t know how terrible it would be.   

“Athena will come here, looking for you,” he finally said. “It’s been about a week since your death on the Upperworld.”  

“I understand,” she choked out, her voice wavering. “Thank you, Hades, for everything.”   

“Don’t say it like that,” he said, his own voice faltering. “This is not goodbye forever. This is goodbye for now.”    

She made a sound but didn’t say anything. Rolling onto her back, she pulled him until he hovered over her. He placed his hand on the locket at her throat, and his fingers closed around the metal that now burned his palm. Clenching his jaw, he looked away from her and tried to breathe through the image of her coming undone beneath him. He needed to do this. When he looked back, she was watching him with sorrow-filled eyes. He choked on a sob. 

“Do it,” she whispered. Tears trailed slowly down her cheeks as she searched his face, again trying to memorize it.  

The locket dissolved in his grasp, and she faded to her soul form. An amber glow filled the room in an ominous way. A pained gasp escaped her lips as she arched beneath him. The process of being rejected by the Underworld always hurt. It was worse now because her soul had been here too long, and his realm wanted payment for her stay. The payment was pain, a reminder that immortal souls were not housed here. There was nothing he could do to alleviate it; he could only speed up the process. 

“I love you so much, little pixie,” he whispered as he pressed his palm through her form to that amber glow.   

Before he could banish her, she leaned up to leave a whispered kiss against his lips. He could only feel the coldness left behind, and he was already swimming in grief. He squeezed her glowing heart until she released another shuddering gasp. “I love you, Hades.”   

Then, she was gone. All that remained was a hollow ache in his chest and the phantom warmth where her body had been a second ago. 

Editor: Shannon Hensley