“Now you can have both beauties together,” Hades said.
Lina's brow furrowed. “No, I don't want to wear them out.” She thought for a moment before waving her fingers at the flower. “Go back to sleep,” she told it. With a sound that was very much like a sigh, the lily closed.
She turned back to Hades to find him watching her with an expression she couldn't read. Before she could ask him what was wrong, he took her hand, the one that had touched the flower, and turned it so that it rested, palm up, in his own, then he raised the tips of her fingers to his mouth.
The touch of his lips made her stomach shiver. She wanted him to kiss much more than her hands.
Too soon, he released her hand and said, “You are a very kind goddess.”
She wasn't really Persephone, but Hades made her feel like she truly was a goddess. Instead of wrapping her arm through his again, Lina slid her fingers down his arm so that she could hold his hand. His lips quivered, then turned up in a pleased smile. He squeezed her hand, and they resumed their walk.
“I would like to show you something,” Hades said suddenly. “Something that is very important to me.”
Lina glanced up at him and their eyes met briefly. Then he looked away, and Lina could see the tense line of his jaw.
“If it's important to you, I would love to see it.”
His jaw unclenched and he squeezed her hand again. “It is this way.”
The first tier ended and Hades led her down the stairs to the second level. Earlier that day when she had been collecting nectar she really hadn't been able to pay attention to anything except calling forth the sticky liquid, and Lina would have liked to have stopped to take a closer look at the fountains and statuary, but the God's pace quickened. Obviously, he was anxious to get to whatever he wanted to show her. Curiosity piqued, she lengthened her stride to match his.
On the third level Hades chose a path that branched to their right. It wound in little S curves down the side of that tier. Gradually, the well-tended gardens gave way to large pine trees. Their sharp scent reminded Lina of holidays and home.
“I love the way pine trees smell,” Lina said.
Instead of answering, Hades pressed his finger against her lips. “Ssssh,” he whispered. “We do not want them to know we are here.”
Before Lina could ask who he meant, Hades pointed to a cluster of large stones.
“We must wait behind those.”
Intrigued, but completely confused, Lina let him pull her down next to him as they crouched behind the jagged rocks.
“What's going on?” Lina whispered.
Hades changed position so that he could see over the top of the nearest boulder. He gestured for her to do the same. She peeked over the rock.
On the other side of the cluster of rocks the land angled sharply down until it met the bank of a river. Lina blinked several times to make sure her eyes weren't fooling her, but the water remained the same, sparkling like liquid diamonds in the magical light of the Underworld night. Everything was very quiet around them, and Lina could hear the sound of the river. Its voice laughed and sang the words of a strange language. She didn't understand the words, but the sound was compelling, and she felt a sudden desire to rush down the bank and wade into the water so that she could be immersed in its bright laughter.
Hades' firm hand enveloped her shoulder. His lips almost touched her ear as he spoke quietly to her. “Do not listen to the river's call.”
Lina focused on his voice and almost instantly she felt the river's allure slide away.
“I should have warned you. The call of Lethe can be very strong.” Hades' breath was warm and Lina leaned into him. He shifted his position, put his arm around her shoulders and drew her in front of him so that she was half resting intimately across his lap. She leaned back against his chest and tilted her head toward him so that he could catch the whisper of her words.
“This is Lethe, the River of Forgetfulness?”
Lina felt him nod and she stared at it, unbelieving. So this was the famous river that caused souls to forget their lives and readied them to be born anew.
“Is that what is so important to you?”
“In a way,” he whispered, “but there is more.”
“Why do we have to be so quiet?”
“We do not want the souls to know that we are here. Our presence would be a distraction. For this the dead do not need us.”
Lina felt a rush of excitement and she searched the banks of the river. “I don't see any dead.”
“Watch and wait” was all he would say.
Lina settled back against him. Hades wrapped his arms tightly around her. It felt incredibly good to be so close to him. The bite of pine lingered in the air, mixing with the heady male scent of Hades. Once she tuned out its compelling call, the river's voice was lilting and melodic. Lina felt immersed in an experience of the senses. Her entire body felt aroused and ultra-sensitive. The god's hand rested on her forearm and his thumb was tracing lazy circles over her skin. She shivered under his touch.
“Is my cloak not warm enough?” he murmured, his breath licking against her ear. “Are you cold?”
She shook her head no, and turned in his arms so that she could see his face. He surrounded her. His body was hard and strong and he radiated heat through the leather of his breastplate. His bare arms encircled her. She opened her mouth to tell him that it was his touch that made her tremble and that . . .
“There.” His whisper was urgent. He leaned forward, moving her with him. Hades pointed and Lina's eyes followed his finger.
Two figures were approaching the river from the opposite side. As they drew closer Lina could see that they were holding hands. The bright water reflected off their bodies, showing them to be an ancient-looking man and woman. They moved slowly, allowing their shoulders and hips to brush against one another. Every step or two the man would raise the woman's wrinkled hand to his lips and hold it there while she gazed tenderly at him.
Lina felt a little uncomfortable spying on them, but she was also mesmerized by the obvious adoration the two felt for one another. Finally, the couple reached the river's edge. They turned to face each other. The man rested his hands on the woman's shoulders.
“Are you quite certain?” His voice was cracked with age and emotion, but it carried clearly across the river.
“Yes, my love. I am certain. It is time, and we will find each other again,” she answered him.
“I have always trusted you. I cannot doubt you now,” he said.
As the old man drew the woman gently into his arms and kissed her, Lina felt her eyes fill with tears. She blinked quickly to keep her vision clear. The couple ended their embrace, and then with their hands still joined, they knelt beside the river, bent down and drank the crystal water. Instantly, their bodies began to shine. Their hair and clothes whipped wildly around them as if they had been caught in a fierce wind. Then they began to change. Lina gasped as she watched years fall away from the couple. Their images shifted from old age, to middle age, then young adulthood, and finally they glowed with the vibrancy of teenagers. There the metamorphosis paused. Stunned, the two gazed at each other. Then the man threw back his head and shouted with joy. Again, he pulled the woman into his arms and she wrapped herself around him, laughing and crying at the same time.
Tears spilled from Lina's eyesâthat must have been how they had looked when they had first fallen in love. While they were embracing their bodies became brighter and brighter, until Lina had to use her hand to shield her eyes against the light. Then they exploded, as if two stars had just burst, raining a shower of sparks into the water. From the center of each of the explosions twin dots of fist-sized lights were formed. They hovered over the water, acclimating themselves to their new senses. Then they began to float downstream, carried by their own special breeze. Lina stared after them. The two globes of light remained close together, so close that, as they moved farther away, there appeared to be no visible distinction between them. The river curved to the left and the lights followed it, disappearing from sight.
Lina wiped at her eyes and sniffled. “What will happen to them?” she asked in a broken voice.
“What you saw them become is how the soul appears after all memories and all links to the body are removed. Their souls will follow Lethe to its beginning. There they will be reborn as infants to live new lives,” Hades said.
Lina swiveled in his lap so that she was facing him. “But will they be together again? If they're reborn as new people with no memory of their previous lives, how can they find each other?”
“Soul mates will always find each other. Do not weep on their behalf. The woman spoke the truth; they will be together again.”
“Do you promise?” Lina's voice trembled with emotion.
“I promise, sweet one. I promise.”
Slowly, warring against eons of solitude, he cupped her face in his hands. Hades made his decision. He had to try. He would be lost if he didn't. Hades gazed at her while his pulse beat erratically. Taking a deep breath, he let his thumbs wipe away her remaining tears.
“This is what I wanted to show youâto share with youâthe bond of soul mates. Once you have seen it, it is something that you will remember always. It may even change you. It has surely changed me.”
Gently, Hades bent to her. First he kissed the closed lid of each of her eyes, then he placed his lips over hers. The kiss began as sweet and hesitant, but when Lina's arms slid up around his shoulders and she opened her lips to accept him, Hades automatically deepened the kiss. She was there, a reality in his arms. This time he did not have to imagine that he touched and tasted her. His desire for her, which had not truly been sated, surged through his blood. With a moan of pleasure, he met her tongue with his own. She was soft and she tasted of ambrosia and heat. His hands slipped inside the covering cape and found her waist. Hades caressed the curve of her hip, following the path his fantasy had taken. He buried one hand in the silk of her hair and he felt her breath quicken as his other hand roamed up and down the length of her thigh. The silky slip of a nightdress offered little barrier. She shifted in his lap, so that the hard flesh of his erection pressed firmly against the curve of her buttocks.
The sound deep in his throat was low and feral. How had he lived so long without her? He desired her with a fire that was burning him alive.
His hand traveled back to the luscious curve of her waist and continued up. He could feel the round fullness of the side of her breast, and in his mind he again saw the puckered nipples glistening wet with water and oil. His fingertips found the hard bud and he rolled it gently through the thin silk.
Persephone made a choked gasping noise against his mouth.
The sound penetrated the red haze of lust that fogged his brain and he wrenched himself back from her. His cape had been pushed aside and Persephone's body lay across him, trembling and exposed. Her hair was disheveled and her lips were red and swollen. By all the gods, what was wrong with him! Had he lost total control of himself? He hadn't wanted it to happen like this, even a callow fool knew better than to maul a goddess in the middle of a forest. Uttering a curse he stood, lifting her abruptly to her feet. She had dried pine needles and smudges of dirt on her nightdress and she looked achingly young and alluring as she gazed up at him, a confused smile tilting her sensuous lips.
Hades was filled with shame. He still wanted to press her to the ground and take her right there. He brushed frantically at the pine needles that clung to her robe, muttering nearly incoherent apologies.
The force of the God's passion stirred a desire in Lina so intense, so fierce, that it was a little frightening. But as she watched the lust that drained from Hades' face being replaced by an expression that could have been either anger or embarrassment, she brought her breathing under control and commanded her mind to function again. She'd never had a god for a lover, but she was certainly no virgin, and she shouldn't be reacting like one.
“I did not mean to bring you here to . . . to . . .” He shook his head miserably and continued to wipe at her dress. “To rut you like a beast.”
He wasn't angry, she realized with relief. He was mortified. Lina grabbed his hand and tugged on it until he met her eyes. “Hades, stop. I'm fine. What is this all about?”
“A goddess deserves more than a tussle on the bare ground.”
Her smile was slow and sensuous. “I can't speak for other goddesses, but I was enjoying that tussle.” She slid her hands up to rest against his leather breastplate. She could still feel the furnace-like heat radiating from him. “And I wasn't sitting on the bare ground. I was sitting on your lap.”
Hades expelled his breath in an audible sigh. The haunted expression in his eyes made him look decades older. Gently, he touched the side of her face. His voice was thick with restrained emotions. “Truly, I did not bring you here to seduce you, but I find that I cannot keep my thoughts away from you . . . nor my hands. I desire you above all things, Persephone, may the gods help me,” he finished in a rush.
“Then may the gods help both of us, Hades,” Lina said. And when his lips met hers she refused to think of Demeter and tomorrows.
Hades broke the kiss gently, while he was still able to control himself. She was so soft and so open to him. That she desired him was obvious, but Hades wanted more than to possess her body. He wanted her soul. With a gesture that was incredibly tender, he straightened his cloak around her shoulders and wrapped her arm through his.