“Can you be that man again?”
Why was I asking him this? What was the point? I didn’t want to like him more. I wanted to hate him. And usually I did. But right now, all I desired was to give him some small amount of peace, just like the rest of the lost souls here.
His eyes opened. “For you, consort, I could try.”
Chapter 17
Gabrielle
“I have something to show you,” he admitted. He still hadn’t released my wrist, and now he twined his fingers through mine and tugged me out of our bedroom.
My dress slithered across the onyx floors as we crossed the palace. Pluto could’ve instantly transported us to whatever it was he wanted to show me, but he chose to walk with me instead.
We didn’t speak for much of the trip, which I was coming to find was decidedly not a good thing. It made me focus on the way his thumb drew circles on the back of my hand and the electricity that jumped between the two of us. But most of all, it made me realize that since our connection formed, I never felt more like myself than when I was with him.
Once we began to climb up a winding staircase, I had a good idea where we were going. But it was only when I saw the familiar doors to the library that I could be sure that was our destination.
I glanced over at him in time to see one corner of his mouth lift.
When we entered, I gasped. Floor-to-ceiling shelves now lined the room, each filled to the brim with books. Books that didn’t appear to be bound in human skin.
Score!
I spun in place, taking it all in.
“Do you like it?”
I swiveled around at the sound of Hades’ voice.
“You did this?” I asked.
His gaze passed over the shelves of books. “You’ve been bored, and you don’t wish to come with me to the fields.”
I suppressed a cringe at the word fields. He wasn’t harvesting vegetables beyond the palace walls.
“You’ve been spending time in here. You needed a library fitting for a queen.” He slid his hands in his pockets, wandering farther into the room, his gaze still glued to the books. “We will make it bigger. This is only temporary.”
Bigger?
I still hadn’t gotten over the fact that this was a gift. That someone could just give me a library. I didn’t want to be moved by this or overcome with the vastness of this present. It wasn’t something that I could repay in kind.
Suddenly, I was nervous. What did Pluto want in return?
Our gazes caught, and I swear he heard my thoughts. For once I wished I could read his. In the depths of those unfathomable eyes was a world of unspoken things. They sat right at the tip of his tongue, but he voiced none of them.
Instead he bowed his head. “I will leave you here.”
His words hit me in the gut, and I already felt the ache of his absence. I didn’t want him to leave. Not when he was like this.
“Where are you going?” I asked. I crossed the room to where he stood.
The look in his eyes deepened as I came to him. “Back to work. I have a realm to run.”
I touched the base of my throat. He hadn’t tried anything. It was almost … disappointing. I pushed that thought away as guilt rose up in me. I loved Andre, damnit. I needed to be with Andre. Fantasizing about the devil was not okay.
His jaw tightened. “Let him go, consort. He is not yours anymore. I am. This is not wrong; fighting it is.”
The air changed, and Asiri, this strange god I’d caught glimpses of, retreated. “I will dine with you later. Until then, occupy yourself.” With that, his form dissipated.
I rubbed my arms, thrown by his constantly shifting moods. No, not moods. Personas. He wore them like coats. Shedding one only to don another. It made me trust him less, not more.
After he left, I made myself comfortable. I discovered that Pluto had stocked the shelves with novels in a vast array of genres.
I felt like Belle, and the devil, my beast.
A heartless, scary-as-hell beast, but you know, a beast nonetheless.
Hours ticked by in that library. I read the final page in the first book I’d picked up. Closing it, I drummed my fingers along the cover. I wasn’t ready to read another novel, which left me to my thoughts. I brought my fingers to my lips and absently rubbed them.
Earlier, the devil and I discussed some things, but it was what we didn’t discuss that troubled me. He didn’t mention me killing his demon. He didn’t mention my meeting with Andre, and he hadn’t done more than touch upon my attempt to find Jericho.
What was he keeping from me?
My thoughts turned to Andre. I held our earlier conversation close to my heart, hoping that he was having an easier time believing in us than I was.
A war between realms, a malleable god, violent angels, and me at the epicenter of it all. My free hand rubbed my locket absently. The future is yours to claim.
It didn’t feel like it at the moment. If anything, it felt like the future was claiming me.
A bloody body was stretched out on hell’s dining room table.