Vowed to Hades (Romancing the Seas #4)

14. Persephone

PERSEPHONE

T he cavern was still and suffocating. Darkness pressed in from all sides, thick and impenetrable, like a living entity determined to crush the life out of them.

Persephone’s breath came in shallow gasps, her heart thumping as she knelt beside Hades, his once formidable form now alarmingly fragile.

He lay slumped against the cold stone, his skin pale and clammy. His breaths came out sharp and uneven.

She placed her palm on his chest, feeling the faint rise and fall, but it was too slow, too weak. Every time his breath hitched, her own heart stuttered in response.

“Hades,” she whispered, her voice trembling as she leaned closer to him, her fingers brushing against his cheek. “I need you to open a portal and get us out of here.”

But Hades mumbled something incoherent, his eyes fluttering as if he were trying to surface from some deep, unreachable place.

Panic gripped Persephone, the tightness of the space around them closing in like a noose around her neck.

She tugged on the collar of her shirt and wiped sweat from her brow.

The walls seemed to pulse with a malicious intent, the air growing thinner with each passing second.

She pressed her hands against the rough stone, feeling for any sign of an opening, but there was nothing—just unyielding rock on all sides.

She could no longer hear Georgette or Serena, and her stomach tightened uncomfortably as she reasoned why that might be.

Had they been buried under rock?

If Persephone and Hades hadn’t stopped to spy on their captors, and instead rescued their friends…perhaps they would not be in this situation.

A sickly sense of guilt swirled inside of her at the thought.

Her breath quickened, a tremor running through her as she realized how truly trapped they were. The cavern was a tomb.

Persephone once thought she wanted to die. To finally be reunited with Adonis.

But now that she faced death in the eye, she knew she wasn’t ready. And with the recent revelations, she had so many questions .

She needed to live. She needed to find out the truth once and for all.

Hades was their only hope, and he was slipping away.

She shivered, the cold seeping into her bones as she curled up next to his body, willing him to wake up again.

She needed him to wake up—not just because he was their only way to freedom, but because she needed answers. She needed to know why everyone thought she had been tricked, why they believed she wasn’t married to Adonis after all.

The thought gnawed at her, twisting her stomach into knots.

She closed her eyes, desperate to escape the crushing reality of the cavern, and instead forced herself to picture her memories—those beautiful, perfect memories of Adonis.

She remembered walking hand in hand with him through the woods, the sunlight filtering through the trees, bathing them in a warm, golden glow. She recalled the long afternoons in the drawing room of his palace, where she would paint pictures of the gardens while Adonis watched her, his eyes filled with adoration.

But as she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to hold onto those memories, they began to fade, tainted by doubt.

She could almost see him, leaning over her, whispering sweet words as they lay together at night. The tenderness in his touch, the way he made love to her—it had all felt so real, so true.

He was her husband. He had to be.

But Hades…

Hades is a liar and a murderer.

The thought echoed in her mind, but now, it was accompanied by a creeping uncertainty. The idea that he could be telling the truth was inconceivable, yet it nagged her, refusing to be silenced.

How could it be so?

If she truly was Hades's wife, if everything she believed about Adonis was a lie, then there was something far more sinister at play. The memories she cherished were corrupted, twisted into something sickening.

She shuddered at the thought, her heart aching with the possibility that everything she knew, everything she loved, was a lie.

“You have to live, Hades,” she whispered, her voice breaking as she touched his cheek, his skin was cold beneath her fingers. “You have to live because I can’t die not knowing the truth.”

The air was growing thinner now. Her breaths became more labored as she realized their time was running out.

Yet still, Hades remained unconscious, his body unresponsive.

Desperation clawed at her, and with no other choice, Persephone leaned in closer, her hands trembling as she cupped his face.

Her heartbeat roared in her ears as she hesitated for the briefest of moments, then, closing her eyes, she pressed her lips to his in a gentle kiss.

Hades jerked awake, his body convulsing as he gasped for air, his eyes snapping open in wild confusion.

For a moment, he seemed disoriented, his gaze unfocused as he struggled to make sense of his surroundings. But then his eyes found hers, and a strange emotion washed over his features—an emotion that made Persephone’s breath catch in her throat.

It wasn’t manipulation.

It wasn’t fear for their surroundings.

It wasn’t even the cold calculation she had come to expect from him.

It was love.