“Most people drink coffee in the morning. It’s really not a big deal.” I make a face. “Though Hermes is the only one I know who doses it with ice cream.”
If anything, her eyes get wider. “I can’t believe Hermes and Dionysus have known about you this entire time. How many other people know that you’re not a myth?”
“A few.” A nice, safe, noncommittal answer.
She’s still staring at my face as if searching for evidence of someone she knows, as if I’m somehow familiar to her. It’s disconcerting in the extreme. I have the irrational suspicion that she’s fisting that comforter so tightly to avoid reaching out and touching me.
Persephone tilts her head to the side. “Did you know there’s a statue of Hades in Dodona Tower?”
“How would I know?” I’ve only been to the tower once, and Zeus hardly gave me the full tour. I never want to repeat the experience, unless it’s to end that bastard once and for all. That particular vengeful fantasy has gotten me through more rough days than I want to number.
She continues on as if I didn’t respond, still studying my features too closely. “There’s these statues of each of the Thirteen, but yours has a black shroud over it. I guess to signify that your line has ended. You’re not supposed to exist.”
“Yes, you keep saying that.” I consider her. “It certainly seems like you’ve spent a lot of time studying this Hades statue. Hardly the kind of man Demeter would want you chasing down.”
Just like that, something shutters in her eyes and her smile brightens to blinding levels. “What can I say? I’m an eternal disappointment as a daughter.” She takes a step and winces.
She’s injured. Fuck, I forgot. I move before I have a chance to consider the wisdom of it. I scoop her up, ignoring her squawk, and set her on the bed. “Your feet are hurting you.”
“If they’re hurting me, I will happily sit down under my own power.”
I look down at her, meeting her eyes, and realize exactly how close we are. An unwelcome frisson of awareness pulses through me. I sound too harsh when I manage to speak. “Then do it.”
“I will! Now get back. I can’t think with you so close.”
I take a slow step back and then another. Setting her on the bed was a mistake, because now she’s looking deliciously rumpled on the bed, and I’m far too aware of other bed-related activities that would accomplish the same look. Fuck, but she’s beautiful. It’s the warm kind of beauty that feels like summer sunlight on my face, like if I get too close, I’ll smudge it. I stare at this beautiful, baffling woman, and I’m not sure I can go through with using her, even to punish Zeus for all the harm he’s caused me and mine.
I slip my hands into my pockets and strive for a neutral tone. “It’s time we spoke about what comes next.”
“Actually, I was thinking the same thing.” Persephone carefully dismantles her blanket armor and gives me a long look. It’s all the warning I get before she smashes through the wall of my good intentions. “I believe we can help each other.”
Chapter 6
Persephone
A night sleeping in a stranger’s bathtub has a way of bringing perspective to a situation. I have nowhere to go. No resources. No friends who won’t bow to my mother’s will. A winter didn’t seem like that long when I was still moving through my normal life. Now? Three months might as well be an eternity for all I can breach it.
My sisters would help me—Callisto would drain her trust fund to ensure I get out of Olympus unscathed—but I can’t let them get that involved. I might be leaving this city, but they aren’t and it would be cowardly in the extreme to accept their help and then whirl away, leaving them to deal with the consequences.
No, there really isn’t another option.
I have to throw myself on Hades’s mercy and convince him that we can help each other.
It doesn’t help that the soft morning light does nothing to make him look less forbidding. I’m getting a feeling like this man walks around with a little bit of midnight in his pocket. He’s certainly dressed the part in a black-on-black suit. Expensive and tasteful and very, very atmospheric when combined with the perfectly groomed beard and long hair. And those eyes. Gods, the man looks like some kind of crossroads demon designed specifically to tempt me. Considering the deal I’m about to offer, maybe that’s not a bad thing.
“Persephone.” A single eyebrow arches. “You think we can help each other.” A reminder that I’d let my voice trail off immediately after throwing that into the air between us.
I smooth back my hair, trying not to let his presence fluster me. I’ve spent the last few years rubbing elbows with powerful people, but this feels different. He feels different. “You hate Zeus.”
“I would think that’s glaringly clear.”
I ignore that. “And for some reason, Zeus is hesitant to move against you.”
Hades crosses his arms over his chest. “Zeus can pretend the rules don’t exist for him, but even he can’t stand against the entirety of the Thirteen. We have a very carefully constructed treaty. A small selection of people can cross back and forth from the upper to the lower city without consequence, but he can’t. And neither can I.”
I blink. This is all news to me. “What happens if you do?”
“War.” He shrugs as if it’s of no concern. Maybe it isn’t for him. “You crossed of your own free will, and he can’t take you back without risking a conflict that will embroil all of Olympus.” His lips quirk. “Your fiancé never does anything that might endanger his power and position, so he’ll let me do whatever I want to you to avoid that fight.”
He’s trying to scare me. Little does he realize that he’s actually reassuring me that this haphazard plan has a chance of working. “Why does everyone believe you’re a myth?”
“I stay in the lower city. It’s not my problem the upper city likes to tell tales that have nothing to do with reality.”
That’s not even close to a complete answer, but I suppose I don’t need that information right now. I can see the framework well enough without all the details. Treaty or no, Zeus has a vested interest in keeping Hades a myth. Without the third legacy role in place, the power balance lands firmly in Zeus’s favor. It was always strange to me that he effectively ignored half of Olympus, but now that I know Hades is real, it makes more sense.
I straighten my spine, holding his gaze. “Regardless, that doesn’t explain the way you spoke to his men last night. You hate him.”
Hades doesn’t blink. “He killed my parents when I was very young. Hate is too gentle a word.”