It almost made him sound controlling, and he hated that.
“You can’t tell me who to write about, Hades,” she’d said, and while he’d have liked for her to have been able to write about anyone and anything she wished, the reality was, it wasn’t possible without fallout. She was about to learn the hard way.
“When it comes to Apollo, there is no such thing,” Hades replied.
Ilias did not disagree. “He will hunt her.”
Hades did not need to be told. He knew what the god was capable of.
He’d pursue Persephone until she paid for her alleged slander, but Hades wasn’t willing to lose another love to the God of Music.
“That’s not all I have for you,” Ilias said. “This came pinned to the newspaper.”
Ilias handed him a piece of white parchment. The top of the page was embossed with a gold peacock. Beneath the icon was printed From the desk of Hera, Goddess of Marriage and below that was a handwritten message.
I see your lover has caused quite a stir. With your allies growing fewer and fewer among the Olympians, it will be no easy task to convince Zeus to agree to your hopeful matrimony.
It was as much a threat as it was a reminder of the labors Hera had sentenced Hades to. He knew he was running out of time. He would have to kill Briareus soon.
Hades crushed the note in his palm and set it ablaze with black flame. It curled into solid ashes that dissipated into a fine dust, leaving behind a sharp, clean smell and pale-white smoke.
“Anything else?” Hades asked.
“I think that’s enough for today, don’t you?”
Hades rose from his chair, drained his glass, and left the club.
*
Hades waited for Persephone in the darkness of her room. He wondered if she had dreaded this encounter. Had the thought of facing him invaded every part of her day? While he would have preferred to occupy her thoughts for a different reason, she had to know he was coming for her, yet she did not hesitate as she entered her room, did not pause to scan the area for signs of his presence. She walked straight to her bedside table, turned on the light, and stepped into the bathroom. She turned on the faucet and returned to her room, arms tangled behind her back as she managed to unzip her dress.
They had not been apart long, but the anger and betrayal between them made it feel like months. His fingers itched to touch her, to help her out of her dress, to ignore the past few days of fury and frustration in favor of something far more pleasurable, but even he knew that was foolish, because all those feelings would be waiting on the other side of that intimate high.
Her dress puddled around her feet, and her skin glowed softly, bathed in the warmth of her lamplight. She straightened, dressed only in black lace, but before she could remove that too, she must have caught sight of him, because she glanced his way and startled.
“Please continue,” he implored, leaning against the wall opposite her.
Despite his frustration with her, he’d happily watch her strip, especially knowing he was soon to be the recipient of her anger, given what he’d come here to do.
She stared, speechless, and he wondered what she was thinking as her eyes roved over his body, but there came a time, all too quickly, when she met his gaze, narrowed her eyes, pressed her lips tight, and bent to pull her dress up, holding it to her chest as if they were not lovers at all but strangers.
That simple act made him feel many things but mostly hopeless.
He offered a humorless laugh. “Come now, darling. We are beyond that, are we not? I have seen every inch of you— touched every part of you.”
A tremor shook her, but at least she did not cringe.
“That doesn’t mean you will tonight,” she snapped. “What are you doing here?”
Hades’s impatience made his body vibrate. Why did she feel entitled to anger? She had defied him.
“You are avoiding me.”
He wondered how long it would have taken her to return to the Underworld if he had not sought her out tonight.
“I’m avoiding you? It’s a two-way street, Hades. You’ve been just as absent.”
“I gave you space,” he argued, because he’d assumed that was what was best, yet Persephone rolled her eyes. “Clearly that was a bad idea.”
“You know what you should have given me? An apology.”
She tossed her dress aside and whirled around, heading into the bathroom, where she removed the rest of her clothes. Hades followed as she stepped into the bath and sank into the steaming water. She didn’t seem to mind the heat, though it had already turned her pale skin a bright red. She kept her knees pressed to her chest, and as he spoke, her arms tightened around her knees.
“I told you I loved you.”
It wasn’t as if he had hoped to keep Leuce a secret for malicious reasons.
As selfish as it may have been, he hadn’t wanted to admit to turning her into a tree. It was abhorrent behavior and something she had criticized Apollo for.
“That’s not an apology.”
“Are you telling me those words mean nothing to you?”
She tilted her chin, anger flashing in her eyes. “Actions, Hades. You weren’t going to tell me about Leuce.”
“If we are going to speak of actions, then let us speak of yours. Did you not promise me you wouldn’t write about Apollo?”
He knew he was being a little unfair, but of the two things they were discussing, Apollo took precedence. He was a god with power and a taste for blood.
“I had to do it—”
“Had to? Were you offered an ultimatum?”
He couldn’t keep the bite from his voice, and his tone drowned out the part of him that was actually concerned she might have faced some kind of demand from her job. New Athens News was owned by Kal Stavros. At his question, Persephone looked away, setting her jaw.
“Were you threatened?” he continued.
She did not respond. She was digging her heels in against his anger.
“Did any of it have anything to do with you?”
She stood from the bath without warning, water rippling off her body, and clutched a towel to her chest.
“Sybil is my friend, and her life was ruined by Apollo,” she said, standing so close he could feel the heat coming off her body. “His behavior had to be exposed.”
Hades inched closer, tilting his head as he did.
“Do you know what I think?” he whispered furiously, letting his arms fall to his sides, fingers curling into fists to keep from touching her. “I think this is all a game to you. I pissed you off, so you wanted to piss me off, is that it? One for one—now we’re even.”
She scowled. “Not everything’s about you, Hades.”
He gripped her hips and drew her close, voice rough. “You promised me you wouldn’t write about Apollo. Is your word worth nothing?”
She flinched, and he felt it in her whole body, a desire to create distance between them.
“Fuck you,” she spat with tears in her eyes, and as much as he hated to see it, he smiled.
“I’d rather fuck you, darling, but if I did right now, you wouldn’t walk for a week.”
He snapped his fingers and teleported to the queen’s suite. It was where she usually got ready for events in the Underworld, and it would be her home for however long it took to end Apollo’s hunt.
As soon as they had appeared, Persephone pushed away from him.
“Did you just abduct me?”
“Yes. Apollo will come after you, and the only way he will have an audience with you is if I am present.”
“I can take care of this, Hades.”
“You can’t and you won’t.” He hated to say it, but in this instance, it was true. She couldn’t go up against a god—not one as seasoned as Apollo.
Her eyes glinted, lifting her chin in defiance as she tried to teleport. When it didn’t work, she stomped her foot, and from there, a mass of vines erupted from the floor and crawled toward him.
“You can’t keep me here.”
Hades’s responding chuckle only seemed to infuriate her more. “Darling, you are in my realm. You’re here until I say otherwise.”
He turned and headed for the door.