more modern to enforce natural order, Hades. I’d rather be carried off by a well-muscled man than a trio of albino goddesses and a serpent.”

“I thought we had a deal, Apollo,” Hades gritted out.

Persephone marveled at how her lover could appear so calm, and yet infuse his voice with a quiet fury. She felt it in the air, and it settled on her skin, drawing goosebumps to the surface.

“You mean the deal where I stay away from your goddess in exchange for a favor?”

Hades said nothing. Apollo knew the deal.

“I’d have been more than obliging, except your little lover showed up at Erotas demanding my help. While I was in the middle of a bath, I should add.”

“No, you shouldn’t,” Persephone hissed.

“She can be very persuasive when she’s angry,” he continued, ignoring her. “The magic helped.”

Apollo didn’t even need to say the last part, Hades knew what it meant when she got angry—loss of control.

“You never said she was a goddess. No wonder you snatched her up quickly.”

Why does everyone say that, she wondered?

“I could hardly deny her request when she had razor-sharp thorns pointed at my nether-regions.”

Persephone wanted to vomit, but she glanced at Hades and noted that despite the anger clouding his face, he seemed a little proud.

“So, we struck a deal. A bargain, as you like to call it.”

Hades eyes darkened.

“She asked me to heal her little friend, and in exchange, she provides me with...companionship.”

“Don’t make it sound gross, Apollo.”

“Gross?”

“Everything that comes out of your mouth sounds like a sexual innuendo.”

“Does not!”

“Does too.”

“Enough!” Hades voice cracked like a whip, and when Persephone looked at him, she saw fire in his eyes. Though he addressed Apollo, his gaze didn’t leave her, and she felt it tear

away all her layers, exposing the raw and real fear she felt beneath. “If you are no longer

in need of my goddess, I would like a word with her. Alone.”

“She’s all yours,” Apollo said, who had the good sense to evaporate and say nothing else.

Persephone stood still, staring at Hades. The silence on the floor of Nevernight was tangible. It set heavy on her shoulders and pressed against her ears, and when his voice erupted, burning away the quiet, it promised pain—she could already feel her heart

breaking.

“What have you done?”

“I saved Lexa.”

“Is that what you think?” He seethed. She could see tendrils of his glamour coming off him like smoke. She’d never seen him lose control of his magic.

“She was going to die—”

“She was choosing to die!” Hades snarled, he advanced upon her. His glamour fell away, and he stood before her, stripped of his mortal form. He seemed to fill the room, an inferno,

spreading his heat, his anger billowing, eyes inflamed. “And instead of honoring her wish,