CHAPTER XXI - A TOUCH OF BETRAYAL

CHAPTER XXI - A TOUCH OF BETRAYAL

When Persephone returned home, she found Sybil, Zofie, and Antoni in her living room.

“Oh, thank the gods!” Sybil said, rushing to embrace her. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Persephone said. Truthfully, she hadn’t felt this good in a while.

“Where were you?” Zofie demanded.

“The Lyre. Apollo decided today was the day he would take advantage of our bargain,” Persephone said.

Zofie’s eyes widened. “You have a bargain with Apollo?”

She didn’t respond and moved into the living room to sit on the couch, suddenly exhausted. The three followed her. “Did you tell Hades I was abducted?”

Antoni rubbed the back of his neck and turned a little pink. He didn’t need to answer, she knew the cyclops had.

Persephone sighed. “Someone should let him know I’m okay so he doesn’t destroy the world.”

Antoni and Zofie exchanged a look.

“I’ll do it,” Antoni said. “I’m glad you’re okay, Persephone.”

She smiled at the cyclops. Once he was gone, Sybil sat beside Persephone.

“What did Apollo make you do?”

Persephone told Sybil and Zofie what had happened, leaving out how she managed to freeze everyone in the whole room and that she’d cut someone’s fingers off. She decided she did want them to know she had kicked Apollo in the balls, though. Sybil laughed. Zofie tried to hide her amusement, probably because she feared retaliation.

“I don’t think he’ll force me to judge another competition any time soon,” she said. “Or abduct me from the street.”

There was silence for a long moment.

“Any updates on Lexa?” Persephone asked Sybil.

The oracle shook her head. “She was still asleep when I visited.”

More silence. There was a strange kind of exhaustion that seemed to settle upon them all at once and Persephone sighed.

“I’m going to bed. See you guys tomorrow.”

They said goodnight, and Persephone made her way to her room. She paused as she opened the door, overwhelmed by Hades’ scent. Her heart beat faster in her chest and her skin was hot. She felt silly, both excited and anxious at the possibility of seeing and speaking to him.

She closed the door and said, “How long have you been here?”

“Not long.” His voice came from the darkness. There was a rough undercurrent to his tone. She knew he was trying to keep a cap on his emotions. She could feel them raging around her, anger and fear and lust and longing.

She would take them all if it meant being close to him.

“You know what happened?” she asked.

“I overheard, yes.”

“Are you angry?” She whispered the words and found that she feared his response.

“Yes,” he said. “But not with you.”