She sighed and sat in her chair. “It’s okay, Helen. Just...don’t tell anyone, okay? It...might not happen.”

She hoped.

Helen looked panicked. So she had heard a lot more than she was letting on.

“But...you’ll be fired!” she whispered fiercely.

Persephone sighed. “Helen, I really need to get to work and I think you do, too.”

Helen paled. “Of course. I’m so—”

“Stop apologizing, Helen,” Persephone said, and then added as gently as she could. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

The blonde smiled. “I hope things get better, Persephone. I really do.”

After Helen returned to her desk, Persephone started research on Apollo and his many lovers. She realized she’d promised Hades she wouldn’t write about the God of Music, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t start a file on him and there was no lack of information, especially from antiquity.

Almost all the stories about Apollo and his relationships ended tragically for the other person involved. Of all his lovers, there were a few who stood out and illustrated his heinous behavior, in particular the stories of Daphne and Cassandra.

Daphne was a nymph and swore to remain pure her whole life. Despite this, Apollo pursued her relentlessly, declaring his love for her as if that might sway her to change her mind. Left with no other options, and fearing Apollo, she asked her father, the river god Peneus, to free her from Apollo’s relentless pursuit. Her father granted her request and turned her into a laurel tree.

Laurel was one of Apollo’s symbols and now Persephone realized why.

Gross.

Cassandra, a Princess of Troy, was given the power to see the future by Apollo, who hoped the gift would persuade her to fall in love with him, but Cassandra wasn’t interested. Enraged, Apollo cursed her, allowing her to retain the power to see the future, but making it so that no one would believe her predictions. Later, Cassandra would foresee the fall of her people, but no one would listen.

There were other ancient lovers—Coronis, Okyrrhoe, Sinope, Amphissa, Koronis, and Sibylla, and newer, modern lovers—Acacia, Chara, Io, Lamia, Tessa, and Zita. The research wasn’t easy. From what Persephone understood, many of these women had tried to speak out against Apollo via social media, blogs, even going so far as to tell their story to journalists. The problem was no one was listening.

She was so consumed by her research, a knock on her desk made her jump. Persephone found Demetri standing in front of her.

“How’s the article coming?” he asked.

She glared and answered in a crisp tone, “Coming.”

Her boss frowned. “You know if I had a choice—”

“You have a choice,” she said, cutting him off. “You just tell him no.”

“Your job isn’t the only one on the line.”

“Then maybe that’s a sign you should quit.”