“Persephone!” Hermes called as she left the room. “Sephy! Get back here! No one will take you seriously with that hair!”

She ignored him taking off toward the throne room, her feet slipping on the marble as she went. She burst inside where she found Hades and Apollo standing opposite each other. They really were quite the pair—shadow and light meeting on a marble battlefield.

Apollo was beautiful in his mortal form. He was boyish, athletic, and smaller than Hades. He had a crown of dark curls, a square jaw, and dimples that added to what might be youthful charm if he didn’t appear so angry.

Hades, on the other hand, was raw, primal masculinity. He towered over Hermes, his hair a halo of darkness. There was a maturity to Hades’ features that had nothing to do with his well-manicured beard or tailored suit—it was in his eyes—black, endless eyes that had seen lifetimes of strife.

When she entered, the two gods turned to her.

“So, the mortal has come to play,” Apollo remarked.

Hades glared over Persephone’s shoulder at Hermes who had followed her. The god held up his hands to stave off Hades’ anger.

“What? She guessed!”

Hades turned back to Apollo. “The deal is done. You will not touch her.”

“What deal?” Persephone demanded.

The two gods looked at her again, Apollo amused, Hades, angry, but she didn’t care. While she understood Hades wanted to keep her safe from Apollo, he couldn’t just exclude her from this conversation. She had started it, she had things to say, and Apollo would hear her out.

“Your lover has struck a deal,” Apollo said. The way he said lover slithered across her skin in all the wrong ways. It made her dislike it more, but maybe that was because she felt there was a certain amount of disrespect associated with it—that she was fleeting, temporary. She felt that way now with this meeting having gone on without her.

“I have agreed not to punish you for your...slanderous article...and in turn, Hades has offered me a favor…to be collected at a future time.”

Hermes whistled. “Damn. He really does love you, Sephy.”

They all glared at Hermes.

Hades offering Apollo a favor was huge. The god could literally ask for anything and Hades would have to grant it. A knot settled in the pit of her stomach, but it wasn’t guilt—it was dread. Why would Hades’ offer something so precious without telling her first?

Because he thought it was the only way to protect you, she thought, and you wouldn’t have let him do it.

“I will not agree to this,” Persephone said.

“You don’t have a choice, mortal.”