She’d been telling Kronos the truth about the bath, however. The palace had needed its plumbing extended anyway, and what better time to install a new bathhouse? Persephone was almost giddy with excitement. Hot springs might have been nicer, but considering the environment, an indoor facility with a hypocaust heating system was the only practical option. As their fuel source, Perdix had used ever-burning stones from the river Phlegethon. The mortal had all the talent and half the ego of his more notorious uncle, Daedalus. Hades had been right about one thing—the underworld counted the best of humanity amongst its ranks.

She rapped on the bars of Kronos’s cell, waiting for a guard to unlock it so that she could leave. Kronos’s cage was still literal, unlike Persephone’s, but neither of them could ever forget they were here on Hades’ whim. Perhaps that was why they had developed a connection, unlikely though it might have been.

When she arrived back at the palace, she took a moment to admire the new wing. Scaffolding still remained against one of the walls, which gleamed in the daylight—obsidian, to match the rest of the palace, glowing with newness and smooth as a well-polished blade.

Inside, the black gave way to graceful white columns. Persephone turned to the women’s side of the baths, her critical eye running over the interior but finding nothing to fault. The space was far roomier and more inviting than the old facility had been, gleaming in white marble.

In the changing room she slipped off her sandals and undressed, then picked up a towel, wrapping it around herself. As she approached the bathing chamber, the air grew pregnant with warmth and humidity, the tiles losing their chill against her bare feet.

When she turned the corner and beheld it for the first time, she sighed at the beauty of it. The skylights, sparkling with precious glass, flooded the chamber with light. The ceiling was high and airy, arched trusses supporting it. The walls were inset with enspelled light fixtures and lined with a glittering mosaic border of flowers and fruit.

It was perfect, except—

“Perdix outdid himself. Pass him my congratulations, would you?”

Persephone almost dropped her towel when she saw Hades reclining at one end of the bathing pool, the waterline only reaching to below her breasts, the light brown of her nipples contrasting with her pale skin. Her hair hung loose as a wet pelt across her back, gleaming like a raven’s feather.

“What are you doing here?” Persephone asked before thinking twice.

Hades raised one hand out of the bath water to gesture carelessly, droplets scattering from her fingertips like diamonds. “What does it look like?”

“You have your own bathing chamber.”

“True, but this one is ever so nice.” Hades shifted on her seat, sinking down until the water reached her collarbone, her eyes half-lidded.