The screen reappeared along with the tub, and I walked around both thinking to use them as a double shield. But the silence on the other side of the screen was too much.
“Can you turn on the shower?”
Water splashed down behind me, making it easier to use the pot and then wash my hands after I finished.
“You can turn off the water,” I said, emerging from behind the screen.
The water stopped splashing as I looked at Hades. He lounged on the bed. One arm propped behind his head gave him a good view of me and me a very pleasing view of him. So good I almost forgot what I was going to say.
“I’m glad this room didn’t disappear like the others had. That shower makes this whole place so much better. Will it be here tomorrow?”
His gaze swept over my face like he was waiting for some bad punchline.
“Yes,” he said after a long moment.
“Good. Hopefully, it won’t take much longer to find my uncle. But if it does, I can have Zotera walk me here when I get tired again.”
“No.” He stood and stalked toward me. “I am here. Always. Call to me. Let my name fall from your lips.”
“If I do that, then it’ll take longer to find my uncle, won’t it?”
His eyes flickered with an angry red glow.
“Okay,” I said, trying to appease him. “I’ll call your name.”
I walked around him and slid under the light covers.
“How are you not tired?” I asked with a big yawn.
“If you but allow me to prepare your food correctly, you wouldn’t be this weary.”
“That’s right. I want honey cakes for breakfast. Zotera had some, and they looked good.”
I frowned slightly, remembering why she couldn’t share any with me, and peeled open an eye that had somehow shut.
“How many contracts will result in me running around this place naked if they’re broken?”
“One hundred and three.”
“That’s a lot. Is that how many contracts there are total?”
“No. There are five hundred and thirty-seven.”
That woke me up a little.
“Seriously?”
His eyes flickered red a second before golden script emerged on his skin. It ran in columns up and down his chest and arms. It even coated his neck and cheeks. Stunned, I moved back on the mattress and patted the space in front of me.
Visually suspicious, he sat. I only had eyes for the script, though. Despite all the hours I’d devoted to studying Greek in order to read the really old books from Uttira’s library, it still wasn’t easy to read what was written on his skin.
Using my fingers, I traced along the line of one contract, trying to figure out the point of it. Essentially, it said Hades’ had the right to step in if a punishment Persephone gave was not just. He could change it, in that case, and she would need to follow his change or suffer a night of blessed union. And for each punishment he changed, he would need to forfeit their next blessed union but still release her to go home on schedule.
There was another one about enhancing her punishments. So long as the suffering wasn’t reduced, he could tweak aspects of the punishment, but he would forfeit his right to her presence. A week for each change.
I shook my head at that and kept reading.
The next one was about his ability to location shift. It stated he gave up the right to shift locations at his whim in exchange for the single use of Persephone’s mouth. If he shifted locations after the contract was struck, Persephone could choose the punishment of her choice which could not be overturned by the Just Punishment contract. The only exception to shifting at his whim was the use of Hades’ name. If Persephone spoke his name, he maintained the right to go to her.
