But I am at my emotional limits for today. So I don’t say another word to Persephone. Instead, I turn and walk away from her.
If my life were different.
If I wasn’t such a cold, heartless bastard.
If she weren’t such a weak, caring woman.
Maybe I would seduce her.
Maybe we would spend the night together on a beach in Malta.
Maybe that would turn into a week, a month, or a summer.
I walk into the living room, closing my eyes. A summer of Persephone would be nice.
I want her. I think that she wants me, too, in her way.
But no.
I can’t get distracted. I have this mission, to ruin Constantine. And I’ll be damned if I’m led astray from it, even by a raven haired beauty with enchanting hazel eyes.
Persephone
Iavoid leaving the bedroom later that night because I can hear their voices. Hades, Ares, and Eros.
All three villains. All three intriguing.
All three utterly off limits to me. I’ve been down the garden path before. The last time I followed my heart, it led me straight into Constantine's arms.
Where did that land me?
Almost dying on a beach, with Constantine screaming that I had betrayed him. I still don’t fully understand exactly what set him off. All I can say is that he had done so many lines of blow and maybe he just… snapped.
In any event, Constantine left me for dead. And it took so long for me to free myself of his nettling brambles that I’m forever wary now.
Besides, that assumes that someone who looks like Hades would want this new, damaged version of me. After Constantine backed me off a cliff and I tumbled to the ground, I hit my head hard enough to have a bruise on mybrain.
But that’s not the worst of it.
That kind of misplaced trust causes permanent damage. That’s what I now associate with following my heart.
Clenching my right fist, I wallow in the bedroom until the voices die away. I wait by my door for twenty minutes just to be absolutely sure that they aren’t coming back.
When I open the door, though, the house seems to be at rest. Ares and Eros are nowhere to be seen. I catch the scent of simmering onions and garlic in the air as I approach the kitchen.
Peeking around the wide doorframe, I find Hades standing at the counter, a wooden spoon pointed at a burner. I raise my eyebrows, surprised.
I wouldn’t have guessed that any of the three knew how to boil water. I edge closer, trying to determine which brother it is.
My breath catches as Hades turns around and spots me. I think I see a note of amusement in his face before he looks back at the stovetop.
“I was wondering when ye would show yer face,” he says. “Driven out by hunger, then?”
My cheeks heat and I step out into the doorway. “Your brothers are too loud for me.” I raise up on my tiptoes, trying to see what he is cooking on the stove without moving closer.
“Aye. They are quite brash. But ye have naught to fear from them just now. They are both asleep in their car.” Hades looks at me, gently nodding his head at the stove. “Shakshuka.”
I crinkle my nose, stepping into the kitchen. “Pardon?”
