“It has to be her,” she said. “The way you described the dreams, how you felt when you were around her that night. You said it was familiar, easy, like your soul recognized her. Did you feel that again last night?”
I shifted the weight on my feet. “I did,” I answered.
“Then why are you standing around here on a Saturday looking at—whatareyou looking at?” she asked as she stood, her eyes narrowing at the documents I’d been thumbing through. “Are you—“ Her jaw dropped, and she looked up at me wide-eyed. “You’re already researching him,” she said upon seeing the paper on the top of the stack.
“Wait—“
Persephone snatched up the file and began reading. “Tyler Drake. Thirty-three years of age, from… Florida?” She met my gaze briefly and then looked back down. “Interesting,” she muttered. “Parents John and Abigail Drake, also residing in Florida. John is retired from his job in oil—blah, blah, blah—“ She skimmed it and flipped a few pages before her brows lifted. “Well, the idiot has money—or rather,Daddydoes,” she drawled. “Though it looks like Tyler squanders it relatively well with some of these business ventures he’s financing.”
Persephone read on, and I waited patiently for her to finish. I’d read through the file once, but I liked to be thorough, to memorize everything I could about my opponent.
“He sounds like a tool,” Persephone decided. She let the stack of papers drop with a thud back onto my desk and gave me a pursed lip glare. “What are you waiting for? Go get her.”
I stared at Persephone, chewing on the inside of my mouth, before uncrossing my legs and crossing the opposite in front. “I will notstealher away,” I began, and Persephone’s jaw tightened. I waited for the argument, though when it didn’t come, I continued.
“What if it isn’t her?” I asked.
“What if it is?” she countered.
I didn’t reply, and Persephone stepped closer, leaning in to pick the lint off my shoulder. “Psyche has been missing for centuries,” she said. “Though I still don’t remember the nature of her disappearance. Neither does Hades. The last thing of significance he could remember about her was her taking the ambrosia to become immortal.”
I wracked my brain, trying to remember anything, especially the last night I’d spent with her. But I couldn’t. I barely remembered her at all.
“Iforgother,” I whispered. “Centuries of life, and Iforgother… How?”
Pain stretched in Persephone’s eyes. “It’s not your fault. Someone erased her.”
My gaze narrowed at the new information. “How?”
“I don’t know,” she replied. “But I’ve been thinking about it for a while now, and I have some ideas about who could have done it.”
“Why would anyone go through the trouble of that?”
“You can count your enemies on one hand, Eros,” she said. “Take your pick. Start with the one that had the problem last time.”
I almost curled the entire stack of papers in my fist, my jaw tightening at the thought of my mother. “Shit,” I mumbled. “She has been begging me to come home.”
Persephone chuckled. “Oh, I heard that too,” she said. “Perfect timing, don’t you think?” She brushed my shoulders and straightened my jacket. “The last time you found Psy, she fought for you. This time, you’ll fight for her. Remind her of the love you two had, remind her who she is.”
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. “Fall in love. Wake her up—if it is her…” My eyes met Persephone’s. “This isn’t going to be easy.”
She smiled. “True love never is.”
CHAPTER NINE - CHLOE
“HANG ON,” EZZIE said at our brunch date Sunday morning. “The guy that runs Cupid’s Arrow is the fantasy man you took home five years ago on Valentine’s?” Ezzie’s bold laughter filled the room, and she swung her head back with it, blue waves bouncing. “That’s fucking amazing.”
Lana and I were still hungover from dinner with Tyler’s parents the night before, and we were both nursing Bloody Mary’s to try and take care of the sting. There had been no dressing up for brunch with Ezzie and Raegan. I had stumbled out of bed and put on leggings, a thin long-sleeve crop top, and Converse shoes, barely spraying my hair with dry shampoo, before meeting Lana in the kitchen and we set off for the brunch restaurant by the wharf.
“It’s complicated,” I muttered, though Lana was grinning sleepily ear-to-ear.
“I wondered why your energy changed when I introduced you to him,” Ezzie said against her drink. She choked suddenly, eyes widening at me again. “You ran after him,” she realized. “That’s where you disappeared to.”
Raegan swung her long black and caramel micro braids back off her shoulder, revealing the shaved design over her multiple-pierced ear, and she grinned teasingly at me. “Oh, you had a little fun already, did you?” she asked.
I eyed Raegan, glowering at the mockery in her sparkling dark brown eyes. Her flawless brown skin seemed to soak in the sunlight, making her positively glow in its warmth.
My cheeks heated, but I hid behind my drink, prompting Raegan’s grin to somehow widen.
