“But I will always feel indebted to Hermes.” I lifted a hand to stop whatever he was going to say to that. “He has never said so. But he didn't just give me immortality. He also gave me the world. He took me with him in his wandering, he showed me things no mortal had seen at that time, and he took care of me. He saved me from a mortal death, then saved me from many attacks over the years. He deserves my loyalty.”
“But surely he wants you to be happy?”
I frowned and thought of how Hermes might react to a request to end our sexual relationship. A shiver raced down my spine. I had never feared Hermes, but I'd never had reason to.
“Lora?”
I cleared my throat. “He does want me to be happy, but he's also a god.”
“But—”
“This is my choice, Rune. I won't end things with him. I owe him too much.”
Rune's lips tightened. He loosened them but only to take a gulp of his drink.
“Look, this can just be dinner and maybe a nice night together,” I said. “It doesn't have to be anything more than that.”
He nodded. “All right. We'll just take tonight how it comes.”
I was a little disappointed that he didn't want more, that Hermes had ruined yet another relationship for me. This time it was before it had even begun. But I wouldn't let it ruin my night too. I was going to enjoy the Hades out of Rune Demos. And in the morning, I would have some lovely memories to add to my collection.
Chapter Three
“Well, this is unexpected,” Rune said as we got into his car with our ice cream.
Dinner had been lovely, and I was by no means starving, but the tiny dessert plates hadn't done it for either of us. Rune had a sweet tooth like me. So we went for ice cream at my favorite shop. He got a huge cup with three scoops packed in it. No whipped cream or syrup. Just ice cream. I had done the same. He also got a brownie on the side. I went with the banana bread.
I leaned back in the leather seat, took a bite of my ice cream, and sighed. “What do you mean?”
“I'm shocked that you knew about this place, but I didn't. It looks popular too.”
“It is.” I took a bite of banana bread and groaned. Then a bite of my Persian rose ice cream and groaned more.
“Kettle corn,” he said. “They had kettle corn ice cream.”
“And Korean rice beer ice cream.” I wrinkled my nose. “I don't like beer.”
“Neither do I.”
I lifted my brows.
“What?” Rune took a bite and then exclaimed, “Holy shit!”
“Good, isn't it?”
“It's fucking phenomenal.”
“I remember when this place first opened. I used to come here every night.”
“Really?” He laughed. “Sounds as if you like ice cream as much as I do.”
“There's always room for it. It melts and just seeps around your meal, filling the cracks.”
“It helps that I have an endless appetite.”
“Me too.”
“Immortality is great, isn't it?”
