“Hades is famous, not me.”
“And you by association,” she argued. “You’re all anyone at work wanted to talk about today—who you were, where you were from.”
Persephone groaned. “You didn’t say anything about me, did you?”
It was no secret that Lexa was Persephone’s best friend.
“You mean that I’ve known you’ve been sleeping with Hades for about six months and that you’re a goddess masquerading as a mortal?”
Lexa’s tone was light.
“I haven’t been sleeping with Hades for six months.” Persephone felt the need to defend herself.
It was Lexa’s turn to narrow her eyes. “Okay, five months, then.”
Persephone glared.
“Look, I’m not blaming you. There are few women who wouldn’t jump at the chance to sleep with Hades.”
“Thanks for the reminder,” Persephone shot back, rolling her eyes.
“It’s not like he will. It’s his fault your relationship is such big news, anyway. As far as the media is concerned, you are his first serious partner.”
Except the reality was much different, and while Persephone knew there had been other women in Hades’ life, she didn’t know the details. She wasn’t sure she wanted to. She thought of Minthe and shuddered.
Persephone took a sip of her wine. “I want to talk about you. How was your first day?”
“Oh, Persephone,” she gushed. “It really is a dream. Did you know the Halcyon Project is projected to treat five thousand people in its first year?”
She didn’t, but that was amazing.
“And Hades gave me a tour and introduce me to everyone.”
Persephone couldn’t really explain how that made her feel, but it didn’t feel good. The best way to explain it was...she felt embarrassed. She felt like she should have known Hades was going to be there on Lexa’s first day, but the God of the Dead hadn’t said anything about that this morning when he helped her get ready.
“That was nice of him,” she commented distractedly.
“Apparently he does it for every new employee. I mean, I knew Hades wasn’t like other gods, but to greet his staff the way he did?” Lexa shook her head. “It’s just...so evident he loves you.”
Persephone’s gaze rose to meet hers. “Why do you say that?”
“Everywhere I looked today I could see how he was inspired by you.”
Persephone knitted her brows. “What do you mean?”
Lexa shrugged. “It’s...a little hard to explain. He just...uses some of the words you use when he talks about helping people. He talks about hope and forgiveness and second chances.”
The more Lexa talked; the more pressure Persephone felt in her chest.
Her best friend giggled. “Then there are the...physical things.”
Persephone raised a brow, and Lexa burst into laughter.
“No, not that! Physical things like...pictures.”
“Pictures?”
It was Lexa’s turn to look confused. “Yeah. He had pictures of you in his office. Didn’t you know that?”
No, she didn’t know Hades had an office at The Cypress Foundation, much less pictures of her.
Where did he get pictures of her? She didn’t have pictures of him. Suddenly, Persephone wasn’t interested in talking about this anymore.
“Can I ask you something?” Lexa said.
Persephone waited, and sort of dreaded the question.
“You’ve always wanted notoriety for your work, so what’s the problem with all this attention?”
Persephone sighed.
“I want to be respected in my field,” she said. “Now I just feel like a possession of Hades. Every article is Hades this and Hades that. No one even uses my name. They call me mortal.”
“They would use your name if they knew you were a goddess,” Lexa supplied.
“And I would have recognition for my Divinity and not my work.”
“What’s so wrong about that?” she asked. “You might be known for your Divinity initially, but it could lead to being known for your work.”
Persephone couldn’t explain why it was important for her to be known for writing, it just was. She’d spent her whole life being horrible at the one thing she was born to be, and despite that not being her fault, she’d worked really hard in college. She wanted someone to see that hard work, and not just because she wrote about and dated Hades.
“If I were you, I’d leave this life without a second thought,” Lexa said.
Persephone blanched, surprised. “It’s way more complicated than that, Lex.”
“What’s so complicated about immortality and wealth and power?”
Everything, Persephone wanted to say. Instead, she asked, “Is it really so wrong to want to live an unassuming, mortal life?”
“No, except that you also want to date Hades,” Lexa pointed out.
“I can have both,” she argued. She’d had both until a few days ago.
“That’s when Hades was your secret,” Lexa said.
And even though she and Hades had neither confirmed nor denied media speculation, she was going to have to reveal her relationship if she wanted to keep her job.
Persephone frowned.
“Hey,” Lexa said, pouring more wine into Persephone’s glass. “Don’t worry about it too much. Pretty soon they’ll become obsessed with some other god and some other mortal. Maybe Sybil will decide she actually loves Apollo.”
Persephone wasn’t so sure about that. The last time they’d talked about it, Sybil had expressed that she wasn’t interested in a relationship with the God of Music.
“I’m going to shower,” Persephone said.
The thought of scalding hot water sounded better and better. She didn’t want to feel this day on her skin any longer, not to mention, she still felt like she was surrounded by trash.
“When you’re finished, we’ll watch a movie,” Sybil said.
Persephone took her wine and purse into the bedroom. Dropping her bag on the bed, she moved into the bathroom and turned on the shower. As the water heated, she sipped on her wine before setting the glass aside so she could unzip her dress.
She paused when she felt Hades’ magic surround her. It was a distinct feeling—a tinge of winter on the air. She closed her eyes and prepared to vanish. It wouldn’t be the first time Hades had taken her to the Underworld without any notice, but instead, a hand touched beneath her chin and lips closed over hers. He kissed her like they hadn’t made love into the early hours of the morning, and when he pulled away, Persephone was breathless, the stress of her day forgotten.
Hades palm was warm against her cheek, and he brushed her lips with his thumb, dark eyes searching.
“Troubled, darling?”
She narrowed her gaze, suspicious.
“You followed me today, didn’t you?”
Hades didn’t even blink. “Why would you think that?”
“You insisted Antoni take me to work this morning, most likely because you already knew what the media was reporting.”
Hades shrugged. “I didn’t want to worry you.”
“So you let me walk into a mob?”