He should turn around, meld with the darkness, and pretend he never laid eyes upon her, but watching her profile made his chest ache, and there was a part of him that resented the feeling. He had never wanted the Fates to have control over his love life, and yet, it was inevitable.
I could have control, he told himself. Use this to my advantage to fulfill my bargain with Aphrodite.
Hades did not often feel guilty, but that thought made his chest sick and heavy.
Make someone fall in love with you.
The bargain was callous and unfair, but Hades wanted to win.
Fucking Fates.
Shoving aside his tumultuous thoughts, he approached her.
“Do you play?” he asked.
She turned to him, and his breath caught in his throat as he was again, stuck by her beauty. Her eyes were wide and fringed with dark lashes. A dust of freckles kissed the tip of her nose and the apples of her cheeks, fading beneath a flush that colored her creamy skin.
Hades took a sip from his glass to wet his throat, but the movement drew her attention to his mouth, and he repressed a groan as he wondered if she tasted like she smelled—sweet, honeyed, forbidden.
After a moment, she smiled, a playful glint in her gaze. “I’m willing to play if you’re willing to teach.”
You wouldn’t say that if you knew who I was, he thought, taking another drink.
Anyone who entered into a game with him was bound to the rules of Nevernight—a loss meant a contract.
You are a bastard, he told himself as he approached the table and sat beside her. The movement stirred the air, and her scent continued to invade his mind. There was something else in the atmosphere—an electricity that made his heart race and the hair on his arms and neck stand on end.
“It’s brave to sit down at a table without knowing the game,” he said.
He thought that she might have sensed the warning in his tone, because she arched a brow at him and asked, “How else would I learn?”
“Hmm.”
She was right, though Hades would not advise running before learning to walk, especially when it came to bargains with him. Still, her response illustrated her cunning and willingness to try new things, and he found that insanely attractive.
“Clever.”
Now that he was close to her, he could not stop staring. He wanted to know why she smelled like wildflowers. What was her connection to Demeter? It felt intrusive and wrong to strip away the barriers that barred her soul from his eyes, but he would be lying if he said he did not want to know who she was beneath that perfect exterior.
She quivered, her lithe shoulders shaking. Was she cold or uncomfortable?
“I have never seen you before,” he finally said, hoping that explained his stare.
“Well, I have never been here before,” she replied, and then narrowed her eyes. “You must come here often.”
He smirked at the tone of her voice, tinged with suspicion.
“I do.”
“Why?” She sounded curious rather than disgusted, then blushed and tried to recover by adding, “I mean—you don’t have to answer that.”
“I will answer it.” He met her gaze, challenging. “If you will answer a question for me.”
Say yes, he silently begged, though he would never compel her. Say yes so I can learn all of you.
A small furrow appeared between her brows as she considered his proposal. An answer to a question is a small price to pay if she lost, Hades wanted to say. Others put their soul on the line. But he remained quiet.
“Fine,” she conceded.
It was a challenge not to smile.
He answered her earlier question, “I come because it is…fun.”
It was not a complete lie, and it sounded like something a mortal would say, and for this moment in time, that is what he intended to be—fragile and human.
“Now you—why are you here tonight?”
“My friend Lexa was on the list,” she explained, looking at her hands as she twined her fingers together in her lap.
“No,” he said. “That is the answer to a different question. Why are you here tonight?”
She met his gaze, a mischievous glint in her eyes, and he found himself desperate to chase it—that flicker of defiance, that hint of passion.
“It seemed rebellious at the time,” she answered finally.
“And now you aren’t so sure?”
“Oh, I am sure it is rebellious,” she said as her fingers trailed the felt table. Hades’ gaze followed them and he thought he would have liked for those fingers to explore his skin. After a moment, he lifted his gaze to hers.