Her expression turned wary, and he got the sense that she had not planned on seeing him again after tonight.
Something jolted through him—an emotion akin to fear.
I have to see her again. I will go mad.
He pushed those thoughts away. Finish the game, he told himself, and dealt another hand and won.
“Why are you angry with your mother?” he asked.
She looked thoughtful for a moment, and then said, “Because…she wants me to be something I can’t.”
Was that what I sensed beneath the surface? Her true nature, desperate to be free?
Her gaze dropped to the cards. “I don’t understand why people do this.”
He tilted his head. “You are not enjoying our game?”
“I am. But…I don’t understand why people play Hades. Why do they want to sell their soul to him?”
Haven’t you ever been desperate for something? he wanted to ask, but he knew the answer. He could feel it burning between them.
“They don’t agree to a game because they want to sell their soul,” he said. “They do it because they think they can win.”
“Do they? Win?”
“Sometimes.”
“Does that anger him, you think?”
She had pursed her lips at the question, and dread tightened his chest. This woman had connections to Demeter, which meant she had heard the worst things about him. If he had any hope of deconstructing the myth that had been erected around him, he was going to have to spend time with her, and that meant she needed to know who he was, so he answered her question truthfully.
“Darling, I win either way.”
Her eyes went wide, and she stood quickly, almost knocking her chair over. He had never seen anyone so eager to leave his company. His name slipped out of her mouth like a curse.
“Hades.”
He shuddered. Say it again, he wanted to command, but he kept his mouth shut. His eyes darkened, and he pressed his lips together. The look on her face would haunt him for an eternity. She was shocked, frightened, embarrassed.
She made a mistake. He read it on her face.
“I have to go.”
She spun, fleeing from him like he was death himself come to steal her soul.
He thought about chasing after her but knew it did not matter whether or not he followed. She would be back. She had lost to him, and he had marked her.
He swallowed the rest of his whiskey and smiled.
Perhaps Aphrodite’s bargain would not be so impossible after all.
“Fastest path, quickest benefit,” he muttered.
CHAPTER IV – FUCKING FATES
“My lord.” Minthe’s voice brought him out of his reverie. “Your first appointment has arrived.”
Fuck. He was definitely in the wrong headspace to entertain another bargain. He frowned and went to drink from his glass, but realized it was empty. When he looked at the nymph, her brow was arched.
“Smitten, my lord?” Her voice dripped with judgment.
“Yes,” he said. He saw no reason to lie. “I am.”
Minthe’s shock registered in her eyes as they widened, then her lips flattened.
“Desperation isn’t flattering, Hades.”
“Neither is jealousy,” he replied, shoving the empty glass into her hands.
She scowled.
“Where is the mortal?”
Her eyes flashed as she answered, “The Diamond Suite.”
By the end of the night, Hades had won three contracts. Two men in search of wealth, one young and one old, and a woman in search of love. All now faced the challenge of overcoming what burdened their souls most.
The younger of the two men sought to replace his college funds, which he had drained to support his cocaine addiction. He would have to kick his habit before Hades would grant his wish. The older man was seeking to pay for his wife’s chemotherapy, and the greatest burden on his soul? He had been cheating on her prior to her diagnosis. Hades’ terms were that he had to come clean about the affair.
The woman asked for love, or rather, she asked for a specific man to fall in love with her. A co-worker she had been pining after for years.
It was a request Hades heard often, and one he could never grant.
She sat across from Hades, looking desperate and tired, and as he peered at her soul, he saw that it was so twined with the man she loved, she no longer resembled her true self. She was a tangle of vines, marred with thorns, that had grown sharp from years of rejection.
“Change your terms,” he advised.
Her eyes narrowed, and she gritted her teeth, daring to raise her voice. “But he is who I want!”