He will be punished, she thought. Because I will be punished.
She took a few deep breaths to cool her anger and consciously worked to uncurl her fingers. If she wasn’t careful, her glamour would melt away. It always seemed to react to her emotions—maybe that was because her magic was borrowed.
In reality, Persephone didn’t want Adonis to be punished, at least not by Hades. The God of the Dead did not like the mortal. Bringing him to Nevernight had been a mistake for several reasons, that was clear now. Perhaps this was part of the reason Hades had wanted her to stay away from him.
A third emotion rose inside her—fear—and she tamped it down. She wouldn’t allow Hades to get the best of her. Besides, she’d planned on writing about the god despite his threat.
“Where are you going?” Lexa asked.
“Work.” Persephone disappeared into her closet, trading her nightshirt for a simple green dress. Maybe she could get the article taken out of publication before Hades saw it.
“But…you don’t work today,” Lexa pointed out. She still sat on Persephone’s bed.
“I have to see if I can get ahead of this.” Persephone reappeared, hobbling on one foot to buckle her sandals.
“Ahead of what?”
“The article. Hades can’t see it.”
Lexa’s laugh escaped before she could control it. “Persephone, I hate to break it to you, but Hades has already seen the article. He has people who look for this kind of stuff.”
Persephone met Lexa’s gaze.
“Whoa,” she said.
“What?” Persephone felt hysteria rise inside her.
“You’re eyes…they’re…freaky.”
Persephone looked away quickly. Her emotions were all over the place. She avoided Lexa’s gaze as she reached for her purse.
“Don’t worry about it,” she said quickly. “I’ll be back later.”
Persephone left her room and slammed the door to her apartment closed as Lexa called her name.
The bus wouldn’t run for anther fifteen minutes, so she decided she’d go on foot. She dug her compact out of her purse and applied more magic as she walked. Her eyes had lost all of their glamour and glowed bottle-green. No wonder Lexa had been freaked out. Her hair was brighter, her face sharper. She looked more Divine than she ever had in public.
By the time Persephone arrived at the Acropolis, her mortal appearance was restored. When she walked off the elevator, Valerie stood.
“Persephone,” she said nervously. “I didn’t think you were in today.”
“Hey, Valerie,” she said, trying to remain cheerful and act like nothing was out of the ordinary—that Adonis hadn’t stolen her article and that Lexa hadn’t woken her up to shove the angry article in her face. “Just coming in to take care of a few things.”
“Oh, well, you have several messages. I, uh, transferred them to your voicemail.”
“Thanks.”
But Persephone wasn’t interested in her voicemails. She was here for Adonis. She dropped her purse at her desk and stalked across the workroom. Adonis sat with his earbuds in, focused intently on his computer. At first, she thought he was working on something—probably editing one he stole, she thought angrily, but as she came up behind him, she discovered he was watching some sort of television show—Titans After Dark.
She rolled her eyes. It was a popular soap opera about how the Olympians had defeated the Titians. Though she’d only watched parts of it, she’d started to imagine most of the gods as they were portrayed on the show.
Hades was all wrong—a pale, lithe creature with a hollow face. If Hades were going to seek revenge for anything, it should be how they depicted him on that show.
She tapped his shoulder and the mortal jumped.
“Persephone,” he said, taking out an earbud. “Congr—”
“You stole my article,” she cut him off.
“Stealing is a harsh term for what I did, Persephone,” he said, pushing away from his desk. “I gave you all the credit.”
“You think that matters?” she seethed. “It was my article, Adonis. Not only did you take it from me, but you added to it. Why? I told you I would send it to you once I finished.”
In all honesty, she wasn't sure what she expected him to say, but it wasn't the answer he gave. He looked away from her. “I thought you would change your mind.”
She stared at him a moment. “I told you I wanted to write about Hades.”
“Not about that,” he said. “I thought he might convince you he was justified in his contracts with mortals.”