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The woman finally rouses herself, pushing off the wall. She looks afraid, of Hades or her husband or both, but she still flings her hands out over his body slumped on the ground.
“No!” she yells, her breathing ragged. She catches Hades’ eye, sheltering the body of her husband.
She keeps talking, ignoring her young son who tugs at her skirts. I can’t make out any of the rest of her statement, but Hades gives her a moment.
I seize upon that moment to pull at Hades’ arm. “Let’s go. You won, okay?”
Hades glares down at his fallen counterpart, wiping a sheen of sweat away from his forehead. He rears up for a second and I jerk back.
But he only spits on the man, who has stopped moving entirely.
“Coward,” Hades grits out.
He straightens, swinging his wild green gaze around the room. I shrink back as he turns his glare upon me.
I catch a brief note of confusion on his face before Hades pushes past me. I watch, wide eyed, as he plucks a napkin from the table in the back in the shop. He wipes his hands with it and then returns his scowl to me.
He doesn’t say anything, just jerks his head. I practically run out of the shop, my whole body shaking, my thoughts a mess.
When Hades stalks off toward the sea, I bolt back toward the villa like a frightened rabbit.
Chapter16
Hades
Ilie awake in the middle of my bed, staring up at the ceiling. There is a pattern of stars repeated there, cutouts and slightly gray shadows. I exhale deeply and try to figure out what the stars remind me of.
Something vaguely Moroccan or Turkish, perhaps.
I groan and shift onto my side. Cramming a pillow under my head, my thoughts turn once more to Persephone. The back of my neck warms as I relive the last few days.
She’s been tiptoeing around, trying to remain unnoticed, looking at me with that wide hazel gaze. She’s clearly scared of me now, ever since I lost my temper and beat that man in the coffee shop.
I flex my fists. Across the knuckles of my right hand is a healing cut created by that bastard’s front teeth as I knocked them in.
It wasn’t my fault. The stranger provoked me by mercilessly bullying his wife and his young son in front of me. I couldn’t stand by and do nothing.
If anyone had stepped in even once when I was a child, straightened my father out like I did to that stranger…
Well, it probably wouldn’t have changed anything. But I still can’t stand bullies.
It’s just unfortunate that Persephone seems as skittish as a kicked cat when I’m around her now. I haven’t raised a hand to her.
I would never hit a woman.
I sigh, letting my breath out slowly. Rolling out of bed, I pull on my black slacks and a black silk button up. I check my phone for news from Ares and Eros but there is nothing.
My mouth pulls into a tight grimace. I pull on my heavy black combat boots automatically; it would be strange to be caught with bare feet, even here in my own house.
I leave my jacket behind, though I do reach across the bed and pluck a handgun from underneath one of the pillows. I tuck it into the waistband of my pants smoothly and robotically. It’s a gesture that comforts me in its regularity.
No one will catch me unaware and unprepared if I can help it.
When I step out into the hallway, bound for Persephone's room, I hear a sound. Faint but high pitched, just the tenor of someone scratching their nails down a faraway chalkboard. I have no idea what it is but it’s enough to make goosebumps break out across my entire body.
I pull my weapon, listening very carefully. The noise stops after a second. But it is followed by a very low creak.
If I had to guess, I would say that someone has just breached the back door.
