‘And you do?’
‘No, not at all. You laugh it off and I refute it and together we’re delightfully, dysfunctionally in love.’
I’m not sure what to say to that one given ‘Urgh, I hate us’ is what rolls to my tongue and that only feels like it would prove his point. So I just close my eyes and breathe in the coconut scent of his hair and hold him close and hope that if I can’t speak my affection I can at least show it.
Emerging into court feels like a revelation but of course no one bats an eyelid. They’ve thought we’re in love for months. I suppose technically they were right and we had trapped ourselves in some triple bluff, but I want gasps and cheers and the people around me to be as excited about all this as I am.
Even Styx is a disappointment.
We both wanted to be there when she found out so we invited her over to lunch and now she’s jumping around the dining room, chanting, ‘I knew it, I knew it, I knew it.’
‘Yes, yes, do you want an award?’ Hades grumbles into his salad.
‘Oh, is that on offer? Because you know I’d never say no.’
‘What about your love life? How did your date go?’ I ask, hoping to curb some of her smugness.
Her grin falls. ‘Oh, it was the worst.’
Hades snorts. ‘Of course it was terrible. You dated a cattle rancher. Of all the gods to go for …’
‘I was desperate.’
‘Well, we both knew that,’ I joke and Styx glares at Hades when he laughs.
‘We can’t all find love with the first man we meet.’
‘I had to run away from home! I went through enough.’
‘Do you want to try that?’ Hades perks up.
‘It can’t hurt,’ I add.
‘I can ask Hermes to give you a lift.’
‘I’ll help you pack.’
Styx points to both of us, glaring furiously. ‘Is this what this is now? Now that you’re all disgustingly in love you’re going to gang up on me? That’s not fun.’
‘It is for us.’ Hades grins.
‘Persephone, come on, it’s so much more fun to mock Hades together. Don’t leave me like this.’
‘Don’t worry, I can do both.’
Hades nods sadly. ‘I can unfortunately confirm that is true. The mistress of my heart is cruel.’
I choke on my water. ‘Mistress of your heart? Seriously?’
Styx fake gags.
‘Yeah, Styx, I’m back on your side. Help me mock him.’
‘Oh, you don’t need help with that one – “mistress of my heart” is a phrase that mocks itself.’
‘There are other things we could do, right? Things that aren’t sex?’ I ask when we are alone again later. I’m straddling his lap, my lips swollen and hungry for more.
‘If you want to, yes,’ Hades replies, his thumb brushing the edge of my breast. We’re fully clothed but what if we weren’t? ‘Only if you want to.’
