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Devon’s head swung around in time to watch the last of the water that was Tristan escape.
“Coward,” Devon hissed.
He was still irate. She could tell by the clenched jaw and fists but kept her observation to herself.
“I was unaware Sasha was Tristan’s sister,” he growled, his voice still as gruff as it was during
his stand-off with Tristan.
“Yes,” she conceded to his change of subject, “Little Minthe has been gone so long, I didn’t realize that was her.” With her face fresh in her mind, she could remember the tiny nymph from long ago.
“Minthe. I thought her name was Sasha, but nope, just her way of fitting in the mortal world and pretending,” he muttered, the anger in his voice evident.
“You knew her from your days as a mercenary?” she asked, unsure of why she would want clarification on something she was sure she already knew.
Devon nodded once, quite stiffly she noted.
“It surprised me to see her here. She worked as a bartender near my hideout in the northern country.”
“Kept each other warm on the many long winter nights?” She smiled sardonically. She chastised herself for allowing jealousy to get the better of her. It was burning through her, and she found she was not as envious of human emotions as she had previously thought.
It was downright annoying not to have control of one’s emotional state.
He looked at her, then glanced back to the path in front of him. His hands moved into his pockets as he flexed his jaw back and forth.
“Just ask what you want to know,” he said. “Yes. We slept together. I would go, we would do our thing, and I’d bolt. I never stuck around. Not with any of my lovers and especially not her. That was then and it will never happen again,” he stated with finality.
She stopped him with her hand to his elbow to make him turn to her. She was never one not to speak her truth.
“I am sorry. I shouldn’t have pried into your past. My apologies. You’ve had an unbelievably overwhelming night.”
He only nodded as he stared past her.
“It’s fine. We both have a past,” he told her. “I get it. All I ask is that if you stand on a balcony and almost kiss me, or this God that keeps possessing me, at least wait a good week before you let some other guy stick his tongue down your throat. Makes a man feel a little cheap.”
His eyes lit up before he disappeared in a flash of green light. A gust of wind swirled the leaves that had fallen where he had just been.
Chapter 24
Persephone shadow jumped back to the castle to find Hecate waiting for her in the foyer.
Hecate stood at Persephone’s abrupt appearance. She grabbed the Goddess by the arm and
pulled her into one of the receiving rooms off to the side of the entryway.
Persephone nodded to the guards who stood sentry by the door, their blue and black uniforms crisp with boots polished to a perfect shine. Swords sheathed at their sides, greaves, and pauldrons black and shiny with skulls on them, which indicated whose army they served.
The Underworld’s army was full of souls that had need of a life in service to be truly happy. Even if they could never remember the soldiers they had been, or the battles they had fought.
Their pitch-black eyes watched her vigilantly, and they bowed as they pushed the doors open for her and Hecate.
She wondered for a moment if this would have been Devon’s fate. If the judges would have
put him here as a guard, to serve the army of the Underworld.
She followed Hecate in the lamplit room. Shadows flickered across the walls, simply the absence of light and not the souls serving the castle.
They were completely alone.
