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He pulled back and watched as a smile tugged the corners of her mouth.
“A cuddle buddy?” Her thin, aristocratic nose scrunched up. Devon found her look of confusion
unnervingly cute.
Without another word, he turned and moved his arm out to indicate the couch in his room. She looked hesitant, as if reevaluating her idea to come to him to talk.
He watched as some human emotion took hold and left her unsteady in her choices. He was getting better at reading her, and yes, she had emotions same as anyone else. She just hadn’t practiced using them. Acknowledging them.
“I just thought we could talk a little, but if you’re too tired…” She took a step back to the door
just as he caught her hand and pulled her back to where she was.
“We can talk. I think we have both been through hell today and need to be with more than
our own thoughts.” He gave her a little pull, and this time she moved easily along with him.
As they had a seat and she pulled her legs underneath her, he realized she was still in the same gown she’d worn to the gala.
“Finishing up with Tristan and the souls?” he asked, his arm on the back of the couch, close
enough to touch the ends of her hair.
Not yet saying anything, she rubbed her hands over her face. The tension was so obvious he felt the urge to pull her into another hug but refrained.
Instead, he waited.
“The souls have gone through judgement and were moved to Elysium without their memories. Tristan was not at all helpful. He knows something but is capable of dodging and lying better than I thought.”
“I could talk to him…” he offered, knowing his form of interrogation would probably not be as polite as hers, but it might be more effective. “I have to hold my own down here as well, do I not?” he asked, genuinely wondering what his place was exactly.
Where did she expect him to stand in the Underworld hierarchy?
She closed her eyes tightly and sighed, and before she said a word, he already knew what she was about to divulge.
“He is gone,” she whispered, animosity and self-reproach in her tone. “He was gone by the time I got back to the castle, after the guards had finished questioning him. The room we held him in was warded by Hecate’s magic against any types of portals and guards were stationed outside. No sign of him getting out through any other means. He just… disappeared.”
She laid her head back on the couch and he started to rub her scalp. She only gave him a look from the corner of her eye but said nothing and let her lids fall shut.
“The gates were a distraction. He does have something to do with this. It gave him a chance
to escape. But also shows he is not working alone.”
“I knew it,” Devon muttered, earning a questioning look from Persephone.
In a show of utter exhaustion and irritation, Persephone let down her guard. Her hands balled into fists at her sides and her face pinched in anger.
“There is something happening in my realm that I didn’t figure out sooner. I have had my gates breached, souls terrified, something amiss at Cocytus, and no governing deity to hold accountable,” she whispered, and he could hear something in her voice he knew no one else had heard from her: vulnerability. She was coming to him and laying herself bare.
He moved his hand to her shoulder and squeezed before he massaged it a bit, her shoulder so tense it might as well have been stone.
“We will figure it all out, but not tonight. You obviously need rest, and even as a Goddess, I’d think you’d require some self-care such as food and sleep.”
She only gave a small nod in response as she stared at the ceiling.
“I suppose I do need some rest. I have my entire army patrolling and Hecate checking wards, but it doesn’t seem like enough. I feel like I need to get back out there…” She yawned at this, obviously in no shape to do anything. Her eyes opened suddenly, like she just remembered something of great importance.
She turned her head towards him, her face full of something close to concern and maybe a little fear. She waited a beat, biting her lower lip, her face full of hesitation. A question that he knew she was fearful to ask on her tongue.
