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“To what do I owe this…intrusion?”
Persephone’s eyes narrowed at his words and tone, and she lifted her head. He was not the only one fighting to be amicable.
“Lord Hades,” she said, taking a notebook out of her purse.“Adonis and I are fromNew Athens News. We have been investigating several complaints about you and wondered if you might comment.”
Another thing he did not know about his future bride—her occupation.
A journalist.
Hades hated the media. He had spent a lot of money to ensure he was never photographed and denied all interview requests. He did not refuse because he had things to hide, though there was plenty he preferred to keep to himself. He simply felt that they focused on the wrong things—like his relationship status—when Hades would rather give the spotlight to organizations that helped dogs and children and the homeless.
He lifted the glass to his lips and sipped; it was drink or show his anger in a worse way.
“Persephoneis investigating,” Adonis said with a nervous laugh.“I’m just…here for moral support.”
Coward, Hades thought before focusing on the notebook Persephone had pulled from her purse. He nodded to it.
“Is that a list of my offenses?”
He would be lying if he said he had not expected this. She was the daughter of Demeter; she had been told only the worst about him. He knew because she had looked at him with such loathing when she had discovered who he was the night of their card game.
She read a few of the names on the list—Cicero Sava, Damen Elias, Tyrone Liakos, Chloe Bella. She couldn’t know what hearing these names meant to him or how it made him feel. It reminded him of his failures. Each one was a mortal who had entered into a bargain with him, each one had been given terms in hopes that they would overcome the vice that burden their soul, and each one had been unsuccessful, resulting in their death.
He was relieved when she stopped reading from the list, but then she looked up and asked,"Do you remember these people?”
Every detail of their face and every worry on their soul.
Again, he sipped his drink.
“I remember every soul.”
“And every bargain?”
This was not a conversation he wanted to revisit, and he could not help the frustration in his voice as he spoke, angry that she was bringing this up.
“The point, Persephone. Get to the point. You’ve had no trouble of it in the past, why now?”
Her cheeks flushed, the tension between them building—a solid thing he would destroy if he could. It made his lungs hurt and his chest feel tight.
“You agree to offer mortals whatever they desire if they gamble with you and win.”
She made it sound like he was the aggressor, as if mortals did not beg him for the chance to play.
“Not all mortals and not all desires,” he said.
“Oh, forgive me, you are selective in the lives you destroy.”
“I do not destroy lives,” he said tightly. He offered a way for mortals to better their lives, once they left his office, he had no control over their choices.
“You only make the terms of your contract known after you’ve won! That is deception.”
“The terms areclear; the details are mine to determine. It is not deception, as you call it. It is a gamble.”
“You challenge their vice. You lay their darkest secrets bare—”
“I challenge what is destroying their life,” he corrected her.“It is their choice to conquer or succumb.”
“And how to do you know their vice?” she asked.
