Page 167 of A Touch of Chaos

“Do you think you are funny, mortal?” she asked.

Her question was met with silence.

“I know you speak,” she said.

Then the mortal began to scream, and so did those around him.

“She has turned his tongue into a snake!”

The screams of the man grew louder as he ran past the gods, tripping and falling to the ground. After that, he did not move. A man dressed in a vibrant vest ran to him and dragged him off the field.

“That was not well done, Hera,” Hades commentedwithout looking at the goddess.

“I’m not on your side, Hades,” she replied.

The tension following Hera’s words was unbearable. Persephone thought it might dissipate once the wrestling began and she could focus on naked men grappling in the dirt, but it remained heavy in the air.

She only noticed her leg bouncing when Hades reached over and squeezed her thigh.

She stopped and looked at him.

“I will keep you safe,” he reminded her.

Beside her, Hermes’s body seemed to convulse.

“What was that?” Persephone asked.

“It was a shiver, Persephone.A shiver,” he said.

“Why?”

“You mean you don’t shiver when Hades says things like that?”

As if to emphasize his point, he shuddered again.

She did, but she wasn’t interested in saying that here.

“Why don’t you date, Hermes?”

“I date,” he said. “Just not…exclusively. I like a…a smattering of flavors.”

Persephone scrunched her nose at his choice of words. “Flavors?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Sometimes I like dick. Sometimes I just want tacos.”

“Hermes,” she said, a little confused. “Do you mean actual tacos or…”

“Of course I mean actual tacos. What other kinds of tacos are there?”

Persephone opened her mouth to answer, but then closed it and shook her head. “Never mind. I’m glad you like tacos.”

She turned her attention back to the wrestling match.She was not surprised to see that Ajax and Hector were among the last on the field. The two were rivals, though Persephone was not certain if it stemmed from Apollo’s attention or something else.

Whatever the case, the God of Music had made it worse with his indecisiveness, and though he had eventually chosen Ajax, the rivalry remained, as was evident by the way the two fought—brutally.

As Persephone watched, dread pooled low in her stomach. She looked at Apollo, who sat forward in his seat, eyes following their every move.

Suddenly, Hector rammed into Ajax and flipped him onto his back, slamming into him with such force, a crack echoed throughout the stadium.

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