Page 1 of Hateful Prince

Chapter

One

HADES

October 25th

Los Angeles

She was here. My Persephone. After centuries of not knowing, of endless searching, I’d finally felt the brush of her power. Her soul called to mine. No, it screamed for me to find her. But here was the last place I wanted to be.

A hospital.

Dread curled in my belly, the sensation making me grit my teeth against intrusive thoughts that wanted to take hold. Was she hurt? Had someone dared harm her? Was I too late... again?

It had taken some time after the initial burst of power to track her here. All I had to go on was a location and then, with a little reconnaissance, a name. Well, two names. One of which was an alias.

Ruby Spector and Dahlia Moore.

My wife. My eternal love.

The name didn’t matter; it was the soul I was after.

We would not be parted again.

She was mine in every lifetime.

I made polite conversation with the chronically ill man sitting next to me, but I barely paid attention. I couldn’t with that pull in my chest. Not that he was wise to the divide in my focus. You couldn’t rule the underworld without the ability to multitask.

Her name whispered across the room from the lips of a gossiping nurse, soft enough no one should’ve heard it, but I wasn’t an ordinary man. It took a considerable amount of restraint not to leap from my seat and rush the nurse so I could demand more information.

“If you’ll excuse me, I need to go pay someone a visit.” I stood, prepared to find my woman and take her home, but the pleading note in the man’s voice kept me rooted, as did the hand he placed on my arm.

“You never finished what you were saying. About miracles.”

It took me a second to remember what we’d been talking about. Oh, right.

“Your soul.”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s the one thing you possess that's more valuable than money. The only true currency. You want to buy yourself more time, sell it.”

His disbelieving chuckle died at my hard expression. “You’re serious.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“H-how would I even do that?”

I never did this. Never encouraged humans to entangle themselves with demons or soul collectors. That was Lucifer’s territory. But today I was feeling... generous.

“Make a deal.”

“With who, God? Pretty sure he’s not listening.”

I laughed. “That’s because he’s not the one interested in collecting souls. You want the other guy. One of his contractors, actually.”

“A demon.”

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