Page 118 of The Duplicity of Thieves

“Gasp?” I ask, flushed and dazed.

“Everyone. The whole place fell silent when they saw you two.” She looks like she is going to lose her shit.

Hades appears next to us. “Indeed, they did. I doubt Eris will receive that sort of attention.”

Hermes hands are full with a tray of drinks, and he passes them out. The guards are filtering up the stairs, posted every few feet on the balcony. We’re protected to an insane degree. I wonder how much of that they heard. I mean, I can’t stop hearing his delicious words.

“Did you test these?” Aedon asks Hermes about the liquid in the cup.

Alcohol. Alcohol will help me. It’s a fucking lifeboat promising to pull me out of this enraged sea of non-touch post orgasmic stupor.

“They’re our own bottles. Our own everything all the way down to the mixers. Even the water has been brought from the palace. Imelda has been handling it. Nothing to worry about, but if it makes you feel better…” Hermes raises a glass to his lips. I snatch it away and gulp it down.

“What the fuck?” Aedon looks terrified. The burn of the drink down my throat clears my mind just enough.

“I thought if I went down, we were going down together. I distinctly remember something about you wanting to bother me for eternity?”

He still looks angry, but he grabs the new glass Hermes is about to sip from and drowns it, shoving it back into his hands. Hades and Persephone watch us with amusement.

“I’m not a waitress,” Hermes grumbles. He starts to take jabs at Aedon, and I find myself drifting outside of the circle of my husband and our friends and family.

“Do you always travel like this?” I ask no one in particular, looking at the excessive amount of security.

“In these wretched times, it’s better to be safe than sorry, Princess,” Hades says grimly from behind.

“Josie,” I correct him.

He nods. “Josie. Would you mind taking a stroll?”

A stroll. To where?

“To the auction, of course,” he adds, reading my mind.

I glance over at Aedon. He doesn’t seem to notice. “I can’t really refuse, can I?”

“I suppose you can’t. This way then.” He strides off, followed by three guards. I have to walk quickly to keep up. At least he’s not as tall as Aedon, or I would be left behind already.

We descend a set of hidden stairs into what looks like a museum. I guess my initial observation about the place wasn’t entirely wrong. There are glass cases holding objects, a lot like the Tartarian exhibit. Some of them are even from the exhibit itself. Hades wanders around while I stand at the entrance, unsure of what to do.

“What do you think?” he calls over his shoulder.

“It’s…big,” I struggle for words. He laughs like a hyena, and it reverberates, turning into hundreds of them. Swarms of hyenas laughing.

“I apologize, Josie. My wife would certainly be unhappy with how I have been conducting myself tonight. Please, come here.” He waves me over. “Join me.”

All the sexual frustration Aedon left me with has been evicted from my mind. The only thing that remains is a stickiness between my thighs that hasn’t quite dried. He stands in front of a jeweled necklace encased in glass.

“What do you think of this one?”

Aquamarine and pearls have been intricately beaded together to create the piece. It’s familiar. I stole this. The memory of it covered in blood when I handed it to Stafford makes me smirk. I always stole pieces, not caring about their importance or who they belonged to. I’ve never thought about where they went. Maybe I should have. It’s beautiful, I guess, but I don’t think that’s what Hades wants to hear.

“It’s…” I trail off, looking for more words.

“You can be candid. I promise I won’t be offended.”

I take a deep breath and assess it again. “It’s vapid. I thought the same thing when I stole it.”

Hades peers at me in question briefly before turning back to study it. “It is, isn’t it? Calypso loved to be admired. They say when that sailor left her, she threw this into the sea. The truth is that he killed her and took it, but that story isn’t as exciting.”

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