Page 10 of Waiting For Psamathe

I couldn't stop the surprise from showing on my face. "Then why don't you?"

"Too many memories, I suppose. And I have a reason to be somewhere different now." She looked over to where Damien was talking with Zale.

"How did you meet?" I poured myself a drink and leaned on the bar, feeling better that it was between me and the formidable love goddess.

"At a Jinx event, I was just there out of curiosity, he was there working, and something just clicked. You know how it is."

"I really don't." I took a sip of my mocktail.

"You can keep saying that, but I'm not going to believe you," she responded.

"Mmm." I didn't know what she was talking about.

Or rather, I didn't want tothinkabout what she was getting at, because it was far better for me to remain in the dark and respect the memory of my late husband. Even if a part of me wondered if she was right and that a couple of thousand years of mourning was enough.

Chapter 5

PSAMATHE

Nerves filled me as I made my way to the front of the hotel where the guests were starting to arrive. The event might technically be hosted by Jinx, but I knew I had to be here if I wanted to make the most of it for the hotel.

Aphrodite was greeting people in a stunning dress of sea green that matched her perfectly. It certainly made me feel out of place in my pale blue dress. I knew most people considered me beautiful, but that was because I wasn't usually standing next to a literal goddess of beauty.

She flashed me a friendly smile as I approached, but didn't break from her conversation. I was somewhat surprised at how easy she actually was to work with, I'd expected much worse from a goddess of her reputation. But that wasn't fair, I hadn't seen her in a long time, and I shouldn't judge her based on the past when people had the capacity for change.

Even gods.

My heart skips a beat at the sight of the handsome seal shifter heading towards me. I normally saw Zale in much more casual attire, but he wore the tux with comfortable ease, clearly notworrying that he was out of place, even if he was in a room full of gods.

His gaze met mine and he smiled. "You look beautiful, Sama."

"Thank you," I responded, brushing my hair out of my face.

"And like a Greek goddess," he joked.

"Well, I do have news for you. Iama Greek goddess."

"And the most beautiful one in the room," he said.

I let out a loud laugh. "I'm sorry, but that's flattery that no one's going to believe when we have Aphie as our host." I gestured towards Aphrodite.

His gaze flicked over to her, but it didn't linger. Instead, he returned his focus to me. "I stand by what I said."

My heart flip-flopped inside me, but I squashed it down. "I'll see you inside?" I checked.

He nodded. "I look forward to it." He headed inside and I watched him leave, trying not to think about how I'd rather go into the room to talk with him more instead of greeting everyone else.

Several people passed, each of them saying a polite hello and then moving past to talk to more interesting people. This might be my hotel, but I was a minor goddess. No one actually cared about me.

A man with sandy brown hair and a swimmer's body approached and I immediately felt myself go on edge.Neptune. His followers had hunted the seals around here almost to extinction and he'd not done a thing to stop them. I wasn't foolish enough to think he actually had the power to do that, but it didn't stop me from being wary of him.

"Psamathe," he said with a solemn nod.

"Neptune," I responded.

He moved past me, and I saw several of the other Greek gods tense the same way. No matter how much time passed, there wasstill an enmity between us and the Roman gods thanks to the history we'd all been involved with, and I doubted it was going to go anywhere any time soon.

"Sama!"

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