Page 14 of Winning Back Persephone

"Ah, Persephone. Aine said you might be joining us tonight," she said.

"I've heard good things about your parties, Qetesh."

"I'm glad to hear it." Her smile was genuine, making me think that she truly appreciated the compliment. "Would you like a lock or a key this evening?" She gestured to the items laid out on the table.

"I get to choose?"

"Of course."

"I thought these things were a case of women getting locks and men getting keys?" I asked, looking over the selection.

"That seems reductive to me," Qetesh responded. "And doesn't account for nuance. The locks and keys are simply a way of making it so that people have a reason to talk to one another. No matter which you take, you would have to talk to everyone in the room in order to find the matching set. Once you've done that, you can collect a drink at the bar and return to mingling."

I nodded. "All right." There were half a dozen locks still on the table, and four keys. If I wanted to make the most of tonight, then I needed to talk to the most people possible, and a lock would give me that.

"Do you ever take part yourself?" I asked the other goddess.

She tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear. "No. I prefer to watch people meet their match. And if I'm distracted by searching for my own, I miss it when other people need help."

"Doesn't that get lonely?"

"Not really," she responded, but there was a note in her voice that I suspected meant there was a different answer. I wasn't going to press her on what it was. We barely knew one another beyond having attended some parties together, both now, and during the crossover time between the worship of the Greek and Egyptian pantheons.

I looked over the locks and selected the one that I felt the most drawn to.

"Have a good evening," Qetesh said with a smile.

"That's it?" I asked.

She chuckled. "Yes, that's it."

"Oh." I wanted to ask her more questions, but another woman arrived, suggesting that it was time for me to go. I stepped into the room, heading to the bar first so that I could get myself a drink. This was all still kind of new to me. I'd never really dated unless I counted what I'd had with Hades, and somehow, I didn't think that would. It wasn't so much dating as more a series of run-ins that had resulted in me falling for him, ending in a staged kidnapping that had caused my mother to hate him for thousands of years.

There weren't a huge number of people in the room, but there were enough. From an initial look, I didn't think I recognised any of them, though whether that was a good thing or not remained to be seen.

"Hello."

I turned to find a woman with dark red lipstick and long brown hair braided down her back in front of me. "Hi."

"I don't think I've seen you at one of these events before."

"It's my first time," I admitted.

"Ah, I remember mine. I was nervous, but it was really fun. Do you have a lock or a key?"

"A lock." I held it up.

"Then we can try it out." She opened her hand to reveal the key within.

I nodded, feeling surprisingly nervous about the whole situation as I held out my hand. I wasn't exactly sure what would happen if they were a match. Was I expected to spend more time with the woman in front of me? I didn't know her, so I didn't have an opinion on whether that would be a good thing or not. I was just confused about the situation.

She slipped the key into the lock, but it didn't click. "That's a shame. Maybe next time?"

"Yes, maybe."

She smiled. "See you around."

I watched her leave, a little bit confused by the interaction. That wasn't exactly the talking to people that Qetesh had implied was the point of the evening. Then again, maybe she'd decided that I was too nervous to be of any interest to her. I took a sip of wine and considered my options. I could wait by the bar and let other people come to me, though that also seemed to defeat the point of the evening.

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