Page 15 of Winning Back Persephone

I took a deep breath and approached a man who appeared to be in his forties, though I was well aware that age could mean anything to the people in this room. I certainly didn't look my age and was lucky my mother had managed to wait until I was fully grown to turn me immortal. I was sure she'd have loved to change me when I was a baby, but then I'd have been stuck that way.

"Hi," I said. "I'm Persephone."

He raised an eyebrow. "Like the goddess?" There was a slight hint of an accent in his voice, but I couldn't place it.

"Yes." I wasn't sure if he was asking if Iwasthe goddess or if I was named after myself, but I guessed it didn't really matter.

"I'm Vladamir."

"It's nice to meet you," I said.

"We should get the necessities out of the way," he said.

"You mean the lock and key?"

He chuckled. "That will come second. If you're not interested in vampires, then the conversation has no need of going forward." He flashed the slightest bit of fang while he spoke.

"It's not a problem to me," I responded. In all honesty, I wasn't even sure what or who I was interested in. "So long as you don't have anything against dryads."Or goddesses, but that part of the conversation could wait, especially if he knew what my name was. He could work out the rest.

"I do not," he responded. "So, what brings you to the party?"

"I'm just looking to do something different," I admitted. "What about you?"

"Immortality gets lonely," he said.

"Yes, I suppose it does." Especially considering I made the mistake of leaving the person who made it less so. I pushed the thought away. Tonight wasn't about Hades. It was about me, and I should remember that.

The conversation with Vladamir flowed well, but it was clear that there was something missing, and after discovering he also had a lock, we parted ways. I sighed and leaned against the table beside me, trying not to feel like this was all a waste of time. I was looking for something that probably didn't exist. I couldn't expect someone I'd just met to meet the standards of someone who had loved me for two and a half thousand years.

"Persephone?"

My heart skipped a beat at the sound of my name, and I knew exactly who it was who had said it, even if it felt like an improbability. I turned around, my gaze landing on Hades in a nice suit, though as far as I could tell, it was the same one he'd been wearing the last couple of times we'd run into one another.

"Should we try your key in my lock?" Hades asked, holding up the key he must have picked up at the front door.

"Do you really want to go there?"

He shrugged. "That's the point of the party, Sephie. What are the chances our lock and key actually match?"

I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to ignore the fluttering within me at hearing him use my name like that. "Did you persuade Qetesh to give us a matching set?"

"How would I do that? I barely know her. I only got an invitation tonight because Jinx is determined to make it up to me after the mishap of our date."

"You'd think they'd go out of their way to make sure we aren't at the same events," I pointed out.

"You're the one who knows Aine. You should ask her if that's what she's doing."

"I don't want to cause more trouble." And I honestly wouldn't put it past the love goddess to purposefully make sure we ran into one another if she thought wewerethe best match for one another.

He raised an eyebrow. "Could it be that you're not as opposed to spending time with me as you say you are?"

"You and I both know that spending time together isn't the issue," I reminded him. I picked up my glass and took a sip, but it was mostly to have something to do that wasn't staring at him. I hated that he still affected me, even if it made sense. What was two years of being apart after over two millennia together? I cleared my throat. "All right, let's try your key."

He gave me a strange look and lifted up the key, holding it out to me.

My hands shook a little as I took it from him, slipping it inside the lock I'd selected. The only thing a successful unlocking meant was getting a drink at the bar, but somehow, it felt like it was going to mean more than that.

The tell-tale click filled the air, even above the music in the bar.

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