Page 16 of Winning Back Persephone

"Huh, would you look at that?" Hades said, looking down at the lock with a genuine look of surprise on his face. It seemed that he really hadn't asked Qetesh to make sure our keys matched.

"Maybe the Fates are messing with us," I muttered.

Hades chuckled. "I can imagine them doing something like that."

"They do like to meddle. But they adore you, I'm not sure they'd mess with you."

"Maybe they would if they thought it was something that would make me happy," he said.

I swallowed hard as he looked at me, not having to question him more about what he meant. It was painfully obvious that he was talking about the two of us being together as something that would make him happy. and I couldn't say I blamed him. There was a part of me that was convinced that would be true.

"Shall we?" he suggested, holding out his arm to me.

"I think it's better if we don't touch," I murmured.

"Ah." He dropped his arm back to his side and gestured for us to head over to the bar. Having another drink probably wasn't a good idea, especially when it was with him, but I couldn't help myself.

I picked up my empty glass and followed him over, feeling a mix of excitement and trepidation at the thought of more time with Hades.

Chapter 9

HADES

Persephone picked up her wine glass and took a sip, drawing my attention to her lips as she did. I doubted it was on purpose, but it was impossible to ignore all the same. She'd made it clear how she felt about initiating anything that could confuse things between us, and I respected that, even if it was hard to.

"Are you enjoying the party?" I asked, realising as I did that I probably didn't want to hear the answer. Not when it would involve her talking to other people.

"It's all right," she responded, setting down her glass. "What about you?"

"I've only just got here," I admitted. "I haven't had a chance to talk to anyone."

"Please don't let me stop you." A pained expression entered her eyes, but she covered it a moment later. I just knew her well enough to know what it meant.

"I'm not particularly interested in talking to anyone else, Sephie."

She sighed. "No, I'm starting to realise that's true for me too. How am I supposed to move on when no one can compare to you?"

I chuckled. "Shouldn't I be saying that I'm glad you're not going to be able to do that?"

"You're not really the jealous type," she pointed out.

"True. That was more your forté."

"I don't get jealous."

I raised an eyebrow.

"All right, fine. I do get jealous," she mumbled.

"Maybe that's why I'm not talking to anyone else right now." I regretted the words immediately. Not only were they a lie, but it was cruel to imply that anyone wouldn't be safe around Perspehone because they were talking to me. "Forget I said that."

"I didn't expect this to be so hard," she said.

"Breaking up isn't supposed to be easy."

"Not just that." She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, exposing more of her features and captivating me in the process. "Dating."

I laughed. "It's horrible, isn't it?"

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