Page 21 of Winning Back Persephone

I frowned, knowing that he didn't eat them. "You got olives?"

"I know you like them."

"I do. But you shouldn't have made things difficult for yourself."

He shrugged. "I don't mind."

Feeling overwhelmingly affectionate towards him, I reached out and put my hand over his, giving it a gentle squeeze. The world felt like it fell away within moments of our skin touching, and my heart raced faster than I thought possible.

"Are you okay, Sephie?" he asked, his voice low and hoarse.

"Nobody has done anything like this for me in a while," I admitted. "Nyx brings me food sometimes, but that's different."

He nodded. "Maybe if this goes well, we could do this again."

I raised an eyebrow. "What defines going well for having dinner with your ex-wife?" I asked.

"You're still my wife, Sephie."

"Right."

"I'd consider you eating a proper meal as a success."

"I do know how to cook," I protested even as I loaded up my plate with the salad he made.

"I know you do, but I also know that you sometimes struggle to. It's no different from me leaving my accounts to the last minute if you don't do them for me."

I sighed. "I don't even know why I find it so hard."

"Some things are harder for some than others. If you really want to know why, then I suspect it's because Demeter never let you have any independence as a child."

I snorted. "Going straight for a shot at my mother, I see."

He grinned. "She'd already have insulted me ten times if you were having dinner with her."

"Maybe five. It's not been that long."

Hades laughed. "She's getting lax in her old age."

"Don't let you hear her call you old, she hates that."

"Believe it or not, I don't go out of my way to talk to your mother when I don't have to. I'm well aware that Demeter hates me."

I grimaced. "I'm sorry about that." I cut into my pepper, releasing a wave of steam along with the spiced rice, chickpeas, and mince within.

"I never minded," he promised me. "Your mother is your mother, there's nothing you can do to change that. I didn't have much to do with her before we got together."

"I know. But it might have helped if you didn't have the ire of a reasonably powerful goddess to contend with."

He chuckled. "It doesn't seem to have done me much harm. As far as I'm concerned, the best thing to ever come from Demeter is sitting next to me."

I sucked in a sharp breath, trying to ignore how much his words affected me. "Until I ended things," I muttered.

"Even now," he said softly. "My feelings for you haven't changed, Sephie. I think it would take me a very long time to stop loving you."

Same. I couldn't bring myself to say the word out loud, even if I wanted to. I certainly wished he knew how much I still loved him, and how much I missed having him in my life.

I looked down at the pepper on my plate and focused on eating so I didn't have to deal with the complicated emotions bubbling up within me.

---