A Touch of Darkness (Hades x Persephone #1)(21)

“I thought we could go to the Trials,” he said. “You know, with Lexa. I’ll invite Aro, Xeres, and Sybil.”

The Trials were a series of competitions. Those who competed hoped to represent their territory in the upcoming Pentathlon. Persephone had never been, but she’d seen and read coverage in the past.

“Oh…well, actually, before we discuss that, I was hoping you might help me with something.”

Adonis brightened. “Sure, what’s up?



“Has anyone here ever written about the God of the Dead?”



Adonis laughed, and then he stopped himself. “Oh, you’re serious?”

“Very.”

“I mean, it’s kind of hard.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s not like Hades forces these humans into gambling with him. They do so willingly and then face the consequences.”

“That doesn’t mean the consequences are right or even fair,” Persephone argued.

“No, but no one wants to end up in Tartarus, Persephone,” he says.

That seemed to contradict what Demetri had to say on her first day—that New Athens News always sought truth. To say she was disappointed was an understatement, and Adonis must have noticed.

“Look …if you’re serious about this, I can send you what I have on him.”

“You’d do that?” she asked.

“Of course,” he said with a grin. “On one condition—you let me read the article you write.”

She had no problem sending Adonis her article, and welcomed feedback, so she said, “Deal.”

Adonis delivered.

Shortly after he returned to his desk, she received an email with notes and voice recordings detailing deals the god had made with several mortals. Not everyone who wrote or called were victims of Hades, some were families of victims whose lives had been cut short due to a lost bargain.

In total, she counted seventy-seven different cases. As she read and listened, a common thread emerged from interviews.

All the mortals who’d gone to Hades for help were in desperate need of something—money or health or love. Hades would agree to grant whatever the mortal ask for if they won against him at a game of his choice.

But if they lost, they were at his mercy.

And Hades seemed to delight in offering an impossible challenge.

An hour in, Adonis dropped by to check on her.

“Finding any of it useful?”

“I want to interview Hades,” she said. “Today, if possible.”

She felt impatient—the sooner she got this article out, the better.

Adonis paled. “You want to...what?”

“I’d like to give Hades a chance to offer his side of things,” she explained. Everything Adonis had on Hades was from the perspective of the mortal, and she was curious how the god saw bargains and mortals and their vices. “You know, before I write my article.”

Adonis blinked a couple times and finally found his words.

“That’s not how this works, Persephone. You can’t just show up at a god’s place of business and demand an audience. There’s a…there are rules.”

She raised a brow and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Rules?”

“Yes, rules. We have to submit a request to his PR manager.”

“A request that will be denied, I’m assuming?”

Adonis looked uncomfortable.

“Look, if we go there at least we can say we tried to reach him for comment and he denied us. I can’t write this article without trying and I don’t want to wait.”

Not when I can enter Nevernight at will, she thought. Hades would regret kissing her when he saw how she planned to use his favor.

After a moment, Adonis sighed.

“Okay. I’ll let Demetri know we’re heading out.”

He started to turn, and Persephone stopped him. “You haven’t…told Demetri about this, have you?”

“Not that you plan to write this article.”

“Can we keep it a secret? For now?”

Adonis smiled. “Yeah, sure. Whatever you want, Persephone.”

Adonis parked on the curb in front of Nevernight. His red Lexus glared against the black backdrop of Hades’ obsidian tower. Even though Persephone was determined to follow through with this interview, she had a moment of doubt. Was she being too bold in assuming she could even use Hades’ favor in this way?

Adonis came up beside her. “Looks different in the daylight, huh?”

“Yeah,” she said absently. The tower did look different—harsher. A jagged cut in a sparkling city.

Adonis tried the door but it was locked, so he knocked and offered no time for someone to answer before retreating.

“Looks like no one’s home.”

He definitely did not want to be here, and Persephone wondered why he hesitated to confront the god when he came to his club so often at night.

As Adonis turned away from the door, Persephone tried it and it opened.

“Yes!” She hissed to herself.

Adonis looked back at her, puzzled.

“How did you...it was locked!”

She shrugged. “Maybe you didn’t pull hard enough. Come on.”

As she disappeared into Nevernight she heard Adonis say, “I swear it was locked.”