A Touch of Ruin (Hades x Persephone #2)(76)

“So, we struck a deal. A bargain, as you like to call it.”

Hades eyes darkened.

“She asked me to heal her little friend, and in exchange, she provides me with...companionship.”

“Don’t make it sound gross, Apollo.”

“Gross?”

“Everything that comes out of your mouth sounds like a sexual innuendo.”

“Does not!”

“Does too.”

“Enough!” Hades voice cracked like a whip, and when Persephone looked at him, she saw fire in his eyes. Though he addressed Apollo, his gaze didn’t leave her, and she felt it tear

away all her layers, exposing the raw and real fear she felt beneath. “If you are no longer

in need of my goddess, I would like a word with her. Alone.”

“She’s all yours,” Apollo said, who had the good sense to evaporate and say nothing else.

Persephone stood still, staring at Hades. The silence on the floor of Nevernight was tangible. It set heavy on her shoulders and pressed against her ears, and when his voice erupted, burning away the quiet, it promised pain—she could already feel her heart

breaking.

“What have you done?”

“I saved Lexa.”

“Is that what you think?” He seethed. She could see tendrils of his glamour coming off him like smoke. She’d never seen him lose control of his magic.

“She was going to die—”

“She was choosing to die!” Hades snarled, he advanced upon her. His glamour fell away, and he stood before her, stripped of his mortal form. He seemed to fill the room, an inferno,

spreading his heat, his anger billowing, eyes inflamed. “And instead of honoring her wish,

you intervened. All because you are afraid of pain.”

“I am afraid of pain,” she snapped. “Will you mock me for that as you mock all mortals?”

“There is no comparison. At least mortals are brave enough to face it.”

She flinched, and her anger ignited, a searing pain erupted from all over as thorns sprouted from her skin.

“Persephone.”

He reached for her, but she stepped away, the movement was painful, and she inhaled between her teeth.

“If you cared, you would have been there!”

“I was there!”

“You never once came with me to the hospital when I had to watch my best friend lie unresponsive. You never once stood by me while I held her hand. You could have told me when Thanatos would start showing up. You could have let me know she was...choosing to die. But you didn’t. You hide all of that, like it was some fucking secret. You weren’t there.”

For the first time since she was dumped in front of him by the Furies, he looked shocked and sounded a little lost when he said, “I didn’t know you wanted me there.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” she asked, and there was a twist in her voice, a note of her sadness she couldn’t hide.

“I’m not the most welcomed sight at a hospital, Persephone.”

“That’s your excuse?”

“And what’s yours?” he asked. “You never told me—”

“I shouldn’t have to tell you to be there for me when my friend is dying. Instead, you act like it’s as...normal as breathing.”

“Because death has forever been my existence,” he snapped, growing more and more frustrated.

“That’s your problem. You’ve been the God of the Underworld so long, you’ve forgotten what it is really like to be on the brink of losing someone. Instead you spend all your time judging mortals for their fear of your realm, for their fear of death, for their fear of losing who they love!”

She was a little shocked by the words coming out of her mouth. To be truthful, she hadn’t realized how angry she’d been until this very moment.

“So you were angry with me,” he said. “And once again, instead of coming to me, you decided to punish me by seeking Apollo’s help.” He spat the god’s name; his hatred evident.

“I wasn’t trying to punish you. When I decided to go to Apollo, I no longer felt like you were an option.”

Hades eyes narrowed. “After everything I did to protect you from him—”

“I didn’t ask that of you,” she snapped.

“No, I suppose you didn’t. You have never welcomed my aid, especially when it wasn’t what you wanted to hear.” He sounded so bitter, she flinched.

“That’s not fair.”

“Isn’t it? I have offered an Aegis, and you insisted you do not need a guard, yet you are regularly accosted on your way to work. You barely accept rides from Antoni, and you only do now because you don’t want to hurt his feelings. Then, when I offer comfort, when I try to understand your hurt over Lexa’s pain, it isn’t enough.”

“Your comfort?” she exploded. “What comfort? When I came to you, begging you to save Lexa, you offered to let me grieve. What was I supposed to do? Stand back and watch her die when I knew I could prevent it?”

“Yes,” Hades hissed. “That’s exactly what you were supposed to do. You are not above the law of my realm, Persephone!”

Clearly not. The Fates had come after her.

“I don’t see why her death matters. You come to the Underworld every day. You would have seen Lexa again!”