A Touch of Malice (Hades & Persephone #3)(9)

She hadn’t seen him since.

“Has he made it here…to the Underworld?”

“He has,” Hades replied as he downed a glass of whiskey and poured another.

“Can you ask him what happened?”

“No. He…is in Elysium.”

Which told Persephone that his death had to have been traumatic to warrant placement upon the healing fields.

Persephone watched as Hades threw back another drink. He only drank like this when he was anxious and what worried her most was how upset he seemed about the death of a man he’d once called a parasite.

Whatever he’d seen had disturbed him.

“Do you think he was killed because of Aphrodite's favor?” Persephone asked.

It wasn’t uncommon—over the years, many mortals had been killed for that very reason and Adonis was someone who flaunted his association with the Goddess of Love.

“It’s likely,” he said. “Whether it was because of jealousy or a hatred for the gods, I cannot say.”

Dread pooled in her stomach.

“Are you suggesting he was killed by someone who had a vendetta against Aphrodite?”

“I think he was killed by several people,” Hades said. “And that they hate all Divinity.”





CHAPTER III – AGGRESSION

Hades words were still on her mind when she headed to work at The Coffee House the next morning. She hadn’t been able to pry any more information out of him regarding Adonis’s death, he’d only added that he believed the murder had been planned and executed with intention, a fact that made Persephone fear there would be more assaults.

Despite his brutal death, there was no mention of it in any newspaper. She imagined that was due to Hades’ involvement in the investigation, but that also made her think he’d seen something he didn’t want the public—or her—knowing.

She frowned. She knew Hades was trying to protect her, but if people were attacking favored mortals—or anyone associated with the gods—she needed to know. While the world at large did not know she was a goddess, her association with Hades made her and her friends potential targets, too.

Persephone chose a shadowed corner in coffee shop to setup and wait for Helen and Leuce. Since launching her own online community and blog, The Advocate, a few weeks ago, the three met weekly and because they had no office, they chose various locations across New Athens—The Coffee House being one of their preferred haunts. The two were running behind, probably due to the weather as New Athens was experiencing a cold front.

That was probably an understatement.

It was freezing and snow had been falling from the dreary sky off and on for almost a week. At first, it melted as soon as it touched the ground, but today it had begun to stick to the roads and sidewalks. Meteorologists were calling it the storm of the century. It was the only story in the news that rivaled Persephone and Hades’ engagement announcement. Today, she found that they shared space on the front page of every news outlet—from New Athens News to the Delphi Divine, their headlines warred:

God of the Dead to Wed Mortal Journalist

and

Winter Storm Steals Summer Sun

A third headline caused knots to form in Persephone’s stomach. It was an opinion column in The Grecian Times—a national newspaper and a rival of New Athens News.

Winter Weather is Divine Punishment

It was clear that the author of the article was not a fan of the gods, probably an Impious. It began: In a world ruled by gods, nothing is chance. The question remains—whose wrath are we facing and what is the cause? Another mortal who claimed to be more beautiful than any of the Divine? Or one who dared rebuke their advances?

It was neither—it was a real-life battle between Hades, Persephone, and her mother, Demeter, the Goddess of Harvest.

Persephone was not surprised that it had come to this. Demeter had done everything in her power to keep Persephone and Hades apart, and it had started from her birth. Locked away in a glass greenhouse, Demeter had fed her lies about the gods and their motives, in particular, Hades who she detested merely for the fact that the Fates had woven their threads together. When Persephone thought of how she used to be under her mother’s strict rule, she felt sick—blind, self-righteous, wrong. She hadn’t been a daughter at all but a prisoner and in the end, it was all for nothing because when Persephone met Hades, all bets were off and the only bargain that mattered was the one she was willing to make with her heart.

“Your latte, Persephone,” Ariana, one of the barista’s, said as she approached. Persephone had come to know almost everyone in The Coffee House, both due to her celebrity and her frequent visits.

“Thank you, Ariana.”

The barista attended the College of Hygienia and was studying Epidemiology. It was a challenging channel of study considering some diseases were god-made and only curable if they deemed them to be.

“I just wanted to say congratulations on your engagement to Lord Hades. You must be so excited.”

Persephone smiled. It was a little hard for her to accept well wishes with Demeter’s storm worsening outside. She couldn’t help thinking that if mortals knew the reason for the sudden change in weather, they would not be so happy about their marriage. Still, she managed to respond. “I am, thank you.”

“Have you chosen a date?”