Chapter 10
Hades
That night, it rains for the first time since our arrival on the island.
This is no mere sprinkle. This is near-hurricane conditions, driving rain hurtling in seemingly random directions, wind whipping around, debris from palm trees flying every which way.
We don’t have power or electricity in this place, nothing to distract from the howling winds that shake the entire cottage.
I text Eros an update but hear nothing in response. Strange, but I’m sure he has his reasons for his silence. Hours later, I get a single mysterious message.
On the way.
Where he’s on the way to, I couldn’t say. Sighing, I put my phone away and stare out the tiny window.
Eventually the storm outside causes Persephone to come out from the bedroom she’s been hiding in since this afternoon, a hesitant look on her face. She finds me staring broodingly out as the wind snaps a tree in half and flings it across the beach.
“How long will the storm go on?” she asks.
I glance over at her. She doesn’t seem to worry about the chaos outside. Maybe living on the Gulf Coast has something to do with her calm questions.
It’s annoying.
“Do I look like I would know?” I ask.
Persephone sighs silently, removing her ugly sweatshirt that she’s had on since we arrived. Underneath she wears a long black dress with elegant spaghetti straps. As she wriggles free of her sweatshirt, she leans forward, and I get an eyeful of her perfectly shaped breasts.
My eyebrows rise slightly. Holy hell. Her slim neck, delicate collarbones, and the swell of her breasts almost knock me back.
She glances up, realizes that I’ve been staring directly down her top, and flushes a brilliant scarlet. Crossing her arms over her chest, she lifts her chin and tosses back her dark mane.
“It’s getting really hot in here,” she says. Defensive, as if she needs a reason for showing off her pretty décolletage.
My body tightens and I am aware of having half an erection. I clear my throat.
I should say something. Tell her she’s fine as she is.
Or maybe I should just yell at her to leave me alone.
The two warring factions in my brain make it hard for me to decide anything at all. I open my mouth, my brain queueing up words without me even really thinking them through.
But I’m saved by the front door slamming open. I blink as Ares shouts to me.
“Hades! Come on out. We know that ye aren’t screwing yer pretty little captive…”
Eros is right behind him. “He’s been yakking nonstop about whether or not we would find ye two fucking or not. Do me a favor and kill us both.”
I catch Persephone’s eye for just a moment. My neck heats at my brothers’ less than gentle jibes. They are right of course; under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t even find someone weak enough to be kidnapped to be attractive.
I stare at Persephone, my mouth creasing on one side. Is she different, somehow? I’ll admit to fighting an attraction to her since the moment I met her.
Ares swings his gaze from Persephone to me, looking us up and down. “It’s like I said,” he calls over his shoulder to Eros. “Poor sod hasn’t even gotten his dick wet even though the girl needs us to survive now.”
I crowd Persephone behind me, backing up until she is in the tiny bedroom.
Persephone moves closer to the door, trying to see Ares. But I don’t move. Instead, I stand firm, taking up too much space in the doorway.
I shoot Ares a fiery look. “Fuck off.”
Eros appears behind Ares, shoving him aside with a shoulder. I glance behind me and lick my lips. For some reason, I hate my brothers knowing that I was in this claustrophobic cottage with Persephone.
Nothing was happening…
But there is an undercurrent of sexual tension between the two of us, nonetheless.
Ares peers behind me and sees Persephone. He looks her up and down, a devilish smirk appearing on his face. “There ye are, sweetheart. I was starting to wonder whether Hades had locked ye away or something. He’s pretty mental at times.”
Persephone shoots him a tiny glare. “You kidnapped me from another country. You don’t get to ask how I’m doing.”
Eros grins and Ares chuckles. “She’s got a little bit of snap back, doesn’t she? I like feisty girls. They are all hellcats in bed.”
“Shut up, Ares.” I hold my arms out, ushering my brothers back into the cramped main room. “I need updates on what’s going on. Are the plans still in place for Tunisia?”
Eros glances back over my shoulder and sends a wink to Persephone. She gives him the most dramatic glare that I’ve ever seen.
Inside, I puff up a little, feeling a strange mote of pride. She’s prickly with me for sure. But not as standoffish as she seems to be with my brothers. Being the single one among us who she doesn’t outright hate is…
Well, let’s just say that women don’t generally choose me when given the choice between all of us.
“Constantine has been making overtures to the Algerians,” Ares says.
A rumble bursts from my chest. I turn away, following my brothers into the main room and dropping onto one of the chairs. “How does he know about what we have planned?”
Eros sits down, shaking his head. “I dinnae ken. We have played our cards very close to our chests this time around. Kept a tight circle.”
Ares stays standing, aggravated by Eros’s words. He ticks names off on his fingers. “Who could it be?”
“Etienne,” Eros suggests.
My gaze hardens. “We just told him that we were looking for a forger. Nothing more specific than that.”
“He probably ran straight to Constantine and told him who we were looking for,” Ares said. He lets out a hiss, rubbing his hand through his dark wavy hair. “Fuck. If it was Etienne, he also told Constantine that we have his ex-girlfriend.”
A heavy weight settles on my shoulders, like a blanket made of lead. “Fuck.” I cast a glance behind me, but the doorway where Persephone stood is empty. “That’s not good news, Ares.”
Eros flits his gaze over to the bedroom. Then he leans in. “Should we get another forger? Dispose of this one?”
My heart rate begins to thrum. “And how exactly would that help us?”
“Relax. We aren’t going to kill yer little girlfriend,” Ares says, rolling his eyes. “Eros is just brainstorming.” He pauses, yawning. “Did ye notice that it is hot as balls in here?”
Eros’s face tightens. I know that look. He was in fact trying to suggest that we should kill Persephone and start over with a new forger. That’s bloody obvious.
It’s important to me to seem impartial, so I let it slide.
“Constantine might just be sniffing around, trying to figure out when and where our next deal is going to take place,” I say. I purse my lips. “He might be relying on us to lash out when he gets too close to uncovering our secrets.”
“That is entirely possible.” Ares yawns, glancing at his watch. “I have to get some shut eye. We’ve been up for almost a whole day.”
He stands, using his meaty fist to bump Eros on the shoulder. Eros yawns, too, cracks his neck, and heaves himself up. “Fucking time differences.”
“Ye’ll have to sleep in yer car,” I tell them.
Ares yawns and flips me off, but he doesn’t argue as he heads out the door again. Eros is right on his tail, starting to argue with him over who should sleep where in the car.
I stand as they head out, watching them silently. Planning my next move, as it were.
I guess I should first check on Persephone. When I lumber into the bedroom, I find her crouched by the corner.
“Lass?”
She nearly jumps out of her skin. Looking at me with wide eyes, she silences me with a finger placed against her lips. When she moves back, she reveals a little bundle of twigs that has been stuffed with bits of fabric and wool. Something wriggles inside.
I lean closer, frowning, and I can just make out a pink, wrinkly newborn rabbit.
My eyes widen. I glance at her.
Rabbits have always been close to my cold, dead heart. They remind me of when I was young, when I would care for wild rabbits in the lush green springs of the Hebrides.
I often thought of them secretly as my friends.
Now, though, I tilt my head at the little clutch secreted away in the bundle of twigs.
“Where did they come from?” I ask, my voice low.
Persephone glances back at me with a shrug. “I don’t know. I just found them here. It seems foolish to bother them.” She frowns and looks around. “I’m not sure where their mother is.”
I watch her face for a second as she looks at the little bundle. She frets, her brow creasing.
I remember all too well having tender feelings about beasts just like these rabbits. Something inside me seizes and jerks, finding common ground where none was expected.
So far, Persephone has shown me prickly, weepy and pleading. But I haven’t had a chance to see this softer side of her.
A side that beckons to me, whispers that there is so much more of this woman yet to be discovered.
She looks back at me, her hazel eyes concerned. “Do you think that the mother will be okay out there with all this going on?”
She motions to the roof so that I know she means the weather. Her distress seems genuine.
“If I had to guess, lass, this weather is a part of everyday life here.” I suck in a breath.
She nods, looking at the rabbits. “I would hate for them to be without their mother. That’s all. No one should be motherless.”
At Persephone's mention of being motherless, I back out of the room. A pang strikes at my heart. I know what it is like to grow up without a mother.
There is one little part of me that desperately wants to know what Persephone's story is. Needs to have her tell me everything, no holds barred, from her birth to present. I’m just dying of curiosity.
But I am at my emotional limits for today. So I don’t say another word to Persephone. Instead, I turn and walk away from her.
If my life were different.
If I wasn’t such a cold, heartless bastard.
If she weren’t such a weak, caring woman.
Maybe I would seduce her.
Maybe we would spend the night together on a beach in Malta.
Maybe that would turn into a week, a month, or a summer.
I walk into the living room, closing my eyes. A summer of Persephone would be nice.
I want her. I think that she wants me, too, in her way.
But no.
I can’t get distracted. I have this mission, to ruin Constantine. And I’ll be damned if I’m led astray from it, even by a raven haired beauty with enchanting hazel eyes.