AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She drew in a sharp breath and strolled past me, the fabric of her white dress sashaying around her legs. She swung her hips from side to side, and her long hair brushed her perfect ass. But I wasn’t turned on by her anymore. It was funny how a broken heart could translate into a limp dick.
“Was it Poseidon?” Persephone asked.
I narrowed my eyes at her. “How would you know who came to talk to me? Have you been watching me?”
“I’m just trying to make sure you’re okay. But I didn’t spy on you. He’s just the most likely to try and fix things. He feels so terrible about what happened between you, him, and Zeus.” Her voice sounded genuine, and her tone held no hint of mockery or sarcasm, but I didn’t need to deal with her overprotectiveness right now when I felt like shit.
I turned my back on her. I wasn’t even going to listen to that crap anymore. Everyone always advocated for my brothers, saying they were so fucking great. Well, I knew otherwise.
Was I holding a grudge? You bet. But you didn’t get your entire life—which was an eternity—ruined and not feel something. It hurt like a bitch, and I wasn’t going to forgive and forget like everyone was expecting me to.
When things went well with Persephone, I wasn’t so pissed off, except for when she’d leave to spend six months of summer in the upper world. Then I thought about letting it all go. But that had failed and all the hell that had gone wrong in my life smacked me in the face, and the smile and wave routine exhausted me when I seethed on the inside.
“I’m out of here,” I said, marching toward the door, as if I needed to use it to walk away from her. I could just poof out of the hotel, and she wouldn’t be able to do a thing about it. But part of me wanted her to call me back and say something. I didn’t know what I was waiting for. An apology was unfair because this wasn’t her fault any more than it was mine. I was a fucking contradiction.
But I was sick and tired of everyone else being so damn accepting of their fate.
“Oh,” I clipped, turning around and snapping at her when she wasn’t the one to call me back. “Don’t talk to Elyse again, either.”
“What?” Persephone challenged. “You don’t have the right to tell me whom I can and can’t see.”
“No, but I can tell you to stay the fuck out of my business and talking to Elyse falls in that category. It’s. My. Business. So leave her alone.”
Persephone crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I wish you’d just accept you’re in love with her.”
Her words were a punch to the gut. She didn’t hold back and was always so blunt.
“I don’t do love, Persephone. Don’t you remember?” Thank fuck that gods didn’t blush, because I’d have been in trouble. “It’s why Hera cursed me in the first place—so that even the awful God of the Underworld could fall in love. It took a curse to do that. And no one has been throwing curses around lately for me to fall into the same trap twice.”
She stared at me intensely with a lecturing gaze. “You’re not unlovable, you know.”
“You didn’t want me,” I responded bitterly and too fast.
“Because we weren’t meant to be together,” she argued, her voice climbing slightly. “Didn’t you ever ask the Fates?”
I rolled my eyes. Persephone loved asking them about her future, as if it would change from the previous week, when she’d last asked. When you didn’t die, everything else became a pebble in a river that kept on flowing. Eventually, time sanded it down until it didn’t matter anymore.
So, knowing all the good and all the bad that would happen to us had become a pastime for Persephone. A hobby, her obsession.
“I don’t ask them about things I don’t care about.” I huffed and watched her stroll over to the edge of the king-sized bed and sit on the end.
“Or things you do,” she said softly. “But I bet you wondered about Elyse. Didn’t you? I see how you look at her.”
I was about ready to blow my lid. “Can’t you find something better to do with your time?” I snapped.
“Not since you trapped me down there. It’s a bore, and I need something to occupy myself with.”
She was just as quick as I was. I could’ve fallen for someone who wasn’t half as sharp. But it’d been Persephone, and I’d been doomed to arguments that were never resolved because neither of us could admit to being wrong.
“All I’m saying is stay away from her,” I fumed tightly.
“And I’m saying allow yourself to feel.”
I released an impatient snort. That was the one thing I wouldn’t do because it came with regret, humiliation, and pain.
“You know what?” she said, and I hated the sarcastic tone of her voice. It sounded as though she was done arguing and that always made me feel like I’d lost the fight. “It’s fine. You just carry on doing you without noticing everyone who reaches out to you.”
“Who reaches out to me?” I asked.
