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Hades couldn’t hide his disgust and glowered—which deepened when Persephone shook the mortal’s outstretched hand.

“It’s…nice to meet you,” she said.

She was far too nice.

The mortal turned to Hades expectantly, offering his hand.

“You do not want to shake my hand, mortal.”

First, he would crush it, and then he would force the man to face every fear he’d ever conjured. It would allhappen in a split second and drive him to the point of madness.

Hades would enjoy watching it, but he felt like Persephone would disapprove.

The mortal did not like Hades’s rebuff. A kernel of anger sparked within his gaze. It almost made Hades laugh, and he wished the mortal would say something about his slight. He would take any reason to banish him from this party, but in the quiet that followed, he seemed to gain some sense and recovered his pleasant—albeit unnerving—facade.

He smiled and then finally moved out of the fucking door.

“Well, shall we go in?”

Hades was not keen on being in such a confined space with this mortal. They were already off to a bad start, but he pressed a hand to Persephone’s lower back as they entered the apartment.

He could feel her gaze on him, curious but also observant.

“What?” he asked, voice quiet.

“You promised to behave,” she reminded.

“It is not in my nature to appease mortals,” he said, especially ones who had a sense of self-importance in the face of actual death.

“But it is in your nature to appease me,” she said, and her words drew his attention to her face as they came to the end of the hallway, pausing in a small kitchen with a too-bright fluorescent light overhead.

Still, he held Persephone’s gaze and offered her a small smile.

“Alas,” he said quietly. “You are my greatest weakness.”

She watched him, a wealth of feeling flooding her gaze.

If she looked at him like that too long, he really would fuck her in this house.

“Wine?” Sybil squeezed between them as she came into the kitchen, heading straight for the bar. She obviously knew what everyone would need to get through this night since Ben insisted on staying.

“Please,” Persephone said.

“For you, Hades?”

“Whiskey…whatever you have is fine. Neat.” He paused, noticing the look Persephone cast his way, but he couldn’t tell what prompted her displeasure. “Please?”

Perhaps he should have summoned his own alcohol.

“Neat?” Hades could not help but cringe when he heard the mortal’s voice. Perhaps it was because he knew every time the man opened his mouth, he would say something stupid. “Real whiskey drinkers at least add water.”

There was a horrible silence in the room that everyone seemed to notice, save Ben. Persephone and Sybil froze, wide-eyed as they waited for Hades to retaliate.

He looked at the mortal, voice dripping with a disdain he felt blacken his heart.

“I add the blood of mortals,” he said.

Which was a joke, except that Hades was tempted to test it and have Ben be the first sacrifice.