Page 38

“No!”

The reply came from almost everyone in the room—even Persephone.

Hades glowered.

He recognized he had a reputation when it came to card games, and a loss to him came at a great cost, but he was not interested in a bargain with anyone here—except for, perhaps, the mortal parading as a false oracle. He liked the idea of giving him an impossible challenge, something along the lines of: Stop being a fucking creep.

He would fail spectacularly, and then Hades could rid the world of his soul.

“Let’s play Never Have I Ever!”

Hades groaned. He hated this game.

Hermes bounded toward the kitchen and reached over the bar, which was followed by the sound of glass clinking as he managed to gather several bottles of liquor in each hand. “With shots!”

“Okay,” Sybil said. “But I don’t have shot glasses.”

“Then you’re all going to have to pick something to gulp,” Hermes said, strolling toward the coffee table in the living room and arranging the bottles on the table.

“What’s Never Have I Ever?” Zofie asked.

“Exactly what it sounds like. You make a statement about something you’ve never done, and if anyone has done it, they have to take a shot,” said Hermes, whichwas exactly why Hades hated the game. It was the last thing he wanted to play with Persephone in the room.

He’d done everything in the fucking book because he wasancient—things he had never had the opportunity to tell Persephone about.

He considered lying but knew Hermes would call him out.

Fuck me.

He would not forgive Hermes for this.

Everyone gathered around the table in the living room and had to watch as Ben invaded Sybil’s personal space just to squeeze beside her on the ground.

“Me first!” Hermes exclaims. “Never have I ever…had sex with Hades.”

A warm flush rushed from the top of Hades’s head to his toes. Forget summoning Hecate to torture Ben. Hades would summon her for Hermes.

“Hermes,” Persephone hissed.

Forget Hecate. Perhaps Persephone would execute him on her own. She looked murderous enough.

“What?” Hermes grumbled. “This game is difficult for someone my age. I’ve doneeverything.”

It wasn’t until Leuce cleared her throat that Hermes seemed to realize the issue with what he’d said. Persephone wasn’t the only person Hades had slept with in this room, and the reminder wasn’t a pleasant one—for any of them.

“Oh.Oh.”

An awkward silence followed as both Persephone and Leuce took a shot, and while he kept his gaze trained on Persephone, he could feel the strain between them.

Without prompting, Ben went next. “Never have I ever stalked an ex-girlfriend.”

Hades could taste the lie, and no one drank because no one here was a sociopath.

“Never have I ever…fallen in love at first sight,” said Sybil, and despite the statement being for Ben specifically, the mortal did not seem to notice, or perhaps he didn’t care, because he took a shot.

Helen was next. “Never have I ever…had a threesome.”

Hades could feel Persephone’s gaze burning into him before she even finished her sentence, but he did not wish to look at her as he raised the bottle to his lips to drink. When he did meet her gaze, she looked pale, except for her cheeks, which were turning a warm, rosy red.