Page 5 of Waiting For Psamathe (Jinx Paranormal Dating Agency)

PSAMATHE

Nerves filled me as I made my way to the front of the hotel where the guests were starting to arrive. The event might technically be hosted by Jinx, but I knew I had to be here if I wanted to make the most of it for the hotel.

Aphrodite was greeting people in a stunning dress of sea green that matched her perfectly. It certainly made me feel out of place in my pale blue dress. I knew most people considered me beautiful, but that was because I wasn't usually standing next to a literal goddess of beauty.

She flashed me a friendly smile as I approached, but didn't break from her conversation. I was somewhat surprised at how easy she actually was to work with, I'd expected much worse from a goddess of her reputation. But that wasn't fair, I hadn't seen her in a long time, and I shouldn't judge her based on the past when people had the capacity for change.

Even gods.

My heart skips a beat at the sight of the handsome seal shifter heading towards me. I normally saw Zale in much more casual attire, but he wore the tux with comfortable ease, clearly not worrying that he was out of place, even if he was in a room full of gods.

His gaze met mine and he smiled. "You look beautiful, Sama."

"Thank you," I responded, brushing my hair out of my face.

"And like a Greek goddess," he joked.

"Well, I do have news for you. I am a Greek goddess."

"And the most beautiful one in the room," he said.

I let out a loud laugh. "I'm sorry, but that's flattery that no one's going to believe when we have Aphie as our host." I gestured towards Aphrodite.

His gaze flicked over to her, but it didn't linger. Instead, he returned his focus to me. "I stand by what I said."

My heart flip-flopped inside me, but I squashed it down. "I'll see you inside?" I checked.

He nodded. "I look forward to it." He headed inside and I watched him leave, trying not to think about how I'd rather go into the room to talk with him more instead of greeting everyone else.

Several people passed, each of them saying a polite hello and then moving past to talk to more interesting people. This might be my hotel, but I was a minor goddess. No one actually cared about me.

A man with sandy brown hair and a swimmer's body approached and I immediately felt myself go on edge. Neptune . His followers had hunted the seals around here almost to extinction and he'd not done a thing to stop them. I wasn't foolish enough to think he actually had the power to do that, but it didn't stop me from being wary of him.

"Psamathe," he said with a solemn nod.

"Neptune," I responded.

He moved past me, and I saw several of the other Greek gods tense the same way. No matter how much time passed, there was still an enmity between us and the Roman gods thanks to the history we'd all been involved with, and I doubted it was going to go anywhere any time soon.

"Sama!"

I turned at the sound of my name, a smile coming to my face at the sight of my sister and her wife approaching.

"Hi, Thetis," I said as I pulled her into a hug.

"I can't believe you're actually throwing a Jinx party," she said.

"I'm not throwing it, I'm just the location," I said as I hugged Eurynome too. "Aphrodite is the one throwing it."

Both of them reacted instantly, and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I couldn't believe they were still annoyed about this. It had been a long time since Aphrodite's failed marriage with their adoptive son, it was time for them to put it in the past.

"So, if you're being the location for a Jinx event, does that mean you're finally ready to do more than just watch life from the sidelines?" my sister asked.

Eurynome chuckled affectionately. "I don't think she's ever going to stop that."

"I'm not looking for love," I said.

"You should, it's great," Thetis responded, reaching out and putting her arm around her wife's waist.

"It is, but you're not going to be able to use us to convince her, The, she's known us for a long time," Eurynome said.

"I don't need convincing of anything," I assured my sister-in-law.

"That means you've already found someone." The glee in Thetis' voice was impossible to ignore.

Her wife laughed. "All right, well I'm going to go find some drinks while you try and get the truth out of her," she said, already heading away and leaving us to talk.

"There's no truth to get," I muttered.

"Seriously, Sama, you should consider it. You're at a dating event, what's the harm in seeing if you're compatible with someone?"

"For one, I've known most of the people in the room for at least centuries," I pointed out. "And for two, I'm not like you. I don't find someone and decide they're going to be my wife for thousands of years."

"Hey, we had that brief break around the time they built Hadrian's Wall."

I snorted. "I don't think it counts as a break, you both spent six months pining after each other and being miserable. And for some reason, both of you decided to make me the ear you were going to whine to about it."

"I don't remember being that bad."

"That's because you didn't have to listen to yourself," I muttered.

Thetis flashed me a smile. "Well when it's your turn, I'll be there to listen with all ears. Maybe we can find you that special person tonight," she said. "There are plenty of eligible people to choose from, even some you don't know yet."

"I'm not interested, Thetis."

She gave me a knowing look. "Why?"

"Because I'm not."

"Okay, I'm not buying it. The last time you were like this it was because you were already half in love with that king of yours."

"Proteus," I said firmly.

"That's the one." She studied me intently. "So, who are they? I'm guessing it's a man, you've never seemed particularly interested in women."

"I'm not interested in anyone." Even as I said it, I realised I wasn't sounding very convincing, even to myself.

"All right, all right, I'll stop asking you about it, but let the record show that I don't believe you at all, and I'm going to be watching you with everyone in there until I work out who it is."

I rolled my eyes. She was completely wrong about this, and there was nothing for her to discover. And yet, I felt like there was something I needed to hide.