As she straightens, she gives the other women a knowing look but continues to act as though she is innocent of her own actions.
“Hades is a man of particular tastes; he must alwaysbelievehe is in charge,” she says, her face softening as she drops her chin to look coyly up at me. “Make him believe he is the one hunting you, instead of the other way around.”
One of the women lets out a snort of contempt at this, and Persephone immediately looks up just as the blonde from earlier finishes rolling her eyes.
I shudder as Persephone steps away from me, the softness immediately leaving her features as she narrows her eyes on the other women.
“Now it is your turn,” she tells them. “Pair up and try your best to act out innocent allure on one another. Do not forget that the well-timed accidental slip of a dress sleeve or lifting of a hem can go further than you might think.”
As the others pair up and I’m left standing awkwardly alone, it’s a small relief to be momentarily forgotten by Persephone. I watch as she moves through the women, quickly correcting their actions and offering them words of advice. As the night wears on, I can’t help but notice that I am the only one not actually participating.
Even if it hardly seems like much of a lesson at all … but perhaps that shows just how little I know.
I wonder if she learned any of this from Eros, it seems just like the type of thing he would have taught me if we’d had longer to prepare. I have to bite back a laugh at this thought. No, I don’t think he would have taught me anything quite so subtle.
Eros may be the God of Lust and Desire, but I get the sense he doesn’t know what it takes to have toearndesire.
“That will be all for tonight,” Persephone finally announces, returning to stand by my side without so much as a glance in my direction.
I might as well be a statue within this garden given how little attention she’s paid me, but hopefully, that will change once we have a moment to speak alone.
Her eyes instead shift over the room as the women return to stand before her, and it hits me that she’s choosing the first woman to send up to Hades’ chambers. My stomach twists with discomfort as her eyes land on the rude, albeit beautiful, blonde who was sat next to me at dinner.
The smile that stretches Persephone’s lips is nothing short of terrifying as she points to her.
“You,” she says. “You will be the first to go to my husband. Your success or failure in this will decide the fate of not just yourself, but all those who stand in this room.”
The blonde pales at the unspoken reminder that if she fails, she’ll likely be dead by morning. I watch as those around her pull back slightly as if already preparing for her loss.
“Now?” the woman asks. “It is but a few short hours until dawn, and I—”
“Have you heardnothingthat I have said?” Persephone snaps, cutting her off. “You will go to him this night and prove once and for whether or not you have what it takes to seduce the king.”
The blonde straightens at this challenge, her own face hardening as a cold smirk pulls at the corner of her mouth.
“Very well,Your Highness.”
“Guards!”
“Persephone,” I whisper urgently, “please, may I speak with you.”
“Not now,” she answers just as a number of her guard step into the room. “Escort the others back to their rooms at once.”
I watch in dismay as Persephone crosses to lounge on a chair at the back of the room before I’m herded out of the room with the other women.
It isn’t until I’m back in the tower, the door closed and locked behind me, that I let out a sigh of both relief and frustration.
When the spring goddess first noticed me, I’d half expected to be thrown to Hades immediately. In some ways that would have been better.
Now that I’m stuck here, I can’t help but wonder why I wasn’t, and why Persephone hadn’t allowed me a moment to speak with her.
Slipping into bed, I toss and turn but sleep evades me as I wait to learn of the woman’s fate, to learn of all of our fates.
I worry that too many women will be lost to this game Persephone seems to be playing. No matter how I turn it over in my head, I just can’t see what she hopes to gain from this.
Let alone what I’m supposed to do now.
13
