She’d forgotten the mortal’s deadline. She was supposed to have had his job reinstated by tomorrow. Knowing that was impossible, Persephone had no other options.
If only she could get those photos, she thought. He’d have nothing to blackmail her with.
“Lexa,” Persephone said. “Isn’t Jaison a programmer?”
“Yeah...why?”
“I have a job for him.”
***
Persephone waited in the Garden of the Gods on campus. She’d chosen Hades’ garden, mostly because it offered more privacy from prying eyes and eavesdroppers.
She spent the morning telling Lexa everything that had happened with Adonis. She asked Jaison if he could hack into the mortal’s computer and delete the photos he was using for blackmail. The amount of joy he’d gotten from the request was comical. During the hack, he uncovered a wealth of information, including Adonis’s informant.
Persephone checked her phone. Adonis had just texted that he had arrived. When she looked up, she spotted Minthe and Adonis approaching from opposite directions—Minthe looked angry, Adonis surprised.
They came to a stop a few feet from her.
“What is he doing here?” Minthe snapped.
“What's she doing here?” Adonis asked.
“It's so I won't have to repeat myself,” she said. “I know Minthe took the photos you are blackmailing me with.”
Her phone buzzed and she checked it before adding, “Or rather, I should say, were blackmailing me with. As of this second, your devices have been hacked and the photos removed.”
Adonis paled, and Minthe still looked angry.
“You can't do that—it's—it's illegal!” Adonis argued.
“Illegal like blackmail?” Persephone said. That shut him up.
Persephone turned her attention to Minthe.
“I suppose you’ll run and tell on me?” she asked.
“Why would I do that?” Persephone’s question was genuine, but it only seemed to irritate Minthe further.
“Let’s not play act, Goddess,” Minthe said. “Revenge, of course. I’m surprised you didn’t tell Hades I was the one who sent you into Tartarus.”
“Did she just call you Goddess?” Adonis jumped in, but a glare from Minthe and Persephone had him silent again.
“I prefer to fight my own battles,” Persephone said.
“With what? Your words?” Minthe offered a sarcastic laugh.
“I understand that you are jealous of me,” Persephone said. “But your anger is misplaced.”
If anything, she should be angry with Hades, or maybe angry with herself for wasting time pining after a man who didn’t love her.
“You understand nothing!” Minthe seethed. “All these years I stood beside him, only to wither in your shadow as he flaunted you to his whole kingdom like you were already his queen!”
Minthe was right—she didn’t understand. She couldn’t imagine what it would feel like to dedicate your life—your love—to a person who never returned it.
Then Minthe added in a shaky voice, “You were supposed to fall in love with him, not the other way around.”
Persephone flinched. So, Minthe had been aware of the terms of the bargain. She wondered if Hades had told her, or if she’d been present when Aphrodite had set her terms. It made her embarrassed to think that Minthe had watched her fall in love with Hades, knowing his deception.