A Touch of Ruin (Hades & Persephone 2)

“I did heal her. Obviously. She’s awake.”

“I don’t know who that person is, but it isn’t Lexa!”

Apollo shrugged, and his dismissal angered Persephone so much, vines began to sprout from her skin. She didn’t even feel the pain.

Apollo looked disgusted. “Get a hold on your anger. You’re making a mess.”

“The deal is off, Apollo.”

“I’m afraid it’s not,” he said, suddenly seeming far taller and imposing than before as he straightened and uncrossed his arms. “You asked me to heal her and I did. What you failed to realize, is that it wasn’t just her body that was broken, her soul was, too, and that, I’m afraid, is your lover’s wheelhouse, not mine.”

It was like she was being told Lexa was going to die all over again.

She didn’t know a lot about souls, didn’t know what it meant to have a broken soul.

But she could guess.

It meant that she would never have the Lexa she knew before the accident.

It meant that nothing would be the same ever again.

It meant that she’d made a deal with Apollo for nothing.

She knew this is what Hades had meant.

Your actions have condemned Lexa to a fate worse than death.

It took a moment for Persephone to focus. “You really are the worst.”

She turned on her heels and left the elevator as its doors opened. Apollo followed close behind.

“Just because you failed to recognize the flaws in your bargain doesn’t make me a bad person.”

“No, everything else you do makes you a bad person.”

“You don’t even know me,” he argued.

“Your actions speak loud and clear, Apollo. I saw all I needed at the Lyre.”

“There are two sides to every story, Love Nugget.”

“Then by all means, tell me your side,” she snapped.

“I don’t need to explain myself to you.”

“Then why do you keep talking?”

“Fine, I won’t.”

“Good.”

There was silence as they crossed the main floor of the hospital and exited the building, then Apollo spoke again.

“You’re trying to distract me from my purpose!”

“I thought you weren’t talking,” she complained, and then asked. “What purpose?”

“I came to summon you,” he said. “For a date.”