She left the cab and stood outside alone, unnerved by the quiet. She had expected a crowd similar to Nevernight even though Leuce had made it clear Iniquity was different. It was invitation-only—exclusive to the underbelly of society. She shivered and started down the alleyway. The taxi driver had dropped her off at the front of the building, but Leuce had been clear in her instructions: the entrance is in the back, down the stairs, knock once.
She headed down a dimly lit alleyway and found the door. She did as she was instructed and a slot in the door opened. She jumped but couldn’t see anything through the opening. It took her a moment to remember her password.
“Parabasis,” she said.
The word shivered through her whole body, its meaning shaking her foundation.
To intentionally cross a line.
She knew that’s what she was doing, but she had to try.
Lexa needed her—she needed Lexa.
Whoever was on the other side of the door closed the slot and opened the door. Hesitantly, she entered the club. Like Nevernight, she stepped into complete darkness. Whoever occupied the space with her was not visible, but she felt them.
They said nothing, just moved past her. After a brief moment, a set of curtains opened ahead of her, and she was let into an unfamiliar world colored in red, full of gems and feathers and burning lights. The floor of the club was packed with people. A stage towered over the crowd, framed with crimson curtains and blazing bulbs. Women danced there, dressed in shimmering bras, fishnet stockings, and enormous headpieces. They were glamorous, synchronized, and erotic, swaying to sensual music.
Persephone stood frozen, entranced.
The air around her was hot, heavy, and scented with vanilla. She inhaled it, and it filled her veins like her magic, shivering through her body, heating her skin. She rolled her neck and shoulders, loosening tense muscles, relaxing into the music. The part of her mind that told her to be on edge was fading.
A hand slipped into hers and she twisted to find Leuce standing behind her. She didn’t speak, just pulled Persephone along the back wall into a darkened hallway.
“This place—” Persephone breathed.
“Is meant to ensnare, Persephone,” Leuce placed her hands on either side of the goddess’s face. “Keep your wits about you and focus on your task. The air here is toxic. It will draw you in, a current you can’t escape.”
“That would have been great information to have before I got here,” she said, a little irritated.
The nymph smiled. “There’s nothing I could have done to prepare you. You are either strong-willed or not. It’s how they will choose you.”
Persephone focused on the nymph. Her ice-white eyes were intense. It was then she noted how the girl was dressed. Her white hair was curled and styled. She wore bright red lipstick, and her outfit was a short silver tassel dress that shimmered like all the stars in the sky. She looked like one of the dancers on stage.
“You work here?”
Again, it was information she would have liked to have before arriving here, but Leuce didn’t seem to think it was important.
“Focus on your task, Persephone. You wanted this, remember?”
That almost sounded like a threat.
She glared at the woman, eyes flashing. She suddenly wished to remind Leuce of who she really was.
“Then tell me what to do. How do I ensure they see me?”
“You dance,” Leuce answered. “If they’re interested, they’ll come to you.”
Persephone glanced over her shoulder where hundreds of people were crammed together on the floor.
“Are you telling me all these people are here for the same thing?”
“Not the same thing,” she said. “But they’re here because they want something.”
“Leuce, what else goes on here other than illegal magic?”
“That’s not a conversation you want to have, Persephone. Trust me.”
She was gone then, and Persephone was swallowed by the crowd. For a few seconds, it was like fighting a current, graceless and panicked, but like earlier, she found there was something bewitching about the music. It seemed to dance along her skin, seep through her pours, until she moved with the beat, rocking her hips and raising her arms over her head. Sweat beaded on her forehead, and images of sensual nights with Hades reeled through her head—his soft mouth on hers, his silken tongue lapping at sensitive skin, his body glistening and hot, his cock filling, stretching, demanding. Her breath was short, and a moan escaped from her mouth.
She felt rabid, starved, desperate.
It got worse.
Her memories were suddenly infiltrated by another face—it wasn’t her body beneath Hades’—it was Leuce, her back was arched, her head thrown back, her mouth open as she screamed her lover’s name.
It was enough to break the spell the music had cast upon Persephone. Suddenly, she was aware of her surroundings again—the bodies crowded her, their sweat-soaked skin brushing hers.
Hands gripped her hips and a body moved behind her. She turned to face a man dressed in dark clothing, and in the red light, his eyes were black. At first, she wondered if he was here to summon her, but his hand remained fastened on her hips. She pushed him back, intending to break contact with him, when another set of hands clasped her shoulders.
Persephone wrenched from his grip, her heart raced, her magic igniting in her blood, but as she turned to look at the other person who had touched her, both men disappeared into the crowd.
Unnerved, she pushed through the mass of people until she reached the outer edge of the dance floor. She sought darkness, wishing to become shadow, and she found it as she rested against a wall at the mouth of a hallway.
Her body still shook from the memories she’d recalled on the dance floor. She was both aroused and pissed. What sort of horrible magic encouraged such salacious thoughts? And why had they morphed into something that made her want to vomit? She didn’t want to think of Leuce and Hades together. She didn’t want to think that what they had in common was that they both knew Hades’ body so well.
She liked to think she knew a different Hades, and that the way he coaxed her to orgasm was different than how he’d treated others.
She felt ridiculous as these thoughts rolled through her head. Perhaps whatever magic had overcome her on the dance floor was still clinging to her aura.
As she hid there in the darkness, the crowd pulsing on the dance floor in front of her, something was suddenly thrust in her closed fist. The feeling was strange and sudden—magic, she realized as she opened her hand, and found a piece of paper. Unfolding it, there was a number written in ink. 777. Below the number was an arrow, as if directing her to walk down the hallway.
She looked around and saw nothing but felt as if the whole room were watching her, even as she lurked in the darkness. Peeling away from the wall, she followed the arrow down the dark hall and happened upon an elevator, only visible because the numbers and doors were alight in red.
She pressed the button and the elevator opened soundlessly.
Inside, she noted the floors only went up to eight. She assumed that she needed the seventh floor and that the number on the paper was a room.
After the roar on the dance floor, the silence in the elevator pushed against her ears. It unsettled her and left her to focus on what was ahead—the unknown. What if Leuce was wrong about the Magi? What if they wanted something she couldn’t give? What if they couldn’t help her?
When the elevator doors opened, she was let out into a hallway that led straight to a black door. She approached hesitantly, fear warring with the guilt in her mind. Finally, she knocked and a voice on the other side directed her to come inside.
The handle was cold and made her skin prick as she entered. The room was dim and had black marble floors and dark walls. The only source of light came from the center of the room. It illuminated a raised, round platform and a large, plush chair upon which a familiar man was seated.
He was Kal Stavros.
He looked exactly like his pictures in the tabloids. He had a perfect, square face, a swath of thick, black hair, and blue eyes.
She hated his face.
Persephone narrowed her eyes, fingers tightening into fists. The surge of anger she felt at seeing this man was acute. It drove her magic wild.
“Persephone,” Kal purred.
Was it possible to reach into his mouth and yank her name from it? Persephone thought.
“I hope Alec and Cy didn’t frighten you, but I had to be sure it was you.”
So those men from the dance floor worked for him.
“I can see why Hades is taken with you,” he said, his eyes trailed her body, making her feel sick to her stomach. “Beauty and spirit, well-spoken and opinionated. Qualities I admire.”
“Don’t make me vomit,” she said. “Just tell me what you want.”
He chuckled. It was villainous—a sound contrary to his beauty.
“I’m so glad you asked,” he said. “But you first—what brings you to Iniquity, the heart of sin?”
She hesitated. What was she still doing in this room? She turned to leave, but instead of finding the door she had entered, she faced a wall of mirrors.
“Going somewhere?”
She twisted toward him.
“Are you holding me prisoner?”
“These are the rules of Iniquity. Once you enter the chamber of a dealer, you don’t leave until a bargain is struck.”
That isn’t what Leuce had said.
“What if I don’t want to bargain with you?”
“You don’t know what I’m offering.”
“If it isn’t a way out of this room, I don’t want it.”
“Even if it means saving your friend?”
Silence followed his question, and Persephone swallowed. “What do you know about that?”
Kal smiled, and it made the words that came out of his mouth next more callous. “I know she will die unless you can find a way to heal her.”
“She isn’t dying,” Persephone said through her teeth. It wasn’t true—it couldn’t be. Neither Hades or Sybil had said so…and wouldn’t they say so?
“That is not what I see.”
Persephone shifted slightly on her feet. She was uncomfortable in this dark room, closed up with a man who had already bargained with her—an exclusive in exchange for her job.
“Why should I trust you?”
“Because deep down, you know I’m right. If you thought Lexa was going to live, would you have come?”
She hated him.
“What do you want?”
He showed his teeth when he smiled this time.
“I have a deal for you. I’ll give you the spell you need to heal your friend if you give me everything.”
“Everything?”
“I want every detail of your relationship with Hades. I want to know how you met him, when he first kissed you, and all the scandalous details from the first time he fucked you.”
“You’re sick.”
“I’m a businessman, Persephone. Sex sells,” he sat back in the chair. “Sex with gods sells better, and you, my sweet—you’re a goldmine.”
“I’m not the only one who’s slept with Hades.” She hated that she said the words at all, but it was true.
“But you’re the first he’s committed to and that’s worth more than the words of a fuck buddy. He’s invested in you which means he’ll do anything to protect you and the details of your private life.”
Persephone suddenly understood. “You want to blackmail Hades?”
“Well, he is the Rich One.”
“But you’re rich,” Persephone argued.
“Not like him,” Kal said. “But that’s what you’re going to help me with, and in exchange, you get to save your friend from certain death.”
As Kal was speaking, Persephone noticed something black glimmering at the man’s feet—snakes. They wound their way around his feet and his wrists. Kal only noticed when the serpents scaly body curled over his neck. He screamed, but froze when the creatures tightened their hold, hissing near his ear.
Hades materialized out of the darkness, surprising Persephone. She hadn’t felt him at all.
His voice sounded calm and collected, but she felt his rage.
“Are you threatening me, Kal?” he asked.
“No…never!” The pitch of Kal’s voice changed, rising with his fear.
Persephone turned to look at Hades. He was angry—it was present in his eyes and the press of his lips against hers as he bent to kiss her. His tongue demanded entrance, twining with her own. One of his hands cupped her neck and chin, the other knotting into her hair, tightening around the strands. He forced her mouth open wider, lapping at the back of her throat. When he pulled away, it was with her bottom lip between his teeth.
“Are you well?” His voice was rough.
She nodded, dazed.