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did.
    “I defied him in his home.”
    “Persephone! Persephone!”
    Persephone looked over her shoulder and smiled, “Coming, Aunt Hestia!” She turned back
    and handed him a purple sprig of lavender. “Good luck to you, dear Hades.”
    He accepted her token, careful not to touch her, and bowed. “Thank you, Persephone.”
    She walked away.
    “Persephone,” he called out.
    She paused and peered over her shoulder. The image flashed before his eyes of her clothed in nothing more than hair. He drew in a sharp breath. She was heavenly, an angel in every sense of the word, and much too trusting of strangers.
    “You shouldn’t make it a habit of talking to men without a guardian.”
    “Why?”
    Choosing his words carefully, he said, “Because not all of them can be trusted.”
    She tilted her head, her brow creasing. “But I trust you.”
    He was stunned by her simple declaration.
    “Will I see you again, Hades?”
    His heart stirred at the hopeful expression on her open face, but he shook his head. “I think it best if we not meet again.”

Chapter 4
    PERSEPHONE SAT in the shade of the willow tree, flowers strewn across her lap, weaving
    the stems into a crown of pink and purple and yellow and blue, her thoughts on her meeting with Hades yesterday.
    Male gods were strange looking. They were like, and yet unlike, the goddesses and nymphs
    in her life. He was larger, taller than her, and thicker around the arms and legs. She suspected from his size that he was stronger than her too. He had no breasts like her, but his chest was broad. And then there had been the hair on his face, shorter than the hair on his head and hiding his mouth.
    She’d wanted to touch him and feel the difference, to know if what she sensed from him was true. But he was so anxious, she’d feared frightening him. One touch and she would have known the depth of his sadness, the balm for his loneliness and the reason behind his aching desire.
    She heard the laughing of the nymphs long before they topped the hill. Shading her eyes
    against the sun’s bright light, she smiled at the five nymphs battling each other with short sticks.
    She wasn’t sure what the purpose of the game was supposed to be. But there was a great deal of giggling and tumbling in the grass.
    Julas hollered and swung her stick, forcing Rayes back, who tread on her dress and stumbled.
    Julas poked her with the tip of the stick and Rayes grabbed the edge with a mock cry of dismay.
    She fell on her side, eyes closed, and her limbs twitching.
    “You should have seen him, Persephone!” Tarma sat down in the grass, breathless from
    engaging in the mock battle, her eyes shining. “He’s wonderful. So big. So handsome. So
    strong.”
    “He was magnificent in his black armor!” Rayes gushed from her place on the ground. She
    opened her eyes. “And fearless as he met the Titans on the field of battle. It nearly took my breath away.”
    Persephone shook her head, laughing at the enthusiastic game still being fought between
    three of the nymphs. “Who are you speaking of? I take it another man has caught your
    attention?”
    Rayes laughed, tossing her blonde hair behind her as she took a seat beside Persephone. “Not a man. A god. And he would catch your attention to, young Persephone. The quiet dignity of his presence, so unlike the other gods empty posturing. The mask of determination on his face, the pride of his stance, the kindness in his touch—”
    “She tripped in front of him,” Tarma explained in a whisper, “and he lifted her up as if she weighed naught.”
    Rayes glared at her. “He’s a gentle man. Unlike some of the gods, who would have fallen or walked over me!”
    “Zeus and Poseidon brought Hades from the Underworld to aid their fight,” Julas interrupted, breaking away from the other two. “‘Twas wonderful to watch ten years of war finished in a day.
    He defeated them!”
    “Alone?” Persephone asked, leaning forward. Anything to do with Hades