Prologue

Persephone knew she was dreaming.

She stood on the rooftop of a high-rise, goosebumps rising on her skin at the glorious view. Beside her stood the man who gave her everything, his face shadowed.

“It’s beautiful.” The city lights glittered like jewels in a black velvet night. The whole world laid at her feet.

“It’s mine,” Hades told her. “Everything you see belongs to me.”

She wore a red dress and heels with slender straps winding up her legs. Her wrists bore silver cuffs. Her ring flashed red as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Everything?” She leaned against the ledge, striking a pose. The old Persephone, country girl Persephone would never be so brazen. The old Persephone was a sheltered virgin, sweet and naive.

The old Persephone was dead.

Hades’s footsteps echoed as he stalked to her. “Everything.” The lines beside his grey eyes crinkled.

He grasped her hips and lifted her onto the ledge. Giggles escaped as her chest tightened. Before her stood the man she loved. Behind her, a dark expanse. An endless chasm.

“Hades.” She clutched his broad shoulders. The wind ripped at her garments and tugged her golden hair.

He caught her wrists and forced her hands back.

“Do you trust me?”

“Yes,” she whispered. Her fingers fluttered. The garnet in her engagement ring caught the light.

Hades moved closer as if to kiss her. She angled her face toward his?—

—and he shoved her off the ledge. Her hands reached for him, her dress streaming around her floating body as Hades grew further and further away.

The night rose up, surrounded, swallowed her. The city lights swirled, a dizzying kaleidoscope. One by one, the lights went out and Persephone tumbled into darkness.

Persephone jerked awake. Hades’s dark head was on the pillow beside hers, the shadows under his eyes lighter with sleep. The sight of him anchored her, grounding her spinning senses, the weightless sensation. If she closed her eyes, she was still falling.

Smoothing her pillow, Persephone settled in. In the dark confines of Hades’s bedroom, she was safe.

Safe from everyone but him.