A Touch of Darkness
Scarlett St. Clair
(Hades & Persephone #1)
Publication date: Spring 2019
Genres: Adult, Mythology, Retelling, Romance
Persephone is the Goddess of Spring by title only. The truth is, since she was a little girl, flowers have shriveled at her touch. After moving to New Athens, she hopes to lead an unassuming life disguised as a mortal journalist.
Hades, God of the Dead, has built a gambling empire in the mortal world and his favorite bets are rumored to be impossible.
After a chance encounter with Hades, Persephone finds herself in a contract with the God of the Dead and the terms are impossible: Persephone must create life in the Underworld or lose her freedom forever.
The bet does more than expose Persephone’s failure as a Goddess, however. As she struggles to sow the seeds of her freedom, love for the God of the Dead grows—and it’s forbidden.
EXCERPT:
“Do you play?” A voice asked from behind her.
It was a deep rumble she felt in her chest. She turned and found the man from
the balcony. Her blood heated to an impossible level, making her hot all over.
She squeezed her crossed legs together and clenched her hands into fists to
keep from fidgeting under his gaze. Up close she was able to fill in a few gaps
in her earlier assessment of his appearance. He was beautiful in a dark way—in
a way that promised heartbreak. His eyes were the color of obsidian and framed
by thick lashes. His hair was pulled into a bun at the back of his head. She
had been right that he was tall. She had to tip her head back just to meet his
gaze.
When Persephone’s chest started to ache, she
realized she had been holding her breath since the man approached. Slowly, she
drew in air—with it, the smell of him—smoke and spice and winter air. It filled
every empty place inside her.
As she stared, he took a sip from his glass
like he’d done earlier, licking his lips clean. He was sin incarnate. She could
feel it in the way her body responded to his--and she didn’t want him to know. So she smiled and said, “If you are willing to
teach.”
His lips quirked, and he raised a dark brow.
He took another drink, then approached the table, taking a seat beside her.
“It’s brave to sit down at a table without
knowing the game.”
She met the man’s gaze. “How else would I
learn?”
“Hmm.” He considered, and Persephone decided
that she loved his voice. “Clever.”
The man stared like he was trying to place
her, and she shivered. “I have never seen you before.”
“Well, I have never been here before,” she
said and paused. “You must come here often.”
His lips quirked. “I do.”
“Why?” she asked. The question surprised him
and her—she hadn’t actually meant to say that out loud. “I mean—you don’t have
to answer that.”
“I will answer it,” he said. “If you will
answer a question for me.”
She
stared at him for a long moment, and then nodded.
“Fine.”
“I come because it is...fun,” he said. “Now
you—why are you here tonight?”
“My friend Lexa was on the list,” she said.
“No,” he said. “That is the answer to a
different question. Why are you here
tonight?”
She considered this for a moment, and then
said. “It seemed rebellious at the time.”
“And now you aren’t so sure?”
“Oh, I am sure it is rebellious,” Persephone
said, she dragged her finger along the surface of the table. “I’m just not sure
how I’ll feel about it tomorrow.”
“Who are you rebelling againt?”
She looked at him and smiled. “You said one
question.”
His smile matched hers and it made her heart
beat harder in her chest. “So I did.”
Staring back at those endless eyes, she felt
he could see her—not the glamour or even her skin and bones, but the core of
her, and it made her shiver.
“Are you cold?” he asked.
“What?”
“You’ve been shivering a lot since you sat
down,” he observed. She felt her face redden and suddenly she blurted, “Who was
that woman with you earlier?”
He looked confused for a moment and then
said, “Oh, Minthe. She’s always putting her hands where they don’t belong.”
Persephone paled. “I…think I should go.”
He stopped her with a hand on hers. His touch
was electric, and she gasped at the contact, pulling away quickly.
“No,” he said, almost commanding and
Persephone glared at him.
“Excuse me?”
“What I mean to say is, I haven’t taught you
how to play yet,” Then his voice lowered. “Allow me.”
She relaxed. “Then teach me.”
His eyes burned into her before falling to
the cards. He shuffled them, explaining, “This is poker.” She noted that he had
graceful hands and long fingers. Did he play piano? “We will play five-card
draw and we’ll start with a bet.”
Persephone looked down at herself—she hadn’t
brought her clutch, but the man was quick to say, “A question answered, then.
If I win, you will answer any question I pose, and if you win, I will answer
yours.”
Persephone grimaced. She knew what he was
going to ask, but answering questions was far better than losing all her money
and her soul, so she said, “Deal.”
Those sensual lips curled into a smile, which
deepened lines on his face that only made him look more attractive. Who was
this man? She guessed she could ask his name, but she wasn’t interested in making
friends at Nevernight.
The man explained that, in poker, there were
ten different rankings, the lowest being the high card and the highest being
the royal flush. The goal was to draw a higher rank than the other player. He
explained other things, like checking, folding, and bluffing.
“Bluffing?”
“Sometimes, poker is just a game of
deception.”
She considered this for a moment, as gods
could not lie, but recalled words from her mother. ‘Just because the Divine cannot lie, does not make them pious. One may
mislead and not lie.’
He dealt each of them five cards. Persephone
looked at her hand and tried to remember what Hades had said about the
different ranks. She laid her cards down, face up and the man did the same.
“You have a pair of queens,” he said. “And I
have a full house.”
“So...you won,” she said.
“Yes,” he replied, and then claimed his prize
immediately. “Who are you rebelling against?”
She smiled wryly. “My mother.”
He raised a brow. “Why?”
“You’ll have to win another hand if I’m going
to answer.”
So, he dealt another and won again. This
time, he didn’t ask the question, just looked at her expectantly.
She sighed. “Because...she made me mad.”
He stared at her, waiting, and she smiled.
“You never said the answer had to be detailed.”
His grin matched hers. “Noted for the future,
I assure you.”
“The future?”
“Well, I hope this isn’t the last time we’ll
play poker.”
Butterflies erupted in her stomach. She
should tell him this was the first and final time she would come to
Nevernight.
He dealt again and won. Persephone was
getting tired of losing and answering this man’s questions. Why was he so
interested in her anyway? Where was that woman he’d been with earlier?
“Why are you angry with your mother?”
She considered this question for a moment, and
then said, “Because...she wants me to be something I cannot.” Persephone
dropped her gaze to the cards, and then said, “I don’t understand why people do
this.”
He tilted his head, as if questioning. “You
are not enjoying our game?”
“I am,” she said. “But...I don’t understand
why people play Hades. Why do they want to sell their soul to him?”
“They don’t agree to a game because they want
to sell their soul,” he said. “They do it because they think they can win.”
“Do they? Win?”
“Sometimes.”
“Does that anger him, you think?” The
question was meant to remain a thought in her head, and yet the words slipped
out between her lips.
He smirked, and she could feel it deep in her
gut.
“Darling, I win either way.”
Her eyes went wide, and her heart stuttered.
She stood quickly and his name slipped out of her mouth like a curse.
“Hades.”
Author Bio:
Scarlett St. Clair lives in Oklahoma with her husband. She has a Master's degree in Library Science and Information Studies and spends a lot of time researching reincarnation, unsolved murders and Greek mythology-all of which made it into her debut novel, When Stars Come Out.
GIVEAWAY!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway
1 comments:
Thank you for being a part of my tour!
Post a Comment