in today. Aren’t you supposed to be at the gates?”
Cerberus grumbled again, then burrowed deeper underneath the covers. Apparently he had the day off. Or perhaps she’d find Hades in a panic because someone had wandered in the afterlife who wasn’t supposed to. Or worse, someone had wandered out of the afterlife.
A knock echoed on the door.
“Right on time,” she muttered as she stumbled out of the covers and to the door.
Her sleep clothes were tangled around her legs and revealed quite a bit of skin. Kore took a moment to make sure the fabric was covering everything before she opened the door. “Hello, husband. You’re late today.”
She froze in fear when she realized it wasn’t Hades standing on the other side of her door. Not at all.
The man standing in her doorway was disarming in his handsome features. His chiton was just the skirt portion and a loop of thin fabric over his shoulders, showing off all the warm muscles with skin that looked like poured bronze. All of that would have marked him as any of the Olympians, but no one else had the winged shoes that graced his feet.
Hermes.
Her mother had always said the messenger of the gods was one to stay away from. He was pretty, yes. And perhaps he was more charming than the other gods. But he was still just as dangerous because he could steal a woman’s heart with only a smile.
Gulping, she looked up and met his gaze. Hermes smiled at her immediately.
Oh no, it was far too early for this.
Kore slammed the door and backed away. She didn’t know Hermes ever came down to the Underworld, and she certainly didn’t know why he was knocking on her door.
Where was Hades?
Cerberus growled from the bed. He slowly stood on top of the mattress, shaking the sleep off his shoulders. Jumping down with unnatural grace, he loped toward the door and sat down. Glancing over his shoulder at her, he then looked meaningfully back to the door.
“I’m not letting you out there,” she said. “I don’t know what he wants, but I don’t think the guard dog of the Underworld should bite him.”
A chuckle echoed from the other side of the door. “It wouldn’t be the first time he’s bit me.”
Well, if Hermes himself was willing to take the risk, then who was she to deny him? Frowning, she opened the door once again. Cerberus moved to sit on her foot, but he didn’t step outside. Instead, he stayed right beside her with a snarl on all three of his faces.
Hermes looked between the two of them, still grinning in that blindingly beautiful way. “The question is why you have the guard dog of the Underworld in your room.” He stood on tip toe and looked behind her. “In your bed?”
Kore felt a snarl cross her own face, just like the monstrous dog at her feet. “I don’t see how that’s any of your concern, Hermes.”
Perhaps it was bravado because she was now Queen in these lands. Or maybe she felt as though she could insult him now. The dark anger inside her was slowly building, and she didn’t know what might happen if she let it out into the world.
Would the dark side of herself tangle him in vines like it had Thanatos? Or would it do something more akin to what had happened to the men in Artemis’s temple?
Hermes was likely not worried. He bowed at her words and laughed. “Ah good, so you know who I am!”
“Of course I know who you are.” She placed her hand on top of the nearest dog head, stilling the growl that rumbled through Cerberus. “What I don’t know is why you’re here.”
“Ah,” Hermes waved a hand in the air. “I’m here to show you around the Underworld.”
Right. Because she was going to fall for that so easily. Kore arched a brow and said, “Hades shows me around the Underworld. Not you.”
“Yes, but Hades is busy today, and I was here willing to help.” Hermes gave her another dashing smile that she was certain worked on some women.
It didn’t work on her.
Kore looked down at Cerberus, then back up at the strange man in her doorway. “Why should I believe you?”
“I have no reason to lie.”
“You have every reason to lie. I’m the new Queen of the Underworld and you’re an Olympian. You see advantages in every action or reaction.” She wasn’t about to trust just any god who wandered into the Underworld and