Eve
My heart leapt out of my mouth as my eyes landed on Hades. His expression was soft and open before his eyes narrowed on me.
"Love?"
His voice was calm. Too calm—deceptively so. The moment stretched between us, thick with something unspoken, something volatile. I could see it in the way his fingers flexed, in the measured rise and fall of his chest.
My pulse thundered, but I forced a smile, adjusting the hem of my sleeves. "I— I wasn't expecting you back so soon."
His gaze drifted down, tracking the way my hands curled into the fabric. A slow blink. Then another. He stepped forward, his presence consuming the room like a rising tide.
"I noticed."
The words sent a shiver down my spine. There was no heat to them, no anger—just a dangerous kind of patience. The kind that meant he had already figured something out and was waiting for me to confirm it.
I swallowed. "I was just—"
"Covering up."
I flinched.