It was her first time being treated this way—and for the person to treat her so kindly to be none other than Hades Valentine—how could she not feel nervous about everything?
Her whole body felt tight, her toes curling inside her boots as she tried not to make a single wrong move. She didn't want to offend him. She liked his company—perhaps more than she dared to admit. So she moved carefully, sitting as properly as she could while Hades watched her.
His violet eyes didn't linger on her green eyes or her golden hair. Not this time. They fixed instead on her neck.
It was slender, delicate—so thin that a careless hand could snap it with ease. The fairness of her skin, the soft glow of it under the candlelight, made him want to trace it with his finger. But that wasn't why he stared. He was looking for something.
When he spotted it—the tiny cluster of moles near her collarbone forming what looked like a flower with five petals—his gaze sharpened.
