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Sofia

I sat across from Hades in the dining room downstairs. My mother sat beside me, rambling on about bullshit neither one of us cared about. I loved my mother, but since she’d lost her husband, she talked a million miles a minute because she didn’t have anyone else to talk to. Sometimes, it was overwhelming for the two of us, especially Hades since he was a quiet man.

Hades drank from his wineglass and kept eating, his gaze averted and his mind somewhere else. Our relationship was slightly tense after the way I’d rejected him a few days ago. He didn’t seem angry with me or resentful, but there was a hint of disappointment.

My mother continued to talk about the baby. “I hope it’s a boy. I only have experience raising one daughter, so it’ll be nice to do something different.”

Hades seemed confident the baby was his, but sometimes I feared otherwise. It haunted me in the middle of the night when I couldn’t sleep. The last thing I wanted was to give birth to my son or daughter and then