favored by the gods, thanks to Zeus. Cursed and working as a lowly clerk for the Order of Thieves, I survive by keeping my head down. No easy feat in Zeus' patron city of San Francisco. Until the night I cross paths with a different god. The worst god. Hades. For the first time, the ruthless King of the Underworld has entered the Crucible, the deadly contest where gods choose mortals to fight in their stead. And he has chosen me - a sarcastic nobody with a curse on her shoulders. Am I his pawn, his weapon, or something else entirely? Every time he calls me his, my heart betrays me. Because Hades is playing by his own rules ... and Death will win at any cost.