Bride of Death

by Celina Summers

  “See?” Hades said with a smile. “Everything here has a purpose but there is no need to be afraid.”

  Persephone scratched behind Cerberus’ itchy ear and the dog whined and thumped his tail in pleasure. “So I see.”

  “Come,” he said again, and pulled her over the threshold and into the Underworld. “We will wait here for Charon. He will ferry us over the river Styx.”

  Just inside the great fence of the Underworld, everything looked vastly different than from the cavern they’d entered from. There was a soft luminescence in the air, a light without apparent source or heat, and Persephone could see everything. Small plants dotted the plains. It looked strange in the dim light, with grayish, spiky leaves and pink-white flowers that looked like lilies. Aside from the plants, there was nothing else to be seen but the river and the fence.

  “What are these?” she asked, stooping to caress one of the flowers.

  “Asphodel,” he replied. “It only grows here on the plains of Erebus.”

  A splash made her look up. A flat barge was approaching. Standing in the back of it was a tall, robed figure. He used a pole to push the boat onto the shore and stood, waiting.

  “Charon, ferry us to Elysium.”

  Hades watched the girl’s face as Charon propelled them slowly across the river Styx. So far, she hadn’t seemed frightened at all. In fact, she’d merely seemed…curious, more than anything else. Even now, she sat on a bench at his feet, her eyes wide with excitement and wonder.

  Perhaps she was already won.

  The mists thinned around the skiff as they neared the opposite shore, and Hades knew a moment of uncertainty. What if he failed? What if, after everything he had to show her, to offer her, she refused him? He’d promised Zeus that all that happened here would be according to her will, not his.

  If she did not agree to marry him, he would lose her.

  Eros could, perhaps, take this new-created love away from him. He might not feel this irresistible urge to take Persephone in his arms and kiss her. But, somehow Hades knew that even if Eros was able to accomplish such a thing, a part of him would always regret the loss of her.

  No, it was too late. He would love her regardless, through all the undying æons he spent ruling the realm of the dead.

  The boat scraped the bottom and Hades stepped out onto the sandy shore. “I will put you ashore. It would be dangerous for you to touch the waters of the Styx.”

  “Why is that?” she asked, putting her hand into his without hesitation and permitting him to lift her from the boat. He set her down gently, well out of the reach of the lapping waters.

  “Styx is the river of hatred. Her waters represent the fear of mortals for death.”

  “But I am not mortal,” she reminded him.

  “True, but still. Immortals who swear by Styx’s name are bound to their word. I do not wish for you to be bound in any way, Persephone.” He released her, enjoying the rare thrill of excitement her touch aroused in him.

  “I had forgotten that. Why does Styx bind us to our oaths?”

  “When we, my brothers and sisters and I, revolted against the Titans, Styx was the first to come to our aid,” Hades replied. “For that reason, we honor her above all other nymphs. That is why I diverted her waters to flow around my realm. In Styx, I place my absolute trust. She will ward my kingdom faithfully, and in return I keep her by my side. She is my oldest friend, my truest servant, and is dear to me.”

  “It is strange to think of those long-ago days,” Persephone said. “I cannot imagine what it was like.”

  “Nor do you wish to,” Hades said. For a moment, the repressed darkness of those times reared within his soul. He pushed the anger and fear away, but not before Persephone saw it. He smiled, trying to dismiss the swift expression of sympathy on the girl’s face, and went on. “I hope, in time, Styx will be a friend to you as well. She is the daughter of Oceanos, a sister to your friends’ mother.”

  “My friends,” Persephone murmured. “They will be afraid of what has happened to me.”

  Hades didn’t reply. He was hoping she wouldn’t continue along that train of thought.

  “And my mother! What will she do?”

  Too late.

  Persephone stopped and looked up at him. For a moment, Hades was spellbound by the beauty of her face. But she was frowning, her eyes dimmed with concern. “Why did you bring me here?”

  Hades hesitated. What could he tell her? He floundered for a few seconds, trying to think of a plausible lie, before common sense kicked in.

  If I lie to her, I lose her from the beginning.

  The god gritted his teeth. “I brought you here, Persephone, because I want you to be my queen.”

  The girl’s face paled. “What did you say?”

  “I am going to marry you,” Hades said, adopting a matter-of-fact tone. “I have looked for a bride for thousands of years, but it wasn’t until I saw you that I knew my search had ended at last. You are destined for me, Persephone. You will be my lover, my wife, and you will rule the Underworld at my side.”

  “I will, will I?” Her voice was cool. “You seem very sure of yourself.”

  “I am.”

  “I wouldn’t be so certain were I you,” she advised him. “I don’t want to get married.”

  Hades looked at her thoughtfully. Persephone wasn’t afraid of him — that was something at least. Unfortunately, she didn’t look all that pleased with him either.

  “Besides, if you wanted to marry me why didn’t you just come to my mother’s house like everyone else?”

  “Demeter would never have accepted my suit,” he muttered. For some reason, he was starting to feel like he’d done something wrong.

  “So? Maybe I would have,” she said, “and maybe not. Shouldn’t my wishes matter? Instead, you thought it was a better idea to snatch me from my friends and terrify my mother?”

  Hades ground his teeth together again. This girl’s questions were making him uncomfortable. “Come. I will show you to your chambers.”

  “I’d rather go home.”

  “Surely you see that is not possible.”

  “Of course it’s possible,” Persephone retorted. “It’s not going to take any more effort to take me home than it did to bring me here.”

  “I have no intention of taking you back,” Hades said. “You will stay here, as befits your position as queen of the Underworld.”

  “As your prisoner, you mean.”

  Hades had had enough. He inclined his head, his lips tightly pressed together. “If that is how you prefer to see it. Come.”

  He took her hand again and headed for his palace.

  The trip through the Underworld was silent. Although she was angry with the pale, stoic god at her side, Persephone couldn’t help but be curious about Hades’ mysterious underground realm.

  Shades went about their business around her, seemingly unconcerned that their King moved among them. She’d always thought that shades would be transparent, like ghosts, but they seemed to be solid, just like her. The Underworld itself appeared to be limitless. The light was gray and cold, diffused probably by the weight of the Earth above the Underworld. Strange: it didn’t look like rock. It looked like the skies of the human realm on a cloudy day.

  Would it always be this gloomy?

  She darted a look up at Hades. Judging from the scowl on his face, it might very well be so. He didn’t look like someone who craved sunny days and bright light.

  And now she was trapped down here with him through eternity?

  Persephone couldn’t help it; tears rose into her eyes. She would never see her mother again — or her friends. She couldn’t even hope to see them, for if she did that would mean something terrible had happened. No, if either Amphitrite or Thetis showed up in the Underworld, they would have lost their immortality and suffered through a mortal death.

  Unless they defied Olympus in some way — immortals could be punished here as well as mortals.

  “W
hy are you crying?” Hades was still frowning, but his voice was gentle.

  “My mother will be afraid for me.” Persephone replied, and then added, “I’ll never see my friends again.”

  “Why would you think that?”

  “Well, because — ” Persephone floundered.

  Hades smiled. “The Underworld is not closed to immortals, Persephone. Anyone who wishes to visit here may — with my permission. I do not stay here all the time. I go to Olympus and even occasionally to the mortal realm. In time, you can accompany me if you wish. Look — here is my palace…our palace and your new home.”

  The broad plain of the Underworld was interrupted by a thick grove of tall cedar trees, encircled by a double moat. Hades didn’t call out or gesture to anyone. He simply waited. A delicate golden bridge rose from the first moat, spanning the water to the other side. He escorted Persephone over the bridge and waited again while a second bridge rose from the second moat. Once on the edge of the cedar forest, he took her down a narrow path through the trees.

  One moment, they were in a deep forest, the next they stood in front of a palace whose polished black granite walls towered over her. Hades led her to the gates and gestured with one finger. The gates swung inward, opening onto a gold-bricked courtyard.

  “Your domain,” Hades said with a smile.

  “My domain?”

  “Of course. All that you see is yours.”

  Hades looked toward the door of the huge house and nodded. Persephone followed his look and watched as a slim nymph approached them.

  “Styx, this is Persephone,” the god said.

  “Dread goddess, welcome to your realm,” Styx replied, bowing her blonde head.

  “I — I — ” Persephone stammered, not at all sure she liked the sound of ‘dread goddess.’ “Thank you.”

  “I will show you to your chambers,” Styx went on. “You probably wish to refresh yourself.”

  Unsure of what to do, Persephone looked up at Hades. He gave her an encouraging nod then, abruptly, spun on his heel and left the palace grounds. Confused, Persephone turned back to Styx, who was looking after her master with a bemused expression on her face.

  “What did I do?” Persephone asked.

  Styx regarded her for a moment, her eyes twinkling. “Nothing. Hades behaves like that when he is uncertain of the action he’s taken. He will walk in the forest for a time to collect himself.”

  “Collect himself?”

  Styx sighed. “Hades does not like to give in to his emotions, Persephone. Your presence here, although it is what he wanted, troubles him. We will leave him be for a time; it is probably best.”

  With that, the nymph drew Persephone into the palace.

  Chapter Four

  HADES SAT ALONE IN his throne room, one leg hooked over the arm of the great black basalt seat which was the symbol of his power. Since he’d returned from his walk through the grove that surrounded his palace, he’d remained there, silent and disconsolate.

  I should have known better than to listen to Zeus. No maiden could be won in such a manner.

  It was obvious now that Zeus had suggested this whole scheme intentionally. On the surface, he had granted Hades what he asked for — the hand of his daughter. The reality was quite different. Instead of a suitor, he was a captor. Persephone would harden her heart against him and any attempt he made to woo the girl would be met with resistance if not outright revulsion.

  If he kept her, she would never forgive him. If he took her back, Demeter would marry her off to the first god that asked for her hand.

  “Hades?”

  The quiet voice interrupted his reverie. He looked up to find Styx standing in the door. “What is it?”

  “Will you listen to some advice?”

  Hades smiled dourly. “Any advice would be preferable to my own thoughts.”

  Styx moved into the throne room with the extraordinary grace he’d always admired about her. Even during the war with the Titans when she’d run to Zeus’ side and offered her help, she’d had the same poised fluidity that set her above her many sisters. “I know you are regretting what you’ve done,” she said. “But I don’t think it’s as bad as you believe.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “Demeter has taught her daughter that men are weak when it comes to matters of the heart,” she explained. “She has derived great amusement from watching so many come to court Persephone and laughed when the girl turned them away.”

  “So?”

  “So you were not weak. You didn’t bother with Demeter at all. You circumvented the mother’s power in your quest for the daughter’s hand.” Styx smiled. There was a sparkle of malice in her silver-blue eyes. “All unwitting, the goddess taught Persephone to seek such strength. She isn’t terrified of you, Hades. In fact, I’d say she almost admires you for it.”

  Hades sat up straight, removing his leg from the arm of his throne. “So what do you suggest?”

  Styx laughed. “Go to her chambers. She has been marveling at the gifts you left there for her. Order musicians to play beneath her window. Call for wine and food. Seduce her, Hades. She is young and innocent, but she is immortal. The same emotions that drive you swirl in her ichor as well. Beneath that dainty façade, unless I miss my guess, lies the passion of a goddess.”

  “Seduce her? And be labeled a rapist as well?” Hades asked in disgust.

  Styx laughed again. “I did not say to ravish her, my friend. I said to seduce her. You should know as well as I that the greatest seductions take a great deal of time.”

  Hades considered this. “I do not have much time. I cannot trust my brother to hold to his word.”

  “It is true that Zeus may have manipulated you into this for some purpose of his own,” Styx agreed. “But, he swore to you on my name that he would forbid the other immortals to tell Demeter where the girl is and that if she cleaves to you of her own will, you may have her to wife. I have never called an immortal to task for forsaking an oath, but if the King of the gods spoke falsely to you in my name, I will.”

  Hades rose to his feet. “You may be right, Styx. I will do what I can.”

  She laid her slender hand on his arm. “My friend, this girl is destined to be your queen. The many trips you’ve taken to the mortal realm have left a lonely chasm in your soul. This young goddess will be the living blossom in your dark garden.”

  “Will she?” Hades asked. For some reason, he craved her reassurance. He needed it as surely as he needed occasional whiffs of the night air or a glimpse of the stars.

  Styx smiled in understanding. “I swear it to you, god of death,” she murmured. “On my own name.”

  The bedchamber Styx had brought Persephone to was delightful.

  She sat at the dressing table, smiling in satisfaction. The mirror on the wall didn’t distort her reflection like the ones mortals used. Her face was reflected clearly, much the same way a still forest pool did.

  Chests of elegant robes lined the wall. The air was perfumed by the incense burning with the logs on the hearth. Everything was luxurious from the thick, soft pelts on the great bed to the jewels scattered haphazardly over the dressing table. Unlike the bleak darkness of the rest of the palace, this room was bright and lovely with its white marble walls and floor. Styx called for a bath as soon as they’d entered, and Persephone lingered in the immense gold tub full of steaming, rose-scented water. Styx herself had arranged her hair, chattering about Amphitrite and Thetis’ childhood until Persephone felt at her ease. It was easy to forget that Styx had a name both dreaded and revered by the rest of the gods when she sounded and acted so much like her dearest friends. When Persephone was gowned at last in a light green silk robe so delicate it was almost transparent, she’d looked into the mirror for the first time.

  And was delighted by what she saw.

  Styx had arranged her hair in an intricate coil of thick braids and loose curls, then clasped a rope of opals around her neck and added rings and bracelets t
o her slim arms. When at last she’d finished, she stepped back with a delighted smile and said, “There! Now you look like the queen of the Underworld.”

  Persephone’s feminine enjoyment in dressing up evaporated instantly. “But I’m not. I am nothing but a prisoner.”

  “A prisoner? My dear child,” the nymph said reprovingly. “You are not a prisoner but a queen! And queen to such a man as Hades? Every nymph and minor goddess has pursued him for aeons!”

  “Really?” Persephone’s curiosity was aroused. “Why hasn’t he married yet?”

  Styx began to arrange the items on the dressing table, looking down as she replaced jewels in the carved chest and moved bottles of perfumed oils out of harm’s way. “Hades swore that when he saw the woman destined to be his wife, he would know her instantly. He has never seen that maiden until now — until he saw you.”

  Persephone felt a queer flutter in her stomach. “Did he say that?”

  “He didn’t have to,” Styx said gently. “Hades is my dearest friend and master of the realm where my waters flow. I, who hold the gods to their oaths, cannot lie to an immortal. Believe me, my dear, when I tell you that your destiny has always been entwined with his. Hades is proud and lonely. He has served the mortal races with great industry and has known little happiness in the doing of it. You can change that for him if you will.”

  With that, Styx smiled one last time, bobbed her head respectfully and left Persephone to muse over her words while the young goddess stared aimlessly into the mirror.

  So when there was a soft knock at her door, Persephone thought Styx had come back. “Come in!”

  Hades entered the room and Persephone felt the strange shiver in her stomach again. She watched in silence as he crossed the room to stand in front of her.

  He was handsome; all the Olympians were. His eyes sparkled like dark jewels against his pale skin. She noticed too how tall he was, how broad his shoulders were and how narrow his hips.