She stopped, jerking her hand from his arm, angry more at herself then him. “He’s a fiend, Thanatos! He stole me from my home! I didn’t come willingly!”
“The first time you did. The second time, as I heard it from Flora, Zeus gave you to him. He traded you away so Hades would support his right to rule.”
Pressing a hand to her hip, she glared at him. “What gave them the right to decide my
future?” A future she’d already decided. Zeus had promised her the choice of husbands and he’d broken his promise to her. It matter that she would have chosen to marry Hades if he but asked her.
“One rarely gets to decide their fate, Persephone. But those who can take what life brings them and make the best of it, succeed.”
She frowned. She had the feeling he was trying to convey something important to her. But if he was, she couldn’t think what it was.
“He still has the sprig of lavender you gave him,” Thanatos said. “Do you realize how much your kindness means to him?”
“And this is how he repaid that kindness?”
His face hardened. “Whatever you want to believe, believe. People often give more faith to their opinion than to actual facts.”
“He abducted me!”
“Then he deserves to be punished for his crimes, does he not? Choose his punishment,
Persephone.”
She stared at him. Was he serious or joking?
“Serious as a heart attack. I can trap him inside his own body. I can kill him for you. I could remove his immortal soul and reduce him to the status of a mortal. I could place him in his old cell in Tartarus. The instruments of torture are still there. Maybe you’d prefer cutting him with knives or shoving swords through his body as Coronus did.”
She thought she might be sick. The imagery of each suggestion was more then she wanted
Hades to suffer. She wanted to punish him for kidnapping her. But she didn’t want to hurt or kill him!
She rubbed her head, a headache was forming. “Please, let the topic of Hades go. I don’t wish to talk about him. I can hardly bear to think of him.”
“Really? Because your thoughts are filled with him.” He walked a short distance from her, turned slightly, cocked his head to the side, and said, “Are you coming? The Elysian Fields are up ahead.”
She hadn’t expected him to actually obey her. “Are you to be my jailer, Thanatos?”
He looked shocked and insulted. “I thought to keep my Queen company. I’ll leave you to your misery.”
She stared at his back as he walked away. She hadn’t meant to hurt his feelings. It wasn’t fair.
He didn’t deserve her anger because she was upset at Hades. Thanatos was trying to be nice to her, albeit in a strange sort of way.
“Thanatos, wait!” She rushed after him. He stopped and glanced down at her, one platinum
brow cocked. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.”
He nodded. “Forgiven, my dear child. Will I see you at dinner tonight?”
She wanted to say no, but the expectant look on his face stopped her. “Yes. Good day,
Thanatos.” She returned to the palace, her mind a whirl of thoughts and plans.
The days soon turned into weeks and she found a certain enjoyment to her life. Her walks out into this strange world allowed her to see more of the wonders of the Underworld. It wasn’t the barren landscape she’d first thought it, but neither was it the world above.
Since very few actual plants could grow and thrive in the caves, clever fakes grew from
supple jewels that looked much like plants, but didn’t need to be watered or replanted after the winter months. The hills and valleys of the Elysian Fields were covered in a sea of slender grass in various shades of green crystal. The trees were made of layers of brown and yellow gems on their trunks and thin, pliable leaves in several shades of green stones.
By the second week of her exploration of the Underworld, small pink and white gemstone
flowers bloomed on the trees. Shortly after, a wide variety flowers sprouted all over the hills and vales. It was as if spring had come to the Underworld.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
SHE DREAMED of Hades that night.
She stood on the shore of the beach, the light of the waxing moon glisten upon the waves.
The sand sifted between her toes and cool spray of the sea misted her skin. She laughed, twirling with the joy that filled her heart to bursting. Warmth filled the cool night air, and a hand touched her waist, lifting her into the air with a squeal of delight, spinning with her.
His rich laugh, skipped along her spine, and she shivered in pleasure. Her body slid along the length of his hard body, until her feet rested on the sand. His arms wrapped around her, holding her close to him. She knew the strength in his sinewy arms could crush her, and yet she had never felt so safe in her life.
This is what she wanted in life. This was what she wanted from him. She wanted to feel
precious, loved, not toyed with.
“I was hoping you’d come,” she whispered.
“How could I stay away, sweetling?”
She couldn’t stop the grin threatening to split her face. She knew this was a dream, and yet it felt so real, so vivid. She turned in his arms to face him. Handsome failed to adequately describe his male beauty.
Her heart pattered wildly just looking at the magnificent man with his pale skin, just starting to bronze in the sun, and his blue-black hair falling around his broad shoulders. Then there was the look in his eyes as he watched her. They held a certain tenderness and possessive need, and something deep within her told her he desired her.
She reached up to touch his face, but his large, calloused hands with their long fingers
wrapped around her hand stopped her. He leaned down, and his lips brushed against hers. Ever so firm, ever so gentle.
She found herself enjoying it, craving more of it. Liquid heat rushing through her body, so like the warmth of the sun, and magic sparked across her skin, and something in her head seemed to open just a little bit. And sudden she knew his heart as if it were her own. She could see his world through his eyes. He was a man forced into a life unsuited for his kind and gentle soul, but which he tolerated without complaint. If anything it was his strength against the world that would crush him. She was his salvation.
“Be my Queen, Persephone. Be my wife.”
She pulled back to look into his midnight blue eyes, so open and honest, overflowed with
sorrow and loneliness and hope as they stared down at her. She didn’t pause. She didn’t think.
She spoke her heart’s answer. “Yes.”
This was her Hades. Not the fiend her mother made him out to be. Not the monster who’d
abducted her. But the god she’d met in the forest, the god in her mother’s garden.
This memory would always be hers and hers alone.
HADES JERKED from the couch. His blurry eyes skirted over the ornate table, and the two
red cushioned chairs, and black sheer drapery. Everything was in its place. He was in his place.
He was in his rooms in the Underworld, not the beach. He was alone, not with Persephone. He hadn’t done anything incredibly stupid. Like invade her dreams or bring her into his.
He brushed his hand through his hair and walked back to bed. It was a dream, he repeated. A dream where her special blend of earth, roses, honey, and lavender still lingered in the air and on his clothes. A dream so vivid he could feel the warm imprint of her body pressed against him. A dream where he could still taste her lips upon his. A dream where her power was stronger and the blocks to her mind cracked open at every touch.
He closed his eyes. All beats were off and he was so screwed. Because not only was his need for her growing stronger, but apparently she desired him still. Because the dream wasn’t his, it was hers. She had called him to her.
“Oh shit!”
Chapter 19
“ABADDON WAS the second ruler of the Underw
orld and most fearsome,” Penelope
responded to Persephone’s question about the Underworld a few nights later. “He beat those who displeased him; demanding perfection though never explaining what he wanted of us. A simple meal cooked too long earned me a black eye and a bruised rib.”
“Hades hasn’t done a bad job of ruling,” Zana said.
“We all feared him when he first came. The rumors aren’t very flattering and when he used magic to tear down the ruined palace and built a new one. Well, he barely broke into a sweat.”
Penelope smiled. “But Hades isn’t Abaddon.”
Persephone inwardly groaned. Was it their plan to tell her how brutish men could be and then place Hades in a better light after what he did? Well if it was, it wasn’t going to work. She’d witnessed the two men hacking at each other this afternoon.
Thanatos laughed. “You should have seen him ordering everyone around and reassign tasks.
He reminded me of a general facing his army.”
She marveled that the deities of the Underworld didn’t revolt. She would have. Instead they seemed to respect him and willingly serve him. If they expected the same from her, they’d be sorely disappointed. He was a thief and she didn’t want to talk about him.
She picked at the delicious food on her plate and tried to ignore them. But it was easier thought then done.
“I like that things run more smoothly now. No bickering.”
“It helps that Hades doesn’t interfere in our duties. He oversees the Underworld, not rule under a thumb of fear. He reminds me of…”
Persephone looked up from her braised meat and vegetables, waiting for Zana to finish.
Penelope touched her arm. “Persephone, did you know that the shades lingering on in the
Asphodel Fields were released to the Elysian Fields by Hades? It’s said that his friend and her family were there. He wanted them to be happy instead of wandering aimlessly around.”
“Leuce,” Thanatos supplied. “You would have loved her Persephone. Her soul was like
yours, pure and loving. I never met her husband or children until their deaths.”
“Wasn’t she Hades wife?”
He shook his head. “Unfounded rumors. There isn’t a shred of truth to them.”
“Isn’t there?”
Persephone gasped and turned in her seat. Hades stood in the doorway, his dark eyes on her.
Her body tingled. She could drown in those eyes or be consumed by them. There was such
sorrow and rage and something she couldn’t name.
Penelope and Zana beat a hasty retreat from the room, and she thought of following them, but something inside her was drawn to Hades pain. She wanted to take him into her arms and heal him. She gripped the edge of the table, anchoring herself to sanity.
Thanatos remained where he was, lifting his glass to his lips. “Maybe a smidgen. Like the fact that Leuce was a beautiful mortal who loved you.”
“How about the part where I killed her?”
Thanatos slammed the goblet down, the liquid sloshing over the edge, and stood.
“Persephone, can you excuse us?”
“Let her stay. It’ll make her decision so much easier,” he said. His tone dripped with sarcasm.
She glanced between the two men. She wanted to be anywhere but here, and yet she didn’t
move.
“Pray tell, my Lord Hades, what decision is that?” Thanatos asked.
“The one she’s already made,” he growled. “She’ll be returning to her mother soon. She
doesn’t want to be here with a monster and a killer. And who can blame her.”
“You did everything you could for Leuce,” Thanatos said. “You didn’t slaughter her family.
And you sure as hell didn’t throw her from a mountain.”
“No? I could’ve stopped it, Thanatos. I didn’t have to insult or rebel against Coronus. I didn’t have to run and hide. I could’ve surrendered months, no, years before anyone had to die.”
“They were already dying!”
Hades laughed, stumbled and grabbed the table for support. He still ended up sitting on the floor. Persephone half-rose, the need to go to him so strong. She remained rooted to the floor.
“They followed me!”
“They rebelled against Coronus. You were just a figure-head for them, a god who thought as they did and tried to protect them from the evil around them. None of those deaths are your fault.
You didn’t kill them.”
“Fool daemon! Why can’t you see me for what I am? I’m cursed to destroy everything I
love!” Hades took another drink from a clay flagon before laying down on the warm marble
floor. “Why did I think this time would be any different?” he whispered.
“It’s very different. You rule a world of the dead. They can’t be killed again.” Thanatos looked at Persephone. “You love Persephone.”
Hades sighed. “It’s hard not to. Persephone is light in this dreary world. Her very presence creates life. Even the plants welcome her.”
Persephone frowned and looked at Thanatos. Did he mean what she thought he meant? Did
the plants in the Underworld grow for her? So the first day the Underworld had been a barren wasteland?
Thanatos met her eyes and nodded.
“She hates me, you know,” Hades murmured from his place on the floor. “I selfishly took her from everything she loved. She loves her flowers. She loves her mother. She loved her life in the valley. And I took her from everything she loves.”
“Did you?”
The question, while spoken to Hades, was directed toward her.
“Yes,” Hades answered. His eyes drifted close and after a moment his breathing deepened.
He was sleeping.
Thanatos sighed and stepped out from behind the table. “Does it please you, my Queen?”
She blinked. “Does what please me?”
He gestured at Hades. “What you do to him? All he wants from you is a kind word.”
“Why should I be kind to him, Thanatos?! I was happy where I was. He took me from all I
loved and imprisoned me here.”
“Liar,” he said playfully, before sobering. “You can lie to yourself, but you can’t lie to me. I know what you’re thinking. You love the man and he loves you. He would maim and kill to
protect you. He has offered you everything he has. He has offered you true freedom. And you spit in his face like an ungrateful child. You’re as blind as your mother.” The disgust in his face cut her to the core. “Go to bed, Persephone. I’ll deal with your husband.”
He bent, lifting Hades’ huge bulk and stumbling under the weight. She turned away, her
vision blurring and walked to her rooms with all the dignity she could manage. She closed the door and burst into tears.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
HADES HEAD ached. He groaned and pressed his head into the pillow.
“You really should stop drinking that wine!”
“Stop yelling.” Hades sat up and groaned as his head tried to spilt itself wide open. “What are you doing here, Thanatos?”
“We needed to talk.”
He winced. Thanatos’ voice was loud and sounded angry. He must have done incredibly
stupid last night. Damn! That was all he needed to do.
“Later, my head hurts.”
“Your fault, not mine. You need to make peace with what happened to Leuce. Then you need
to fix this rift between you and Persephone.”
Thanatos stood and opened the curtains. Light streamed into the room and he winced. When
had it gotten so bright in the Underworld?
“Can’t you leave me to my misery?”
“Only if you stop coming to dinner drunk.”
Had he gone to dinner? Last he remembered he was drowning in a wine in his room. “Fine.”
Thanatos disappeared before he could ask what happened. Groaning, he
rose and dressed.
Thanatos was right, like usual. He needed to confront his past. He’d go to see Leuce. Then he’d double his practice time with Campe in the afternoon.
He splashed some water on his face and accelerated his metabolism. The hangover was gone
in minutes.
He flashed from the palace and to the top of a small hill. The sparkling green of the Elysian Fields stretched out before him dissected by a blue river Eridanus. Persephone’s very presence had done wonders to the place. Everything was brighter and more colorful.
He found Leuce standing beside a stream meandering through the meadow, a small gaggle of
children bouncing around her, her black hair flowing down her back in gentle waves. A man sat beneath a tree a short distance away watching the children play with a smile on his face.
She looked so beautiful, whole and hearty and happy. She set her child down and looked up the hill at him. Since she was a child, she’d always known when he was near, and being dead hadn’t changed that.
He met her half way down the hill. Sweeping her up into a hug and twirling around with her.
“Come and meet my family,” she said once he put her down.
He shook his head. “I just came…I wanted to see if you were happy.”
“I am. Thanks to you, I have my husband and my children again.”
She looked down upon her family, her eyes glowing with such love it made Hades squirm
inside. This was true, unselfish love. She loved her children. She loved her husband. And Hades envied them such love.
“I avenged you and your family, Leuce.” He touched her cheek, his eyes and heart saying the farewell he couldn’t speak. He would never return. “The Titans are paying for what they’ve done.”
“And you? Do they pay for what they did to you?”
He shook his head. “I was justly imprisoned, sister of mine. I revolted against the King of the Gods. I attacked him in his own home. After all I did since I was freed, I should be returned there.”
“Hades,” she reprimanded him. “Whatever you’ve done, you don’t deserve that cell in
Tartarus. You never did.”
Didn’t he? “I abducted a woman, Leuce. I tried to stay away from her, but like the sirens song, I am drawn back time and time again.”
My Lord Hades Page 16