Chapter 10

Chapter

Ten

H ades

Everything is soft and, as both a hit to Demeter and a gift of comfort and familiarity to Persephone, floral. Soft neutrals accented in soft pink and softer green complement the warmth of sun gold and cloud white.

I'd decorated her room with the same magic I'd used and honed for centuries, gifted willingly by Persephone, at the wrath of Demeter, to craft not only the Elysian Fields, but the Isle of the Blessed, Vale of Mourning, the Grove of Persephone, and the Asphodel Meadows, where an abundance of life thrives within the Underworld.

Before I had crossed paths with the young girl who would become my wife—before she would become my Queen—my realms had been a dark and dank place, lacking life and meaning for the souls who met their living end to rest in my care.

I had been a creature of darkness, lacking patience or softness before her. I had ruled with a hand heavy of cruelty and demand, offering little in the way of life after death. I took what I desired with no care of consequence. In my domination of her soft body, my stealing of her tender heart, my determination to plant my seed of life within the girl destined to become the Goddess of spring, growth, and love, she taught me the ways of softness, of living. It was through her tears, her grief, and later, her gentle love, that I came to shed the shadows of darkness and violence to better my realms and myself. For her.

With her capture, the domination of her body and heart, seeds of life sprouted within the Underworld. The magic that flowed within her blood ran life into the rivers that fed the barren land. Her fertility stretched beyond her body to birth a paradise in what had been a realm of only darkness and despair, to become a place of life after death. A promise of something more.

It is for this reason Demeter had rained her wrath on us both. On the entire realm I ruled with her daughter, my Queen, at my side. She had tricked and schemed, lied, blackmailed, and maimed to see the destruction of our great love.

She had thought with the death of Persephone, the stealing of her eternal soul, that the new life in the Underworld would die. What she had not counted on was the gift of eternal life Persephone had bestowed upon me when she'd given me her love.

But life must always be fed, and without my Queen to give with her natural ease, my realm was left to feed upon the only thing it could. Me and the Gods who chose to exist there, banished from Olympus or unfit for the sea.

"How'd you manage this, Hades?" Minthe pulls a pastel green pillow veined with shimmering lines of a lighter green from the bed, giving it a gentle toss before she pulls it into her chest for a hug. Her sharp, slightly slanted green eyes are fixed on me, and as usual, her soil-colored bob, dagger straight, falls to frame her pixie-face.

Minthe, like Leuce, is beautiful. Exquisitely so.

I recall a time when I thought the two nymphs were the most beautiful women I'd ever seen. I'd been wrong.

"Yeah," Leuce agrees. "I'd like to know the same."

"I asked, and she said yes."

"It's not something you'd expect a girl her age to agree to," Leuce observes, sharp as a tack. "She's had two encounters with you and she's agreed to move in. At this rate, she'll be home in the Underworld within the week. "

"That would be nice, Hades," Minthe says dreamily. "You won't be so weak anymore."

The mention of my ever-waning strength grates on my nerves like it always does. "It's not that simple."

"What isn't?" Leuce demands. "She clearly feels things for you."

"You know the curse of the Fates as well as I do." I spin to face the nymphs, barring Hecate and Charon, they are my oldest and most trusted friends. My family. "The consequences of Demeter's actions have made this more complicated than simply finding her again."

"Hades," Minthe says softly.

My rage erupts in a booming roar that sends a tremor through the Tower. "She was drowned in The Lethe ."

Silence meets my eruption in a wash of grief that trembles the bones under my flesh. Leuce is the first to move, daring to close the space between us. She is smart enough, however, to refrain from touching me. "She will remember you. You will make her remember."

Minthe takes a hesitant step. "You will make her fall in love with you."

"She has no interest in love."

"Neither did she the first time." Leuce smirks, but there's sadness behind the act. "She won't be able to help it, Hades. The fall is unavoidable."

I had thought, with her return into my life, I would find a stability the like I'd known before she'd been taken from me. An ease to rule that had been mine from the moment I helped capture the Titans.

I feel even less in control than I had in her absence. Because now, I know there will be forces at work that will try to pull her away from me. To steal her. And they will use any means at their disposal.

"Until I can take her to the Underworld, she will be in danger."

Minthe's face pinches in tight displeasure, but Leuce juts out her chin confidently. "We will protect her."

"She won't give up her archaeology program. If Demeter realizes she is here in Greece—" I can't finish. An image of her wrath flashes in my mind. Persephone, her beautiful, pale flesh bound by the black roots Demeter called from beneath the blue apatite bed of the river Lethe.

The heat of Tartarus moves unbidden through my veins, sweat prickling my flesh.

"I can join the program," Minthe's sweet voice offers, sounding through the buzz of eternal flames that crackle in my ears.

Leuce's head swivels to her mate. "That is an excellent idea. She hasn't met you. She won't suspect a thing."

Minthe's head bobs. "And I can protect her."

If there is one thing Minthe is accustomed to warding off, it is Demeter and her spiteful attacks .

I meet my friends' eyes, the fire cooling inside my blood. "I'll arrange it."

"I'll pack."

"Thank you, Minthe."

"It'll be my pleasure." Her smile trembles. "I miss her, too."

A flash of something possessive flares. Memories of before—of them with her—stab like thorns in my mind. My voice is rough. "I know."