Hermes arrived the very next morning, as cunning and irreverent as always. I had always found him handsome, with his golden skin and the boyish bronze hair that curled at the ends.
Here, he seemed a bit dimmer. Feeble and out of place as he sought counsel.
Hades lazed in his throne to meet him, a mask of boredom sewn to hide the frustration at being met by a messenger, rather than whoever was sending the message. In the past months, I had grown to know him well enough to see it all in the impatient drum of his fingertips.
Hermes strode through the center of the room, and stopped before the dark throne without kneeling.
"Surely you must know why I'm here," he announced.
"Yes," Hades drawled. "But my brother has wasted your time. Persephone has eaten from the Underworld. Six seeds of a pomegranate."
I froze, wondering if Hermes could see every intimacy of that moment written in the blush of my cheeks. I didn't mean to, I wanted to tell him. And it wasn't even a kiss. That fact meant nothing now, because I knew that the moment was so much worse.
"Is this true?" he turned to me, aghast. Hades twisted to face me from his throne, and a wry grin crossed his face.
"Tell him," he invited.
"It was only one bite. And I was so hungry," I began, but Hermes had stopped listening the moment I admitted it.
"This is so much worse than I expected," he groaned. Turning back he stressed, "I thought you were gentle. So much better than the Olympians in their handling of the goddesses."
It was as if he were quoting Hades, although I knew that couldn't have been true. He would never be so arrogant. Not out loud, anyway.
"Is it really so hard to believe I could convince her?" he asked softly.
"Yes," Hermes snapped. He looked at me once more, and his expression was terribly sorry.
"Your mother is ravaging the earth to rally for your return. The mortal world hasn't seen such famine in centuries. I came here to retrieve you, but not even Zeus can break the ancient traditions you've invoked."
"I don't understand," I whispered.
"You've eaten from the Underworld," he said simply. "Hades is justified to keep you here as long as he desires."
I might have burst into flames at that moment, but I knew that it came from anger burning so hot it was going to destroy me. Oh how he made me feel new things every day.
"You—" I seethed.
"As you can see, now has become a very inopportune time for visitors," Hades announced and rose from his throne. Hermes glanced between us, but I rushed towards him, ducking out of Hades's grasp as he reached to grab me.
"Don't leave me here with him," I pleaded, grasping his cloak as if that might make him stay. "I want to go back to Olympus with you. It's so dark here, and lonely. Please, Hermes."
He turned his face as if it pained him to look at me. Before I could say anymore, or perhaps make him feel worse, he vanished into golden light that dissipated just as fast. I was so wounded that I growled like an animal, whirling around to lash out at something. Anything.
Hades was the most responsible target, which was convenient since he was the only one available. He hadn't intervened throughout my entire speech, and now he seemed very, very tired.
"Persephone," he sighed.
"You lied to me."
"I never—"
"You tricked me and you—you violated me," I said, a bit hysterical. I would say it was as if I struck him, but I had and the look he gave me was nothing like it was then.
"Yes, I tricked you, and for that, I apologize," he said, very deliberately. "But I never lied to you. And I did not violate you. You were with me in the garden in so many ways—"
"You followed me there,"
"Of course I followed you," he stressed. "And I am not ashamed of that. Just as I wish you weren't ashamed of it either."
I faltered. His demeanor had caught me completely off guard. Had he been smug or domineering, this would have been easy. But his eyes were completely sincere. Even in all my fury, he still cared about me enough to tear his mind apart. I couldn't make sense of it.
"Why did you deceive me?" I asked, but all my fight had vanished.
"Because it is dark here. And lonely," he said.
My words were hollow in his mouth, as if the desperation I said them with had been eroded by a thousand years, twisting into a hurt I couldn't imagine.
I turned and left him in the center of his kingdom because I couldn't stand it anymore. I couldn't stand knowing he had stolen my eternity and that I still didn't hate him for it.
That night, I laid awake in my bedchambers for hours and thought about my pleading to return to Olympus, an inexplicable guilt keeping me awake. Yes, it had been cruel to make such a display in front of Hades. And yes, I could feel the hurt he carried since the day he stole me and chose the cruelty anyway.
But that wasn't what haunted me that night. Just as I could feel his hurt, Hades could feel my wanting, he had said. It was a romantic euphemism, when we both knew he meant I was burning with lust. No better than one of the flowering dogwoods, waiting to burst at the start of the season.
Goddess of Springtime, indeed.
Perhaps it wasn't this darkness of his home that frightened me nearly as much as my own desires. Once, a wolf had torn the flesh of my side after I startled it in the woods. Upon closer inspection, it was starving and afraid. I had wept with sorrow and nursed him back to health.
Would I have more sympathy on Hades if I didn't feel so compelled by him? My own hand crept below the hem of my nightgown whether to distract myself from the thought or confirm it, I didn't know.
My own treacherous hand. I shuddered with the fear and pleasure of knowing I wished it was his.
YOU ARE READING
Hades and Persephone: A Fated Love
Romance"You can have anything you want," He plucked the ripest for me from the tree. "Everything in my world is yours." With all of my mother's warnings, I had been afraid to eat from his table or drink his wine. These were binding things, and I would sta...
