Hell Is An Empty Heart (Book One of The Triple Moon's Chronicles)

49 | A New Cage Of His Own

Head burning red in flames locks.
The colour of power for a temptress,
Skin to endeavour snake under a diaphanous gauze;
That kind of brute strength was meant to melt those things.
But did Persephone know she came in such form and force of seduction?

She swung her golden twin swords as if she were raging war on a battlefield in her mind. Her novice's moves were yet to be sharpened, but already she possessed the roar. "I'm the Queen of the Underworld, heed my words, or I will behead you right here in front of me."

It had been hours and hours now since she mesmerised Hades. He just watched her cut the curtains off the bed, jumping on a table to fight an invisible enemy. Sometimes he would stop her to correct her posture, but most of the time, he stood by the window, admiring her future possibilities.

It had been hours also since Askalaphos had bled everything he knew, and Hades couldn't get his head around it.

It was her touch that sealed his scar.

It was her joy in the pool of souls that made him play music for her.

Then there were their endless games of chess.

Everything about her haunted him, but uncertainty persisted.

The uncertainty of her not eating any food from his realm.

The uncertainty surrounding her vows to him.

That uncertainty that her sudden slumber might not be a coincidence. Despite everything, there they were, with her flapping around like a free bird and him confined in a new cage of his own.

Time was running out of their hands as the loud lightning grumbled—the deafening hint that Zeus' emissary was soon to arrive, a sign that they both ignored.

By the speed of the light and the celestial wind from Zeus lungs, the dark sky of Erebus cracked under violent thunderstorms. Even in the dusk, Zeus reminded to all that he was still reigning over their entire world and from the high of his temple, he dug a direct path through hell for his herald.

Hermes appeared fearful at the woebegone palace of Hades.

On his first steps, he could already hear the many screams from Persephone. Her light voice echoed through the entire infernal tower and Hermes ran for it through the infinite staircase, only guided by the requiem of what he felt to be Persephone's lamentations. At each floor, Hades' maze isolated him further and yet Hermes never gave up until he reached the last one.

The adamantine blade in his hand shook when he dared to speak up. "Persephone, I'm here." Darting his sight through all the doors surrounding him, a drop of sweat formed on his forehead. "I, Hermes, your loyal saviour in his shining armour!"

Persephone froze at his voice, letting her twin swords fall to the ground and she leapt right into Hades' arms. She gave him a kiss—the call of a desperate passion. With her hands going beneath the top of his tattered blue pyjama, Persephone gripped all over his body.

The kiss that Hades broke with an arched brow.

"What are you doing?"

But she could only answer him with her chin dipping into her chest and droplets of tears raining out of her eyes.

Hades shook his head. "This is not right!"

To which she answered by throwing herself back into his arms with her fists pounding on his chest. "Please don't leave me."

The same plea she once made to her father, the same one she said to her mother, and Hades held her hands back and sat her down on his bed. Kneeling down in front of her, he tucked one of her flyaway hairs behind her ear.