Hades and Persephone: A Fated Love Book 2

Dolos

I decided I would spend the rest of my time alone. It would be unusual for the hours dwindling between us, but maybe Hades and I needed six months of space before we could truly start over. Then maybe the second year of marriage could be our hardest.

I hardly expected the time to pass by uneventfully, but as I hid in the Hollow Oaks, I didn't expect the earsplitting sound that cut through the Underworld. A woman, screaming.

It sounded so much like Minthe that I chased after it, even as the sound led me through the fields of Asphodel. I followed the agony even deeper than that, as the stalks swished past my waist and began to consume me.

But before I could turn back, an iron door appeared. My heart stilled as the bland wheat consumed me from every direction except the one towards it. Fire and ice flowed from behind its grates, and the insignia at the top was in the ancient language, only to be read by gods.

This was the entrance to Tartarus.

"PERSEPHONE! HELP! PERSEPHONE!" The woman screamed louder and a pale hand grasped one of its posts. To my surprise, the fingers were childlike. So small they couldn't have been from a grown woman at all.

The promise I made to Hades sounded in my head like an alarm. No matter what you see, do not open the door to Tartarus.

I should have ran for him. I should have called his name. But after our last encounter, and at the first splatter of blood through the door, I threw open the entrance to Tartarus and stepped inside alone.

.........................................

The lowest realm of hell was more miserable than I could have possibly imagined, drenching my body in a cold sweat of dread and fire. The door slammed shut behind me and I turned to see a mortal girl, peering up at me with frightened eyes.

Then, as if she were made of clay, she twisted into Minthe before my eyes. Before I could speak, the mirage took on a shape of a plant and then transformed into Hades himself. My blood froze and I reached towards the door, only to find it locked tight against my grasp. Whatever illusion was unraveling before me, I had fallen right into its trap.

The image morphed again and a strange male finally stood before me, thin and rugged with the sickly eyes of a trickster. I didn't know him, which meant he had to be one of the lesser gods. I stiffened, knowing the rumors about them to be particularly brutal.

"You're as foolish as they say, you know that?" he chuckled. "I worried that you might have learned your lesson after the situation with Aphrodite, but you really make this too easy."

"Who are you?" I demanded.

"Dolos, god of guile and trickery. You should know by now. Considering we've already been intimate," he said with a slick smile. Everything about him was oily, from the grease of his hair to the way he seemed to shift perpetually in the yellow light.

My lip curled in disgust. "We have never been intimate."

"Well, I suppose you're right. But we certainly were close last night, weren't we?"  he grinned. The realization was so heavy that it weighed in my chest.

Once again, I found myself thinking, "how could I not trust Hades?" But it was another situation where I had to also wonder, "what else was I supposed to think?" Because standing before me was Dolos, holding the real helm Hades always loved so much. Somehow, he must have stolen it.

"Don't look so surprised. I have Hermes's staff in my collection as well as Aphrodite's comb. This, however, has been a real prize. Your husband is so much more protective of his things," he said and raked his gaze down my body.

"Yes, he is. And I'm not a thing, I'm his wife," I snapped. "Did you not hear about the last male who came here after me?"

"No," he replied regrettably. "I didn't."

My heart stilled, and I could have fallen to my knees with regret. Hades offered me a divorce, and I begged him to never mention it again. After this encounter, however, I was sure he would follow through by his own insistence. I didn't listen to him, I didn't trust him, I demanded he show mercy my way. And now, here was Dolos, the exact consequence he begged me to consider.

A god who thought he could take me with no consequences.

I reached towards the door again, but he merely laughed and reached behind him towards a set of chains.

"Don't bother trying to run. Hades had put very powerful seals in place over the door. It can't open from the inside and he won't be able to hear you scream," he explained. "It's why I couldn't follow you into his private quarters last night. He has parts of the Underworld locked so tight that not even Zeus could break through."

"How did you get in?"

"Well I'm not just any god, am I? And it really doesn't matter," he said. "What you should be asking is what I'm going to do with you."