"Is it true you don't allow Hades to call on me while I am in Olympus?" I asked my mother in our home that night.
Her hands stilled as she braided my hair, but she continued her work, seemingly unbothered.
"Yes. I will not interrupt his time with you in the Underworld, and I expect the same courtesy," she said.
"Doesn't it matter what I want? What if I wanted him here?" I asked. "Or what if I asked for you there?"
"Of course I would come," she said. "But time is sacred. So are family and marriage. You have made your choice to divide them, and now you must respect the consequences."
Consequences. That word always had the most power to make me feel like a child, because of the stubborn anger I always felt towards it. Deep down, I wanted to have everything I wanted when I wanted it. With none of those annoying consequences.
"Of all the gods who were prospective suitors for you, Hades is more decent than most," she finally sighed. "Is he good to you?"
"Yes," I said.
"Do you think he will be faithful to you?" She asked.
"Yes," I said. Defensive again.
The truth was that I was beginning to fear I didn't know as much about Hades as I thought I did. He had never told me about his past flames and experiences, but I never asked. I felt like I knew him by the things that made him laugh, or the thoughts he told me about the worlds. Surely this he wouldn't share with nymphs. And surely they couldn't know half his passions.
But there was still the unnerving feeling that I didn't know. Which made me feel like I didn't know him.
"Good," Demeter breathed, oblivious to all of this. She pulled me in for a hug, and I held her tightly like a child.
In a lot of ways I felt like one. Unsure of who to trust or believe. Suddenly growing nervous for the day my husband would return to me and we would resume our life together. It had become so complicated I wished I could pull the covers over my head and hide from him for the next six months.
Rather than confronting him, asking him, really, about the rumors I had heard.
"I'll miss you while you're away. And you can always call on me if you need me," Demeter said.
"Thank you," I whispered.
We nestled into bed and I slept without dreams. I was grateful, at least for Morpheus showing mercy on me.
Weeks passed and it seemed that all of Olympus joined in to taunt me about my situation. I wish I only had a wife half of the year, Zeus laughed when he thought I wasn't listening. I think Hades will be faithful, Aphrodite defended me once. She was quick to follow up with the snide, but not by choice. The gods only laughed at her, naming every nymph that spent a bit too much time hedging around Elysium.
And Nyx, goddess of the night.
I felt more and more foolish by the day. I had given myself over to him so fast and yet I didn't know the first thing about his proclivities. And he never showed in Olympus to defend himself. Or perhaps more importantly, to explain himself.
The day to be reunited with him came with more dread than I had ever anticipated. That morning, I was so nervous I thought I would be sick. Part of me still wanted to hide under the bed and wait half a year, but I dressed and brushed my hair.
My mother took me to Zeus's temple, where Hades would undoubtedly be waiting.
My breath caught as we approached. The sight of him would never be less disarming, and I knew that even if our time had been a dream, the effect he had on me was not.
He was just as intense and foreboding as they always said, with a strong build and the thick black hair he kept cut around his shoulders. I wondered if he knew how often I pictured that hair, matted on my pillow from a session that was particularly rough.
Or if he knew I wondered whether anyone else did too in these past six months.
"Persephone," Zeus said. "The time you agreed to in Olympus has ended. Now you are to be joined with Hades for the year's half in the Underworld."
He approached me slowly, hesitant before the gods who had assembled to watch this first exchange. Surely my mother's theatrics and the shock of Hades as a married god would wear off someday. But for now, it seemed to be the most spectacular entertainment in all of creation.
He stopped beside his chariot, studying me with those dark eyes I had never forgotten. It was like he could see every doubt, every fear, every looming regret on my face. I tried to remind myself that no one else could. No one else knew me so well.
"Are you...content to go?" he asked.
"Yes," I said. As I approached, I lowered my voice and told him, "Although I still hate that word. Content."
And consequences, I added silently. A ghost of a smile flitted across his face and he took my hand, assisting me onto the chariot.
"I will see you soon," my mother promised, smiling sadly from the crowd of faces that had already lost interest in the display. I'm sure they were expecting more excitement from it all.
Then, we vanished into the descent that still hadn't become familiar into the dark and lonely underworld I tried to remember I considered my home.
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...
