King's Queen ✔

Chapter 17: Court Ordeals

Persephone strode into a beautiful room with Hades by her side, she craned her neck back to get a good look at the cove ceiling that had an intricate painting carved into the tiles, she had seen a similar painting back home. In the court of Heaven, the throne was painted strong and sturdy with her mighty father seated upon it boldly and his lightning bolt tight in his grasp. However, this ceiling was dark and sinister, there was a throne, but it was made out of bony carcass and Hades was leisurely seated up on it, the architect even got the small cocky grin accurate. The rounded room was surrounded by seats and colossal pillars holding the structure with great support.

They were greeted by all sorts of demonic creatures and they respectfully bowed to their King and Queen, she was amazed at how graceful and sophisticated they were, nothing like the tales she had heard.

When they approached their seat, she noticed that the thin pale pieces which were stitched together to make the throne looked terribly uncomfortable, she gave a disapproving look to her husband but reluctantly took her seat without any comments, she silently grimaced at the rigid carcasses she sat on, however she swallowed her discomfort and focused on the task at hand.

A murky demon stood up from the seat next to Hades, he had huge arched horns growing out of his head and glowing red eyes, but when he spoke, he unexpectedly had a calm voice and a gentle smile.

"My King and Queen," he began. "For the issue we discussed yesterday about the troubled souls, we have come up with a few solutions."

Persephone listened to the resolves and how Hades responded to them, but for some reason, her mind wasn't at ease. She shifted in her seat uncomfortably and leaned herself back, but unlike the soft moss beds she's used to this felt like thorns and rocks, she grumbled and gripped the arms of the chair hard enough until her knuckles turned white, she took a deep breath and let the sweet pollen float from her fingers, everyone was too immersed in the discussion that they didn't notice the thick greenery sprouting in between the bones. Persephone finally took a breath of relief and sank back snuggling into the dark thick moss blanket and the large sweet white gardenia surrounded her with a pleasant perfume.

"Now, that's better," she sighed in comfort, when abruptly, a thought crossed her mind; if souls needed to be calm and relaxed to pass on then all they needed was a little bit of comfort.

"Hades," she whispered.

"Yes."

"I have an idea," she stated. "But I'm going to need some souls though."

His head tilted slightly. "Coal," he called out. "Bring in some souls," Hades told the demon in front of them.

Gradually five souls wandered in quietly; three kids and two women. They looked to Hades and then to Persephone, their faces were completely blank and lifeless, her first reaction was to sprout some life into them like she did to her flowers.

They had this grey cast over them that made her golden one look even brighter, she lifted from her seat and tread down the steps to get close to them, she had only reached the bottom step when the small children eagerly ran to her side. She spotted Hades about to move closer and all the court members too, but she held her hand up, silently ordering them to stay back and to just follow her lead.

She put her arms around the small kid's slender shoulders that were icy cold compared to her warm touch, she felt no heart beat which made her remember the hard truth all mortals must face when the end is close, she pushed past those gruesome thoughts and patted the kid's backs nudging them onward, she held their hands and smiled at the two young women behind her, who immediately drew near her warm-heartedness and followed willingly.