The Colour Of Pomegranates

Chapter 28

Persephone ran down the stony stairs, the damp corridors and the vast green plains toward the Castle. Hades followed her from a distance, giving her the space she needed to calm down. She went up into her room and within ten minutes he appeared in the doorway. Frustrated he raked his hand through his hair. She regretted not wanting to touch him at all at this moment. She hated him for not giving into her.

'You know how they work,' he said. 'The mortals.'

'Well, you don't! It is apparent to me his heart aches for her. They were married for a day!' Hades sat down while she walked up and down, ranting about. Suddenly she stopped and looked him in the eye, fire blazing behind her honey glazed irises.

'What if it were me? Would you have come for me?' He got up and tucked her wild curls behind her ears, cupping her beautiful face, loving every single one of her whims.

'I would tear the place down if it would've meant your return.'

'Then, what's the difference between you and him?!'

'The difference is that I am god and he is mortal. His feelings and motivations are mortal.' Her eyes filled with tears and he looked at her with dark begging eyes.

'Don't,' she said as she stepped away from him.

'Persephone,' he said, calm but hurt. She shook her head. In all truthfulness it had hurt her to see how he tossed aside the emotions and heartaches of mortalkind but it would never have made her do what she was about to do. Having been Above and seeing the dead barren lands had pushed her over the edge. She needed to return to her mother - for all time if it meant the survival of mortalkind.

'It's not just Orpheus,' she said honestly, turning to him, already regretting her decision. She cupped his face in her hands and saw the pain behind his electric blue eyes, which seemed dull at the moment. 'I'm sorry, Hades. I am taking my responsibility.' With those words she hurried out of the castle and in the direction of the cave that had led her down in the first place. Tears were running down her cheeks and a cool blue rose from deep within, chilling her skin and adding a layer of frost around her heart.

Reaching the exit she started hesitating. She could go back. Longing, she looked over her shoulder. No. She had to go Up. She thought about their fight over the Fates, the one when he told her she'd be his queen. Only now did she understand why he hadn't told her. It would have clouded her judgement and it had. She might have done everything differently if he hadn't told her - but she never regretted any of the things they'd done. She took a deep breath, turned around for the final step and almost crashed into Minthe - the last creature on Earth and Below she wanted to see.

'I guess you got exactly what you wanted,' Persephone hissed. Minthe smiled.

'You never wanted to belong here anyway', she bit. 'You never ate anything. You never drank anything.'

'Let me through,' Persephone ordered as she pushed Minthe aside. The icy blue that tingled her skin turned a dangerous midnight blue already. The nymph would soon find out why she couldn't meddle in divine affairs when gods and goddesses were emotionally unstable. 

'Just tell me this,' scorned the nymph. 'Did He play Truth or Dare with you? That's the way He gets you to do his bidding. You have to play, theres no way out. You can't pick Dare and not do it. It doesn't sound like a classic wager, but it is. He used to play it with me all the time and the things He made me do...'

'Final warning.' Persephones voice didn't sound as her own. It sounded hollow and seething. As she said it she felt the earth rumble. A dark crimson anger took a hold of her. They were standing right in the entrance of the cave. She felt how powerful she could be, if only the power of the world was upon her.

'Go ahead and kill me,' Minthe hissed, 'kill me and bind me to His place forever.'

'Oh no, I will do no such thing,' Persephone roared, enunciating every word perfectly understandable. 'I will make sure you will live forever and never enter his abodes again.' She couldn't leave him and know Minthe was by his side. She couldn't stand the things she imagined about their shared past. She hated the nymph with the burning passion of a thousand suns. Before she fully realized it, Minthe was gone and nothing but a mint plant grew where she had been standing. Persephone sighed deeply and unrevered, and pulled one of the twigs, inhaling the sharp smell of the leaves. They smelled like her voice had sounded. 

As soon as she set foot outside the cave the first flowers blossomed. Tiny snowdrops followed her through the snow and slush as she made her way to the cottage in the woods.

Hades stood behind the tall doors to his balcony when Hermes appeared behind him.

'You asked for a super speedy delivery?' he asked, bowing for his superior. Hades turned around, a faint smile playing his lips.

'Can you give me a periodical update on Above?' he asked. 'Tell me when the first snow melts and the first plants blossom. Tell me when the temperature is such that everyone comes out to play and tell me when the rivers defrost. Tell me when Summer comes again. Tell me when she is happy.' Hermes bowed to him. Sometimes, Hades thought, Hermes was the only one who showed respect without necessarily liking his gloomy appearance.

'Will she come back?' Hermes asked.

'Can't,' Hades said softly. 'And I can't blame her.' Hermes bowed his head and disappeared. Hades drew a deep and sharp breath, filling his lungs with fresh oxygen. Her flowery smell lingered still. He wished he could capture it and keep it bottled up.

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So many chapters in and Persephone has left to go back to Demeter. Please let me know what you think of it. Am I going too fast, too slow, do you feel like you're missing out on something? And above all, are y'all enjoying it so far? :-)