The Colour Of Pomegranates

Chapter 41

Orpheus' concert was taking place at the Temple Palace. Persephone snuck into the back, where the singer was pacing back and forth. His face lit up when he saw her standing in the doorway. She didn't answer his smile.

'You know,' she said, 'I wondered about something for a while now.'

'What is it?' Nerves.

'Your talent. Artemis told me you must have gained Apollo's favour, and you have, haven't you? How else would your music get under the skin of a goddess?'

'Yes,' Orpheus said with some sort of twisted relief on his face. 'Apollo gifted me his golden lyre. It was a long time ago.'

'What did he want in return?' Orpheus reddened. Persephone started walking toward him. 'What could Apollo possibly want from a mortal boy?'

'It wasn't me,' he finally let out. 'He wooed my mother, got her pregnant. I am his son. He gave me the golden lyre on my 18th birthday and taught me to play it.'

'The son of Apollo,' she mused, considering Apollo's feelings about her current meeting with Orpheus. 'Tell me something, son of Apollo... would you die for Eurydice?' Hesitation. She had come to read the expressions of mortalkind rather well, she feared.

'Yes, I would.' Persephone circled the table, never losing his eye. He lied.

'I can make a deal for you... your life for hers. What do you say?' Again, hesitation. He started to anger her, boiling her blood crimson. He was the one in whom she had faith. He was the one mortal that would prove they were not all selfish. And now he confirmed otherwise.

'It would miss the point entirely,' he said, 'because Eurydice and I want to be together, not trade places.' Persephone averted her eyes and he hurried around the table, grabbing her wrist. 'I love her,' he cried, 'never did I love a woman as I love her. I can't write my songs without her love, I need her with me, I need her to see this new world, which I created for her! I need her with me!' The crimson faded before it even fully settled and Persephone let her hand hang loosely in his grasp. He wasn't worthy of her wrath.

'With the winter solace,' she said, feeling her heart turn stone cold. 'I will see you Below.'

As she left backstage she ran into Apollo, who nonchalantly leaned against the wall. He wouldn't want to miss VIP-tickets to the Temple Palce, she didn't even need to ask twice. 

'You seem glad,' he said, studying her face, 'got what you wanted?'

'Oh, I know everything I needed to know. You want to go down? The first band is about to start.' He put his arm around her shoulders as they descended the stairs. She wondered about him - hating the mortal men when goddesses showed interest, but interfering with them infinitely himself. He never seemed the jealous type, but then again- he was the golden boy. Did his agitation toward Orpheus exist because of his mortality or because he was his son and used the talent he got from Apollo himself to attract Persephone's divine attention? A mortal desiring the favour of more than one god was a greedy one.

Hades had received word from Hermes that Persephone asked Zeus if she was allowed to return Below. It made his heart grow three sizes. While she was discussing Orpheus' conditions backstage Hades stood on the balcony, showering his world with flowers and trees once more. Hermes told him she was to return on 23 September. He wanted it to be exactly the way she remembered. Hecate snickered looking around her.

'You must really love the girl,' she said.

'Did you know she was coming back? Because I didn't.'

'There's something that draws her to this place - so yes.'

'What would that be?' he asked in earnest. She hit him with her staff.