Hades

bedrooms

Stella

I sat down, back against the door. My heart was pounding in my chest, and it was starting to be uncomfortable. I leaned my head back against the wood.

For two full days, almost, he'd just left. We had that moment, and I felt we connected on some level. And he'd just left! It was like with Persephone, only this was a much smaller scale.

I stretched my legs and pulled one knee to my chest.

Slowly I got to my knees and then standing. I was beginning to feel dizzy. He would've left. So my goal was to find his bedroom. He could hear everyone in this castle, so I would try and call his name.

I opened the door and took a step outside.

"Stella?" asked Lucinda. She was standing in front of my door with a tray of deliciously smelling food.

"Yeah, uhm, Hades is back. Can you take me to his room?" I asked. I felt so young and naïve, and I had no idea what I was really doing.

Lucinda nodded. "Just follow me."

We walked slowly. I walked next to the wall. My feet were cold, yet I wore thick socks.

"Has he been by your room?" Lucinda asked timidly.

I nodded.

She nodded and let me up several flights of stairs and into a hallway I hadn't seen before. It was dark, very dark. The lights that usually lined the walls were there, they just weren't lit. I didn't remember having been here before.

"Thank you," I said to Lucinda.

She smiled. "Take care."

"I try." I muttered.

She left me, and I made my way towards Hades' room. There was only one door. The hallway was much shorter than I would've thought.

I knocked on the door. A soft, bespoken knock.

The door was opened, and Hades caught me before I fainted.

"Lucinda!" he called, cradling me in his arms.

I forced my eyes open.

"You need to eat, Stella," he said through clenched teeth.

I grabbed his T-shirt and leaned into him.

He walked into his room and laid me on a couch. It was soft. He covered me with a blanket, and Lucinda came back with the tray of food.

"Thank you," he told her.

She smiled and shot me a sympathetic glance before scurrying off.

I looked at the food. Some warm dish, with vegetables and rice and some spicy looking sauce.

Hades put the tray on a coffee table and had me sit. He wrapped his arm around me and handed me a bowl and a spoon. It was the rice. Simple, plain, just boiled rice.

"I don't want food," I whispered.

"You have to," he said. "Didn't you eat all day?"

I shook my head. "Nor yesterday."

He sighed. "You have to! Even though you don't want to. That's just a sign of your body giving up, and I won't let you do that."

I didn't understand how I felt so weak so fast. I took a forkful of rice, chewed and swallowed. I took another one, and another one, and asked for the meat too.