The Taste Of Divinity

Ε Ι Κ Ο Σ Ι Τ Ρ Ι Α

R I V E R K O K Y T O S, U N D E R W O R L D.

"You lied to me."

The nymph had remained exactly where she'd left her, sitting on the sand, watching absently the ash-grey waters that concealed the tinted coppery colour of rust. Her sisters had long since left, their tears had long since dried. All that remained was a few stray footprints before the sand met the rocks.

Minthe turned her body to the side and smiled at Persephone as though she'd been expecting her. "I did." She confessed. "And as it seems it was the best way to approach you. From the moment of your arrival, I wanted to meet you and perhaps to even become your friend, Anassa."

"My friend? How fortunate I must be, I seem to have acquired many new friends these past few days." Her lips twitched but her amusement had long since been dragged away by the river. "Do tell me, Minthe, was causing me grief truly the best way to approach me in your mind?"

"If there had been another way, I would not have done it, I assure you." Curls of rust danced around her pale, luminescent shoulders as she shook her head. "How else was I to show you the King's cruelty?"

"What terrible games are you playing?"

"No games." Minthe cocked her head to the side, surveying the Queen's dishevelled appearance, her flushed cheeks, her glazed eyes and her swollen, bleeding lips and murmured a few words of quiet disapproval under her breath. "Come, my lady, sit beside me and I'll explain everything to you. Please."

She didn't take a seat.

"I'm quite alright where I am." She said, crossing her arms over her chest and digging her nails into her forearms in order to ignore the stabbing pain of the sheer sincerity of her plea.

Minthe lowered her eyes to her hands, counting every grain of sand that had somehow found its way under her nails. Her silver bracelets collided with one another ever so often as she laced and unlaced her fingers together, as she gripped her chiton, as she dipped her arm into the water. "I do not know how to express myself, I'm afraid. I've been waiting to meet you since the day you arrived and I've thought of everything I wanted to say but now. . . Now, I'm sorry to say that I'm empty."

"I've always been told not to trust empty minds." Persephone said, her face the personification of dread. "For they are the ones who think of the most lies."

"I do not intend to lie to you, my Lady." The naiad sighed painfully, freeing all her agonised thoughts from their cage with the same calculation Pandora had freed the evils into the world. She hid her thoughts well, her face nothing but a skillfully crafted mask. So many different masks, didn't she get tired of them? "Many lies have crossed the threshold of my lips and those lies have reached the ears of many, that is true but I do not think lying to you would be wise."

"No, it would not."

"All these lies have been feasting on my remains for decades now, I would like some peace. I would like to make up for them by. . ." She trailed off as though the words were difficult to utter. "By protecting you."

"Protecting me from what?"

"The King." She murmured and her face was stricken by a lightning. "Protect you from the tyrant."

Persephone's cheeks grew pale like the first snow. Why, she did not know. It could have been the distrust she felt, her pain and her hate. It could have been that they managed to dominate every centimetre of her being. The effects of his kiss had worn off. "Why?"

"I do not wish to see you fall prey to the King and his vile ways. I do not wish to see any more light into the dark. One as gentle and kind as you will surely suffocate in this dreadful Kingdom." The winds howled and moaned as though to argue but they gave no words. Their protest was never acknowledged.