Three Seeds

Revelations

Persephone woke to the sound of the door opening in the middle of the night. She sat up in bed, heart pounding, as Hades slipped into the room.

"Good, you're awake."

She clutched the blanket to her chest. "What do you want?" she demanded, wide awake.

"You are my wife and this is our room. I would like to sleep."

He climbed into the bed and lifted the blanket to cover up. She couldn't believe he'd gotten the door unlocked, or that he had the nerve to come in here.

"I'll be going, then," she declared, swinging her feet over the edge of the bed.

He grabbed her arm and pulled her back down.

"No, you won't," he said easily, forcing her to lay back down.

She dug her nails into his hand and pried it off of her arm. "Don't tell me what I will and will not be doing," she spat, hopping up and walking briskly out the door.

"Persephone, wait!" he called after her, but she merely quickened her pace.

She soon found herself at a fork in the hallway. She heard footsteps behind her and quickly turned left. 

Her feet were bare and the stone floor was cold. Persephone wrapped her arms around herself to fight off the chill in the air, but it was no use. She shivered while she walked further and further, taking twists and turns in the unfamiliar maze of a house, wanting only to put as much distance as possible between herself and her husband. 

Her husband. She loathed him. She loathed this house and she loathed the underworld. She loathed her father for arranging her abduction.

The sound of footsteps got progressively louder behind her. "Persephone?"

Her heart pounded in her chest and she entered the closest room.

She immediately regretted it.

The room was so hot it felt like the skin was melting off of her exposed arms and face. The ground burned her feet and the sound of tormented screams filled her ears. The glare of a huge fire hurt her eyes.

A real skeleton, hollowed out eyes and all, latched onto her ankle and its mouth opened with a pitiful creak. It's foot was on fire. "Help..." it moaned, its voice inhuman with agony. "Help..."

She screamed, hands over her ears to block out the tortured cries and the sound of the skeleton pleading for help. She screamed again, so loud that her throat felt raw when she finished. The door behind her flew open and Hades grabbed her arm, yanking her out of the skeleton's grip and through the door. He slammed it behind him.

Persephone's knees wobbled and she went down. 

Her knees hit the stone floor, and she barely registered the relief the cold brought or the pain that shot up her legs from the impact.

Hades hauled her up and held onto her shoulders, looking deeply into her eyes.

"Persephone, what you saw in there has nothing to do with me."

She stared blankly into his beautiful, beautiful eyes, trying to block the images from her mind and focus on what he was saying. 

"I did nothing to cause that. No one did, except Zeus. This is what happens when he banishes gods or punishes mortals. They come here."

Persephone wrenched her shoulders out of his grip as her stomach rolled. She turned her back and started walking away from him.

"Where are you-"