Flowers and Darkness

Chapter 19

"-and I just want to thank you all for coming tonight to celebrate a very special birthday for a very special lady."

It was towards the end of the night and after I Henry had left all I could think about was what he said. Am I just as bad as Alex? There's someone here, Jayden manage to let slip that someone here could help me. But as empty as this world was did I truly want to leave? My head's been telling me to leave, but I'm in a place where Dean loves me and I have wealth and status and...do I truly want to give that up? Do I want to leave and just be Violet again?

I heard cooing and flashed back to reality to see Dean on one knee. "Can you repeat that?" My cheeks burned when I saw hundreds of eyes on me. This wasn't the best time to zone out.

His lips twitched as if to force down a chuckle.

"I said, my love, would you marry me?" He smiled. Kneeling in his perfect tuxedo suit, with a charming grin on his face. His soft eyes holding mine so intently that I both felt trapped and simultaneously didn't want to leave his gaze. My lips lifted at its sides and I had no desire to force them back down.

I thought back to when I was thirteen and he had started dating a blonde girl called Megan. My brother had hosted a barbecue and the four of us were now the last to remain. My brother had gone inside to get more marshmallows when I heard them as they cuddled in the corner.

"When we get married I'd want the kind of lace we saw on that mannequin in that store, you know the one-"

"Cos that narrows it down." He muttered under his breath, loud enough for me to hear.

"-all down my arms and maybe have the dress backless with a deep v neckline. What do you think?"

"Isn't it too early?" He said the words carefully.

"Too early? It's never too early. Can't you see us married someday?" She had moved slightly back from the cuddle she was in, to look at him as she waited for his next statement.

"I don't take marriage lightly babe. And I'm no where ready for that yet." He softly poked her nose. "But yes one day I'll be married to the most perfect and special person I know." He gave her a long kiss and she hugged him, as a bid to stay in his warm embrace for longer. He chuckled and hugged her back.

He caught my eye from where I sat and winked.

That's when I realised it, he didn't say it was with her.

Whenever I would ask my brother and Dean about why they went out with so many different girls, they would always say the same thing; "I'm just waiting for that special girl."

Was that me? The better question should be: do I even want that to be me?

I came back to reality and looked back down at the man in front of me holding a ring box and waiting for my answer.

When my silence became uncomfortable, he blurted out, "I know marriage is just a silly tradition but I'd want us to be official." He laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck with his free hand.

In this moment he seemed human. He seemed vulnerable like any other guy who would be in this position.

I zeroed in on the black satin ring box he held open. Inside was a beautiful black square gem. It shined brighter than any crystals or diamonds I'd ever seen. Silver intricate vines with flecks of small green crystals that made up the length of the band. It wasn't exactly traditional, but it looked perfect. It was beautiful.

"Vi?" At the sound of my name I jerked slightly. Not Persephone. Violet. Just because he's Hades, doesn't mean he's also not Dean. The Dean I had grown up with and had a crush on for the longest time.

He glanced nervously over at the many spectators and something switched, so subtlety I could easily have missed it.

"Be my Queen of the Underworld?" But as much as he was Dean he was also Hades. There was also that side to him that I couldn't dismiss.

The words Queen and Underworld felt bizarre coming from Dean's mouth. He would always speak about the usual; girls, cars and parties. That all felt superficial now.

He's Hades, the King of the Underworld. He's lived a long life. There's so much I don't know about him. So much sin.

I stared at him. His face in this moment was rigid, sharp and poised. His stance was charming and elegant. I could read how perfect he wanted this moment to be. I could read how much he cared about his presence and appearance to all these spectators. But what I couldn't read was his eyes. They were too hard and too stoic.

I looked around at the many guests, in picture perfect immaculate outfits. Not a hair out of place. I briefly looked down at my chipped pink nails and curled them into my fist to hide.

This was a world of sin and death. I couldn't just waltz into this, could I?

The very thing I was trying to stay away from.

I looked around the crowd of eager eyes to hear my decision. Eyes on me, some with envy, some with impatience, some with glee? Were they happy for Dean or did they want to see him rejected? The king of the underworld, rejected by a human.

It was completely silent. They were waiting. They just wanted a show.

I knew I had to answer.

"I will."

He stood up, his eyes sparkling and leaned in to give me the sweetest of kisses. His touch feathery soft as he held my waist and my hands wrapped behind his neck. In this moment he radiated pure love and warmth. I didn't want to leave his embrace.

The spell quickly broke when we heard cooing and applauds from the crowd around us.

Dean slowly took a step back and mirrored their cotton white smile back to them. He leaned back in, and for the slightest moment I thought he would hold me again and usher me away from here. He instead leaned in and dipped me low, in way to show off his sophisticated talents, to kiss me deep and hard. My eyes stayed open for a second in shock, before quickly closing as he lifted me back up.

He pulled me to his side, with that same cotton white smile plastered on his face.

"I just wanted to say thank you all for being here...."

I tried to hide my disdain for his speech as I looked through the crowd.

Everyone had the same overly happy faces, grins way too wide, with the same straight poised stances. Were they generally happy for us?

Two people stood out to me. Dark brown eyes, stood side by side. It was unnerving. No smile, just a stare directed straight at me. Accusatory.

Athena and Alyanna.