Page 36 of Tempted By Hades

Hades did not fail to notice the shift in the atmosphere. Him?

“I’m sorry we lost Father.”

Oh.

Of course, Persephone had to have had a father. But who was he?

“Persephone, don’t?—”

“But you can’t keep me locked away because you think I’ll die like him. I’m sorry, I know you loved him very much, but he was a soldier. He knew what he was getting into. Not to mention, the war is over!” She threw up her hands. “Nothing could possibly harm me out here.”

“You don’t know that!” Demeter retorted. “Just because we are goddesses doesn’t mean we can’t perish. Please?—”

“No more! I won’t be held hostage because of your unfounded fears,” she said, her voice shaking. “I wish…” She took in a breath. “I wish I could go somewhere I could be away from you. Even just for a little while.”

And that’s where Hades saw the opportunity to go forward with his revenge. This was perhaps the fastest way he could reach his goals.

And so, he pounced.

Chapter 7

Persephone

“You don’t mean that!” Demeter said. “Please…” The goddess’s fury wound down, the shadows and clouds around her dissipating into thin air. “Be reasonable, Persephone. We can talk about this.”

“I’m sure we can, Mother.” Persephone, too, felt her anger melting away. “But for now, I just need some time away. To think things over about what needs to change so I don’t end up hating you.”

And that was the truth. The resentment had built up inside her all these hundreds of years, festering and brewing within. She was afraid that she would grow to hate Demeter.

“I won’t allow it.” Demeter stomped a foot like a child having a tantrum. “You can’t get away from me, you know. I’ll find you, wherever you are.”

“I know you will,” she replied, feeling resigned. “But you know you’ll only push me farther away, not physically.”

“Persephone, if I may?”

Hades’s deep, resonant voice cut into the tension-filled air like a knife. She’d been so occupied with her mother, she had nearly forgotten he was there. Ironic, seeing as he was the unwitting catalyst in the fight between them. “What is it?”

Opening his palm, he materialized a pomegranate and extended it toward her.

Demeter’s eyes grew large. “No! You can’t?—”

“What is it?” Persephone asked, tuning out her mother.

“Remember what I said about the Underworld?”

“That only the dead can live there?”

“The rules dictate that only souls can endure in the Underworld, but there’s a loophole,” Hades clarified.

“You mean, you could grant me permission to stay.”

“This is a mistake!” Demeter shouted. When she tried to get nearer to her daughter, however, Persephone shot her a warning glare, which made the goddess freeze.

“As the ruler of the Underworld, yes. But it’s not just a matter of me giving you permission.” He lifted the pomegranate higher, up to her eye level. “If you consume this pomegranate, its essence will intertwine with yours, allowing you to defy the natural order and stay in the Underworld.”

The Underworld.

The one place her mother couldn’t get to her.

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