Page 74 of Tempted By Hades

Demeter took a deep breath. “I don’t know where to begin…”

“Allow me, my beloved. As I was saying,” the seer continued. “Zeus promised to lift the curse a Titan had placed on my daughter.” His head turned toward Persephone. “My unborn daughter.”

Hades’s heart jumped into his throat.

“D-daughter?” Persephone turned to Demeter, who only nodded.

“Forgive me,” the seer said, looking at everyone around him. “Because the Titans were afraid of my powers and what I might see in the future, they put a curse on me, which I had unwittingly passed onto my unborn daughter when she was conceived. She was going to die a horrible death if I didn’t do anything, so I made that bargain with Zeus. He was the most powerful of the gods, and so I thought he could help me. It was wrong, but you would have done the same.”

“Lies!” Zeus shouted. “All lies!”

“I think we have already established that he is telling the truth,” Hestia said. “Thankfully, he managed to create that agreement orb. But how did you keep it all these years? And have it reappear now?”

The seer continued, “After I rigged the lots and Zeus ‘won’ Olympus, he did lift the curse.” His stare turned hateful as he glared at the god of thunder. “But he was scared I would reveal his treachery, and so he cursed me as well—trapping me in the realm between the living and the dead.”

“But you can appear when the veil between the two is weak,” Hestia concluded. “Such as when the Sealing Ceremony is performed.”

“Yes, my lady Hestia.”

“But how did you manage to open the orb? And bring it here?”

“I did not.” He turned to Hades. “Lord Hades did.”

All eyes turned to Hades—including that of his wife, who remained silent beside him. Her expression, however, was that of confusion.

“I knew there was a possibility that Lord Zeus would betray me, so I hid the orb in a necklace and gave it to Demeter, telling her to give it to our child when she was born. When my worst fear came true, I waited for the Sealing Ceremony, and I struck a bargain with Lord Hades. He was the one who brought Persephone here so I could access the necklace.”

“Brought…me here?” Persephone swallowed audibly, her expression changing from confusion to realization. “Y-you!” Her eyes blazed, the fury emanating from her palpable. “That’s why I came here? And why you…you…”

Hades’s heart sank at the way his beloved queen glared at him. “Persephone, please?—”

“Don’t touch me!” she cried as he attempted to come near her.

Hestia cleared her throat. “Perhaps now is not the time to discuss marital matters.”

Poseidon nodded. “Yes, I agree. We must deal with more important matters, such as what we are to do with Zeus and who is the rightful ruler of Olympus. Justice must be served.”

“Justice?” Demeter cried. “If we are to talk justice, then we must right the injustice against my beloved Georgius. Zeus killed him and took him away from me—from us.” She rushed over to Persephone’s side and placed an arm around her. “Because of him, my daughter grew up without a father.”

“Agreed,” Hestia said, and a murmur rose among the gods and goddesses. “But Georgius is not dead. He is merely cursed to stay in this realm. Zeus,” she called. “Undo the curse.”

Zeus gritted his teeth. “Never.”

“Do it.” Hestia’s eyes blazed with fury, uncharacteristic for the goddess of the hearth. “Do it now, and we may have mercy on you.”

Zeus let out a snarl, but when the gods began to descend on him again, he placed his hands up in defeat. “Alright.” Closing his eyes, he began to murmur an incantation in a language so old that few of the gods and goddesses there could understand him.

A strange tingle crackled in the air as tiny sparkles of light flew up from the ground and then surrounded the seer’s ghostly form. They surrounded him, covering him entirely before dissipating—and leaving a robust, human figure in its place.

“Georgius? Georgius!” Demeter rushed to him, wrapping his arms around him. “You’re back. Oh…”

“Yes, my beloved Demeter.” He wrapped his arms around her. “I am…our daughter…” He looked to Persephone, eyes shiny with unshed tears. “She’s so beautiful. Like you.”

“Fa-Father?” The fury from within Persephone had seemingly dissipated as she cautiously came closer.

“Yes, this is your father,” Demeter said. “I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you the whole truth. He left and didn’t come back. I didn’t know what had happened to him. I am never letting you go, I?—”

“No!” Poseidon screamed. “He’s trying to?—”

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