Page 66 of Tempted By Hades

“How are you?” Demeter echoed. “That’s all you have to say to me, young lady?” Her beautiful face crumpled as she drew closer. “Oh, Persephone, how could you do this to me? How could you just leave me alone up there?”

“Mother, please calm down.”

“Calm down? How can I calm down?” she spat. “It’s bad enough you just ran away, and n-now I hear that you’re marrying him?” Venom dripped from her tone as she said the last word. “Tell me it’s not true. Tell me the rumors are just that—rumors.”

“It’s true. I am going to marry Hades.”

“No!” she cried. “You can’t!” Her eyes turned crazed as she reached out to grab her forearms. “Did he force you? Force…himself on?—”

“Mother! No.” She shrugged her grip away, feeling disgusted at such an accusation. “I love him, and he loves me.”

“Never. Hades couldn’t possibly fall in love.”

“With someone like me?”

“What? I—no, no, darling…that’s not what I meant. Look at me,” she pleaded. “I simply meant that he’s not the type to fall in love. None of them are.”

“Them?”

“Gods,” she said simply. “Why do you think I wanted us—you, away from that life? Gods and goddesses are the most selfish creatures to ever exist. They care only for themselves and no one else.” Her expression turned sour.

“Mother, we are goddesses, too,” she reminded her.

“I know. That’s why I took you away as soon as you were born,” she cried. “It was…I just couldn’t…your father…I promised him…”

“Promised him what?”

“I…nothing…please, Persephone, just please listen to me and think about this. I love you and have protected you all these years! I would never do anything that wasn’t for your own good.” Demeter’s plea echoed in the garden, a plea rooted in a mother’s love, concern, and perhaps, an old fear.

The tension between them escalated. Persephone found herself at the precipice of a confrontation.

“I’m no longer a child, Mother. I will make my own decisions.”

“You are making the wrong one!” Demeter’s eyes flashed with her own power.

“Then let me make my mistakes and allow me to face the consequences!’”

The air thickened with unspoken words and emotions as mother and daughter locked eyes.

The exchange of heated words and impassioned arguments reverberated across the garden, a battleground of conflicting emotions.

Hades materialized just as Persephone and Demeter reached a tumultuous impasse.

Still aflame with emotion, Persephone snapped at Hades, questioning his presence in their midst. “Why are you even here?” she demanded, her frustration palpable.

“You two were making quite the ruckus. The palace was practically shaking.”

Persephone’s gaze swept across the garden where the ground had opened up, sending a large crack across the courtyard all the way to the side of the wall. Pots lay overturned, and foliage now danced in the air like autumn leaves. The magical echoes of the encounter lingered, an ethereal residue clinging to the very air.

“Oh my. I’m so sorry…”

To her surprise, Hades didn’t look angry. In fact, if she read him correctly, he looked as if he were actually proud. Nor did he seem alarmed at Demeter’s presence in his realm. “It’s nothing.” With a wave of his hand, the crack sealed up, and all the plants returned to their original healthy state. “Hello, Demeter.”

“You!” Demeter marched to him. “What did you do to my daughter?”

“He didn’t do anything, Mother,” Persephone said. “I told you, we fell in love. It happens, you know.”

“It can’t just happen! He must have something planned.” She glared at him. “Tell me now before I tell your brothers what you’ve done to my daughter.”

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