Page 28 of The Dread Queen's Bargain

“I saw her in a corner of the party, talking to Demeter.”

Hades heard enough. He shook his head and started to stand. “If that’s everything, honestly, I don’t need to hear what those two get up to.”

“Yes, you do,” Thanatos barked rather forcefully. “Because I can practically see you thinking, and this isn’t going in the direction you’ve resigned yourself to.” Hades was startled at that and sat down without any further argument. “Persephone was talking to Demeter. She looked furious. I swear, Hades, there were a few seconds where I thought I was sent to collect Demeter’s shade.”

Hades froze in his seat, unable to process the words Thanatos was saying. He leaned forward carefully, a white-knuckle grip on his cup.

“Are you telling me Persephone was ready to kill her mother?”

“I’m telling you, Persephone is more powerful than any of us may have imagined, and we don’t understand her abilities. And yes, she hates her mother. At one point, those two things made for a deadly combination.”

“What happened to Demeter? Where is Persephone? Is she safe?” Hades was again at his feet in an instant, conjuring his bident out of thin air for the second time that evening. Thanatos’s forehead wrinkled as he took in Hades’s dramatic reaction.

“Persephone is back in the Underworld already.” Thanatos pointed out. Hades dropped his bident, and it clattered to the floor. He fell in his seat with palpable relief. His emotions were all over the place, but he was wholly unprepared for the crushing reassurance that came with the news that Persephone had returned. He only realized she’d left when Cerberus had come to his study—in fifteen minutes, he’d experienced more heightened states of emotion than Zeus upon seeing a human virgin.

Perhaps it is Eros whom I should be strangling. Hades didn’t censor his solace around Thanatos; they bickered like brothers, and he considered Thanatos almost like a nephew. Their unique bond was forged through unfortunate circumstances, which were the unpleasant reputations they garnered outside the Underworld as the god of hell and the god of death.

Thanatos continued without further comment on Hades’s untethered emotional state, for which Hades was inexplicably grateful. It was apparent that his connection to Persephone wasn’t the same as teasing Thanatos about a pretty deity at a party.

“Persephone returned to the Underworld and is at Hecate’s house,” Thanatos affirmed, “but she went at it with Demeter. I didn’t catch much of the conversation, but she was furious. I’m not kidding, Hades. The anger in her eyes… I caught just a little sense of her power in the air, and she needs training to handle that sort of strength.”

Hades pinched the bridge of his nose. “Then the best place for her is at Hecate’s.”

“Is it?” Thanatos pushed.

“Watch it,” Hades growled in warning.

The room shook with a tremor of his power, and Thanatos only smirked in response.

“Come on, uncle, tell me. What’s going on between you and Persephone?”

“I don’t know if I should discuss this with you,” Hades admitted, finishing the rest of the ambrosia in his glass and refilling it immediately.

“Who else are you going to discuss it with?” Thanatos shrugged. “Cerberus?” The hound picked his heads up off the floor at the mention of his name, meandering over to Thanatos. He plopped down at Thanatos’s feet, who began contributing his tithe of pats.

“I don’t know what else there is to discuss,” Hades admitted. “It’s been a few days, and I don’t know why I can’t get her out of my head. It’s constant. I’ve had a one-track mind since she appeared here, and how much it affects me is concerning.”

Thanatos thought for a minute, chewing on his lip before he shrugged. “I don’t know. It makes sense to me.”

“How?” Hades looked around to see if no one was around to hear him. “If she walked through that door right now and asked me to set Mt. Olympus on fire once and for all, I’d do it.”

“I think if anyone asked you while you were drunk, you’d do it.” Thanatos countered, but Hades only groaned.

“You know what I mean!” Hades grunted. “Whatever she wants, I’d give it to her. Do you know how my home responds to her? It unlocked my bedroom doors for her. Cerberus loved her the second he laid eyes on her.”

“It sounds like you did too.” Thanatos pointed out, and Hades only made another dramatic groan, dropping his head into his hands.

“That’s the point! Do you not hear how insane that is? I can’t be in love with Persephone. It’s been days. Hours, even.”

Thanatos shrugged, sounding as calm as ever, which irritated Hades further. “Think about it, Hades. You were prophesied to be together. More than that, she’s destined to rule the Underworld alongside you. This means not only do you need her, but your entire realm does, and you’re so connected to the Underworld. You are the Underworld.”

“I still don’t think that explains it,” Hades countered, but it was a weak argument, and he knew it.

“It does. You were both designed for one another. There’s nothing about her that is going to be incompatible with you. This was inevitable. You’re not going crazy, far from it. Instead, you’re just fucking terrified that this entire thing makes more sense than you’d like to admit.”

“Thanatos,” Hades growled in warning, but Thanatos ignored him.

“No, shut up. Your moods don’t scare me, Hades. I have plenty of my own.” Thanatos rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair. “On top of that, this prophecy was supposed to come to fruition centuries ago. You know how prophecies work. They always come to pass and only pick up strength if forced to wait. You both are getting a cosmic battering ram of your own feelings because they’re pent up.”

---