Page 42 of Hades

Together with despair.

She had spent the last few days plotting her escape, convincing herself it was possible, but she couldn’t even snatch a knife from someone who was offering it to her.

Worse, Mnemosyne hadn’t bothered to close the door behind her, and Persephone knew without trying that she would never reach it before the titaness slammed it in her face.

Persephone breathed slowly to calm her pounding heart and focused her mind. This was all an attempt to weaken her. Mnemosyne wanted to see her hurting. She was taking pleasure from it and the more Persephone struggled like a fish on a hook, desperately trying to escape and survive, the more satisfaction she would give Mnemosyne.

So rather than trying to get the knife again or bolting for the door, Persephone stood rod straight and calmly stared her down, schooling her features so Mnemosyne wouldn’t see her turmoil.

“Do you know what I will do with this knife?” Mnemosyne pressed the point of it against her finger and dreamily stared at the blade. “First… I will cut the throats of your children and I will watch their vile blood stainmyrealm, and then I will gut the ones they love as they weep for their fallen mates… and then I will carve out the black heart of Hades while you watch, unable to do anything to save him… my precious little lamb.”

Persephone exploded towards her on an enraged bellow and seized her wrist, her fingers clamping down hard on it. She gripped the knife with her other hand, trying to prise it from the titaness’s hold, and when she couldn’t, she shoved her palm against Mnemosyne’s fist instead, attempting to force her to plunge the dagger into her own black heart.

“I. Am. Not. A. Lamb!” Persephone growled as she drove the blade forwards and Mnemosyne struggled against her. Anger like she had never known flooded her with strength and she pressed harder, her arms shaking with the exertion.

The tip of the blade pierced Mnemosyne’s chest, spilling a drop of crimson that matched the colour of her dress, earning a shocked gasp from the titaness that was immensely satisfying.

Before Persephone could drive the dagger home, two men in black hoplite armour seized hold of her and pulled her backwards, their grips like iron as they wrenched her away from Mnemosyne.

Persephone screamed, “I will kill you before you can lay a hand on my family!”

Mnemosyne stared at the scarlet spot on her chest, her eyes wide, and then they slowly narrowed as she lifted her head. She was before Persephone in a flash, the tip of the blade pressing under Persephone’s chin, forcing her head up.

The titaness bared her teeth and snarled, “I ought to gut you where you stand.”

But she wouldn’t. Persephone could see it in her eyes. She would tear Persephone down, would watch her suffer and spread poison through her mind to weaken her, but she wouldn’t go as far as killing her.

Because she needed her alive.

Mnemosyne had plans for her and this visit was merely the titaness amusing herself while she waited for them to begin.

Mnemosyne drew down a deep, unsteady breath and shifted back a step, pulling the knife away from Persephone’s throat. Her expression slowly morphed from anger to the picture of calm as she continued to breathe, as her eyes locked on one of the windows and she muttered things beneath her breath that Persephone didn’t catch.

Was she reminding herself of her plan for Persephone? Convincing herself to wait? Persephone listened harder, straining to hear what she was saying, but Mnemosyne stopped before she could make out the words.

Turned back towards her.

“Why are you doing this, Mnemosyne?” Persephone tried a new tactic, one that might get the titaness to talk and reveal something that would be useful to her husband when she escaped.

Mnemosyne glanced at the window again, her dark eyebrows falling low as she glared at the outside world. “Hades took a realm that did not belong to him. I am only reclaiming it. The Underworld belongs to the titans… as does Olympus and this world.”

“This is revenge,” Persephone whispered as it hit her and shook her head as her brow furrowed. “How long has this desire been festering inside you, Mnemosyne? How long have you wanted to rise against the one who spared you after the Titanomachy?”

She had been trying to make Mnemosyne feel bad about turning on Hades like this after all he had done for her, seeking to plant seeds of doubt into the titaness’s mind, but instead she only fuelled her rage.

“Sparedme?” Mnemosyne’s face darkened as she pivoted towards Persephone, her silver eyes flashing dangerously. “Hades pushed me into slavery. He forced me to serve him. He was not merciful. He did not spare me. Heenslavedme!”

The depth of Mnemosyne’s hatred was staggering as she stared into Persephone’s eyes, revealing it all to her. It had been millennia since the titans had fallen, and all those centuries, this hatred and anger had been building inside Mnemosyne.

Eating away at her.

How desperate Mnemosyne must be to reclaim the realm she viewed as rightfully hers.

Hades had never treated Mnemosyne poorly. He had never forced her to do anything. Yet that was how the titaness saw things. She viewed Hades as her oppressor, someone who had stolen power from her and enslaved her, and that anger and hatred had been festering inside her, slowly building as it drove her towards this moment.

She couldn’t see how well Hades had treated her, because rage had blinded her to it. She had probably viewed every kind thing Hades had ever done as a way of manipulating her—controlling her.

By the gods, Persephone was surprised the titaness hadn’t lashed out like this before now.

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