Page 10 of Hades and Persephone: Keeper of Sins

“Annie?” I frown. Such a mortal name for a girl intended to be much, much more.

She nods. “Annie.”

“I like Persephone.”

She snorts, and I feel my head notch back on myshoulders. When I arch a brow, she rewards me with a small laugh.Music. “You would be the only one.”

That can’t be true.“Tell me, Persephone, where are you from?”

“Canada. Alberta.”

The land of wheat. It shouldn’t surprise me, that Demeter would plant her daughter’s soul in such a place. Her ego is no more checked now than it had been long ago.

“And your parents?” Even as I ask, I already know. Already suspect.

Her smile is soft, and there is gentle love in the fresh youth of her expression. “Dad’s a farmer. Mom owns a flower shop in town.”

Of course, she does. Of course, he is. “What crop does he produce?”

“Wheat, mostly.”

Fucking Demeter.“And what brings you to Greece?”

I watch as her head tips slightly to the side, and she studies me. I think, curiously, that she’s contemplating truth or lie.She is riveting.

She wets her lovely lips again, and inside my pants, my cock stirs. She’s can’t know it, but she’s driving me mad.

My willpower is nearing its limits.

Finally, she admits reluctantly, “The voice, I think.”

Is it possible that this voice she hears is mine?The desperate call of a soul tethered by a single, frayed string, to hers?

“How so?” Even I can hear the eagerness in my question for her reply.

“Well…” She pauses to consider. “I’ve always felt drawn to the myths of Greece.”

People today and their myths.I encourage, “Go on.”

She pulls in breath. “In grade six, we had a unit on Ancient Greece. It was the spark of a lifelong love for all things Greek Mythology. I studied in my own time, and somehow felt closer to the call I heard in my mind. Initially, that voice only ever sounded when I was in sleep. It would wake me,” she admits. “I told my parents and they took me to doctors who toyed with the idea, I might be mentally unstable. Plagued with a personality disorder, early onset bipolar, potential schizophrenia…” She waves her hand, and a flush of pink stains her cheeks. “I started to understand how dangerous that might be for me, and told them it stopped. I’ve hid the fact I hear this unnamed man calling my name from everyone since. You’re the first?—”

She laughs to herself in disbelief. “You’re the first person I’ve told. Anyway, more recently, I began hearing him outside of sleep. Maybe it’s the fact I felt closer to his call when I studied the ancient myths, but I developed an interest for art and archaeology. I can’t paint to save my soul, but I can dig.” She pulls in a big breath, her breasts rising under the thin white dress my fingers itch to tear from her flesh. “I’m here on a summer archeology program now. If I like it, I’ll pursue a further education.”

“Do you like it?”

She smiles a bright and beautiful smile that nearly slays me. She’s beautiful. So beautiful. I haven’t seen a beauty such as hers in so, so achingly long.

“I love it.”

“No desire to follow in the steps of your parents?”

Her face softens again. It is clear she loves them dearly. I can’t help but wonder, how strong the bonds she feels to these people who have been given the soul of my wife to care for.

From what I’ve already heard, I am uncertain if I find them worthy.

“I love gardening. Mom says I have a natural affinity for plants. It seems that, with a single touch, I can bring life into a dying plant. I know, instinctively, what they need, whether it be sunlight or water or someone to talk to.” She blushes again, her eyes dipping down before she peers up through thick, golden lashes at me. “Did you know plants flourish under conversation? Under connection?” She doesn’t wait for me to answer. “I love plants, tending and caring for them. Watching them grow. But to answer your question…” She shrugs. “I guess I want more from life than what Mom and Dad have. Something different.”

Nothing she said surprises me. After all, she is Demeter’s daughter. The immortal soul in her body isthat of my wife, Goddess of spring and fertility and love.

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