Page 29 of His in the Dark

Someone will come soon. In the meantime, I need to focus my energy on thinking of myownplan.

I squeeze my eyes closed and try to concentrate. The cold makes it difficult because I’m shivering so hard. I would do anything for a bowl of warm broth.

Almost anything. I will not submit to Hades.

Maybe a protection spell would work. I don’t have my altar, and I don’t know if there is power for me to draw on in the Underworld, but I can at least try. If I believe?—

If Beatrice could do such things, then it is possible I could cast a spell to help myself even in the Underworld.

The words slip through my mind, faint and hard to grasp.

The power inside me craves the light

Bring me the warmth of fire

And take from the powers to my right

My eyes peer open to observe my right. A sleek obsidian wall.

I repeat, “The power inside me craves the light,” I say into the cold sweeping in through the windows. I imagine being safe and protected. I imagine being freed. I imagine the hunger and cold disappearing. “Bring me the warmth of fire, and take from the powers to my right.”

“The power inside me craves the light,” I repeat, forcing my voice to steady. It’s the chains I want gone. I want my body to be my own again. I imagine the heat of a fire that could burn through the magic but leave my skin untouched. I imagine the chains falling away. “Bring me the warmth of fire, and take from the powers to my right.”

I hope, and Ihope.I can hear the snap of chains. The metal clanking on the floor.

But then - a noise distracts me and I have doubt.

The only thing that happens is a hunger pang. My stomach twists around its own emptiness. My throat is dry, every word scratching on the way out.

I’m on my feet before I understand what I’ve done. I stumble across the room to the table as if the chain itself is drawing meto the bread and the wine and the pitcher of water and the shiny, red pomegranate.

I can’t touch it. I cannot touch a single thing on this table, or I will shove it all into my mouth and eat like an animal. I should sit, and wait, and be still. I should not give in to this temptation.

But my stomach hurts too much.

I find myself reaching before I can stop myself. I claw into the flesh of the pomegranate and lift out one shining seed.

It bursts between my teeth. Only a taste but such sweetness and divinity lies in its nourishment.

I swallow the juices with a moan, tipping my head back and closing my eyes. It’s delectable. I’m not sure if it’s the betrayal, the starvation or the sheer deliciousness that adds to the pleasure. I’ve never been so satisfied yet craved much more with such a thing.

Before I know it, the glass of wine is in my hand. It’s dry and rich, and smooth with no bitterness. A small moan slips from me into the glass. I’m sure I appear mad to any onlookers.Let them savor the vision as I savor the divine wine.The thought brings a smile to lips.

I want to gulp it. Vaguely, I’m aware of the craze that’s come over me. I want to pour the whole bottle down my throat, but I settle for another mouthful instead, then drop the glass to the table. It lands and cracks in two, spilling wine onto the surface, but as I watch, trembling with the flavors still on my tongue, it repairs itself and waits, upright, for me to fill it with more wine.

The magic … it tempts me. It calls to me. I wish it to buckle under my command.

The temptation has never been greater. My entire body feels pulled to the wine, even as the taste lingers in my mouth. I try to suck more of it down, but it’s already fading. There is more here.More that’s meant to be mine.

The lock on the doorclicks. I yank my hand back from the table and rush back to the rug. I’ll be damned if I willingly provide Hades the pleasure of the sight.

Only I don't stop at the rug. I pad across to the bed and clamber up onto it, pulling the sheet over me like a child hiding from a bad dream. Like those stories the mere humans tell.

It’s pitiful. The moment the sheet graces my bare skin, I regret my decision. The desires of the Gods are not so far off from mortals and Hades’ intention is obvious. This is what happens when I let my foolish desires get the better of me. This is what happens when I forget to stay strong and start to crumble instead.

With my teeth gritted and the sweet wine lingering on my lips, I stare at the God who dared betray Zeus and Demeter with my abduction. The bastard Lord of the Dead and ruler of the Underworld.

Hades’s footsteps are already in the room before I can even meet his eyes. I cannot get out of the bed without drawing more attention to myself. It is a mistake.

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