Page 86 of His in the Dark

She made an offer to Hades, who has not let go of my hand.

Whowillnot let go of my hand. Who meant it when he said his love would always be greater than his anger, and meant it when he said I owned every part of him, and meant it when he saidalways.

Anger and rage turn to something else. Something cold deep within me. Something almost unfeeling.

“I don’t find that acceptable,” I murmur. And although her gaze leaves mine, mine stays on hers and when she looks back she’s caught in it.

Hades brings my hand to his lips and kisses my knuckles gently before releasing it. As if a blessing to do as I wish. Minthefreezes as I cross the space between us. Her eyes go wide, then faraway, as if she has accepted her fate.

She closes her eyes as I lift my hand and press it against her head.

I do not think. I simply do. “My Queen!” She begs at first but in my touch, she is silenced. Her wide eyes stare back at me with terror. Minthe’s head drops down under my hands almost instantly, and keeps dropping. I kneel, following the shrinking figure to the grass.

I change her from one form to another. Taking the essence of Minthe and guiding it into a new way of being. One that will let her feel the pleasures of existence, but not the freedom of wandering through the woods, unbuttoning her dress for any King of mine who happens to walk by.

Leaves tickle my palms, and I open my eyes, then open my hands.

A tiny, perfect plant with velvety leaves sprouts from the ground. It smells fresh and cool and soothing even. I imagine her leaves plucked and seeped into hot water would make an excellent tea.

“Mint,” I say, feeling like I’m telling the plant its own name. “It shall be called mint. That is only fair, I suppose.”

Look at that… I made life in the Underworld that pleases me. A pleasure like none I’ve felt before flows through me eerily calm.

As Minthe was in her nymph form, she is beautiful as a mint plant. Though slightly out of season, her leaves are green and fragrant, and her stalk is well-formed and strong. Soon, there will be other mint plants around her. More of her sisters will grow in the summer. My smile fades. That cannot happen here. No new life will grow. But others can be made as such. Others who betray me. Slowly, the warmth returns at the thought. Perhaps I shall have gardens in the Underworld afterall.

Hades steps beside me, and he offers his hand to me.

I take it and let him help me to my feet, my face hot.

His hand wraps underneath my chin, and he tips my face up to his, claiming my mouth in a possessive kiss filled with heat and gratitude.

He kisses me so deep and long that I have no choice but to put my arms around his waist and hold him tight.

“Are you well, my Queen?”

“I am pleased,” I tell him in a whisper.

I get dizzy with the taste of him and the powerful magic of the bond, which must be celebrated. I’ve never felt so much approval in magic before. I did not know it couldgiveso much approval.

Finally, just when I’m about to forget the forest entirely, Hades breaks the kiss and puts a hand at my elbow to steady me.

“Thank you,” he says, his voice raw.

“It was nothing.” A shaky laugh escapes me. “What else could I have done? You’re mine now.”

“My Goddess, I am yours,” says Hades, and bends down for one last kiss before we return home. “Rage and possessiveness look beautiful on you.”

HADES

The knowledge of the seeds weighs on me as I leave the bedchambers as quietly as I can. I’ve left Persephone in bed, dreaming in the tangled sheets, because she deserves to enjoy her pleasure. My queen does not need to scramble out of it like a prisoner. She can lounge in the afterglow of the many times I made her come with my hands and mouth and cock for as long as she pleases this morning.

With the on slaught of new souls and chaos at the River of Styx, I’m needed to survey the court. I don’t wish to worry her. As far as she knows, nothing is out of the norm. She has not much to go by and so I keep what’s occurred away from her. No one is to speak of it. No one is to know that souls are being destroyed faster than they can be judged. They wither to nothing as her flowers do in Olympus. Threats from Zeus and those who do his bidding aren’t heard by any but myself and Minox.

If she sits at my side for this session, I’ll have to explain the nervousness and fear permeating the air at court. I’ll have to explain the whispers. I’ll have to explain why all the attendants seem as if they are waiting for me to direct them. To guide them because they are lost and scared. Their threads were not meant to be cut so soon.

Changeiscoming, and it will not be kind. Demeter and Zeus have struck, what awaits is my reply.

In the wide hall outside the court, several figures detach from the wall and move to intercept me before I can enter for the morning session.

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