Page 2 of Hades and Persephone: Crown of Souls

“You’re awake.”

With my fingertips still touching the painted monster, I turn to find the man I’ve fallen hopelessly in love with.

Hades Pluton. Beside a single, pure black dog.

Chapter

Two

Persephone

“Hades.”His name sounds different now, weighted, somehow. As though the very air charges with something unseen. He takes a step, and Noc follows. The shadows seem to fall away from him as he waves his hand, and the stars that dance within the ceiling brighten just enough to illuminate the farthest corners of the space. I’m stunned for a whole ten heartbeats as I realize the entire ceiling, brighter in the very center where the high arc reaches, is a single, gigantic chandelier of dark amethyst.

I’m entirely speechless. I have no words.

I have never seen anything so extraordinary.

“How do you feel?” he asks. Noc lowers to his rump, sitting regally as he peers up at me through his watchful doggy eyes.

I blink. “How do I…?” I frown. “I—I—where am I?”

He gestures me down from the bed where I stand on his pillows, still touching the painted monster. I’m not sure why I can’t pull my hand away. I don’t understand this draw I feelto the beast in the painting. The demon Mom would warn me against.

I shake my head. My thoughts feel fuzzy. Distorted.

Hades sighs. I watch his broad shoulders expand with a breath, his dark eyes never leaving me as he says simply, “You’re in the Underworld.”

I blink again.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

My ears are ringing, so I’m sure that’s why I heard him say what I think I heard him say. Even though I know that can’t be what he just said.

My eyes flick to Noc and back again.

“I’m sorry, what?” I swallow hard, trying to pop away the shrill cry of anxiety that is the ringing deep in my ears.

Hades takes another step toward the bed. Toward me. My heart leaps in my chest. My belly threatens to drop all the way to my feet.

I feelhunted.

He speaks as though he’s talking to a frightened animal. “Come down and we’ll talk.”

Again, I shake my head. “I didn’t—I didn’t hear you.”

Hades simply watches me for a long moment. He repeats, “You are in the Underworld, Persephone. I brought you here after you had an encounter with Demeter, Goddess of?—”

“Harvest and Agriculture,” I interrupt. “You—this is a joke.”

It doesn’t feel like a joke.

But there is no alternative. The Underworld doesn’t exist. Not outside of myth.

He slips his big hands into his pockets, but otherwise, he doesn’t move as he says matter of fact, “You are Persephone, Goddess of Spring and Fertility, reborn. Daughter of Demeterand,” he pauses only slightly, pitch lowering. “Claimed by Zeus.” He straightens his spine, somehow growing even taller as he rolls those broad shoulders back. “You are my wife and eternal bride, and I am Hades, God of the Underworld. You are mine and I am yours. This is, and has always been,will always be, your home.”

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