Page 6 of Hades and Persephone: Crown of Souls

“Much of what you know of the myth of Hades and Persephone is true. And much of it has been lost to time.” His voice deepens, pitch dropping as he grows dangerously quiet. “There is much of the myth of us that never made it to the songs which spun the written stories that inspired the tales humanity studies today. For our story transpired, mostly, here in the Underworld. The living realm was not privy to the events which unfolded here, and much is speculation.”

“Oh…” I don’t know why I feel so breathless. So transfixed by his words, craving more.

He steps closer, that scent of woodsmoke and sin invade my senses to swirl in my mind, darkening my thoughts with a need I cannot name. I lean closer, desperate for more. More of him. His scent. His words.

More of this beautiful, fantastical tale he weaves.

“You, Persephone, are the Goddess of Spring and Fertility,” he tells me bluntly a second time. As though this time it might resonate. I blush, burned by an overwhelming feeling of inadequacy.

But, oh, how I wish it were true.

He speaks again. “You birthed life within the Underworld. In the cracks between stone, vines pushed, and flowers sprouted. Stars appeared in the obsidian sky, lit up by the light of the moons, and brushstrokes of navy bloomed from their glow of light—of life. Cities rose from the ash that covered the land, and souls thrived. Gardens flourished, mountains glittered, veined by the same stars that glitter in the sky. Even the sea glowed, the frothy tips of the waves shimmering iridescent.”

“And for the first time in the creation of me, a God who knew only horror and torment, ripped apart and devoured by myown father to live centuries in the prison of his belly with my siblings, only to be spilled back into a realm under siege of Gods and Titans, I fought. I was rewarded for my efforts with a realm of darkness and despair. Of torment and terror. For centuries, I existed alone and hated. Feared, my name scarcely spoken on the tongues of man. I was rejected and disrespected, and one day I saw a young Goddess in a garden of life. I tasted the purest desire to possess all that she was for my own. I acted. I stole her. I stoleyouinto the realm of darkness and torment.”

I don’t realize that he’s stepped into me, stepping us back slowly, until my back is pressed into the wall at the top of the stairs. Hades is so close, his big body caging mine against the stone, that with every deep breath I breathe, my breasts brush his chest.

“Hades.” I can say nothing but his name. My thoughts are shattered by the twisting vines of emotions that smother the flames in his eyes. Regret. Self-loathing.Hope.

I don’t understand.

I want to understand.

“I stole you and ravaged you. I claimed all of you, against the tears that fell and the pleas you begged.” My breaths have begun to race. Awareness prickles my skin. Under the cage of my breast, my heart thunders. Hate coats his words. “I stole your innocence and tasted your blood, your cries. In my belly, your blood bloomed a life inside of me that hadn’t existed since before Cronus devoured me. Perhaps it never existed at all. But after you—I was born again, new. I became not only the God of Death, but the God of Afterlife.”

His whispered breath is a kiss of heat against my trembling lips.

“You birthed life into darkness because you carry inside you, Goddess of Spring and Fertility, the light of all life.” I flinch only slightly at the feel of something soft caressing the skin of mycheek, but I can’t take my eyes off the man—the God—before me. He laughs, but it’s lacking humor. He breathes, “Even now, the realm comes alive in your presence.” His hand lifts to thumb the flower that caresses my skin. The small pearlescent white petals from the life that sprouts from the vines in the wall. His voice is so soft, so low, I nearly don’t hear him when he says, “You brought so much to the Underworld—into a realm untouched by life—and in it you created living abundance. How I missed the light before, how I was so blind—” His eyes drift over mine. “I will never know.”

The words feel stuck in my throat, but somehow, I manage, “What light?”

“The light of all life. The light that breaks through the gate of your soul to shine through your eyes.” His sweep my face, as though he’s searching for that very light now.

I have no idea what he’s talking about.

“I’m so confused.”

“As am I,” Hades confuses me more by agreeing. “I can only hope that in time it all becomes clear.”

Chapter

Five

Persephone

“You must be hungry.”With his hand closed around mine, Hades leads me into yet another fantastical room. There have been so many.

In the infrequent times when I travelled with Mom and Dad, it was always in the dead of winter and outside of farming season. We always went somewhere warm and, often tropical. Mom wanted to sunbathe under the spray of the sea and Dad wanted to experience heat that wasn’t inside the cage of his tractor or inspired by a good, working sweat. So, although I’ve seen it online, I’ve never seen with my own eyes, the ancient architecture that stands in old Roman cities. The cathedrals or English castles that speak of a civilization far more talented than my own when it comes to the crafting of architecture.

This, though—Hades’ palace—stands in competition with what I imagine those buildings might look like. The awe they might command simply bybeing.

“Come.” Hades pulls a chair from an impossibly long dining table before he takes the head chair for himself. Noc settles on the floor at my side.

“Where are Jas and Prim?” I ask as my fingertips drift over the hair on Noc’s smooth head.

Hades’ voice is deep. Perhaps there is even amusement in it. “I’m sure you have pieced it together by now, that the three together are Cerberus.”

I swallow, my fingertips pausing their drifting pet. I clear my throat. “I hadn’t, actually.”

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