Page 9 of Arrogance
“Being here,” I explained. “Being stuck in this world, cut off from everyone else above us. Don’t you miss your former life? Your friends? Your mother?”
She smiled before planting a firm kiss on my lips. It was brief, but enough to transfer part of my focus back to her, now aroused by her physicality that was before me, front and center. “Yes. There are moments when I often wonder what it would be like to return to Earth, but honestly Adonis, there isn’t much that the above world offers that you can’t get here, in Elysium, or most other parts here in the Underworld.”
I shrugged, unsure if I fully agreed with her on this point. “But you’ve experienced both places. For me, all I’ve known is here. I just find myself constantly thinking about the above world. Having the chance to come across new scenes. To explore and to actually find myself, if that makes any sense?”
Persephone’s hands now graced my torso, massaging up and down my wet, glistening chest muscles. “It makes sense, Adonis. But I think you are fine just the way you are. I don’t think you have much to explore or much to change about yourself. I think you’re alreadyfound, but just don’t realize it yet. Not only that, but sometimescomfortis a feeling often underrated. Are you not comfortable here in the Underworld?”
I nodded. “No. I am.”
“Well, maybe you should appreciate that feeling. Because if you did leave here and go to the surface, there would be so many unknowns. I can tell you from firsthand experience, no place on Earth compares to Elysium. Just know that by leaving Elysium, you would be leaving all of thecomfortthat it offers, that you may be underrating.”
I carefully recited and analyzed Persephone’s words in my head over and over again. Yes, she did have a valid point that I should be grateful for the opportunity to live here in this paradisiacal place, but just mere thoughts of life on the surface and the opportunity to create new experiences made my heart rise, far beyond my chest, ready to practically explode out of it. That excitement was something that couldn’t be ignored. And I came to realize that I would be willing to sacrificecomfortfor the chance to seekadventure.
The thing about having so many people coming and going from Elysium was that I never had to settle. The time men and women had here was temporary and forever fleeting. Therefore, those who did fall in love with me would eventually be forced to move on, never to see or hear from me ever again. At a young age, I quickly learned of heart break and aches. I grew to be stoic with my emotions and to strictly harbor on lust over love.
Although Persephone was the current individual that Iloved, I still lusted after many others and allowed myself to take action on those emotions of lust. After all, Persephone was married to the King of the Underworld, Hades. Yet, she often strayed from him and slept with many other men, including myself.
How could I not follow her own leading actions and do the same?
Besides Persephone, I often found myself having relations with another constant companion that had a permanent residency in the Underworld, and that was Persephone’s son, Iacchus. He must have acquired his looks from his mother, because he was beyond alluring and handsome. I was captivated by his charm, wit, good-looks and masculinity. He too was enraptured with me.
“So, are you ready for today?” Iacchus asked me, as he rolled from out of his bed and to his feet. His tan and fit body now were fully visible, no longer hidden beneath the sheets. I caught myself checking out the thickness of his ass, before he turned around to face me, as I laid in the bed still.
“Ready for what?”
“Did my mother not tell you?”
I was becoming more irritable now, realizing something was being kept secret from me that I did not know about. “Tell me what, exactly?”
He smiled at me. “Aphrodite will be arriving soon. She intends on meeting you.”
My eyes widened, shocked by this news Iacchus withheld from me. “Aphrodite!? You meantheAphrodite? The stunning goddess on Mount Olympus is coming to the Underworld to meetme!?”
Iacchus slapped his hand to his forehead. “Wait? You mean to tell me Aphrodite will be here in just several hours and my mother never told you about your relation to her yet?”
I rose out of Iacchus’s bed, bewildered by all of the information being thrown at me at once. It felt like a never-ending waterfall just gushing in my face. “I have a connection to Aphrodite!? What kind of relationship!? And why am I just hearing about this now, of all times?”
Iacchus busted out in laughter at my expense. Although he found my ignorance to be comical, I was becoming less amused and more irritated. “Understand that I swore to my mother that I would never tell you. This is a conversation you need to have with her. And please, leave me out of it. The last thing I want to deal with is her wrath.”
I rushed to put my tunic on, scrambling to get myself together. Iacchus approached and wrapped his firm arms around me, preventing me from gathering myself any further. “Look. Promise me one thing, Adonis. Don’t forget about me. I don’t want this to be the last time I get the chance to see you. Tofeelyou. You’re a very special person to me. Far more special than anyone else I’ve ever encountered.” His hands then lowered to clasp my buttocks.
I instinctively pushed him away. Right now, his words held little weight. The only thing I felt right now was anger and a sense of betrayal festering within me. Iacchus and Persephone have been keeping a looming secret over my head for years. The fact that I had some form of a relationship with a goddess in the living world was astonishing to me. I could not believe they both kept this information from me. I had every right to know about it. And after my conversation with Persephone about longing to explore the above world, this could have potentially been my escape route to get there. Why would she prevent me from this!?
I stormed out of Iacchus’ room and down the corridors of the palace and towards the gargantuan doors leading to Persephone’s bedchamber. I curled my hand into a fist and banged on the door multiple times, ignoring the nearby servants who stared at me with baffling expressions on their faces for my aberrant behavior.
Soon, the doors opened and Persephone emerged from her room. “Adonis!? What in the Underworld has gotten into you? You know not to come to this side of the palace. What if Hades was present!?”
I was in no mood to hear about nor abide by her stupid rules now, in a desperate attempt to hide her adulterations from her husband. If she had the nerve to keep a secret about Aphrodite from me, then why should I even give a damn about any of her concerns?
“What’s gotten intome? I should be asking, what’s gotten intoyou? You mean to tell me you knew I had some connection with Aphrodite and the surface, yet you’ve kept it hidden from me all these years!?” My voice rose into nearly a yell.
Persephone seemed taken aback by this knowledge I had. I caught her scrutinizing my hair, which I barely had time to fix from being unkempt. Its disheveled state likely led her to believe I just got done making love to someone, and because I managed to make it to her bedchamber without being stopped by any guards, it meant I had to have already been in the palace to begin with. Persephone was extremely intellectual and could easily make connections through leaps and bounds.
“That Iacchus! I will deal with him later,” was all she uttered.
“Who cares about Iacchus! The point is Aphrodite will be arriving and yet here I stand knowing nothing about her, nor my relationship with her. All I know are of the tales I’ve been told of her. But what does she have anything to do with me?”
Persephone let out an agitated sigh. “I meant to tell you, Adonis. I just could never find the right time. Plus, I knew that you knowing about your past would only push you further away from me.”
