Page 134 of Where Darkness Bloomed
Her breath caught.
Sweetness found only in the world of the living.
Chapter 50
Persephone stole a mount from her mother’s stables, one of the gentle, broad-shouldered horses born to sacred fields and deep soil. Its hooves pounded the earth as they raced through the dark night toward Epirus. The wind lashed her cheeks, tore at her hair.
Ahead, the dark coastline from her dreams rose like a memory come to life. The same jagged shore where the goddess had emerged from the sea.
She scanned the cliffs, sharp-eyed and searching—there.
Tucked within the stony outcroppings, a narrow cleft in the rock glinted faintly. Small, unassuming, yet unmistakable. It called to her like a breath drawn from the Underworld itself.
She drew hard on the reins. The great horse slowed at once, obedient and unafraid.
Dismounting, she whispered her gratitude as she wove a crown of primroses into the reins. A quiet offering that her mother would understand. A gift of parting. A farewell.
With a soft word and a sharp slap to its flank, she sent the horse thundering back toward Eleusis.
Clutching the linen-wrapped cakes, Persephone picked her way over the rocky ground. The cavern’s mouth yawned before her, a cold breath of air seeping out. Her heart pounded, but she stepped forward, letting the darkness swallow her whole.
At the back of the cavern, the path began. A tunnel descending into the heart of the earth.
Time slipped away.
The way stretched endlessly before her. The rich loam was warm beneath her feet, but the air grew colder with each step. Her breath turnedto vapor, clouding in the dark. The cakes in her arms grew heavier, her legs turning to lead as the hours passed.
Still, she walked on.
Finally, the dark began to soften, faint light appearing in the distance. Persephone’s steps faltered as Dionysus’s words echoed in her ears.
It is fiercely guarded by Cerberus.
As though summoned, a low growl tore through the tunnel. It was deep, a fierce, guttural sound that shook the earth beneath her feet.
Ice threaded her veins, feet rooting to the ground, and she stared into the darkness. She could see nothing, but it hardly mattered. There was no way but forward.
She forced herself to move, one step at a time. The tunnel widened slightly, dim light growing steadily. And there, at the threshold of the Underworld—he waited.
Cerberus.
The monstrous hound loomed like a shadow cast by a mountain, his bulk filling the passage. Black as soot, his three heads watched her, eyes glowing like bright embers.
The central head snarled, lips curling back to reveal teeth the size of daggers. The heads on either side matched the motion, ears pinned, growls vibrating from deep within each throat.
Persephone froze.
Forcing a deep gulp of air into her lungs, she stared up at the monstrous guardian. “Cerberus,” she whispered.
The snarls deepened, reverberating violently into her bones.
Gingerly, she unwrapped the cakes. Kneeling slowly, she placed the cakes on the ground between them, then took a cautious step back.
For a heart-stopping moment, Cerberus’s low growl continued to vibrate through the earth.
Then, silence. All three heads dipped, nostrils flaring as they sniffed the offering. Followed by—
A whine.
