Page 160 of Hekate: The Witch
He gestured to the owl
watching us in annoyance.
‘If you are finished helping
your friend there, perhaps
you would like to join me
for a meal?’ My cheeks burned,
and the owl hooted impatiently at me.
I turned to begin bandaging
its wing and when I was done,
it hopped onto its perch.
I turned back to Thanatos,
whose eyes were still shining,
and we moved towards the stairs.
Before we started walking down
he looked at me
and said softly,
‘You should know,
I think your face
is perfection too.’
A Trick of the Light
I no longer filled my kitchen with terrible smells when I brewed my potions. In the freedom of not having to learn in secret as I had to do in the palace where I was watched over by Styx, I could openly create anything I wanted. Thanatos had built me sturdy wooden shelves for all my urns full of herbs. On his trips across the land of the living where he claimed the dead, he brought back herbs and flowers from every corner of the earth. Charon would bring me bone dust, hydra eggshell, blood of the Chimera, the scales of long-dead sirens; all manner of preternatural scraps, which I learned to identify and used in my growing collection of potions, poisons and spells. The knowledge of what all these things were seemed inborn. Soon, the shelves were so heavy that one day Thanatos turned to me in the kitchen after nearly knocking over a potent love potion that could sway a whole village. ‘Perhaps it is time to build you an apothecary.’ I shook my head. ‘You do not have time to help me build an apothecary.’ A slow smile formed across his face. ‘Then I willmakethe time to build you an apothecary – the dead can wait a little.’ I laughed and said, ‘You, who never neglects his duties for anyone? I doubt evenIam worth the God of Peaceful Death neglecting his role.’ Thanatos’ smile widened and perhaps it was just a trick of the light, but something warm glowed in his eyes. ‘You are worth all of it. And more.’
A Visit From Hades
I had not seen him for an era.
Styx had warned me that he was no longer
the gentle boy-God he used to be
but a bitter, paranoid version of himself.
Some said it was the loneliness
of the Underworld that did this to him.
Others said it was because that power
untold, unchecked, had corrupted him.
