Chapter 23 Persephone
Persephone
As the adrenaline of what had occurred earlier subsides, I sit with my own decision. Six moon phases will be the longest I’ve ever spent away and I won’t be able to leave. And yet I remind myself, the time will go far too quickly when it is spent as we do.
Beatrice sits with me in my rooms, both of us before my altar. She takes a shaky breath next to me, audible in the quiet, and I reach for her hand.
“I’m not going forever,” I remind her. “Half of the year, and then I will be back.”
“It seems so…final,” she admits, glancing at me out of the corner of her eye then lifting her free hand to wipe her teary eyes. “You, in the Underworld…”
“I have already been there, Beatrice. It was not so different from being here.”
“Yes, it was,” she says, turning her head to look me in the eyes. “You are sure you will not be lonely?”
I have to stifle an internal laugh at that. “No, I won’t be lonely. I won’t be alone for even a moment, if I don’t want to be. I don’t think Hades will want me to be alone, either.” My stomach sinks at the thought of my king. How does he consider my judgment?
With a heavy exhale, Beatrice relents. “All right. If you won’t be lonely.”
“I’ve told you about Silvie. She’ll be there with me as well. And—in case I haven’t said, Beatrice—Silvie reminds me of you.”
“Does she?” Beatrice’s brow raises as does the pitch in her voice. “And that is a comfort to you?”
“Yes. She’s knowledgeable about magic and the powers in the Underworld.
She taught me many things about finding my own power.
My own strength.” The memories are fond although we didn’t meet in ideal circumstances.
“And she is always very patient with me, even when I take a long time to understand what she is advising me about magic.”
Beatrice gives me a wry smile. “Allow the possibility of magic working.”
“You are right,” I tell her and tip my chin down, looking at the altar before us. We simply must allow it, fighting the magic is cumbersome and only gets in our way.
Certain aspects of my altar are the same as before. There is the large crystal I use for an energy source. There is the candle. These are other items I will use to cast the spell from herbs to oils.
But I will not be doing so alone. I will have Beatrice. We will cast together. I am not hiding away in the dark, hoping no one will see me trying to magic my powers to life and doubting whether they will work. I’ll not be stolen away just as the light fills the room…
I only had time to kiss Hades once before Hecate took him to the Underworld. We did not have time to speak. We did not have time to plan. It is a taste, I suppose, of what some parts of the future will be like. Our time will be limited, and we must make the most of it.
“I’ll watch over her,” Beatrice says softly. “Your mother. If you would like me to do so.”
“I would.” A heaviness that I had not known was there disappears from my shoulders. “I…think she will understand, in time. But I know those months will seem to pass slowly.”
“But not for you?”
“No. Not for me,” I say with a sigh. “He is my king and I love him, all of him.”
“You do truly?”
“I do,” I tell her and let the smile show fully on my face. “I’ve found who I was meant to be at his side, and he…he sees me. He sees all of me. Even the pieces of me I thought might not be there at all. And the parts of me that I was ashamed of, he loved fully.”
“Oh,” Beatrice says, sounding slightly breathless. “You do love him.”
My voice cracks with a half laugh. “How could you tell?”
“You’re blushing.” She traces her knuckles briefly over my cheek, a gesture that speaks to the closeness we have shared for years of my life.
“And your eyes are bright. It was—forgive me, my queen. It was so long that the light in your eyes was…” Beatrice’s gaze softens.
“It was not gone, but it was dimmed. I could see the worry in your heart, but I did not know how to fix it. And I wanted to. I wanted you to be happy.” She smiles, brushing a few tears from the corners of her eyes. “Now I see you are.”
“I am,” I reassure her. “I’m…excited, as well. Nervous. I will miss you when I am in the Underworld. I will think of you often.”
“I will think of you every day, my queen.”
I lean over and wrap my arms around Beatrice’s shoulders. She hugs me back.
I take a deep breath, memorizing how it feels to be close to Beatrice, then release her. We share a smile, wiping tears from each other’s eyes, then face the altar again.
“We came to do magic,” I say, teasing her. “Not to cry. This is not a goodbye at all. I’m not leaving yet, and when I do, I’ll be back in the blink of an eye.”
“It will be a little longer than that, my queen.” Beatrice pats my hand, then folds her hands in her lap. “But you’re right. We came here to send blessings through the realm to sustain us all while you are gone, not feel sorry for ourselves.”
Beatrice places her hands on the base of the candle.
I reach out, mirroring her, and place my hands on the center stone, a large pale blue raw chunk of angelite.
For peace and calm and centering one’s soul.
We will cast together, two halves of the same whole, the power flowing from the crystal to the candle and then out to the realms. I will offer up the power I can feel on Olympus, and guide it through those realms with my sense of the powers I gained in the Underworld.
That is the hope.
That is what will happen. I sit up straighter, breathe in, and then let it out. Next to me, Beatrice does the same. My arms tingle with anticipation.
This time, I am not asking for power on my own behalf, but for all the realms.
I close my eyes, the crystal warming under my fingers.
“The divine is within me,” I state, and it is true. I do not doubt it. I do not have to try. I can feel it within me and all around me. “The divine is within me and with me, and I can bring light to the darkness.”
I have done it before. I can do it again.
“Protect the realms from all that would wish them harm. Olympus. The mortal realms. The Underworld. Heal them from the strife that they have felt and smooth away the imbalances between them. Protect them from anything that would trouble them again. Guide the realms, and the gods and mortals within them, and the souls in the Underworld, to safety.”
Beatrice's steady breath is calming beside me. She’ll be gathering her sense of the moment as well.
The sense of her powers. They are not as strong as mine, but they can still bring light to the darkness.
Anyone can. All it takes is knowing you have a light inside of you.
Our powers will mingle together as we do this, and our combined intention will send this protection throughout the realms.
“I release all that ails the realms,” I say, and a sense of tension lifts away from my shoulders.
A shiver runs through me, joining the warmth that is already growing in my chest. “I release it along with all that ailed me, and my father, and my mother. There is nothing between us that will stand in the way of balance in the realms. My powers are warmest within me. I send the balance I have found within my magic to the realms. It shall be there no matter where I dwell, burning like a candle that will not go out.”
“Oh,” Beatrice says softly. I will not forget this, either.
I will not forget how much more powerful it feels to wish safety and balance on the realms, not just myself.
If I find myself afraid again, I will remember to look outward.
Beyond myself. Because I am a part of these realms, just as the other gods and goddesses are.
Just as the mortals are. Just as the souls in the Underworld are.
And using my magic to help them will also help me.
There’s a moment of quiet. Beatrice waits beside me.
I take one more breath.
“The power inside of me craves the light,” I say, and Beatrice says it along with me, each word matching mine. Our voices just above a whisper. “Bring me the warmth of fire and take from the powers to my right.”
The heat warms my palm. It is the heat of my powers and my blessings and the heat of all the powers swirling around us.
Olympus is a place of great power, and there is much of it here, concentrated near my altar, where I have spent so long praying and trying to sustain my powers.
It is still here. I am still here, and I will be back.
Because that is the way of balance.
That is the way of the realms.
That is the way of my king and of my mother.
That is my way. A way of balance. Of life and of the Underworld. Of love and passion.
“The power inside of me craves the light,” I say again, Beatrice with me. “Bring me the warmth of fire and take from the powers to my right.”
“The power inside of me craves the light.” We speak with one voice, casting together.
This will not be the only time we do magic.
This will not be the only time we use our powers for the good of the realms. We will return to this place, again and again.
It is only the beginning. “Bring me the warmth of fire and take from the powers to my right.”
The casting of the spell takes my breath away. My powers feel like water, rushing through me and out to every realm.
It will burn bright until I return.