Chapter 2 Forbidden Fruit
The deafening shriek of the goddess in my arms would have blown a mortal’s eardrum.
Persephone pushed, punched, and clawed at my face and shoulders until I reluctantly rested her bare feet on the cold and wet cave floor.
I patiently folded my hands in front of me, rubbing some of my robe’s fabric between two fingers.
Persephone hitched her light pink dress, grimacing at the floor as if Cerberus’ feces covered it instead of sulfur and moisture.
“Where am—is this—” Persephone turned to face me, her cheeks flushing pink, blue eyes as wide as harvest moons. “—are you?”
I took a single step forward but halted when she scurried backward. “You are in the Underworld,” I gently announced, my gaze focused on her feet growing ever closer to the river’s edge.
“Does that mean I’m de—” Persephone started, but terror swallowed her words. She pressed a hand to her chest, confusion flooding her expression when she felt a very undead heartbeat thrumming there.
Lightly shaking my head, I used the mist from Styx to float closer to her. “No. You are very much alive.”
She still clutched her bosom for reassurance, her eyes growing glassy with tears, and she took several more steps away from me.
Appearing in front of her, I grasped her wrist right as she was about to fall backward into the river.
Persephone gasped and stumbled forward, yanking her arm from me and cradling it like I’d burned her.
“Don’t touch me,” she spat, her feet making light pattering sounds against the slick stone floor as she hurried away from me.
“Would you have preferred I let you fall into the river Styx to have dozens of souls climb over your body?” I arched a brow at her.
Persephone whimpered at the dark stains lining the hem of her dress now. “I’d prefer to be back on the surface. If I’m not dead, then why am I here, Hades?”
My name on her lips struck a melodious chord in my heart, I hadn’t known existed until now. “I wished only to speak with you—Persephone.” It came out as a strained whisper.
Persephone gazed up at my throne, gulping when she caught sight of the numerous skulls and bones. “To talk? You lured me down here to talk? Why didn’t you just come to the surface?”
Her haughtiness was unexpected. I hadn’t exactly envisioned her being elated to be here, but given her demeanor I’d witnessed in the meadow amidst other company—so soft and tender—the abrasiveness now took me aback.
“It’s not that easy. I’m only allotted a certain amount of time on the surface, and it’s only available at a specific time. It was so far away, I couldn’t bear the thought of waiting any longer.” I floated to the mirror pool, resting my hands on the stone edges.
Persephone wrapped her arms around herself, her eyes focusing on the flames within the sconces. “Why me?”
“I’ve—” Hesitating with my following words, I gripped the stones so tightly I broke one off. The meadow appeared within the shimmering water, but instead of her angelic form dancing through the tall grass, it swayed unaccompanied in the wind. “—I’ve been watching you for some time now.”
“Watching me? As in spying on me?” Persephone’s eyes grew as large as the pomegranates resting in the bowl next to her.
Wincing at the accusation because I still couldn’t wholly deny it, I shook my head. “I have no control over what the mirror pool shows me of the surface. For whatever reason, it always showed me you.” I turned to look at her, to gauge her reaction, and tensed.
She stood by the arrays of fruit, awestruck and fixated. A bright green apple was in her grasp, and she started to bring it toward her lips.
“Persephone, don’t,” I roared, appearing before her in a plume of smoke and ash, snatching the apple.
She appeared frightened at first, but soon it melted into irritation and frustration. “Just because you’re a king doesn’t give you the right to bark orders at me. Especially when I’m here because of you.”
“If you were to eat anything in the Underworld as a living being, it would tether you to it.” Leaning closer to her, bringing our noses a breath apart, I flashed fire in my gaze. “To me. Do you understand?”
Persephone gulped and stared up at me, silently nodding.
Licking my lips, I turned away from her, still holding the fruit, and dragged a hand through my long hair with a deep sigh.
“I’ve been alone for so long, I only wished to have a bright light in the darkness, if but for a moment.
” I peeked at her over my shoulder, the deep frown on her face, and the moisture from the cave flattening her usual voluminous hair, absolutely gutting me. “I see now it was a mistake.”
Persephone perked at this, suddenly rushing to my side. “Yes, you understand. I wish to go home.”
“And you will.” Tossing the apple in the air, I made it disappear into the invisible pocket. “Tomorrow.”
Her jaw dropped, and she reached for my arm, but recoiled before her fingers neared my robes. “Tomorrow? You stole me from the surface through a giant crack in the ground. Why can’t you do it again?”
The consistent wails of the lost souls in Styx had my shoulders rolling—a task I still would have to do through the night in exchange for resting. “I’ve already told you I’m only allotted access to the surface at certain times. I don’t possess that kind of power. It’s Zeus who will have to do it.”
Swiveling away, I snapped my gaze straight to her petite, tanned fingers, which grasped my robe, the heat from her skin nearly devastating me. “Then why don’t you call on him? He’s your brother, isn’t he? Why not tonight?”
Her words sent a peculiar bout of irritation through me, and I yanked the cloth from her light grasp.
“Are you not a goddess? Do you have no decorum? One doesn’t simply call on the King of the Gods like he has nothing better to do than provide you passage to the surface because you can’t stand one night around big, frightening Hades. ”
Persephone pursed her lips together and interlaced her fingers behind her back. “I never said you were frightening.”
Smirking, I brushed past her. “Your reactions spoke much louder than words, my dear.”
“I—” She started, but I interrupted her. Partly because I still stood on edge as to whether what I agreed on with Zeus was wrong in principle, and now the Fates saw fit to punish me for it with Persephone’s behavior.
“I’ll show you to your room,” I clipped, my tone flat and uninviting.
Persephone’s shoulders rolled back and her chin lifted. “I get a room?”
“Do you really think so little of me?” It was a genuine question as I peered at her with bewilderment dancing in my gaze.
“I admittedly know nothing about you.” Persephone’s voice was finally sweet with that answer.
Leading down one of several onyx marbled hallways, I paused in front of a mahogany door with a golden border. “Did you think I’d ask you to sleep on the cave floor?”
“I’m certainly glad you didn’t.” Persephone’s lip quivered as if holding back a smile, and the thought alone that I gave her that reaction had my gut twisting.
Opening the door, I suppressed a gulp and waved her inside. “I hope you’ll find it accommodating.”
Persephone gasped when she entered the room, one of her hands reaching for her mouth.
Unlike my own quarters bathed in midnight blacks and deep burgundy, this room was the brightest in the Underworld in vibrant white, sky blue, and meadow green.
I didn’t often set foot into it because its radiance made my skull ache as much as my heart, but she suited it.
“I wasn’t expecting this,” she whispered, before turning to me, her eyes glistening with pending tears.
“Zeus will be by tomorrow morning for his routine check. He’ll open the surface for you.
There is a ward surrounding this room, so that no one can get inside, no one can hear you, and you won’t, in turn, hear a thing either.
” I’d paused with my hand on the door’s handle, taking a final longing gaze over her voluptuous curves.
Persephone moved to the bed, a canopy with silk-white drapes hanging over it, and she ran one between her fingers. “Thank you.”
Her gratitude made my grip tighten, turning my knuckles white.
After giving a curt nod, I left, shutting the door behind me, and trying to ignore how much Zeus was right—her presence down here really did do a lot for this place, for me.
As with all things, I continued to sacrifice; however, I’d have to let her go.
It wasn’t fair to either of us to keep her here like a prized trinket.
I spent the better part of the night seated on my throne, ushering souls to their eternal resting spots. My finger bobbed from left to right, guiding fewer than I had anticipated to Tartarus. I’d gotten about halfway through the river when a woman’s blood-curdling scream made my heart freeze.
Persephone.
Like a pegasus charging into aerial battle, I sprang my ember wings and flew to her, sensing where she was before I’d drawn in another breath.
Floating through the closed door of her room, I found her kneeling on the floor, her palms hanging loosely in front of her, red liquid running in shimmering tendrils down her arms.
“Persephone, are you hurt?” I beseeched, crouching beside her, my hand hovering near her back but fearful of touching her.
Tears streaked her face, one half of a pomegranate resting in her palm, the other half staining the rug beneath her knees. A pair of metallic onyx cuff bracelets adorned her wrists now, and her crying turned into sobs.
Clenching my jaw, I numbly picked up the other half of the pomegranate, some of its seeds falling like raindrops between us.
“Persephone, you didn’t—” It was all I could manage to say because I knew full well what had happened.
The bracelets were a clear enough indicator that she’d eaten food of the Underworld.
“I didn’t mean to—I—” Persephone fought to catch her breath, the pomegranate toppling from her hand to the floor. “—I was so hungry. I thought maybe only one seed.”
I’d wanted to sympathize with her, desired to tell her everything would be alright, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I warned her, and she disobeyed. Telling her all would be well would be a bold-faced lie.
“I told you not to eat anything, and what was the first thing you did, Persephone?” Rising, I tossed the pomegranate to the ground with a snarl.
It had landed nowhere near her, but the action made Persephone jump nonetheless. “I know what you said,” she yelled, her voice cracking from crying. “But I couldn’t sleep with how much my stomach rumbled with hunger.”
A fire lit in my veins, and I clenched my fists to keep my anger at bay. “You can’t leave now.”
“What?” Persephone sniffled and scrambled to her feet, clutching my robes with such ferocity the cloth pulled taut against my back. “I know you said that, but there has to be a loophole. There has to be.”
With as much delicacy as I could manage through the rage surging within me, I took her wrists and pried them away. “There is no loophole. The Underworld is your new home, Persephone.”
Her eyes grew wide, new tears forming, her nose and cheeks having turned crimson from her sobs. “No, no. I’ll never see my mother again. My friends?”
Casting my gaze to the floral rug, I flicked two of my black claws together. “You will. One day.”
Hope brightened her face until the daunting realization of my words settled in. “You mean when they’re dead?”
I stayed silent and only offered her my unfaltering eyes on hers.
“Get out,” she whispered, her own anger simmering now.
Moving for the door, I paused with my hand on the frame. “I never meant for this to happen.”
“Then you should’ve never brought me down here, Hades,” she shouted, tears still streaming down her cheeks. “This is all your fault, and I will never forgive you for it.” Persephone lifted her chin and sucked in a deep breath of defiance.
Bowing my head, I floated through the door, wincing when Persephone began to wail. I believed her when she said she’d never forgive me because I couldn’t be sure I’d ever forgive myself.