Chapter 4 The Deal
Blue flames flickered from the onyx fireplace in my quarters, and I stared into the fire with my hand on the mantle.
I caught up Styx for now, but would undoubtedly fill with more souls within the hour.
I took what little time I had for breaks, for rest, and sometimes even a bit of sleep.
That, too, was something I’d always dreamed of sharing—the burdens.
Still, the guilt always prevailed over my expectations for anyone not only to desire doing the job, but also to take it seriously.
It'd been two days since Zeus left to speak with the council on Demeter’s threats and Persephone’s unique situation.
If it had been any other god, I would’ve grown restless that he might never return.
As many flaws as my brother had, however, seeing a mission to completion had always been one of his greatest strengths.
Persephone remained relatively quiet but still made no motion to leave her room.
I continued to bring her food, relieved each time I reached through the door to find an empty platter when replacing it with a new one.
The curiosity over what she did with herself all day in there ate at me like a parasite.
It would have been so easy to take a peek, to appear in the room without announcement.
That would’ve done far more harm than good because if I’d truly abandoned her here, I would much prefer us as acquaintances over what I know she perceived as the kidnapped and the captor.
The reminder made my claws carve into the stone mantle, crumbling the corner and sending rubble to the wooden floorboards. Whatever happened, it would always haunt me to my undying days. For that, he Fates were cruel, mischievous crones.
The lightning cracking behind me had me swiveling on a heel. Zeus swiped his crown from his head, making it disappear in golden shimmers. He blew out a breath and sat on one of two cranberry-colored, crushed velvet lounge chairs, resting his forearms on his knees.
“I take it things went well?” I asked, sarcastically.
Zeus sat back. “They are so loyal to the primordial ways only because they’re afraid of them. It pisses me off to no end.”
Tartarus itself was primordial, and even I had never found it to be comforting, let alone seeking the wrath of Gaia or the others.
“Perhaps you should fear them more.” I raised a brow at my self-righteous brother.
Zeus leaned an elbow on one armrest, propping his chin on his hand. “No, because otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten you the bargain they agreed on.”
My spine zipped straight at that. “Persephone can return to the surface?”
“Not exactly.”
Growling, making the flames lash from behind me, I threw my arms out at my sides. “Then what kind of bargain is that?”
Zeus glared, lightning sizzling in his eyes and down the lengths of his arms. “Are you going to let me finish?”
Bowing my head in apology, I kept silent.
“I proposed to divide her time between the surface and the Underworld. I asked for it to be every other week or even every other month, but they weren’t having it.
” Zeus tapped his finger against his temple with obvious annoyance at their declining dancing in his expression.
“They countered with six months here and six months on the surface.”
My ethereal heart hurdled into a gallop so fierce it could have burst through my chest. “Is that the bargain then? That doesn’t seem so horrible. Why do I get the feeling there’s more?”
“You’ve always been so intuitive.” Zeus stood and moved in front of me, our heights matching and our gazes leveling. “She needs to become queen.”
My chest tightened, and I gripped my robe there. “What?” I roared. “That’s absurd. I’d never force her into that.”
“You can and you will. No one forced her into eating the food.” Zeus stood firm, spirals of lightning coiling his arms and legs.
Shaking my head at him, I pointed a claw in his face. “You helped me do this, and now you expect me to force her into marrying me? To take over such a burden?”
Zeus batted my hand away and squared off his jaw. He was no longer my brother in this conversation; he was my king. “You will force her hand, Hades, because if she is not queen within the week, she won’t be able to return to the surface forever.”
His words had me rocking back on my heels, and an unintended laugh punched from my gut. “And this is the bargain you fought for? This?”
Lightning consumed Zeus’s eyes now, replacing his usual blue irises. “I had to give them something. Considering she broke an archaic rule, she should be so lucky. If her captor weren’t my brother, I wouldn’t have cared about her future.”
Captor. Godsdamn him. I should have known he would somehow find a way to turn this on me and act as if he played no part in it.
Fury raged in my gut, my wings unfurling, and the embers fiercely sizzled and glowed.
Zeus glared at my wings, lighting swirling his entire body now. “Cut the shit, Hades. I also did this for you.”
“Trust me, brother. You’ve done more than needed. I’ve had about enough of your favors to last me a century.” My fists shook uncontrollably at my sides. It did not go unnoticed by the king of the gods.
Zeus marched forward, his eyes radiating with nothing but blinding white lightning. “You ungrateful minotaur’s ass. Listen to me. You’ve been controlling the entirety of the Underworld alone for far too long.”
When I sucked in a breath to protest, Zeus silenced me with a raised palm.
“You’re slipping. That wasn’t the first time Styx had been backed up, but it was certainly the worst. I need you in top form.
Why else do you think I granted you a week on the surface every year and charged Thanatos to oversee the Underworld in your stead?
” Zeus raked a hand through his hair, his jaw tensing.
“Persephone is tied to this place and gives you the perfect opportunity for a partner. And she doesn’t realize it yet, but she would have only gone so long before driving herself mad with boredom.
This will give her a purpose down here.”
Shaking my head, I settled my wings, beckoning them to rest at my back. “How do you do that?”
Zeus stood tall, his lightning seeping back into his skin. “Do what?”
“Make your cruel schemes and solutions sound somehow beneficial for all those involved.” Malice and defeat coated my words.
“If you have to ask that, then you know why you aren’t the king of kings.” Zeus leaned on his spear, his eyes having gone a bit heavy.
“No, brother,” I started, calmly folding my hands in front of me. “I’m not king because I was inside our father’s stomach, and dear mother hid away her baby boy. Any one of us could have been the rescuer.”
Zeus chuckled and beat his spear against the wooden floor. “I could’ve very easily left you all to live out the rest of your immortal existences there.”
“Then who would you have had to rule over?” I gave a meager shrug.
Zeus’ eyes formed slits, lightning vapors bouncing from his shoulders. “I’d have been a king of sheep if it meant having ultimate power.”
“Yes, and there I go again being ungrateful.” Mockingly, I pretended to swat my own hand.
If I managed to get underneath my brother’s skin, he didn’t show it—a quality I’d always admired about Zeus but would admit it to him.
“Are we done here? You know what you need to do next.” Zeus pointed at the door.
“Yes.” Running the collar of my robes between my fingers, I started toward the exit. “Simultaneously uplift and crush a woman’s heart.”
Zeus gave a curt nod and spun the spear from the ground. “Have fun with that.”
The king of the gods disappeared from the Underworld, leaving me alone and in the middle of my vast bedroom.
There was never a day I imagined that I would marry, that I would have a queen at my side.
If I had somehow conjured such a dream, it wouldn’t have included my bride’s sorrow over her new husband, nor her disgust for her new home.
As I opened the door and stepped into the hallway, staring at Persephone’s door, I prepared my heart to become rock-hard stone.