Chapter Fifteen
I think Persephone was never able to come to terms with the truth that Hades had only ever truly loved one child: his daughter, Melinoe.
That Zagreus and Makaria were, in his eyes, something lesser…
or perhaps nothing at all. She could have endured his indifference towards herself.
That kind of absence, though painful, is survivable.
But his failure to love their children? That was something far more devastating.
It broke her.
And I think that fracture twisted into something darker over time. Into resentment. Into bitterness. Into hatred. Hatred for the one child who had been given everything the others were denied. Hatred for Melinoe.
I think that is why she turned against her. Why she stood beside me, and helped me try to destroy her.
Tabitha Wysteria
Kage had grown almost accustomed to life in hiding within Tartarus, to the strange rhythm of his days spent alongside Zagreus, guiding souls back to safety or escorting them down into the deeper pits of Hell.
Wren would lie or sit nearby, watching them with a quiet serenity in her blue eyes, as though she understood truths neither of them yet grasped.
Kage passed the hours wondering when Mal might come for him, and as time stretched on, that wondering slowly curdled into doubt.
Perhaps she had forgotten him. Perhaps she no longer cared.
Whenever such thoughts crept in, Kage scolded himself without mercy.
Mal would never forget him. He only needed patience.
He had once believed that death would strip a soul of its fears and frailties. Instead, he discovered it changed very little. He was still Kage Blackburn, burdened by the same worries, the same quiet insecurities. Death had not remade him at all.
‘You’re overthinking again,’ Zagreus remarked dryly as Kage followed him down the long corridor lined with cells.
Kage’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Zagreus smirked. ‘You may believe yourself difficult to read, but you’re really not.’
Kage answered him with a dismissive snort, though the words lingered longer than he cared to admit.
They halted before one of the cells. Kage’s attention settled on the young woman inside, crouched against the stone, far enough from the lava wall at the back to cling to the illusion of safety. The instant she noticed Zagreus and Kage, her eyes flew wide and a thin whimper slipped from her throat.
‘You have been sentenced,’ Zagreus recited from the scroll in his hand, his tone laced with boredom, ‘to Hell.’
The girl screamed. She shook her head violently and lunged towards them, desperation etched into every movement, trying to beg, to explain, but the lava answered first. Chains burst forth from the molten wall, coiling around her ankles, her wrists and her throat.
They yanked her backwards with merciless force.
She did not even have time to scream again before the lava swallowed her whole, her body vanishing as though she had never existed at all.
Moments later, a new soul appeared within the cell, blinking at the world in mute terror, confusion carved across their face.
‘You enjoy this,’ Kage remarked quietly as they walked on.
‘Me?’ Zagreus shrugged, almost lazily.
‘I can see it in your eyes.’
Zagreus stopped. Slowly, he turned his head, mismatched eyes narrowing as they fixed on Kage. ‘You believe you can read a god, Kage Blackburn?’ His voice dropped, edged with warning. ‘Be careful. Do not mistake my tolerance of your presence here for kindness.’
‘Then what is it?’
Zagreus drew in a slow breath, as though savouring the air itself, drinking in the distant screams that echoed through Tartarus.
‘I simply take great pleasure in tormenting my mother.’
Kage opened his mouth to respond, but Zagreus moved faster. A hand clamped over Kage’s mouth, silencing him instantly. At their side, Wren bristled, her hackles rising as a low growl rumbled deep in her chest.
‘Speaking of that vile creature…’ Zagreus murmured, a wicked smile curling his lips. ‘My mother is at the gates.’ His eyes flicked back to Kage. ‘You should hide now, Kage Blackburn.’
Wren caught hold of Kage’s sleeve and tugged gently, insistently, and Kage let himself be drawn along.
Zagreus turned sharply on his heel and headed back towards the gates of Tartarus to meet the Queen of the Underworld.
Kage knew he ought to have hidden then, should have melted into the shadows and stayed there, but curiosity burnt too fiercely.
Against the wolf’s wishes, and in defiance of Zagreus’ warning, he followed.
He moved carefully, slipping into corners and clinging to the darkness, ensuring no eyes fell upon him.
In moments like this, he could not help but miss his shadow crow, Spirox.
Once, he would have sent the bird ahead to scout, to warn him of danger.
He tried not to dwell on the companion who had followed him through his entire life, who had so often been his only friend in childhood.
Because if he allowed himself to linger on that loss, he knew he would crumple, fall to his knees and shatter.
And Kage refused to shatter.
So he swallowed the grief, the memories, the ache of it all, pushing them deep into a place he never permitted himself to touch. With his heart locked tight and his steps light as breath, he continued after Zagreus, deeper towards whatever waited at the gates.
Kage found a recess in the wall where, with his back pressed firmly against the stone, he could disappear entirely into the shadows. Zagreus was already standing by the gates when Persephone arrived, striding through them as though the Underworld itself bent willingly to her will.
It was still unsettling to see the goddess in her true form, in this skin she now wore.
In Kage’s mind, she was still Freya: the valkyrian with freckled skin and sharp blue eyes, broad-shouldered and severe, her presence brimming with a harshness he had oddly admired.
Persephone had carved all of that away. The freckles were gone, the blue of her eyes darkened until it was almost black.
Her brown hair had deepened in shade, and towering black antlers rose from her head like a crown.
A long black gown flowed behind her, whispering across the stone as she moved.
She reached Zagreus and kissed his cheeks with a tenderness Kage had once thought beyond her. And yet, it should not have surprised him. Everything Persephone did, everything she was, was for her children.
She cared for nothing else.
Zagreus grimaced, irritation flickering across his mismatched eyes.
Persephone concealed her disappointment with practised ease and turned instead towards the throne of skulls Zagreus favoured. She seated herself upon it and fixed her son with a look sharp enough to slice through ice; a reminder, unmistakable and absolute.
She was the queen.
And he answered to her.
‘Your father is dead,’ Persephone said, inspecting her nails with idle detachment.
‘I know,’ Zagreus replied blandly. ‘Melinoe killed him.’
‘We must tread carefully,’ Persephone continued. ‘She is a God-Killer now, capable of erasing us entirely.’
‘Only if we set foot on mortal soil.’
‘And you believe she won’t attempt to lure us there?’ Persephone’s voice sharpened with agitation. ‘She has Makaria trapped in Hell.’
‘Then retrieve her,’ Zagreus said with a shrug. ‘You are the Queen of the Underworld.’
Persephone snorted. ‘We both know I am not particularly welcome in Hell.’
Zagreus’ mouth twitched. ‘Does that truly surprise you? You conspired with Hecate and Themis to banish Melinoe there in the first place.’
Kage’s eyes widened in the shadows at the revelation.
Persephone waved the remark aside and glanced around Tartarus, surveying the prison her husband had once built and later gifted to their son. She looked upon it with the careful scrutiny of a mother desperate to offer judgement, yet wary her opinion would be poorly received.
‘We need to bring your sister back,’ she said at last.
‘And how would you suggest we do that?’
‘Perhaps if you travelled with Thanatos—’
‘No.’
Persephone’s dark eyes flashed with irritation. Yet she did not strike out, as Kage had half expected. She held herself back.
There was too much love there.
A love for her son so unyielding, so consuming, it was dangerous in its own way.
‘Do you not wish to save your sister?’
‘We cannot save her, not that way,’ Zagreus replied evenly. ‘The bargain has been struck. Makaria will only be released when the original soul is returned. You and I both know the kings of Hell do not reverse their decrees.’
‘Then we offer them something greater.’
‘Such as?’
Persephone’s lips curved into a smile. ‘Melinoe’s child.’
‘You do not possess the child in question.’
Persephone lifted one shoulder in a careless shrug. ‘Eris will bring the child to me. And if she fails… Thanatos will.’
Zagreus snorted. ‘Thanatos will not betray Melinoe.’
‘He is bound to me,’ Persephone said. ‘Bound to obey the king or queen of this realm. If I commanded him to bring me her head, he would.’
‘Is he not bound to her by the curse?’
Persephone’s jaw tightened, teeth grinding together. ‘He is. He is bound to love her. But love does not make one incapable of harm, my son.’
Zagreus let out a slow sigh, his interest in the conversation clearly waning.
‘I do not believe it wise to place any trust in Eris,’ Zagreus said. ‘She serves only herself. The moment it suits her, she will betray you.’
‘Perhaps she could be persuaded otherwise…’
‘How?’
From the shadows, Kage noticed the subtle tension ripple through Zagreus’ body, as though some instinct deep within him already knew where this path led.
‘If you were to marry her…’
‘No.’
Persephone’s eyes flashed, irritation glinting sharply within their dark depths. ‘All you would need to do is wed her, Zagreus.’
‘And sire children with her.’
Persephone rolled her eyes. ‘This is how gods secure power. You know this.’
‘And I refuse to play such games. I will not marry her.’
‘Why?’ Persephone leaned forward, her gaze piercing. ‘Explain yourself to me, my son.’
Zagreus’ face hardened, anger carving itself into his features. ‘I owe you no explanation nor your servants. I will not be a piece on your board.’
‘I am your queen!’ Persephone shrieked, her voice twisting into something dark and venomous, her composure shattering in an instant.
Kage lifted a brow from his hiding place, startled by the sudden shift, by the raw loss of control.
‘I could force you to marry her. I rule the Underworld. I could make you.’
Zagreus’ lip curled in open disgust. ‘Then try. Force me.’
They stood locked in opposition, mother and son glaring across the space between them. Persephone unravelled by a love that demanded obedience, by a child who refused to bend. Zagreus stood unmoved, worn down by manipulation he no longer tolerated.
From the shadows, Kage watched them both.
And though he despised gods as a rule, he felt a flicker of pity.
Almost.
‘We would grow more powerful,’ Persephone insisted.
‘I have no interest in power,’ Zagreus replied, his tone flat, already disengaged from both the offer and the argument itself.
Persephone stared at him, bewilderment widening her dark eyes. ‘Then what is it you want?’
Zagreus did not answer. He cast his mother one last final and unyielding look before turning away.
As he did, his attention drifted briefly to the shadows, catching Kage where he stood hidden.
A faint smirk curved his lips, fleeting as a secret, before he vanished down the corridor, leaving Persephone alone upon her throne of bone, surrounded by silence and unanswered demands.
Kage remained where he was, the echoes of the exchange settling heavy in his chest.
He found himself wondering what it was that Zagreus truly wanted. And whether, somewhere deep within, he already knew the answer.
Because it was the same thing Kage had always wanted, in life and beyond it…
To be chosen.
To be loved.
Without conditions.