Persephone #2
It lingered, stealing the last vestiges of warmth from my blood. Not quite cool enough to see my breath, but enough to want a cloak, for warmth as much as a shield from the sea of curious glances.
Above me, braziers swung, casting light down, in accordance with iron sconces.
“A live one, my lord?” A well-dressed aristocrat—I assume nymph—grabbed my wrist, whirling me around to face his assessing, observant stare. “A goddess, no less." He tossed an excited look up at the god of the dead. "How… amusing. I’ll take her when you’re done with her.”
His observant expression descended into a leer that had me twisting in his grip. “Let go!” I tried to sound less like the simpering girl I knew I must look like and sound more like the fear-inducing Demeter. I landed somewhere in the middle, sounding unnerved more than afraid,
The words weren’t even entirely out of my mouth when Hades lashed his shadows out like a whip, cracking the air and winding around the aristocrat’s neck.
“She’s mine.” His snarl rattled the great hall, leaving everyone trembling in its wake. “Touch her again, and you’ll be up close and personal with the Phlegethon, am I quite clear?”
“I wasn’t going to hurt her.” His protest was a weak croak against the choking of his shadows, unhanding me immediately.
Hades immediately tightened his grip, his leash, until the nymph’s eyes bulged as he thrashed and struggled.
Several seconds saw the nymph to his knees where Hades loomed over him like an oncoming storm, inevitable and merciless.
I caught a gasp, my hands covering my face, my eyes wider than saucers. This Hades was very different from the one I’d met in Olympus, the one who sweetly allowed me to garden. To show him my chaos.
This Hades was every bit the fearsome monster Mother had insisted he was, had warned me of repeatedly. He tightened his grip on the shadows, stifling the choking sounds completely.
“I don’t care if your plan was to bring her breakfast in bed and braid her hair. Don’t. Touch. Her.” Hades projected his voice around the hall. “That goes for everyone.”
I had never wished myself to disappear quite like I did in that moment. Some looked at me with surprise, others with fascination. Some, however, looked at me with loathing. One nymph in particular with glowing red eyes and a tumble of black hair glowered at me with clear contempt.
The target of Hades’s wrath was a concerning shade of red, and still the god of the dead wasn’t letting go.
Even as the male’s eyes slowly began to lid, he looked completely nonchalant.
My mother told me he’d be cruel, indifferent to suffering.
I took a step back, my hand still attempting to hide my growing horror.
How in the fucking realms had I ended up here? At his mercy?
“Let him go, Hades,” I cried out, finding my voice.
“He caused no harm. Surely, this is unnecessary.” Hades’s eyes shot to me, his shadows evaporating in the same moment.
Quiet descended like a fog, the only sound in the room came from the male on the floor sucking in breath as if his life depended on it.
And it could have.
“You dare speak to our Lord like this?”
I had to turn back to see who spoke. That female with the red eyes glared haughtily down her nose at me. “You dare insult the Lord and his hospitality? To question his authority?” Her head swiveled between Hades and I rapidly, like she were waiting for a response from him for my audacity.
I held up my hands in an effort to make peace, “I meant no disrespect—”
“You are loathsome in your disrespect!” Her cry of outrage, of disdain, was echoed by a few others.
Her angular face contorted into the picture of disgust. When she finally settled on ignoring me for her lord, her eyes softened into submission, of appeasing, and her stance did too.
Were these two close? Hades held a hand up, eyes flaring.
Oh. Maybe not close.
Maybe not anymore.
“That’s enough, Minthe. This is the last I’ll hear of this, unless someone else wants a taste of the shadows.” All eyes immediately went to the aristocrat who was busy picking himself up, having caught his breath at last.
No one moved. I didn’t even breathe.
There was a collective step back, giving me an even wider berth. Minthe herself tossed a glare at me before bowing to her lord and backing down with a carefully crafted demure expression. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
There would be no fitting in now. Hades single-handedly ensured that.
“Forgive me, but why is she here, my lord?” When Hades turned to the simpering being who asked, he bowed low, bringing his hands up in retreat. “It’s just, you’ve not brought a goddess before unless it was for Lord Zeus. This is new, and we’re looking for precedence.”
“There is no precedence,” Hades said smoothly, commanding all attention. “The new god requires her. Hunts her.” His self-satisfied smirk lit him from within. “And now he knows what it’s like to want.”
“She’s on the run?” someone questioned.
“She’s abducted,” said another from further away.
“She’s here to stay for the foreseeable future,” Hades growled.
My lips twisted on a retort, but I held it back, resolving not to make myself a spectacle in my first moments here with all eyes on me.
At the end of the hall was a twin set of massive grand staircases that gently twisted upwards, lined by intricate wrought iron railings.
I fingered the beautiful banisters in reluctant appreciation as we ascended.
A chandelier bigger than some rooms in mortal homes hung above casting light down upon us.
Charred bone and black diamond came together with candles to create the eerily stunning masterpiece.
“Your chambers are in this wing here.” Hades pulled me to the left at the top of the stairs where a T-junction awaited us. “My chambers are also this way, in case you were concerned about being alone.”
In case I was thinking of trying to escape, he no doubt meant. My temper sizzled under my skin.
When he opened the door to my chambers, they were much grander than I had anticipated.
A massive, incredibly ornate and articulate headboard competed for my attention with the colossal arched window which boasted views of the east wing of the castle, misty mountains, and the River Styx as it wound through the realm.
Deep red cushions were a small splash of color amongst the several shades of black that outfitted the space, in various fabrics and textures.
More black diamond sconces glittered as they cast light down on the layers of plush black fur blankets.
A fire in the hearth was pleasant and drove most of the chill out of the room.
Not a speck of dust lined the ornate furnishings.
“I’d ask if the mattress has spiders, but they’d probably be dead,” I muttered under my breath. Not that a dead spider being in my bed was a welcome thought, but it was mildly less off putting than a live one. Hades laughed again, this time the sound cutting through the otherworldly silence.
“Oddly enough, we do have spiders here. Very live ones. One of the biggest complaints we get down here from mortals, in fact.” I gawked at him, praying, hoping, willing him to be joking. “Rest well, little shadow.” He chuckled before closing the door.
“Prick!” I called out to him through the door, simmering when he only laughed harder before his footfalls disappeared.
I eyed the bed warily and couldn’t resist checking the mattress for spiders, but gods above and below, I wasn’t sure what I’d do if I found one.
If I died of a heart attack, would anything happen?
Or would I just poof to a different place here?
I eyed the green glow of the River Styx.
Would I end up there? Or would I just turn into a…
I pondered the technical term. Spirit? Ghost?
Would I be a ghost forced to wander these halls?
A chill gripped my spine. Was there a difference between my current situation and that one?
Satisfied there were no spiders in the bed, but still not enough to quell the restlessness in me.
Making myself take a seat on the window bench, I committed to learning the layout of everything I could see.
There was a courtyard far, far below me with more beings moving about.
Nymphs and spirits alike cavorted to and from, going about their day.
I remember the forms of everyone I watched blurring as I viciously fought sleep back, a battle I was destined to lose, but only because exhaustion had claimed me and there was no escaping its grasp just as there was likely no escaping the reach of the Underworld.