Chapter 15 Persephone
Persephone
“So how is it you keep showing up when I need you?” I asked as I walked alongside Hades through the blue torchlit corridors.
I had insisted we walk to the training room. The less flashing about, the better, in my opinion. I felt small as we walked, his broad shoulders filling the space and his height so much greater than mine. But I felt safe, rather than intimidated.
“I told you, your power is like a beacon to me.”
“What does it look like?” He looked sideways at me.
“Green light.”
“You and Hecate both glow blue,” I said.
“Yes. Most of the time. That's the color I chose for Underworld power.”
“Who chose green for me then?”
“Your mother. She chose green for all nature powers.”
My steps faltered. My mother.
“But I already have parents. At home.” My words were slow and Hades stopped walking, turning to me.
“I know. But before that... You had a mother here. The goddess of the harvest,” he said gently.
“Demeter?” I asked slowly, remembering my classics lessons.
“Yes.”
“Where- where is she now?”
“She hasn't been seen in Olympus since not long after you were born.”
“Oh. Who was my father?”
“Nobody knows.”
So to add to the long list of things my head wouldn't properly process, I now had the fact that my parents weren't really my parents.
I expected to feel sadness, or anger, but instead all I felt was a kind of hollow indifference. I mean, on some level I must have realized I had a family in Olympus when I accepted that this place was real, I just never properly put the two together or let myself consider it.
What did it matter? As far as I was concerned, my real family were in New York, safe and sound, and there was no way I would ever entertain the idea of anyone else being my parents or brother.
Maybe I was birthed elsewhere, but that was just biology.
“Who brought me up, if my mom and dad were missing?” I asked Hades.
“Wood and forest nymphs. On Taurus.”
“Taurus? Who owns Taurus?”
“Dionysus,” Skop answered in my head at the same time Hades said the wine god's name. I looked down at the little dog.
“So that's why you're here? That's why Dionysus volunteered a guard?” He wagged his tail.
“It took years for you to tell me that, by the way,” Hades said, resuming walking. “I don't think you ever told anyone else. You just arrived at one of Aphrodite's parties one day, looking outrageously gorgeous, and announced yourself as Demeter's daughter, goddess of Spring.”
“Seriously?” I hurried to catch up with him, tearing my eyes from where they'd involuntarily glued themselves to his ass.
“Yup. I knew there and then that you were no normal goddess.”
“How long were we married for?”
He paused before answering.
“Four years.”
“That's not long for an immortal god,” I said slowly.
“No. It is not.”
Sadness rolled from him, and I felt a pull in my gut as though I were physically wired into his emotions. I tried to think of something helpful to say, but nothing came.
We walked in silence the rest of the way to the training room, Hades opening the door for me when we got there.
“Now, you realize that I will have to make you angry in order for us to do this?”
“Angry is fine. But try not to scare the shit out of me again,” I said, walking onto the training mats.
“I won't,” he said quietly. “As I told you, we all have our powers. One of mine is to make people feel their worst fears. In fact, I have a dog who has the same power.”
“You have a dog?” I turned and gaped at him.
“Yes. Several, actually. But Cerberus is the most important.”
“Wait, doesn't he have three heads?”
Hades nodded.
“Yes. I assume he exists in your human mythology?”
“Yeah, and he's sort of terrifying.”
“He's about as terrifying as I am,” Hades chuckled, rolling up his sleeves. I cocked my head at him.
“You realize that's pretty terrifying, right?”
His beautiful face turned serious as the smile slipped away.
“Yes. I do. But not all of my powers revolve around fear.” He held his hand up, palm facing me. “Give me your dagger.”
I pulled Faesforos from the sheath around my thigh and hesitated, before handing it to him. In a flash he had taken the knife and drawn it across his raised palm. I gasped as gold blood ran from the wound, trickling down his forearm.
“What are you—”
“Gods’ blood is called ichor. And it is gold.
But that's not what I want to show you.” The cut began to glow silver, the same color as his eyes, and then the skin was knitting back together, sealing the wound.
“Healing is something you must learn as these Trials get more dangerous. Your body will do some of the work while you rest, but you must learn more immediate healing.”
“What other types of magic are there?”
“Many, many types. You already know, and dislike, the power that transports us places. Only very powerful gods can do that. Lust and love are commonly held gifts though. As is the power to make others angry.”
“What powers do I have?”
“Your black vines defend you both by their physical use and their ability to drain other's power. Your green vines make things grow, adding strength to nature. Your...” He trailed off, his eyes locking onto mine.
“It's probably not worth going into that until we know if you have regained that particular power.”
I felt my face crease into a frown.
“What? What particular power?”
Hades whole body had stiffened.
“We'll go into that if it comes up,” he repeated, his voice stern. Indignation rose like a tidal wave through me.
“I'm not a child,” I snapped. That dangerous spark flared in his eyes.
“I am your King,” he replied, voice cold and hard. “You will do as you are bid.” Black smoke began to flicker around him.
I didn't know if he was deliberately goading me to get me to use my power, or being an actual prick, but either way, it was the only trigger I needed.
“The fuck I will,” I answered, and lifted my palms, willing the black vines into existence. They burst from my hands and I felt a surge of delight as they went exactly where I wanted them to.
Hades stood his ground as they hit him, instantly beginning to coil around his shoulders. He narrowed his eyes at me, a small smile spreading across his lips as he spoke.
“I like this shirt, and I have a feeling you're going to try to make a mess of it.” With a little blue shimmer his shirt vanished, and I felt my vines go slack as my concentration vanished, the sight of his bare skin taking all of my focus.
Then a wave of power hit me and I stumbled backwards. I jerked my wrists, making the vines taut again and pulling on them to stop myself falling.
“Bastard,” I growled. “That's not fair.”
His eyes were dark with something that could definitely have been lust, and a tight black t-shirt suddenly covered his perfect body and I squashed the stab of disappointment.
“Better?” he said, and another wave of power slammed into me. I gripped my vines harder, trying to work out what I could do next.
“Much,” I lied, and tried to remember what it had felt like when the vines had turned into the tattoos.
But I'd been furious and scared then. I still had plenty of pent up frustration and tension roiling through me, but when I was with Hades like this, I couldn't access that primal rage, that fear that drove me to lose control.
The only thing I was going to lose control of here was my grip on my desire for him. Especially if he lost his shirt again.
A little bolt of anticipation charged through me as I glared at his impossibly beautiful face, remembering his words.
“I want to worship you.”
I saw his eyes flick to the vines wrapped around his chest, then widen as he looked back at me.
His expression changed completely, a predatory hunger filling his face. His lips parted, and he reached up with both hands and pulled on the vines. I stumbled towards him with a yelp, then my breath caught.
My vines were gold. Shining, glittering gold.
“I guess it's time we talked about your other power after all,” Hades said, his voice deep and low and so loaded with desire it made my core clench. “Your gold vines do the opposite of the black ones. They share your power.” He was breathing hard, and slowly reeling me towards him.
“What do you mean?” I asked, making a show of trying to pull against him, but it was a half-assed attempt. The truth was, I wanted nothing more than to be pulled into him completely.
“When your gold vines do this,” he said turning his forearms towards me so that I could see the gold vine tattoos swirling around them, “I can feel what you're feeling.”
I stopped tugging, and my mouth fell open. Heat leaped to my face.
“You can feel what I'm feeling? Like mind-reading?”
“Let me show you,” he said, barely audibly.
Blue light began to shine along the gold vines, starting at his body, then whizzing along them, back towards me. When they reached my palms, I gasped.
I could feel his desire for me. More, I could see it.
Images flashed through my mind of the two of us in the largest bed I'd ever seen, but I barely noticed the beautiful posts and black drapes adorning it because oh my gods, I was seeing and feeling it through his eyes.
He was staring down at me laying on the sheets before him, naked and holy fuck, I looked a million times better than I really did.
A series of images began to flash before me, so fast I couldn't hold onto a single one; me sinking onto his lap, him burying his face between my thighs, me bending over before him and spreading myself, his length hard and pounding and ready.
“Oh gods,” I moaned aloud, and the images stopped abruptly. I opened my eyes and saw my own lust mirrored in Hades' wild eyes. “You said no magic sex!” I panted.
“You started it!”
“What?”
“That's what these do,” he said through gritted teeth as he lifted my gold vines. “You're sending me images like that right now.”
“What!” I yelped, and the gold vines vanished instantly. Hades sagged slightly, before standing straight again, eyes still wild. “Why didn't you tell me I had magic sex powers!” I demanded, trying and failing to ignore the urgent need between my legs.
“Because I didn't know if they were back or not.” My eyes flicked to his groin. I'd just got a glimpse of what was in his jeans, and now I couldn't shift it. I didn't just want him. I needed him.
The pounding was becoming painful, and I squirmed where I stood. Either we were going to fuck right now, or I needed to be wherever he wasn't.
“Maybe we should try the training later,” he ground out. Guttural disappointment hit me in the gut. But I need you. “Hecate can teach you healing before the next Trial.”
“Right,” I said tightly. He looked into my face.
“I'm sorry, Persephone. If I stay here a second longer, I won't be able to stop myself.”
Then he vanished before I could tell him he didn't have to.