Chapter 5
Persephone
We made love over and over, neither one of us able to get enough of the other. Every time the uncomfortable thought of Tartarus or the Trials entered my head, I kissed him instead of voicing my fears, and he kissed me back like there was nothing in the world more important.
He made me feel incredible. He made me feel like I was worth a thousand times what I had spent most of my life believing I was. He made me feel like a queen.
And I was discovering that the advantages of being with a god went further than mind-blowing sex. Whenever we were hungry or thirsty, he snapped his fingers and whatever we wanted appeared out of nowhere. From coffee to cake, if I craved it, he made it happen.
“You know, we're going to have to face the other gods soon,” I said as I lifted a cup of deliciously hot coffee to my lips.
“They can go fuck themselves,” answered Hades, his eyes flashing dangerously. “You're staying.”
“Then you'll have to try to be diplomatic about it. Will they make the rest of the Trials harder for me?”
“Probably, yes. But you must win them.”
“What if I don't?” I didn't want to ask the question, but I had to. “What if I lose? Will I be sent back?”
“I don't know, but I would be forced to marry Minthe.” Rage instantly flared inside me, and I felt the black vines pushing at my palms.
“Not a chance,” I hissed.
“Then you must win.” He leaned over and took my hand, and I forced myself to keep my eyes on his, instead of flicking down his delectable naked body.
“Right. No pressure then,” I said. A thought occurred to me abruptly. “I was never judged after the last Trial.”
“No. That will have to be rectified.” He let out a long breath, and squeezed his fingers around mine.
“Persephone, you must be careful. We still do not know who is behind these macabre gifts you've been getting, or how you ended up in Tartarus. Zeus swears he had meant to send you to his own realm, and I believe him. Even he is not so stupid to play games with stakes that high.”
“You're going to lock me in my room for the rest of the Trials, aren't you?” I said, with a sad smile.
“No. I'm going to lock you in mine,” he grinned back at me.
“Well, that doesn't sound so bad.” I set my coffee down on the bedside table, and began to kiss him, but we were almost immediately interrupted.
“Hades! You are required at Mount Olympus. Now!” The voice ripped through the bedchamber, and we both jumped. Hades’ face darkened.
“He is the only one who can do that,” he growled. “None of the others can get through my defenses.”
“Zeus?” I guessed, gulping. Hades nodded. “Does he know I'm here?”
“Possibly. We shall go together.”
We dressed quickly, Hades conjuring up my fighting leathers for me. I gripped his hand tightly as he asked me if I was ready. I nodded, and with a bright flash, we were standing in Zeus' throne room, atop the mountain.
Zeus had not known I was back. That much was clear from the shock on the Lord of the God's face. He was enormous in his throne, purple light sparking around him and a lightning storm in his eyes.
He was almost painful to look at, and I realized with trepidation that he had been ready for a fight with his brother.
“What is she doing here?” the sky god barked.
“She will finish the Trials,” Hades said, and let go of my hand as he grew. Pale blue light began to shimmer around him and I looked between him and Zeus, concern trembling through me. A fight between these two would be epic. And probably lethal for anyone not an Olympian.
“I heard you caused the death of sixty citizens. Explain yourself.” A sick feeling gripped my stomach as I looked at Hades. He had killed sixty people?
No, the monster had. Not him. He will never lose control again if you are with him. I clung to the thought.
“I don't know how you came across that information, but what I do with prisoners in my own realm is no concern of yours,” Hades spat.
“Everything you do has become a concern of mine, brother. You can not be trusted.” Zeus' eyes were narrowed, his voice full of malice.
“You brought her back, Zeus. You started this, and now you will see it through to the end. I will call for the judging of the last Trial immediately.” The finality in Hades' voice carried a razor-sharp edge and the two gods stared at one another, tension crackling in the air.
I scrabbled in my mind for some way to help, but Zeus spoke.
“I agree that she should finish the Trials. Call the judges.” I blinked, my mouth falling open. Hades stilled beside me, then slowly began to shrink to his usual size.
“I wasn't expecting him to back down so easily. What's going on?” I sent the thought to Hades silently, and his eyes flicked to mine.
“Zeus can hear everything we say like this in his realm,” he replied mentally. I looked at Zeus, alarmed, and he smiled at me.
“My realm, my rules,” he said with a shrug, and shimmered into the guy from the coffee shop.
With a wave of his arm, his dais extended, and eleven other thrones materialized, then with a flash, the other gods appeared. I couldn't help glancing at Poseidon first, his face darkening with fury as he saw me.
“What is she doing here? I thought you took her back?” he hissed.
“She will finish the Trials,” said Hades, holding Poseidon's furious gaze. With a snarl, Poseidon sat down. Hades glanced at me, reassurance in his eyes, then strode towards his own throne at the end of the row.
“This is folly, Hades,” Poseidon called after him.
I couldn't help the fluttering feeling in my gut that the sea god was right. Wouldn't I want to get rid of someone who could accidentally end the world?
Now that I was out of the bubble of lust-induced bliss that was Hades’ bedroom, the reality of what I had learned was beginning to sink in properly.
Someone had deliberately sent me to Tartarus. To Cronos. So whoever it was must know that my power was a way for Cronos to escape, and destroy Virgo. And if Virgo fell and Cronos was free, the rest of Olympus would not be far behind.
Surely few people held that kind of knowledge? I looked at each of the gods in turn, trying to keep my suspicion from my face.
When my eyes landed on Zeus, I remembered that whilst I was on Mount Olympus he could read every one of my thoughts. Holding his gaze, I conjured up the thought of me punching him in the face, landing my fist on his nose repeatedly. He let out a low chuckle.
“Good day, Olympus! Due to an unexpected turn of events, we were not able to share Persephone's last test with you, and the judging was slightly delayed. But we are here with the little lady herself now, and the judges are ready!”
My vines itched at my palms as the intensely irritating commentator beamed at me from where he had appeared at the foot of the dais.
I threw him a glare, before turning to where I knew the judges would be behind me. I was momentarily distracted by the breathtaking view of the clouds beyond them, but the commentator’s voice sliced through my awe.
“Radamanthus?”
“You will lose one token.” Anger frittered through me. It wasn't my damned fault I couldn't complete Zeus's test, why should I lose a seed?
“Aeacus?”
“You will lose one token,” the pale judge said, nodding seriously. I clenched my teeth tightly.
“Minos?”
“You must lose one token, Persephone.”
I could have sworn that there was the hint of an apology in the last judge's wise, dark eyes, but I glared at him all the same, until he vanished with the other two judges.
The seed box was suddenly in my hand, hard and real. I'd won four tokens, and eaten two. I sighed as I opened the box slowly. One of the two remaining, perfectly-preserved seeds vibrated in the box, then vanished.
At least I hadn't lost any of my power, I told myself. And there were still three Trials to go. Minthe ended the Trials with five seeds, and I still had three. If I won all my remaining Trials, I could still win. I had to win.
There was no way I could watch Hades marry another woman, least of all Minthe. Just thinking about her in his bed made my insides twist, a guttural sense of wrongness spreading through me. I shook the thoughts from my head, trying to focus.
“So the lovely Persephone loses one token, leaving her with three. Tomorrow we'll find out what's in store for her next, when we start Round Three of the Hades Trials!” The commentator beamed at me, before the world flashed.
I blinked around at my own room, relief washing through me as I saw Hades standing beside me.
“Hey, why couldn't you flash us out of Tartarus like that?” I asked, turning to him as the question struck me. “Why did I have to touch you?”
“Because I was using just about all the strength I had to hold back Cronos. My power couldn't reach you.” His voice was hard and angry, and I stood up on tiptoes to kiss his cheek. His expression softened instantly.
“Well, thanks for rescuing me.” He brought his hand to my jaw, tilting my head towards him. But just as he leaned forward to kiss me, a male voice ripped through the moment.
“Persy, what the fuck is going on?” I spun to see my brother crashing through my bedroom door, his face white, and an exasperated Hecate behind him.
“You took arriving in Olympus a shitload better than he's taking it,” she said to me, following him into the room and holding the door open a moment.
Skop bounded into the room, and a smile split my face. Hecate kicked the door shut and folded her arms across her chest as Sam froze, his eyes flicking between the little dog and Hades.
“Hey Skop!” I said, as the kobaloi leaped up onto the bed, his tail wagging furiously.
“I'm really, really glad you're back, Persy. Hades is a dick for taking you away.”
“Thanks Skop. I'm glad too, but it wasn't Hades' fault,” I said to him silently. “We've made up.” I couldn't keep the heat from my cheeks and Skop barked.
“You banged him! At last!”
“Persy!” Sam's urgent words snapped my attention back to him. He and Hades were staring at each other, more and more black smoke billowing from Hades' skin.
“No, don't put the smoke up!” I said quickly, laying my hand on his arm. “Please, let him see you. He's my brother. He's called Sam.” I looked at Sam. “And this is Hades.” Sam moved his mouth a few times, but nothing came out. “This is Skop, and you've already met Hecate,” I continued.
I was feeling guilty that I'd been holed up with Hades in a lust bubble for hours, when my brother had been somewhere in the Underworld, clearly freaking out. Although it sort of served him right for not believing me.
“Erm,” he said eventually.
“Nice to meet you,” said Hades stiffly.
“We shake hands in my world,” I prompted him.
“I'm a god and a king,” he said, looking at me. “People bow to me, not shake my hand.”
“I know, but he's my brother and he’s a little bit shocked. It might be easier to ease him into the god/king thing.” Hades looked from me to Sam, then reluctantly held out his hand. Sam stared at it for a few seconds, then stumbled forward and took it.
“You were telling the truth,” he whispered, looking at me.
“Yeah,” I nodded.
“Does that mean you really have magic powers?” His voice was filled with awe, and I looked at Hecate.
“How much have you told him? I'd have thought he'd be at least a little used to the idea of Olympus by now.”
“I haven't told him anything. He was irritating me, so I had Hypnos put him to sleep,” she shrugged. I closed my eyes and clenched my jaw a moment as Hades dropped Sam's hand.
“Hecate, not that I'm not grateful to see my brother, but why did you bring him here?”
“He said I was outrageously hot.”
“That is not a good reason,” said Hades.
“It's a fucking excellent reason,” said Skop.
I sighed.
As if I didn't already have enough to deal with.