Chapter 8
Hades
Persephone was opening and closing her mouth, confusion and fury on her face, as she was flashed into my throne room. I couldn't stop the black smoke around me vibrating, anger causing the beast inside me to growl.
One day I would be able to stop Zeus. One day he wouldn't be able to play with me like I was his fucking toy. But right now...
The Trials were overruling my command in my own realm, leaving him to do whatever the fuck he pleased with Persephone, with the backing of the other Olympians.
Like abducting her from her own rooms and forcing her to realize that she couldn't live in the Underworld with me.
Pain sliced through the anger and a wave of heat rippled out from me as Persephone's eyes snapped to mine. Slow realization was dawning on her face.
“You saw all of that,” she said inside my head as the commentator appeared at the foot of the dais. It wasn't a question, and her mental voice was strained. I swallowed my anger and replied.
“Yes. And I have never loved you more.”
“I'm sorry. I'm sorry I even considered his words, his magic is so strong, I—”
I cut her off, unable to take the anguish in her voice. “Very few can resist Zeus' power. And fewer still would outright threaten him. You sounded like a true Queen.”
“Good day, Olympus!” sang the commentator. Persephone turned to him. “As you all just saw, little Persephone has successfully passed the loyalty test!” I flicked my eyes to Zeus, hatred bubbling through my veins.
The world saw what he wanted them to see, not what had actually happened.
There was no way he had let all of Olympus see Persephone standing up to him like that. Nor would he have broadcast any mention of the new realm.
The only reason he had let us Olympians see what had really been said was because he wanted to taunt me, wanted me to see Persephone consider leaving or betraying me.
And although her fierce reaction had been more than I could have dreamed of, what Zeus had said was true, and Persephone knew it.
She wasn't made for darkness and death. She would become muted and miserable as time went on, a shadow of herself. And it would be my fault. How could I let that happen?
Her words sang through my skull. “I would rather spend one day with him than an eternity without. I will be strong by his side, and I will make him stronger. And together you will be no match for us.”
Love so powerful it made my chest hurt fired inside me, and her eyes snapped to me again, softer now. She felt my emotion, through the bond.
“So now, to the judges!” The commentator’s voice severed the moment, and the judges shimmered into the room. In turn they each pronounced that Persephone had earned one token, then the seed box appeared in her hand.
She held it as though it were toxic, rather than a prize.
Before she or I could say a word, Zeus waved his arm and the room emptied immediately, leaving just the Olympian gods in their thrones.
“Where have you sent her?” I barked, leaping to my feet.
“Relax, brother. I've put her back exactly where I found her.” His expression was one of boredom but there was a glint in his eyes that said otherwise. My fury deepened.
“This is my realm!” I bellowed. “You do not dismiss my subjects, I do!”
“Now, now, Hades. I would have thought you’d be pleased. Persephone stood up to the King of the Gods for you,” said Hera, standing. “That's really quite a feat.”
“And now she knows that she won't be happy here. She knows what the rest of Olympus has to offer in comparison.” I couldn't keep the bitterness from my voice. A smug smile flashed across Zeus' face and my vision clouded.
My monster was crawling its way up my chest, straining to get out.
“She loves you, Hades. If she wins the Trials this will be the best outcome you could have possibly hoped for,” Hera said.
“Unless she remembers what she did and loses her shit again,” added Zeus.
“Don't you dare,” I hissed. “Her memories and the River Lethe are out of bounds for these Trials,” I spat, and I felt the temperature in the room plummet around me as I channeled my power.
“Agreed,” said Poseidon loudly.
“Agreed,” echoed Athena, Hermes and Dionysus. Relief tempered my anger a little. Zeus couldn't go against everyone. He shrugged diffidently.
“I wasn't suggesting that we did.”
My eyes flicked over the gods who had remained silent. I hadn't had any idea this damned Trial was happening, but in the short time I'd been alone I had been able to reach one vital conclusion.
Whoever was behind the macabre gifts Persephone had been getting must know what she had done before she drank from the river Lethe. And they must also be able to control the minds of the humans they were using to make up this Spring Undead faction.
If they were also responsible for her unexpected trip to Tartarus then they knew about Cronos, which severely limited the list of suspects.
To the eleven gods in front of me.
All of them stared back, able to see through my smoke facade. Who would want to release the world’s worst monster, Cronos, and start a new war, ending Olympian rule? Who would want to destroy Virgo?
It made no sense. It had taken an age to build Olympus as it was now, countless fights and mistakes finally culminating in something they all benefited from.
I saw no reason why any of them would want to destroy it all. My gaze settled on Ares. Was he angry enough? Desperate for war enough? He glared back at me through the slits in his helmet.
The only thing I was sure of was that it wasn't either of my brothers. They had the most to lose.
“If you're not going to rant and rage and entertain me, then I'm leaving,” said Zeus, and before I could open my mouth he had gone. The others stood, Hermes and Aphrodite the only ones to nod at me politely before vanishing too. But one god stayed behind.
“How's Persy doing?” Dionysus asked.
“Why?” I snapped, suspicion filling me.
“Chill out, man, you know I care about her.” The wine god swiveled in his throne, kicking his leg up over the arm.
“You know exactly how she's doing, the kobaloi is keeping you well informed, I have no doubt.”
“Hmm,” grunted Dionysus, a goblet of wine appearing in his hand. “Fancy a drink?”
“No.”
“Naked nymphs, you're dull. Get your ass over to one of my parties one day,” he said, and drained his goblet in one.
“I have work to do here, unlike the rest of you.”
“Hades, you have underlings. Share the load. You do not need to spend your whole life in a fucking cave. And nor does she,” he said.
“Coming from a god who lives in a tree,” I snorted.
“It's a very nice tree,” he said, standing up and stretching. “And it's where she grew up. The first time.”
“What's your point, Dionysus? I am busy.”
“My point is that she doesn't have to live here for you two to be together.”
I scowled at him.
“You're saying she could live with you?”
“Yeah. She did before.”
“No.” The word had left my mouth before I had even considered the notion.
“She likes trees, man, she'd be happy—”
“I said no.”
The wine god’s face hardened.
“It's not up to you. It's up to her.”
“Persephone is mine.” The words came out as a snarl, and blue light burst to life around me.
“Ease up, man, I know she is. I'm just trying to help,” Dionysus said, holding his hands up. But the fierce look in his eyes belied the casual words. “Think about it,” he said, then disappeared.
As little as I wanted to, I found that I couldn't help thinking about what Dionysus had said. Persephone would love living on Taurus. It was nature and madness combined, a limitless island covered in giant plants and wild creatures. It was perfect for her. That's why Demeter had left her there.
I stopped by her room to make sure she was alright, but her brother was there, along with the kobaloi spy. In some ways I was relieved she wasn't alone.
She had expressed her hatred for Virgo many times before, but now the subject had been laid so bare before us that we would have to talk about it.
And I had no solutions. Only wildly conflicting emotions. The thought of making her suffer was intolerable. But so was the thought of living without her.
Was visiting her on another realm whenever the Underworld could spare me really an option?
In the early days I had tested the limits of my bind to Virgo, and found that I could never leave for long, or the monster became wild and even less tamable, and my control over the demons and Tartarus weakened.
I made my excuses and left, forcing myself to focus on more immediate problems. Persephone had two more Trials to survive and win, and she couldn't be sabotaged again.
The thought of her in Tartarus made the monster roar within me, dark rage twisting my insides. I wanted to talk to Kerato about my suspicions.
Every human member of the faction we had caught had known nothing about how their memories had returned, and if it was indeed a god directing them, then interrogating them further was pointless. We would learn nothing from them at all.