Chapter 11 Persephone
Persephone
The announcement was being held in Hades' throne room, and Sam's face when he saw the huge colored flames made me wonder what my own had looked like the first time I was here.
“Geez, Persy, I can't believe this is real,” he breathed as he stared around himself.
There were only a few guests already there, but a small group of tall women with skin like tree bark were fawning around an attractive man I recognized from previous meetings as Theseus, and seven or eight minotaur guards ringed the edge of the floating room.
I scanned them quickly, looking for Kerato and spotted him by the throne dais.
“Stay here,” I told Sam, and made my way quickly to the Captain of the Guard. “I'm so pleased to see you, Kerato,” I said as I reached him. He dipped his head low.
“And you, My Lady.”
“Thank you for trying to help me during the last Trial. I'm sorry you were...” I floundered for the right word.
“Killed?” he offered. The stern expression on his snouted face didn't change. “It is my duty. I will be as strong as I was before in around a hundred years.” I looked at him in shock.
“A hundred years?”
“Yes.”
“Well, that sucks.”
“A hundred years is not a long time, my lady. And Ankhiale is very strong. It could have been worse.”
I considered his words, a weird anticipation buzzing through me. The notion of a hundred years not being a long time threw stark light on the idea of being immortal.
I'd known when Hades had told me that we were only married four years how small that amount of time must have seemed to him but... Endless life. Surely there was no point unless you had someone to share it with?
The same question I was trying and failing to suppress popped up immediately. Live without the man you love, or slowly lose your soul with him?
I shoved the thought away.
“Well, I'm very grateful. You are a credit to Virgo and Hades,” I said to the minotaur, unsure if I was overstepping my role but the words coming anyway. Something flickered in the creature’s eyes and when he spoke there was genuine warmth for the first time.
“I should like it if you won the Trials, My Lady.”
“I'll do my best,” I smiled back at him.
Slowly, more guests arrived, little bursts of light flashing around the room as we sipped from saucer shaped glasses and Sam gaped at everything.
“Can you all transport yourself around like that?” he asked Hecate.
“Nope, only powerful gods can do that. They've all been given an invite that lets them flash here for this event, created by an Olympian.”
“So, how powerful are you?” There was definitely a flirtatious tone to my brother’s voice, and to my surprise, Hecate echoed it as she answered him.
“You'll have to wait and find out.”
Oh gods.
“Is your brother into Hecate?” asked Skop in my head.
“If he is, you can be the one to tell him that she's celibate and he can't stay in Olympus,” I grumbled back.
“Woah, is that Poseidon?” Sam's awed voice drew my attention to where he was pointing, at the dais. Poseidon had shown up with his trident and watery toga, and his blue eyes found mine immediately.
“Yup,” I mumbled. “And it looks like he still hates me.”
There was a wave of delicious ocean smell, then in a flash I was in a water bubble, the sea god directly in front of me. Not again, I groaned internally. I was fed up of being yelled at by gods.
“Hello,” I said tightly, bowing my head.
“I only have a moment before Zeus arrives,” Poseidon said, and I raised my eyebrows in surprise.
“I care more for my brother, Hades, than you may believe, and I see now that he is willing to put our world in danger for you. Rather than fight him, I have decided to help you. With combined strength and foresight, we will be strong enough to avoid any more disasters. We must not have a repeat of the endurance Trial. You must not end up in Tartarus again.”
“Hades told me that I must never meet Cronos,” I said. This time Poseidon looked surprised.
“Good. I am glad you are aware of that. Now, listen to me carefully,” he said, and leaned forward and opened his closed hand. A shining pearl lay in the middle of his palm. “I have bewitched the hippocampus you bonded with so quickly in my realm.”
“What?” He thrust his hand out to me and I tentatively took the pearl from him. It was warm, and fizzed with energy.
“When you need his help, crush the pearl,” said Poseidon quickly. “He will appear in the form you most require. But he was not designed to be out of the water for long, so you will only have about five minutes before he must return to Aquarius.”
“Buddy is in the pearl?” My mouth was hanging open as I looked between the sea god and the little gem.
“Yes. Use it wisely,” he said, then the bubble of water around us vanished and he turned to my brother. “You are foolish to come here, human,” he said to Sam, then strode towards the thrones.
“He's awesome,” breathed Sam. Still too confused to respond, I stared at the pearl. Was Poseidon telling the truth? He had been so fearful and angry before, did he really now believe that he and the others could prevent me from causing any damage if they helped me?
What choice did the sea god have? My racing mind played out his options.
If I died, Hades would fall to the monster inside him, then Olympus would be overrun by the dead.
If I survived I could be used to release the most evil god in history and start a war. Poseidon was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
But I wasn't sure he knew how close Hades was to succumbing to the dark. Hades had lost me once before and the Underworld had continued on. Did Poseidon know how much stronger the beast inside the King of the Dead had become in my absence?
I eyed the pearl, full of suspicion. Hades said that if I tried to take the power of something primordial in strength I would explode. This tiny pearl could be just that kind of weapon.
“You look incredible.” Hades’ voice filtered through my thoughts and I snapped my head up, seeking him out. He was on his throne, his smoky form flickering against the skulls.
“Thanks. You look smoky,” I grinned back at him.
“You know what I like most about that dress?” he asked, his voice a purr.
“No.”
“That I get to take it off later.” Heat washed through me and I felt my cheeks burn. “Are you blushing?”
“No! You sound like you've had a good day,” I said, changing the subject.
“For the first time in what feels like centuries, I had something to look forward to at the end of it,” he said, the playful tone replaced by something much softer. Pleasure at his words made me take a deep breath, my chest swelling.
“I wish I could kiss you right now,” I told him.
“When you are my Queen, you can kiss me whenever the hell you like.”
“If that's not a good enough incentive to win, I don't know what is.”
“That dress looks like my grandmother made it,” a voice sneered from behind me. I turned, expecting to see Eris, the only person I'd met so far who would be so outright rude, but my eyebrows shot up when I saw Minthe instead.
As she had been at the masquerade ball, she was dressed in scarlet red, but the dress would have looked more at home in a Manhattan nightclub than at a ball.
It was skin tight, with peephole sides showing her toned waist, and a plunging neckline revealing ample cleavage.
The skirt was short and she was wearing red boots that came high over her knees. She looked amazing.
My insides quivered as every instinct in me told me to roll-over, to avoid conflict, to let the pretty, popular girl have what she wanted because it would be less trouble for me in the end.
But I wasn't at school anymore, and yes, she might be wearing something more modern than me, but it was my dress Hades wanted to take off.
“Your grandmother must be very talented,” I said, and lifted my glass to my lips nonchalantly.
“Who's this?” said Sam, appearing over my shoulder. I clenched my jaw, annoyed, and lowered the glass.
“This is Minthe,” I ground out.
“I'm Sam,” he beamed, and stuck his hand out.
“You're a human,” she sneered, looking at his hand like it had come out of the Empusa lair.
“And you're rude,” he replied. I snorted a laugh.
“Minthe is the current leader of the Trials,” I told him. “So not my biggest fan.”
“So you want to win? You're not being forced to compete?” he asked her. She looked at him incredulously.
“Forced to compete? Are you kidding? The Queen of the Underworld is a title most in Olympus would die for. And ironically, when I win I will never die.”
“Minthe is in it for the immortality,” I said to Sam.
“Whereas you're in it for love?” she said, perfect eyebrows raised. “Spare me the act, Persephone. You've gone from being a pathetic, powerless little human to someone famous across Olympus, with magic. Don't pretend you're not in this for the same reasons as everyone else who’s tried.”
“You know nothing about me,” I growled, gripping the stem on my glass tightly. My vines were writhing under my skin. She didn't care one bit for Hades, she would let him rot from the inside out whilst she gloried in being an immortal Queen.
“You're the same as everyone else. There is nothing special about you, despite what people say.”
“You're jealous,” said Sam, and we both looked at him. He gave a her a cold smile. “You know Hades likes her and she has supporters, and you're jealous.”
I blinked. Nobody was ever jealous of me.
“Shut your mouth or I'll shut it for you,” she snapped at Sam, and the stem of my glass snapped in my grip. I didn't feel the glass cut my hand though, as a black vine snaked from my free hand. Minthe licked her lips slowly as she raised her own hands, the skin on her palms turning an earthy brown.
“Why don't you go and talk to someone else, Minthe?” Hecate appeared from nowhere, stepping between us. Blue light danced over her pale skin and power emanated from her. Minthe stepped backwards, and an angry look flashed over her face, as though she hadn't wanted to move.
“You and your Titan guard-dog are freaks,” she spat, then whirled around, her heels clicking on the marble as she marched away.
“I had that covered, you know,” I said to Hecate, resentfully. I was surprised to feel genuinely robbed of a chance to show Minthe that she shouldn't fuck with me.
“I know you did, but I'm allowed to be a bitch to people. You're not supposed to. This whole thing is being broadcast.”
“Oh,” I said. “Then, thanks.”
“You're welcome. And you're bleeding.”
I looked down at my hand, the broken glass still clutched in it.
“Shit,” exclaimed Sam, taking the glass from me quickly. “Is it bad? Let me see.” I smiled at him.
“It's fine. Watch.” I held up my hand to show him, and called up my power, concentrating on the cut. It glowed faintly as the skin closed, and delight spread across Sam's face.
“Now that is fucking cool.”
“Right?”
“You still need to make sure you don't get blood on your dress,” Hecate said, and a satyr tugged at my skirt. He was holding a tray with new drinks and a neatly folded napkin. I thanked him and wiped my hand clean.
“You know, I could get used to living here,” said Sam as the satyr handed him a fresh glass.
“Maybe you should wait until you see the bad stuff before making statements like that,” I said. A loud gong sounded and the commentator shimmered into the room at the same time Zeus appeared on his throne. “And it doesn't look like you'll have to wait long.”
It was time to find out what my next Trial would be.