Chapter 29
Persephone
Igasped for air as an awful sound reached my ears, my insides twisting and churning as white-hot pain burned through my veins.
“Persephone,” choked Hades, and I realized the sound was coming from him. I blinked up at his face, trying to force out the cascade of power ripping through me long enough to focus. I was lying in his arms, bare wasteland around us.
“Where are we?” I gulped.
“The surface,” he said, and I realized tears were streaming down his beautiful face.
“You need to take me somewhere I can't kill anyone,” I said, panic causing another swell of pain to grip me.
“Use your gold vines. Give me the power,” Hades said, gripping my jaw in his hand.
“Will-will it kill you?” I ground out, my head swimming again.
“No, it won't kill me,” he said, desperation in his eyes. I knew he was lying.
“It will fill you with darkness,” I whispered, knowing the truth of my words. He didn't respond.
Pouring Cronos' power into Hades would cause him to lose his soul as surely as if Cronos had broken free.
“My soul doesn't matter, as long as you live,” Hades breathed, pulling my face to his. Another wave of infinite power sent me into a spasm, and I could feel the pressure building inside me, tortuously painful.
I couldn't contain it. I knew I couldn't.
I was going to die. And I couldn't take Virgo or Hades with me.
“I love you,” I said, and an unexpected calm cut through the storm swirling inside my mind. “I'm so glad I found you.”
More tears rolled down Hades' face, his breath hot on my cheek as he kissed my face, over and over.
“Please, please, Persephone, give the power to me.”
I pushed my numb hand into my pocket, and closed it around Poseidon's pearl, and lifted my other to Hades' wet cheek.
“Don't let the monster win. Ever. You're stronger than it is.”
“Persephone, I love you. Please, please. You can't leave me again.”
I pulled him to me, pressing my lips against his for the final time. Then I crushed the pearl in my hand.
Freezing ocean water cascaded over us and Hades cried out in surprise. I pulled myself to my feet, my vision blurry and my whole body numb as Buddy whinnied into existence beside me. And as I had hoped, he wasn't a seahorse. He was a winged horse.
“I love you. You have to let me do this,” I said, looking into Hades’ anguished face.
“I love you,” he choked, and I pulled myself awkwardly onto Buddy's back. He began to gallop immediately, then his huge wings snapped taut, and we launched into the sky.
The waves of pain were increasing now, and I gripped his mane as tightly as I could as we soared higher.
“When I tell you, you've got to get out of here, Buddy,” I whispered to the horse, and he neighed loudly.
Poseidon said he could be out of water for five minutes.
And to make sure I killed nobody when the power overcame me, I needed to be as high as I could be, as far from everything and everyone in Olympus as possible.
We flew on, higher and higher, and when I could barely see Hades on the rock below, and the pressure inside me was so painful I knew I couldn't bare it any longer, I let go. I let go of Buddy, I let go of the power, I let go of myself. Completely.
A clarity I had never known descended over me as the horse vanished, and I hovered, weightless, suspended in time and space. I stared around myself, gaping, as the pain stopped immediately.
A swirling mass of light and shadow was surrounding me, and with a jolt, I realized the power hadn't left me yet.
For the few moments before it overwhelmed me, at that suspended point in time, the power belonged to me.
I had magic and strength unparalleled. And as it glowed and swirled around me, understanding came to me.
It wasn't all dark.
Daylight and shadow, light and dark; they both swirled together.
Hades' words sang through my mind. “You can't keep a light that bright in the dark.” But what other purpose did a bright light serve, if it wasn't lighting the dark?
One could not exist without the other.
One had no purpose without the other.
Light was destined to live with the dark.
I knew what I had to do. I knew it with bone deep certainty.
I needed to light the dark.
My vines burst from my palms, gleaming gold, and as I began to fall through the air, I shot them at the surface of Virgo. They slammed into the ground, and I heard Hades shout over the rushing wind, as I drew every bit of light I could from Cronos' power and channeled it into the rock.
Life flared bright inside me, rushing through my body, and I focused on Hades' face, on love and light and growth.
And I felt the dark around me, inside me, changing.
The shadows in the swirling mass were receding, the light forcing them out.
The torrents of power that had been battering against me now flowed through me and into my golden vines like a river of life, and as I approached the surface, green invaded my blurred vision.
Too late I realized I was going to hit the ground, and with my vines connected to the earth I couldn't use them to brace myself. But instead of hard rock, I hit something soft. I was on a cushion of blue light, and as it lowered me gently to the floor, Hades ran toward me.
His face was a mask of awe and shock, and as I channeled the last of the glittering power into the ground, I called out to him.
“A light this bright was made for the dark. They belong together.”
My vines disintegrated as he reached me, and he barely slowed, scooping me off my feet and kissing me so hard I couldn't breathe.
“You're alive,” he said, over and over between kisses. Exhilaration rocketed through me, and as the remnants of the godly power left me, my own emotions finally took hold of me again. I was alive. And so was he.
“We both are,” I gasped, and kissed him back, just as hard.
Eventually he set me back down on my feet, staring into my eyes like he'd never seen anything so mesmerizing.
I'd done it. I had actually saved us. I had channeled that immense power into something good, and light. I hadn't let it overwhelm me. I had been strong enough to save us.
Disbelief was making me giddy as I stared up at Hades. If I had truly filled his realm with light, then there was a chance for us. A real chance.
“I love you. I love you so much. Look what you've done to this place,” he said, gripping my shoulders and turning me around slowly.
We were standing in a glade, willow trees waving softly in a gentle breeze. Birds tweeted somewhere in the distance, and butterflies flitted between meadow flowers dotting the lush grass.
“Is the whole surface like this?” I asked, breathless. I wasn't sure how much I'd done.
Hades pulled my back close against his chest, wrapping his huge arms around me, and flashed. We hovered, high above the surface, where I'd been with Buddy just moments before. There wasn't a dusty, barren bit of rock anywhere.
Streams meandered across the landscape, trees of every type and stature, flowers of every color and species filling the space. I could see a huge forest in the distance, and beyond that a green-covered valley, waterfalls cascading down one side.
Hades flashed again, and we were back in the glade. I spun in his arms, looking up into his eyes.
“This is still part of Virgo, so can you live here?” Hades raised his eyebrows at me, then closed his eyes. I felt his power rolling over me.
“We are far from the dark, where my power is most needed, but... you are right, this is still Virgo. It is still my realm.” Excitement lit up his stunning eyes as he opened them, and hope made my chest swell to the point it ached. “Yes. Yes, I think I can.”
“We can live up here half of the time! We will get respite from the darkness, but you will still be in control of the Underworld!” Elation made my words fast, my voice high-pitched. We could be together. We would be safe, together, light and dark as one.
He pushed his hand into my hair, stroking his thumb down my jaw.
“Persephone, you... You complete me. You make me strong. You make me whole. You saved us.” Happiness gripped me, and I felt a lump in my throat as I stared back at him. “I love you,” he said, his voice the softest, most sensual thing I'd ever heard.
“In that case,” I whispered, letting the happy tears come as I stood on tiptoes to kiss him, “it's a damned good thing that I'm your new Queen.”