The pain in her head grew.
I recognize her!
She recognized the woman in the crudely painted image. Cyane stumbled back a step. She longed to linger on it, to let her fingers brush the image, but the pain behind her eyes expanded.
She scurried across the room to the lone chair facing Hades’s Castle, sliding into it. She rubbed her temples until the worst of the pain abated, tried to read the images again, but the horrendous ache returned tenfold, nearly laying her low. She gave up after that, despite her desperate curiosity.
Time crept by, and with no sun or moon to indicate the time of day, she quickly grew restless and uncomfortable.
The god’s punishments tend to last for eternity. What if eternity is just a frame of mind?
Her eyes hooded as she gazed out of the room to look at the waters below. Weariness crept upon her.
Countless pale wisps materialized the longer she watched the water. They followed a singular current that started from directly below her, where the water rushed under the gates to hell, and straight into a dark hole under the castle.
She’d made that journey not that long ago. Seeing it now, sitting in a lone chair, in a quiet room, kept her circumstances solidified in her thoughts.
This place reminded her of the solitary prayer room at the orphanage. The one where the mistresses sent her if she had stepped out of line.
You’re dealing with gods now, abandoned girl, you better fucking pray.
She closed her eyes.
“Tomorrow is the Day of Dancing.”Hades swirled his nectar with disinterest. “However, my daughter decided to take the first dance with our human guest—on the wrong day. For which you did not stop. I’m annoyed, Cerberus, annoyed.”
“Melinoe is not my problem,” Cerberus scoffed. “Demand someone else to solve this problem.”
Hades waved his hand weakly. “Eh.”
“Is there anything else?” He wanted to get back to Cyane. He didn’t understand why, but it worried him. He wanted to feel what he had before with her and study it. Cerberus didn’t like not knowing what had happened to him.
“The whole lot of them know I have a special guest now. I don’t wantherto hear about it. Make sure no one but Charon comes or goes before Persephone arrives.”
“And Hermes?”
“The messenger stays.”
Cerberus didn’t know how he felt about that. Hermes was one of the few beings who could leave the Underworld without Cerberus’s permission. It was the winged god’s role to rule crossings, and it wasn’t for Cerberus to deny Hermes’s mandate.
But he’d never befriended the god, and denying Hermes passage may bring Cerberus a moment of mild satisfaction.
Cerberus’s lack of response brought Hades's eyes to him. “Does that bother you?” Hades sipped his drink.
“No. I was pondering my satisfaction in such a request from you.”
“I knew you would alleviate my frustration.” He lowered his cup. “You lied to me, Cerberus.”
Cerberus’s gaze hooded. He bowed his head. “Not intentionally.”
“Cyane—”
It was strange hearing Cyane’s name come from Hades. The names of mortals were below his lord’s notice.
“—was well enough to steal the first dance with Melinoe. Her unfortunate descent must not have been so hard that she needed recovery since she was well enough to transgress. Why have you not brought her to me yet?”
Because something in him feared for the fragile mortal. Cerberus stamped the thought down. No, he feared for his queen’s state of mind. He loved Persephone as one should love their queen. The longer he kept the mortal from Hades, the better it would be.
“I believe she is in shock.” It wasn’t quite a lie.
