“Persephone, don’t,” I roared, appearing before her in a plume of smoke and ash, snatching the apple.
She appeared frightened at first, but soon it melted into irritation and frustration. “Just because you’re a king doesn’t give you the right to bark orders at me. Especially when I’m here because ofyou.”
“If you were to eat anything in the Underworld as a living being, it would tether you to it.” Leaning closer to her, bringing our noses a breath apart, I flashed fire in my gaze. “Tome. Do you understand?”
Persephone gulped and stared up at me, silently nodding.
Licking my lips, I turned away from her, still holding the fruit, and dragged a hand through my long hair with a deep sigh. “I’ve been alone for so long, I only wished to have a bright lightin the darkness, if but for a moment.” I peeked at her over my shoulder, the deep frown on her face, and the moisture from the cave flattening her usual voluminous hair, absolutely gutting me. “I see now it was a mistake.”
Persephone perked at this, suddenly rushing to my side. “Yes, you understand. I wish to go home.”
“And you will.” Tossing the apple in the air, I made it disappear into the invisible pocket. “Tomorrow.”
Her jaw dropped, and she reached for my arm, but recoiled before her fingers neared my robes. “Tomorrow? You stole me from the surface through a giant crack in the ground. Why can’t you do it again?”
The consistent wails of the lost souls in Styx had my shoulders rolling—a task I still would have to do through the night in exchange for resting. “I’ve already told you I’m only allotted access to the surface at certain times. I don’t possess that kind of power. It’s Zeus who will have to do it.”
Swiveling away, I snapped my gaze straight to her petite, tanned fingers, which grasped my robe, the heat from her skin nearly devastating me. “Then why don’t you call on him? He’s your brother, isn’t he? Why not tonight?”
Her words sent a peculiar bout of irritation through me, and I yanked the cloth from her light grasp. “Are you not a goddess? Do you have no decorum? One doesn’t simplycallon the King of the Gods like he has nothing better to do than provide you passage to the surface because you can’t stand one night around big, frightening Hades.”
Persephone pursed her lips together and interlaced her fingers behind her back. “I never said you were frightening.”
Smirking, I brushed past her. “Your reactions spoke much louder than words, my dear.”
“I—” She started, but I interrupted her. Partly because I still stood on edge as to whether what I agreed on with Zeus waswrong in principle, and now the Fates saw fit to punish me for it with Persephone’s behavior.
“I’ll show you to your room,” I clipped, my tone flat and uninviting.
Persephone’s shoulders rolled back and her chin lifted. “I get a room?”
“Do you really think so little of me?” It was a genuine question as I peered at her with bewilderment dancing in my gaze.
“I admittedly know nothing about you.” Persephone’s voice was finally sweet with that answer.
Leading down one of several onyx marbled hallways, I paused in front of a mahogany door with a golden border. “Did you think I’d ask you to sleep on the cave floor?”
“I’m certainly glad you didn’t.” Persephone’s lip quivered as if holding back a smile, and the thought alone thatIgave her that reaction had my gut twisting.
Opening the door, I suppressed a gulp and waved her inside. “I hope you’ll find it accommodating.”
Persephone gasped when she entered the room, one of her hands reaching for her mouth. Unlike my own quarters bathed in midnight blacks and deep burgundy, this room was the brightest in the Underworld in vibrant white, sky blue, and meadow green. I didn’t often set foot into it because its radiance made my skull ache as much as my heart, but she suited it.
“I wasn’t expecting this,” she whispered, before turning to me, her eyes glistening with pending tears.
“Zeus will be by tomorrow morning for his routine check. He’ll open the surface for you. There is a ward surrounding this room, so that no one can get inside, no one can hear you, and you won’t, in turn, hear a thing either.” I’d paused with my hand on the door’s handle, taking a final longing gaze over her voluptuous curves.
Persephone moved to the bed, a canopy with silk-white drapes hanging over it, and she ran one between her fingers. “Thank you.”
Her gratitude made my grip tighten, turning my knuckles white. After giving a curt nod, I left, shutting the door behind me, and trying to ignore how much Zeus was right—her presence down here really did do a lot for this place, forme. As with all things, I continued to sacrifice; however, I’d have to let her go. It wasn’t fair to either of us to keep her here like a prized trinket.
I spent the better part of the night seated on my throne, ushering souls to their eternal resting spots. My finger bobbed from left to right, guiding fewer than I had anticipated to Tartarus. I’d gotten about halfway through the river when a woman’s blood-curdling scream made my heart freeze.
Persephone.
Like a pegasus charging into aerial battle, I sprang my ember wings and flew to her, sensing where she was before I’d drawn in another breath. Floating through the closed door of her room, I found her kneeling on the floor, her palms hanging loosely in front of her, red liquid running in shimmering tendrils down her arms.
“Persephone, are you hurt?” I beseeched, crouching beside her, my hand hovering near her back but fearful of touching her.
