“It was not my intention to betray you,” I say, when my vision clears. “I was mistaken and for that you have my apologies.”
“You might have asked, Hades.” Her tone is gentle but even still, it enrages me.
There is no reply to that beyond a scream of frustration. Surely she knows what was at stake. The Titan is the oldest god. She’s walked through fires that burned centuries before I was conceived.
The respect I have for her is only outweighed by the knowledge that she is the key to Olympus that I need. I do not let my rage out. I stare across the table at Hecate instead.
And Hecate, for all she is willing to sit here at this table with me—for all she did come to the Underworld at my request—will not understand what it is like to ask a question of your own mind and get a twisted answer back, then come to believe it when there are no other voices and no other people.
“I wanted her and I did what I had to in order to take her,” I admit coolly.
“Who opened the realm?” she questions.
“Aphrodite, at my offer to reunite a demon soul with his fated love. I took advantage. I implore you not to disclose this indiscretion.” I answer her honestly, praying that she will be willing to forgive all if only I am honest.
“I suppose you thought that you could not wait,” she muses, as if she can see into my mind. “I suppose you questioned whether I would betray you to Zeus the moment I left Persephone with you. I suppose you thought there was truly no other choice.”
I give her a nod of agreement and do not utter a single word. That is all I can do. To open my mouth and explain is entirely too dangerous. Once I started, I might not stop, and then Hecate would be privileged to have knowledge about me that she would never forget.
“Yet,” she continues, “you have asked me to meet with you, because part of you hopes that I may be able to offer you passage to Olympus.”
Her guess is correct. “That seems to be something you are able to do,” I force out. “If there is to be a meeting of the gods and goddesses, I wish to be there too.”
Her gaze drops and then rises again with a heavy breath. “You wish to be there with your queen,” Hecate says quietly.
“Yes.”
A smile curves her lips. “Persephone has changed you after all. You would not have come to me before you had her as your queen.”
I swallow thickly. Yet again I am at the mercy of others and I loathe it.
“Love changes a man,” Hecate says, as if she is only thinking of it now. “Even if he does not know it himself.”
Straightening in my seat, I clear my throat. Hecate has had her conversation. She has seen too much of me, and it is knowledge I cannot take back from her. I’m not willing to give her more—not until I am by Persephone’s side.
If I can be at her side, then I will give Hecate anything she asks.
Given the satisfaction echoed in her eyes, I think she knows it.
“I am asking you to grant me access to Olympus so that I may attend this meeting along with all the other gods and goddesses. Will you allow it?”
Hecate places her wine glass on the table and stands with a flourish. She holds out her hand, still wearing that unsettling smile, as if she was the one who set all this in motion. As if she was the one to guide my fate.
“Let us go to Olympus then, my Lord,” Hecate says easily. “Why ever did it take you so long to ask?”
Demeter
“We will discuss it,” Zeus argues with a hiss. His arm rests on his throne as if he is exhausted by my questions. The gray sky darkens more until it’s lit with flashes of irritation. As if the sky above admits he’s at his very limit and can take no more. As if the daughter we share and what he did to her is of no importance. “You must have patience, Demeter.”
"I have had patience. I waited for her to return, just as you wished. And what does she say?” My heart rages inside of me. She is a piece of my soul. She is mine to protect and provide for.
He closes his eyes. My disgust and anger trembles the ground beneath my feet although I try to contain it. It is impossible to reign in grief. It is poison. One all will know the taste of.
“She says that she wishes for me to let her go to the Underworld. Live in the Underworld. How am I to dwell here for eternity, knowing she is as good as dead!”
“Then perhaps, Demeter?—”
“Do not say I should let her! Do not say I should allow this to happen! What standing do you have to say such a thing to me when you do not offer consequences for those who took her? It is because you aided such deception and you know it!” My throat is hoarse from my screams and accusations. Even with the tremors beneath us, he is unmoved.
