“'Well, I’m all ears.'”
I clear my throat a little, place my hand under my jaw, and start thinking out loud. “'I’m the king of the underworld, power and protection are the first things I can offer you. There may not be flowers or springs in my realm, but you won’t find a more powerful love than mine in the human world, I will be your slave if you allow me, I will kiss your feet every morning and your mouth every night, I will let you rule my mind, soul, and body.'”
I look up and yes, Lauren has a tense jaw.
“What?” I say defensively.
She clears her throat. “Nothing, nothing, then Persephone would say something like: 'How do I know your love is unique and not fake like Zeus’s love for Hera?'”
“'Because Zeus married out of convenience, I out of love, and the love of the king of the Underworld is unique, as this king who speaks to you didn’t learn that word until he met you. Only someone as lonely as I am understands a soul like yours, Persephone, only an outcast knows loneliness when night comes, and we both know your soul screams for mine when you lie alone in your bed and look at the stars.'”
“'Hades,' she says in a whisper, 'the gods of this realm fear me and stay away from me because of my oddity. Why don’t you fear me?'”
“'Because I know you better than anyone, and for that reason, I can give you exactly what you need.'”
“'And what do I need?'”
I take a deep breath. “'Someone who lives only to see your green eyes, someone who wakes up and thinks of you for no reason, someone who is willing to die just to see you smile.'”
“'Are you sure these aren’t just pretty words to win me over?'”
Lauren no longer writes, and I don’t take my eyes off hers. The Alchemist is here with me.
“'The god of the underworld can’t lie, there are no lies after death.'”
“'But Hades, you could have any woman at your feet, most of them are waiting for your call. Why do you focus on this simple nymph?'”
“'Yes, this king can have any nymph, but there is only one queen for my eyes and that’s you.'” I reach out and take Lauren’s hand. “'Stop resisting and surrender to me.'”
Lauren looks at our hands, opens her mouth to respond, but nothing comes out. Her silence feels like a rejection and the shield goes back up.
“What are you waiting for, Bunny? Write.”
The spell breaks. The Alchemist takes herpen and keeps writing.
Now
Lauren places a delicate hand over her mouth, eyes wide as she stares at the dialogue on the wall. “I can’t believe you have it up here.”
“Thanks to that dialogue, we won the contest,” I say, downplaying it as if that’s the only reason I kept it. “Of course, I wanted to display it.”
She reads it silently, and I can’t help but wonder if she thinks I’m ridiculous for having something like this on the wall. It’s so far removed from who we are now, from the lives we lead.
“The play was a success,” she says, a touch of nostalgia in her voice, her smile proud but fleeting. “Though you didn’t seem to like it much.”
“I did like it. They performed it well,” I say, my voice a little softer.
“But you said it was the worst play you’d ever seen,” she counters, her eyes narrowing slightly in confusion.
I take a deep breath, shoving my hands into my pockets, feeling the weight of the truth I’ve kept buried for years. “Yeah, I lied that day.”
Her eyes fixate on me, confusion deepening. “Why? Everyone was congratulating you.”
“Exactly. No one was congratulatingyou,and it didn’t seem fair. That’s why I pretended to hate it—so they’d stop bothering me,” I admit, the words finally spilling out.
Lauren stares at me for a moment, processing what I’ve said. Her expression softens, though there’s still a flicker of surprise in her eyes. Lauren laughs, her gaze lingering on my face like she’s studying me, trying to figure something out. I wonder what she sees, what might happen if I take just one step closer, if I lean in and kiss her. But I hold back, unsure if now’s the moment.
“You used to write so beautifully, Silas,” she says, her voice softer now. “It was such a shame you hid it.”
