“Oh, gods,” she whispered, her head shaking as denial crept in.
Pale pink irises clouded by death stared into the void. Light danced over her pallid features, highlighting sunken eyes and concave cheeks that lay in vomit. It must have been her body’s last feeble attempt to dispel the poison and save the girl who’d trusted too much.
“What have you done to me?” she whispered.
“I cannot walk the surface with you, so I brought you to me.” His head dipped as he aimed to catch her eyes. His brow was soft, encouraging even, but the madness in his eyes was a spark she hated herself for not seeing before. It was there, bright as Polaris in the night sky. “You’re my soulmate, Persephone. The other half of my beating heart. We belong together.”
“Your soulmate?” Her voice rose with each word as her vision tunneled. “What beating heart? I’ve no heart left to beat, Hades!”
“You don’t need one, Beauty. As long as mine beats, we live. That’s the wondrous part. I am sorry it had to be this way. If I could have joined you on Mount Olympus, I would have. Alas, that’s not our fate.”
“Fate? How dare you speak of fate to me! You are the cause of this. Not fate. You!”
“Our hearts and souls are bound, Persephone. It would have ended this way no matter the course. I simply sped it up.”
“What do you mean sped it up?” She exclaimed, brows knitting as she tried to piece together her downfall. “How did I die, Hades?”
“Slowly and with as much grace as the Underworld allows.”
“So you didn’t even have the nerve to do it yourself. You just let your prison do it for you like a coward?”
His nostrils flared the moment before he crossed the space between them and struck her face with the palm of his hand. Persephone’s head whipped from the impact as the smack reverberated through the office. “Do not forget who you speak to, girl. Cursed I may be, but I still hold the power of a Titan. I can call forth flames and summon the beasts in Black Mirror Lake with little more than a thought. You died by my hand because I showed you mercy. I could have let the rivers take you, cursed you to endure their wrath as I had to. Instead, I fed you the fruit of the dead and let you die peacefully.”
Something coiled in her belly then, an unfamiliar presence brewing from the rage simmering in her blood. “The fruit of the dead?”
His lips curled, venom dripping from his smile. “The pomegranate is a beautiful fruit. Did you know that it can only grow if watered by the rivers of the Underworld?”
Persephone wracked her mind for memories of the fruit. Hades' voice filled her mind from the day he’d carried her broken body to his bed.“It’s an herbal blend that will help heal you from the inside out,”he’d said.“Pomegranate. I grow them myself.”
Another memory tugged at her of Narcissus plucking fruit from the hanging trees around his pond and cracking it open to expose the seeds.“This is a pomegranate. All of these red sacks are filled with tiny seeds and juices. They’re truly delightful. Here. Give it a try.”
Demeter had been right all along. Stupid. Weak. Head in the clouds. And now she had her death to show for it. “Narcissus. Was he part of this, too?”
“Ah. Disgusting isn’t he? Black Mirror Lake is the parallel to his beloved lagoon. A small pool of water from the Underworld that bubbled to the surface. The rivers have a mind of their own, Persephone, and wouldn't pass up an opportunity to steal a soul. Narcissus made it too easy, really. There’s nothing he wouldn’t do in exchange for the freedom to leave the waters gaze upon himself in their reflection. I must admit, my interest was piqued when he requested your innocence, but it was worth it to get you here.”
Persephone’s fingers flexed, fists clenching as hatred reddened her vision. “Requested?”she spat, low and menacing. “As if it were yours to bargain?”
His features fell as his head cocked to the side. “Of course it was mine to barter, and I’d do it again to get you here. Hasn’t it all been worth it in the end, Beauty?”
His words rang through her skull like the clamoring of bells, each chime driving her closer to madness.
Never wander too far, Persephone. Don’t talk to anyone without my permission, Persephone. Be a good girl and listen to your mother, Persephone.
Gong…
Bloom the brightest petals, Persephone, because men like their wives to be the epitome of beauty. Don’t eat that Persephone, men don’t like plump women. Sit down and be quiet. Men don’t like opinionated women, Persephone.
Gong…
Defiance is not obedience, Persephone. Never be loose with your words, Persephone.
Gong…
Narcissus took the only choice she’d ever made for herself and twisted it into a malignant evil. Hades picked up the pieces just to shatter her all over again.
Gong…
A rage, as ancient as the bones Olympia was built upon, iced her dead veins and something vital cracked inside of her, the fissure in her soul an irreparable scar. Her innocence and stupidity died with the girl on the floor, and a phoenix rose from the pyre ashes as a goddess of malice and wrath was birthed by the flames.
