Her heart stuttered before it picked up a pulsing, irregular beat. “And what did it gift to you?”
“Ah, that is the question indeed. You see, if you look into the water with a tainted heart, it senses that darkness and gives it back tenfold. Part of the curse is that you’re too blinded by the blessing to see the curse.”
Persephone gazed upon her reflection as an ambush of worry flooded her thoughts. Demeter instructed her not to wander too far. She’d warned Persephone of the dangers in the world and Persephone hadn’t listened. She had lied, broken the bond of trust between them, and tainted her body with the hands of a stranger. Persephone disobeyed her mother with defiance in her heart.
“What will it do to me?” Tears ran in rivulets down her cheeks and rippled the water like raindrops. Her reflection wavered as she cried.
“You? Oh, my sweet flower. There is no room in your heart for taint. You are as pure as you were when you were pushed from the womb.”
A sharp sob of relief burst from her chest and she made to move, to run as far away from the pool as possible lest it find her unworthy. She didn’t make it a step before Narcissus grasped her wrist in a bruising hold and jerked her back to him.
“Look again, Persephone.”
“Please, Narcissus, I want to go. I don’t want to–”
“Look at it!” He snapped. Madness rolled off of his confrontational form and permeated the air around him. It was suffocating.
Screams tore through her chest as she resisted his hold, but Narcissus wouldn’t take no for an answer. What was happening? How could the man she’d put so much trust into turn on her so fiercely?
A dominating hand grabbed the back of ner neck and forced her face to the water. “What do you see Persephone?” Her sweet talking lover just moments ago had morphed into a thing of nightmares.
“Please, you’re hurting me, Narcissus. Just let me go, please! I’ll do anything–”
“Donotmake me ask you again, you perfect little cunt,” he spat. His rage was palpable and Persephone thought she may be sick.
“I– I don’t know,” she stammered.
“Of course you don’t. To be so pretty, Persephone, you have to be the dumbest fucking daemon I’ve ever met.”
She couldn’t speak over the sobs.
“When I look at you I see a pretty little halo of shimmering gold around you. Don’t you see?”
She nodded desperately.
“Now look at me. What do you see?’
“Nothing,” she sniffled as glanced down into the pool. “I see nothing.” No halo glimmered around his head, and his reflection was murky. “Please, Narcissus,” she whined.
“Oh shut up. All of your pathetic cries and whimpers won’t help you here. Do you know why you see nothing around me?” He didn’t give her time to answer. “Because I’m tainted. Cursed. Those looking upon their reflection would never know their dark fate because to them, they see a normal reflection. People like you though, Persephone. They would know they’ve been blessed because of that shimmering goddamned ring marking you as innocent.”
“What does this have to do with me? I’ve never hurt you. I’ve never hurt anyone!”
“Oh, but I have. You see, when I looked upon the pool for the first time it was because I followed Aphrodite. I watched her gaze upon her reflection and shine with the gift of beauty it transferred to her. When she left, I walked to the water’s edge and stared at myself.”
Narcissus looked at his own reflection as his eyes drifted to a time in the past, his hand still gripped tightly around her neck.
“What I found Persephone… Gods, what I found was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen. I spent days by the pool basking in the lust Aphrodite left behind as I gazed upon my reflection with my cock in my hand. I would come over and over and over again. I loved every fucking minute of it.”
He pulled his eyes from the water and stared so deeply into hers she feared he may take her soul.
“But, soon, the touch of another couldn’t satisfy me. I stuck myself into so many men and women, but nothing provided blissful surrender the way I could. But it wasn’t my hand, Persephone. It was my beautiful face. Every time I looked at myself in the pool I wept. I am truly the epitome of beauty and carnal release.”
“Gods what are you talking about, Narcissus? Do you hear yourself?” He had gone absolutely mad, and she was terrified of what that may mean for her safety. Mad men were the most dangerous of men.
“Oh, I do, dear Persephone. Just the sound of my voice makes my cock stiffen. I couldn’t stay away from the reflection, and each time you look at it the curse deepens. It has been harder throughout the years to find release, but I think that with your sacrifice, Persephone, I can find it again.”
“You don’t have to do this,” she cried.
