“I’m so sorry.” An endless void of darkness descended until it consumed her. Nyx was left staring back at the emptiness of her soul.
Ripped me apart one layer at a time as I screamed through the agony.
“I have to protect her.” Her chest seized as her ragged breaths grew shorter and faster.
All to be left on the floor to pick up the pieces of myself alone.
“Please understand.” Black spots danced in her vision as she gasped, the panic overtaking every cell of her body.
Do you know what that’s like?
She didn’t.
Evie’s voice was the last Nyx heard as she surrendered to the darkness with the smallest hope that she wouldn’t wake back up.
I’m going to miss you, Nini.
Persephone spent her days in Asphodel Meadow, sweat beading on her upper lip as she worked the soil and pruned the wilting petals by hand. Her chaos was useless in the Underworld. Persephone was the budding life of spring, but Hades domain was death.
She was left alone with her thoughts nearly all hours of the day. Hades escorted her to the fields every morning after breakfast and retrieved her every night before dinner, only appearing once more to bring her lunch.
Each time she saw him it was like the sun blooming in her chest. No one, not even her mother who’d held her close, had ever been so thoughtful.
Hades never missed a meal with her and filled their time with conversation and mind-bending puzzles. He was more cunning than she, but Persephone was a quick study. With two wins under her belt, Persephone proposed a gamble. She wagered that she would win five matches against him before the one-year mark of her arrival.
She sat back on her feet, twisting side to side to ease the tension in her back and shoulders. Her fingertips tingled and the ache in her knees worsened, the pain growing worse every day like her body was breaking down from the labor.
Persephone’s hand closed around the thermos of healing tea she kept close and popped the lid, swallowing the last of its contents as she wondered for the hundredth time who pruned the stalks before. It truly was an all day job and it never ended. When she asked Hades about it, he simply said, “I did, of course. Imagine my joy when the goddess of spring landed on my doorstep as if the Fates put you there with their own hands.” He’d laughed, but her stomach churned. How cruel the Fates were if they thought she deserved her path to hell.
Sometimes her mind wandered a little too far and her thoughts turned spiteful. On her darkest days, she resented Hades for the task. However, It never failed that guilt followed each thought as swift as a swinging blade. He trusted her as he had no one with the sacred meadow. The cycle of life was in her hands and it could mean the damnation of them all. Hades knew that, and still he believed in her with such conviction.
“Persephone, darling, are you ready?”
His voice brought a smile to her face and she rushed to stand. A wave of dizziness caused her to stumble, but Hades was there to catch her, just as he always was.
“Careful, Beauty. We can’t have you damning the world with your clumsiness.”
She laughed, the sound half-hearted even to her own ears.
I’m not clumsy, she thought.I’m just dizzy from spending all day breaking my back while you lounge about playing chess.
He tucked her under his arm and they walked back to the palace side by side. He even carried her thermos. It was one of many traits she loved most about him.
Love.
That’s what she felt for Hades, and she planned to tell him when they were wrapped up in each other's arms, sheets tangled around their ankles after passion.
She’d spent the first few months of her life in the Underworld sleeping in separate quarters, but things changed as they grew closer. He’d invited her to his bed and she accepted the offer with a shy kind of joy. They made love that first night and she’d been so embarrassed to tell him of her inexperience, but he took it with grace. Hades was patient as she learned what he liked, guiding her each step of the way with gentle corrections and words of encouragement.
Falling for the king of the Underworld had never been the plan, but her love for him was as impossible to stop as the breaking of dawn.
Nerves crept up her stomach at the thought of laying another piece of herself at his feet, but she had to take the leap. He’d trusted her with the world, so she would trust him with her heart. After all, they did beat as one.
Persephone noticed it after their first night together. She was bathing in the afterglow, head resting on his chest as she listened to the rhythmic sound of his snores. At first she thought it was just the beat of her own heart rushing through her ears from the fallout of their passion. As her body settled, though, she realized the truth.
She marveled at the revelation for days after, and it still made her stomach flutter when she thought about it. Every night, she lay on his chest and listened. Persephone wanted to ask if he’d noticed it too, but every time she began, the question died on her lips. She was too afraid of his rejection.
“You’re quiet tonight, Beauty.”
