Page 119

“These dreams…did they proceed something traumatic?”

Persephone nodded.

“What?”

“I was kidnapped,” she said. “By a demigod. He was obsessed with me and…he wanted to rape me.”

“Was he successful?”

Persephone flinched, and Hades wanted to come undone. Black spires shot from the tips of his fingers.

“Hypnos.”

“Lord Hades,” Hypnos snapped. “One more interruption and I will leave your company.”

“It’s all right, Hades. I know he is trying to help.”

Hypnos smiled pleasantly. “Listen to the woman. She appreciates the art of dream interpretation.”

“No, he was not successful, but when I dream, he seems to get closer and closer to…being successful.”

Hades felt his chest tighten as she spoke.

“Dreams—nightmares—prepare us to survive,” Hypnos said. “They bring our anxieties to life so we may fight them. You are no different, Goddess.”

“But I survived,” Persephone said.

“Do you believe that you would survive if ithappened again? Not in the same situation—a different one. One where perhaps a more powerful god abducted you.”

Persephone did not answer.

“You do not need a draught,” Hypnos said. “You need to consider how you will fight in your next dream. Change the ending, and the nightmares will cease.”

The god stood then.

“And for the love of all gods and goddesses, go to fucking sleep.”

Hypnos vanished.

Persephone looked at him. “Well, he was pleasant.”

Hades held her gaze for a moment, then his eyes dropped to a red stain.

“Why is there blood on your shirt?”

Her eyes widened and she looked down at it. “Oh…I was practicing with Hecate,” she said.

“Practicing what?”

“Healing.”

He frowned. “That is a lot of blood.”

“Well…I couldn’t exactly heal if I wasn’t injured,” she said.

Hades narrowed his eyes. “She is having you practice on yourself first?”

“Yes…why is that wrong?”