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Persephone hesitated, and Zeus swept his hand before him.

“My council,” he said as a way of introducing them.

“I thought the oracle was your council,” she said.

“The oracle speaks of the future, yes,” he said. “But I have lived a long life, and I am aware that the threads of that future are ever-changing. My wife and brother know that too.”

Hades swallowed thickly. He only hoped Zeus applied the same thoughtful consideration to his own situation.

Zeus took a torch from the wall, and as he turned toward the basin, he spoke. “A drop of your blood, if you will.”

Hades still held Persephone’s hand, and together they approached. He went first as a way of showing her what to do, pressing his finger into the sharp needle protruding from the edge of the basin. He held his hand out until a single bead of his blood dropped into the oil.

Persephone followed his example, her blood mixing with his.

“Hades,” she whispered as he took her finger into his mouth to heal.

“I do not wish to see you bleed.”

He had said it before. Need he say it again?

“It was only a drop.”

He said nothing and guided her away from the basin as Zeus lit the oil.

The fire burned hotly, the flame tinged with green, and the smoke was thick and billowy, emptying via an opening at the height of the domed ceiling. It wasn’t long before the oracle appeared, an old woman wreathed in flame.

“Pyrrha,” Zeus said. “Give us the prophecy of Hades and Persephone.”

“Hades and Persephone,” the oracle repeated, as if testing their names on her tongue. “A powerful union—a marriage that will produce a god more powerful than Zeus himself.”

Hades stood in quiet and confused shock, scrambling to both recall and memorize every word the oracle had spoken. In truth, he wasn’t sure what he had expected the oracle to say, but he knew as soon as he heard her message they were doomed.

Zeus was not likely to allow anyone to wed with his reign at stake.

“Zeus,” Hades warned, his body going rigid, his magic on edge—but so were Zeus’s and Hera’s and Poseidon’s.

“Hades.”

“You will not take her from me,” he said.

“I am king, Hades. Perhaps you need reminding.”

“If that is your wish,” said Hades, “I am more than happy to be the end of your reign.”

There was silence as Hades’s threat hung in the air. They all knew it wasn’t empty.

“Are you pregnant?” Hera asked suddenly.

“Excuse me?” Persephone asked, but Hades did not flinch. He knew that was impossible.

“Need I repeat myself?” Hera asked.

“That question is not appropriate,” Persephone snapped.

“And yet it is important when considering the prophecy,” Hera replied.

“Why is that?”