Page 30 of His in the Dark

PERSEPHONE

T he sky above us seems to tear apart.

I hold tight to Hades’s hand while he moves along the path so fast the world blurs to either side of us. Fire and brimstone crack and souls scream. It is not the agony of the penance they pay but the terror of being obliterated. The voices of the Gods blend with the screams for mercy. I can hear them if I focus, but Hades tries to keep his realm from collapsing, and every time we move, I lose some of the meaning.

Still, I heard mention of my mother. I swear I heard my mother’s name. Prayers for her to help. Questions of why she has forsaken them. Pleas for forgiveness for they know not what they’ve done.

Just yesterday the sky was darkened but did not break. Today it has shattered. My heart races. Has our bonding destroyed the balance? Has my father discovered my betrayal? I fear the worst as I hold onto Hades desperate for all of it to stop.

We pass by the River Styx. There are so many lanterns on the water. Not all of them are crossing smoothly. Some speed across the river at such speed that they resemble a streak of light in the air or a falling star.

Silvie and Hades’s companion Minox are with us, following every step Hades takes.

The stone ceiling high above us rattles as if someone’s on the bottom of every realm in the Underworld, pulling up pieces and throwing them all the way to the sky.

“Why is this happening?” I question and it’s not Hades who answers. It’s not my lover who looks down at me with sorrowful eyes.

“Because you are here,” Sylvie tells me. “Isn’t that right, my Lord?”

My heart pounds at the confession. “My father knows?” I ask in a whisper.

“Your mother,” Minox reveals. His voice deathly low and I don’t miss how Hades glares at him. She knows. My heart shatters as well and yet it is still whole with her there. As if she holds it together herself.

Stunned I say nothing.

From the distance the ground shakes and the castle trembles as the battlements break and tumble down stories to the ground. Shreiks are heard. It is pure chaos that has seemingly come from nowhere. But I remember the past few days. I remember how Hades would not tell me.

“You knew?” I whisper and still Hades does not speak. He offers me nothing as tears well in my eyes.

“I love you and I will not let them take you,” he finally says.

“Give her leave to go, my Lord,” Silvie begs. There is too much magic and power whipping through the valley, it batters her hair around her face. “Our queen will find her way back.”

My pulse slows as does the world around me. This chaos. This is because of me.

I cannot bear the destruction.

“No,” Hades calls, without turning to look at her. “She belongs to me. She belongs here .”

“My Lord, there are too many dead.”

Hades tightens his jaw.

“Please,” Silvie starts, but we are moving again. His hand in mine, our robes tattered in the wind. Where can we even run when everything collapses? Why has it come to this?

I recognize this place in the realm—the isle of Achilles. The water lashes at the shore, pummeling the island. The rain is so thick that I can hardly make it out.

Whatever Hades does calms the storm to a driving rain.

“Does she not miss her mother?” Silvie tries and words catch in my throat. I am torn. The Fates warning comes back to me. I do not feel that I could ever be complete. My head spins with the chaos and the knowledge as small pieces fit into place.

It is difficult to look back at the God I love. For he played a part, did he not?

“Does she not miss the flowers?” Minox argues. It is strange to see a man I have not spoken with much make arguments about the things I must long for.

“You could allow her to simply see them, my Lord.” Silvie raises her voice to be heard as we move again. There is fire in the trees. “A visit would be enough. She must be allowed to?—”

“They will take her from me!” Hades thunders, working his magic on the fires that plague the Underworld. Is he less powerful when he is holding my hand? He has not let go in all this time, and now his grip tightens on mine as if it is me he’s saving from the fire and not the trees. “I cannot leave the Underworld. I cannot accompany her. They will steal her away!” he screams and his fear is evident.

Be careful of your thoughts , is all I can think.

Minox steps closer as the fire jumps to another stand of trees, and Hades follows it. The fire roars louder, then subsides a little.

“Hekate will return with the end of the new moon. Surely she can accompany her?”

“It is not the accompaniment out of the Underworld that troubles me.” Hades stops on the path. It is windy here, too, with leaves filling the air and branches cracking into each other. “What if she does not return?”

“We will take her back,” Silvie suggests fiercely. They speak of me as if I am an item and yet, I cannot find an argument. For my father’s vengeance is harsh and my mother… to do this? I cannot imagine her state. It cannot be true. None of this is true, I will myself to change what is here, and yet when I open my eyes, nothing has changed at all.

We move again, this time landing in a meeting hall on the floor below the rooms I share with Hades. The quiet is intense after so much ear-splitting noise.

“I need to know the truth. All of it!” I demand into that silence. My voice echoes in the large space. It is not one of the courts, but it reminds me of one—stone pillars, a polished floor, a dais on one side that people could approach. “This is happening because of me?”

Hades’s eyes flash. He pushes one hand through his hair. “They wish for me to live in a hell of my own making. Zeus always has.”

I do not understand. “But these are your realms. You have power here. All this time, you have?—”

“All this time, I have been living in—” Anger ripples off Hades, but he cuts himself off, turning his head at a sound.

I do not recognize it at first.

Then it gets louder. It is the sound of three dogs barking at once, alerting Hades that a stranger—or at least an outsider—has entered his realm.

“Hekate is coming,” Hades declares. Hekate. A chill runs down my spine. Her name alone inspires something within me. Something dark and powerful.

“Why is she here?” I question in a whisper looking out into the distance. But I know all too well. The powerful Titan doesn’t come on a whim. She is strategic and only steps in when things have gone too far.

“Death.” His eyes return to mine. “There is too much death, my Queen. The gods have created an imbalance. Your mother?—”

“My mother would do no such thing!” I cannot stop myself from silencing him.

Not my mother. She would never harm. I refuse to believe this is her doing. She would not . My mother has always been dedicated to keeping the realms in balance. She has given so much life to the mortal realm. She has answered their prayers! She gives for the sake of giving.

Screams rise in the distance. The dogs continue to bark. It is all too much.

Sylvie steps closer and takes my hand. “My Queen, mothers would do unfathomable things for their daughters.”

Before I can speak another word, Hades takes my hand from hers and places something in it. It’s cold and I have an instinct to pull back.

“What are you doing?” My voice is less than a whisper. There are seeds in my hand, caught between my touch and his. I would know the shape of seeds anywhere. “What are these?”

“Do not drink the wine your father gives you,” Hades tells me urgently.

“What?”

“Eat them quickly, my love. And do not eat or drink anything from your father.” My head spins and he pushes my hand up. As if to have me eat them now.

It’s all too much but the look in his eyes… I cannot deny him.

Hades releases my hand, and I tip the seeds into my mouth. At least some land on my tongue, and I slip them between my teeth. They are tart and juicy, flavor bursting every time I chew. They are small, but there is much to them, and some fall to the ground with his rushed approach

I lift my hand to my mouth, hardly feeling it, and tip another three seeds onto my tongue.

Hades strokes my cheek.

I look into his eyes, a thousand questions racing through my mind. Why is this happening? Why now ? What more would I have to say to him if we only had time?

We do not.

The barking is louder. They are here. I am certain what once was is gone. Today marks a new era. What is to come, I am not sure. But I must continue in uncertainty.

I swallow again. “Hades.” I whisper his name, already feeling as if I’m saying goodbye.

“Do not drink the wine, my love. Promise me,” he orders again. “Tell me you understand.”

“I will not drink the wine,” I repeat, but I cannot tell him I understand. I have always drunk the wine offered at my father’s table. I cannot think of a single reason why I should avoid it. But Hades’s expression is deathly serious. He nods at my promise, then glances up.

The doors to the meeting hall open with a harsh bang, and Cerberus’s barks fill the room. As well as other hounds. Those who accompany Hekate. The mother, the maiden, the crone.

“Hades,” I say, one more time. I cannot face what is to come without telling him something, but no words come. How can I possibly state what he has done for me into words? How can I tell him what our bond has come to mean to me in this short time? The days here were so long when I first arrived in the Underworld, and now it seems they have flown by.

I am not ready to say goodbye and yet, I know that I must. I do not wish to leave, and then there is a part of me already gone. It is a torment I cannot bear. It paralyzes me.

I am not the same woman I was when I came here, and it’s because Hades gave me the freedom to discover myself.

I look down at my wrists, startling at the realization that there are no magical chains flickering there. Nothing binds me to Hades’s bedroom. When was the last time I felt their presence? I cannot remember.

I look back up into his pained expression, speechless.

“My Queen,” he says.

“My King,” I manage.

Then magic thunders in the room. A black cloud whirls tightly through the space, stopping only a few feet away from me.

Hekate steps out of the dark, her hand held out to me. She is majestic. Her dark hair flowing and her eyes nearly pitch black. They mirror all that is around her. Magic flows from the powerful Titan. The mother of witchcraft and the keeper of keys.

My head bows in her presence but more so, my body wishes to be held by her. To release the pain. She takes it so willingly. Please, Hekate. I pray in silence.

I take her hand without thinking, only realizing what I have done when our hands touch.

“Come, Persephone. Now .”

Hekate starts to lead me away. All those times I dreamed of rescue, and now that it is here, I do not want it. Not like this. It’s like being kidnapped a second time.

“Hekate wait—” I start and look back on my lover. My King and my Hades.

I want to stop everything and refuse to move another step until I have all the answers, but it is too late—we are already going, and I do not think Hekate will allow us to stop.

“You must come back to the world that is now forever changed.”

Hekate leads me forward, and I glance over my shoulder to look at Hades.

He stands tall, his hand on Cerberus’s head and his eyes as sharp as ever. I want him at my side, just as I was at his side at court. It does not feel right that I should go and he should stay.

“Hekate,” he calls, his voice ringing through the distance between us. Even Hekate’s name is a command. “Do not leave her side. Do not betray me.”

The mother, the maiden, the crone looks back at Hades, her eyes narrowed. There is some deeper meaning here. Something I do not understand. I have changed, yes—but I have not forgotten how it felt to watch my powers dry up without a single clue why they should do so.

She glances down at my hands—my right in hers, and my left in a fist around the remaining seeds.

“Show me,” she says as tears slip down my cheeks.

Once again, I obey her. Why ? There are no chains to hold me. And I want so desperately for someone to stop this madness. This pain. Why does agony fill me so?

“Did you eat them?” she questions.

I nod, not understanding a thing that occurs.

“Foolish girl, what have you done?” she asks breathlessly as the sky cracks above us in a powerful boom.