Page 31 of His in the Dark

HADES

I have suffered many times before, for far longer than mere mortals could ever conceive.

None of that suffering compares at all to watching Persephone walk away, her hand in Hekate’s and so many questions in her eyes.

It is torture that I cannot answer them. I did this. And I vow if she does not return to me, I will end it all. The only words that keep me from torment are those of the Fates. I must let her go but I fear too much. It is a sickness.

The pain is unimaginable.

It is so great that at first it does not feel like anything but an empty space.

But Persephone glances back at me one last time, and there is nothing but pain.

Then she is gone. Away in Hekate’s grasp. Hekate will return on Deipnon. I will have my words with her then.

They are both gone, and it does not matter that Cerberus is here, nor the two inhabitants of the Underworld who have followed me all day in hopes of achieving this very thing.

I leave them both behind. I cannot find it within myself to speak to them. Not with this mortal blow to my chest.

It is the agony I have lived with all my life, only stronger. It is twice as bitter having known the sweetness of Persephone’s lips. I do not know how to survive the rending ache of needing to touch her and having her taken from me. My mind is unsteady and so is my footing as my kingdom falls to pieces.

Cerberus stays at my side as I move through my home without seeing any of the halls or rooms that pass me by. Nothing matters. Nothing matters but Persephone, and she is not here. The screams are muted white noise and all I can hear is the ghost of her whispering my name.

I was made to be unworthy. I was made to have nothing of my own.

Somehow, I have made it to the door of my rooms. I push it open and go inside.

Moving has made no difference. My rooms make no difference. I do not truly own them. I will never truly own anything. I will have nothing, just as I have always had nothing, yet I will remain responsible for everything.

That was my reality until Persephone came to me. Without her, it would have been my reality forever. It would have been the same as living out my existence in the Titan’s stomach. Bleak and lonely and without joy.

I cling to the pillow to inhale her scent as the cries summon me. Praying for mercy. Death will come to all and I would feel relief.

I am at the windows before I can stop myself. I draw back my fists and hit them as hard as I can. Pain echoes through the bones in my hands.

I hit the windows again, screaming in anger. It is a satisfying sound. The walls around the windows rattle with the force of my blows.

But the windows do not break. For this was made a prison for her and it is where I rightly belong.

The Underworld will not let me out no matter how much I want to follow Persephone. I cannot leave no matter how hot my anger burns.

In my memory, I return to the mirror. Olympus is blinding. It is endless and white behind Zeus. Too bright, and purposely so. I go back to the night she was taken. Back to what Zeus said. Back to when I knew this was the only way …

3 months prior and the night Persephone casts the spell

“I will her to turn mortal,” Zeus says. I must bite my tongue to keep from tearing him apart. Turn mortal ? My queen? How can he think so little of her and fear her at the same time? “I have heard the prophecy that says my offspring will be stronger than I. This is a win for both of us. I shall turn her mortal, it has already begun and shortly there will be no power left in her. She will not overpower me and she will go to you. You will make her a fine partner and King. I only need a little while longer.”

Zeus should have known there was no way to misdirect fate in this manner. If he was so concerned about his children eclipsing his power, he should never have had children at all.

A foolish thought. No one has ever been able to tell Zeus anything. He simply assumes he will bend every prophecy to his preferences without facing a single consequence.

That is not how any realm works. There is always a consequence.

I stand firm in the mirror, my jaw tight but my expression unmoving. I do not wish her a mortal. I want her. I crave her. I’ve watched her for months. She is to be a queen at my side. Zeus wishes her away and I to take her. Why harm my wife? I cannot allow it.

“I want to have Persephone forever,” I tell him.

“Forever you shall. She will be mortal. She shall perish as they do and will be sent to your realm. You need only wait a little while longer, no?”

“I don’t want her as a mortal soul in the Underworld. I want her as the Goddess she is.”

He scoffs.

Anger bristles through me. How dare he question my desire. How dare he attempt to change the perfection Persephone is.

“For what purpose?” Zeus asks with shock and humor even.

For what? What are goddesses for, but to rule? What is a goddess like Persephone for, but to have everything her heart desires, and every possible power at her fingertips? What is my Persephone for, if not to be worshipped as the queen she is?

“To rule beside me,” I say, barely able to keep my voice in check. Zeus already knows that I will not do his bidding without appropriate payment. Without a deal that benefits me . But I cannot let him think he can use Persephone to control me. “She is meant for me, and she is meant to rule.”

“Very well,” says Zeus, as if it does not matter what becomes of Persephone. “She shall be a nymph very soon as her magic wanes, you won’t have to wait very long at all.” As if he is satisfied to have her out of sight and out of mind. Safely in the Underworld, where he will not have to look at her and wonder if her powers are growing stronger. “We have a deal.”

The anger turns to rage. Soon? How soon? The questions pile in my mind but they all lead to one conclusion. I must take her now. I have to save her.

“How?” I ask him.

“How what?” he responds as if the question isn’t obvious.

“How did you take her powers?” My eyes meet his in the mirror.

“The wine of course. Poison in the wine.” He answers so easily.

“I have matters to attend to,” I tell him and end it.

“As do I.”

The mirror goes dark.

I curl my fist in front of my mouth and breathe deeply. She is mine , and I have little time left.

No more dwelling on Zeus. I turn away from the mirror and leave it behind, moving down the halls to my rooms as quickly as I can. Minox steps out of an alcove up ahead of me, but disappears into shadow when he sees that I will not stop for him.

I need her. Now .

A small voice in the back of my mind whispers to me as I stride down the hall.

You could have had her for infinite time, it says. If she was a mortal soul in your Underworld, you could have kept her forever.

I wave away that suggestion like I would wave away a cloud of smoke. Persephone was not born to be a mortal in my realm, the thread of her life snipped by the Fates for any number of reasons.

She was born to be a Goddess.

And she was born to rule .

I open the door to my rooms. In comparison to the hall, it is bright, though not overwhelmingly so. The fire burns hot in the grate, casting flickering shadows over everything. Those shadows will caress Persephone’s skin like a lover.

I steel myself against the rush of arousal and approach the bed.

With the fire crackling and the rustling of the sheets, I can imagine her here. She turns over in my bed. There’s a sultry sinful look in her dark eyes, filled with lust as she peers back at me. The innocence is still there as she pulls the silk threads to her chest and her pouty lips, slightly swollen from pleasuring me, slip open at the sight of me towering over her.

My Persephone. My Queen.

Her chest rises and falls with heavy breaths.

I know her so well. Every curve of her body already. For months I have watched her as she slept. I have been in her dreams, cloaked in darkness.

A deep groan of discontent bellows up my chest. The voices of warning hiss at my impatience.

She will be mine in every way. Every possible essence of her will bear my mark.

Time, the warning echoes in the back of my head. In time…she will be yours.

In time.

I come back to the present hell, my forehead cool against the glass, and straighten. My realm stretches below the window, but it is empty.

Oh, it is filled with souls. Bursting with souls. There are too many of them. The balance has been thrown off.

But without Persephone, it is empty.

The crackling of the fire in the grate sounds like a mockery now. It’s taunting me with the idea of Persephone in my bed. Desire so fucking strong that being without it could be the end to me.

I back away from the window and fold my arms over my chest. Cerberus pads to my side, sitting close so that I can reach his heads. I stroke each one in turn, biting back wave after wave of emotion.

This is what has to be done.

I knew it would have to be done when all of this began.

And it began, as so many tortures do, with Zeus.

He wanted Persephone weak, and then dead. He offered her to me as my Queen for he did love her, but he feared her more than he cared for her.

So he poisoned her. Even knowing him, I am stunned. How much time is left?

I am too selfish, and too stubborn, to let that happen so easily.

Minox enters and before he can speak I command him, “Take her in the night. Go now.”

“My Lord–” Minox begins.

“Aphrodite has opened the realm. She made a deal with a demon. I cannot enter but you can. You must. Tonight. No more time can pass.”

“My Lord… I have never ventured to Olympus. If caught…

“If caught, you will die. If you do not return with her this evening, I shall kill you myself. You will go. Now.”

I will have Persephone as the Goddess she is. I cannot allow Zeus to harm her.

Present day

I cast my intention in the obsidian wall, in which her power lies:

With a hand against the cold crystal I pray: Let her recover from the poison that had seeped into every part of her. Give her the time and space and guidance she needed to discover the powers within. Bring her back to me. Let her grow in my realm as Zeus did not allow her to do in Olympus.

From my realm, I cannot see her, and that causes me more grief than Zeus can possibly know. I stare up at the sky, which has been splitting and raining down souls for days, and imagine that I can speak into Hekate’s ear despite the distance between Olympus and the Underworld.

“Do not fail me, Hekate,” I call to her. “If Persephone does not return to me, Demeter’s reign of death will be met with my reign of destruction.”

For the good of all and to the harm of none

May vengeance and justice be a healing path

May it be quick; may it be severe

May we all receive what we deserve

May it be screamed for all to hear

So mote it be

His in the Fire , book 2, coming 2026.