All her focus, strength, and magic had gone into healing the world, and four days after her emergence from the Underworld, the healing magic Persephone had unleashed upon the earth
returned it to its natural state. With the help of Rhea, the fields brought forth their bounty and the mortals began to heal. The mortality rate decreased, and the balance of life and death was restored. All was well again.
All, except her heart.
She’d returned to the villa and snuggled into her blankets and slept, knowing that now that she was back, her mother could maintain the spring. Her plans were to confront her mother, but upon waking she thought it best to postpone it until she was up to the fight.
Leaving the bed, she opened her wardrobe and started at the selection of cloth. Pastel pinks, blues, yellows, lavenders, and greens. She hated them all. Picking out a plain white dress, she slipped into it and left her room.
Hermes was eating breakfast at the table, speaking to Demeter about the state of the world and the mortals with great relish, his mouth full of food. “They’re praising you, Demeter, for returning the spring, and they’re building temples in your name.” He glanced at Persephone and swallowed his food, the glint of malice in his eyes. “Many fear the return of the Destroyer.”
Persephone’s eyes narrowed. “Since the Destroyer had little to do with it, maybe they should fear the goddess who did.”
“Hush,” Demeter scolded her, placing a bowl of fruit on the table and motioning for her to sit.
Demeter was pleased by the news. But why wouldn’t she be? The world was praising her.
Her daughter was home. Everything was as she would have it. It didn’t matter that it would’ve taken her months to accomplish what Persephone did in a week.
Demeter sat beside Hermes. “Hades brought this terrible devastation upon us all. They have a right to fear him.”
Persephone blinked. How blind could the woman be?! Hades wasn’t the Destroyer they
feared.
“I’m not hungry.”
“You must eat, Persephone. You haven’t eaten in days.”
Persephone laughed and walked out the door. Every dish laid before her since her return to the world above had no taste or made her sick. She wished for a bowl of Penelope’s mutton stew, or leek soup. Anything but fruit.
She barely started down the hill when the door burst open and her mother’s cry split the
peace of the morning, “Persephone! Persephone, where are you?”
She sighed and turned. “I’m here, mother.”
“Don’t do that again! I thought…I thought he’d taken you again.”
She didn’t have to ask who he was. She knew. “Mother! Hades is my husband and he treated
me with the utmost respect.”
“No more talk of that monster.” She dragged Persephone up the hill and to the garden,
pushing her down in the grass and setting a basket of flowers beside her. “Why don’t you make one of those crowns you like so much?”
Persephone picked a few roses from the basket, ignoring the sharp prick of the thorns as she started to weave the stems together. A few bright drops fell upon her dress. It seemed only fitting that her flesh should cry the tears she couldn’t.
She wanted to return to the Underworld without the fear that the winter would return and the mortals would die. But her mother would never allow it. The winter would descend upon the Earth, thousands more would die, and even the immortals would suffer her mother’s anguish.
She couldn’t allow everyone to pay for her selfish desire.
Her mother knelt next to her, mindlessly going on about something as Persephone wove a
white rose into the red crown and thought of the husband she left behind. The twinkle in his midnight blue eyes as he laughed, the smile on his handsome face as he chased her through their garden, the callused palm of his hand as he stroked her naked flesh until she cried for release, his slick body flowing over her as he moved inside her, the unspoken love in his eyes as he looked down upon her and the warrior soul that would do anything to protect her. Every night she dreamed of his warmth, his arms wrapped around her, the gentle breathing against her neck, and the kisses that touched her to the soul. And each morning she awakened, emptier than the day before.
Part of her wanted Hades to come for her and take her home to the Underworld. And yet,
another part of her wanted him to stay away. Her obligation to the mortals meant denying her desires.
A tear slid down her cheek.
“What’s wrong, dear?”
She met her mother’s worried glance. “I miss my husband, Mother.” Her mother sat in stony silence and she decided to get the rest out. “Would it be so terrible if I returned to the Underworld? You could come to visit me. And I can come up here to visit you.”
“But you’re my little girl.”
The sun above her head beat down upon her, and yet, Persephone was cold as ice inside. She feared she would never be warm again. “I’ll always be your daughter, but I long for home, for the husband I love.”
“He kidnapped you! He forced you into marrying him! You could’ve ended up like Leuce!”
“Leuce is Hades sister, not his wife,” she said through numb lips. Her mother would never let her go without destroying mankind. There was no point in pleading with the woman.
“I just want you to be safe.” Demeter reached out and clasped her wrist. “And you’re not safe with him. Trust me to know what is best for you.”
Persephone would forever be miserable, cut off from the only man who loved her and she
could love, and all because of her mother could let her go. Persephone jerked her hand from her mother, disgusted by the woman who’d birthed her. She didn’t know she could hate Demeter as much as she did at that moment.
The words felt thick in her throat and another piece of her soul withered as she said, “Never again.”
She bolted for the nearest bush, relieving the sparse contents of her stomach.
HADES SAT on his throne, half-listening to Thanatos’ latest report. The death tolls were
dropping dramatically and in the last week had almost reached their usual numbers. That, at least, was the good news.
The bad news was that despite Persephone’s sacrifice to return life to the world, the mortals praised Demeter. As if the woman had the strength to do anything! She’d caused the deaths because she couldn’t function without Persephone! And what did Persephone get in the process?
She was blamed for the devastation. She was the Destroyer. He was more to blame than sweet Persephone!
Well, he wouldn’t allow it. His gentle wife wouldn’t live her immortal life as the destroyer or bringer of death. He would make sure she was given her due praise.
“Thanatos, would you inform the judges that it is time?”
Thanatos frowned. “Time for what?” he asked, suspicion heavy in his voice.
“Our Queen, your daughter, returned to the world to set things right, and I think it’s only fair if we help her.” He smiled and rose from his throne. “I have to visit the Fates about some souls.”
Thanatos returned the smile with a huge grin. “Aye, Aye, Captain.”
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
IN DREAMS she was free. Free to live, and love, and be loved. She was free to be who she
was. She no longer had to hide. There were no more flowers, or dancing, or singing, or sunlight.
She no longer dreamed of that elusive but powerful desire that was just beyond her reach and which she couldn’t pin down or explain, because now that desire had a name, a face, and a voice.
It was the god who’d abducted her body and captured her heart. Her friend. Her lover. Her husband. Her Hades.
He invaded her dreams as he invaded her life, softly and smoothly. Every night he came to her and he was the only one who existed, the only one that mattered. They made love beneath the moonlight. Wonderful, glorious, earth shattering love that drove her to the very heights of
ecstasy.
She always awoke from her dreams, aching with an unsatisfied need to be with him. It was
more than the physical release she craved. She needed the sharing of mind, of heart, of soul, and of magic. She needed her other half.
Never had she felt such loneliness, never such emptiness, such aching loss. This couldn’t go on, not forever. It would destroy her. It would destroy the last visages of love she held for her mother. It would make her as bitter and bloodthirsty as the harpies.
And then one night she woke from her all too familiar dreams, reached for him, his name on her lips, and her heart thundering in her ears. Moonlight poured through her window,
highlighting a shadowy presence in the corner of her room, making her heart race with hope.
At first, she thought it was another dream. Just a dream within a dream. But then he knelt by her bed and she reached out to touch him, to reassure herself that he wasn’t a mere figment of her imagination.
She stroked his face, tracing the scars bisecting his clean shaven face. “You came.”
“I came for you. Come home, Persephone.”
She didn’t want to answer him. She didn’t want to explain why it was an impossible request.
She wanted him to make love to her.
Pulling his head down to her, she kissed him, igniting the spark. She knew he needed her as badly as she needed him. “Love me,” she pleaded.
He drew back the covers and she drew him to her. She needed to feel him, to let his love
consume her as he returned her passion. His tongue found hers and she relished the taste of him.
His kiss devoured her. Her hands ran along his back, clenching at his tunic as he traced a line of hot kisses from her mouth to her neck. How she missed the familiar masculine smell and feel of him.
Oh that they could always be this way. Together. Alone. No mother to come between them.
No mortals depending on their being apart so that they might survive.
His hands caressed her breasts through the sleeping gown covering them, but his touch
seared through the thin cloth until it flamed her desire to new heights. She rolled him onto his back and lifted her gown so she could straddle him. As much as she hated their clothes, she lacked the patience to wait until they were off before she could feel him inside of her. She ached, the wetness moistening her thighs. She was ready for him. She’d been ready for him since the first night they’d been apart.
Her hands slid his tunic up to his waist, giving her access to his cock. She settled on top of him, moaning as he slowly filled her. He was hard and long. She was hot and wet. He groaned and whispered her name.
She bent down and kissed him, finding a sensual thrill in tasting him while she clenched
around his erection, rocking forward. His hands rested on her hips as she moved back and forth, pressing her deeper, stroking the fire that burned deep inside. She straightened and threw her head back, her long hair cascading down her back. She closed her eyes and absorbed his
mounting pleasure and offered her own to him.
His hands slid over her skin, cupping her breasts, gently pinching her nipples. She groaned, increasing the rhythm of her rocking hips, knowing neither of them would last long. This wasn’t about love. This was about need, raw desire, a desperate thirst that had to be satisfied before they could think clearly.
She was so close to the release her body cried for, and through the energy flowing fast and furious between them, she knew he was too. She ran her hands along his strong arms and leaned forward. He moved beneath her, thrusting deep into her.
She grew tighter around him, her breathing heavy and her skin damp with sweat. “Come with me.”
Their movements became animalistic in nature, each working toward a single goal. No other thought but the quest for pleasure pulsed through them as their energies merged and became one.
Her body constricted against him and she muffled her cries in his shoulder. She felt him
throbbing as he arched his back and spilled his seed.
He held her tightly to him, his cry muffled in her neck. They were wrapped in a cocoon of love, of pleasure, of completion. She hadn’t known it was possible to feel such raw need. It left her feeling dependent on him, as he was dependent on her.
She came down from the heights of heaven in gentle successions, and he joined her. It almost felt as if she were floating down into his arms. She wanted to stay there with him forever. She never wanted the morning to come when her mother would wake up and drag her out to the
garden. She just wanted to stay in his arms and enjoy this feeling of bliss.
He held her tightly to him, breathing hard, and she let him. She rested in his embrace, feeling very tired and very happy. She felt safe.
It was only as the first rays of the sun lightened the sky that she reluctantly climbed from the bed and prepared for the day. He watched her clean the evidence of their love making from her body and dress in a gown of pale blue. She brushed and braided her hair and placed her sandals on her feet.
Only when she was done, her back still to him so she couldn’t see him leave, did he speak.
The words were soft but they were words she dreaded. “When are you coming home?”
She fingered the cloth of her skirt. She could delay this no longer, but then how could she tell him after the passion they shared?
The bed sheets rustled. “Persephone? When are you coming home?”
Her gaze darted to the ceiling. A ceiling she had looked at many times while growing up, and it suddenly seemed like a foreign world to her. One she was no longer a part of. One she had to stay in.
She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t tell him. She shook her head and closed her eyes against the tears burning behind her eyelids. How could she do this to him? It’d break his heart. He loved her more than anything.
He cupped her face in the palm of his hand and turned her face to him, kissing away the
tears. She felt the swirl of frustration and anger ebb from him. “Persephone? I want to be with you. Do you want to be with me?”
She wanted to be with him more than anything she’d ever wanted. No one would ever
replace the love she had for him. He was her husband, her mate, and her lover. He was
everything she needed in this immortal life. And she knew that he felt the same.
“Hades, I can’t.”
His anger hit her like a blow to the stomach. She knew he’d be angry, and yet, the piercing coldness clawing through their bond shocked her. “She’s your mother, Persephone, not your jailor.”
“My first loyalty is to the mortals.”
“Mortals? What do they have to do with this?”
“Everything. Are you aware of how many died while I was gone?”
“Yes. And I know why they died. Because your mother threw a temper tantrum.”
She met his gaze, startled by the tenderness she found there, despite the anger she still felt from him. “Every time I even mention going to the Underworld, the plants begin to die. If I leave, there will be more deaths.” She wrapped her hands around the back of his neck and
pressed her forehead against his. “Can’t you come to me? Like now? We can still be together.”
He jerked away from her and her hands fell away.
“I care deeply for you, Persephone, but I’ll not be your plaything. Either you are my wife and will be with me? Or this must end here.”
Why did he have to make this harder than it already was? “If I go with you, how many
people will die?”
“As many as there has to be. You can’t control what your mother does. And if Zeus is as
powerful as he claims, then he should handle the matter.”
“But he can’t make her bring the good weather or sustain the plants. He can’t override free will.”
“He can’t do much of anything.” He straightened his tunic. “Please, Persephone. Come with me.”
&n
bsp; Her heart broke as she said the single word, “No.”
His face hardened.
“There are too many lives at stake.”
“That’s not your fault.”
She was trapped. No matter what she did, neither her husband nor her mother would be
happy. Her stomach twisted into knots. If her husband wasn’t happy, he’d never return to her, and she’d have to spend her life without him. The thought caused a stab of pain to pierce her heart.
She didn’t want to lose him. He was the world to her. But she had a responsibility to the mortals she’d created. She pressed her hands over her ears, frustrated with the endless debate that had consumed her every waking moment since she left the Underworld.
She wanted to scream or spew. She turned and bolted for the wash basin, the contents of her belly emptying into the bowl.
A hand pulled the hair away from her face and stroked her back. “I’m sorry, Persephone. I just want my wife back.”
The door swung open and Demeter screamed. Persephone stared at her mother, surprised by
what she considered an irrational response to finding her daughter with her own husband in her bedroom. Hades stepped in front of Persephone, hands on his hips, legs spread slightly apart, as if he readied himself for a battle. And maybe he was. Demeter sure looked as if she was ready to take him on, win or lose.
By the gods, was the woman daft?
“What are you doing to my daughter?”
“Has it been so long that you don’t remember what men and women do behind closed
doors?”
She gasped. “How dare you insinuate such a thing! I’ll not have you defiling my innocent
child.”
Persephone’s cheeks flushed.
“I didn’t defile her. She welcomed me.”
“Bastard! Taking the innocence of a child.”
“She’s hardly a child, Demeter. She’s a grown woman.”
“She would have never left me! You stole her against her will! You ravished her!”
“Stop speaking of me as if I’m not in the room!” Persephone stepped around Hades and faced her mother. “I’m not a child! I’m Queen of the Underworld! I’m in love with Hades. I’ve loved him since I was a child and Rhea first told me of him. I’ve loved him since the first moment I saw him in Coronus’ prison and knew he was for me.” She felt him start beside her and she smiled. It was good to know she could still surprise him. “I seduced him, Mother.”
My Lord Hades Page 29
