Dark Desires (Dark Romance Boxed Set)

by Cerys du Lys

  “Just let me tell my husband.” The words made her smile.

  The God of Death spoke to Aidon in a heated whisper as Persephone approached, “My workload has increased tenfold—mortals are freezing to death in their beds! All the other gods are starting to notice, and you know if Zeus figures out what’s going on—”

  Persephone touched Aidon’s arm. “Figures out what?”

  “Nothing a beautiful bride should worry about on her wedding day.” Aidon kissed her cheek, giving Thanatos a quelling look.

  Persephone looked between them for a moment, frowning. Finally, she turned to Aidon. “Hecate wishes to speak to me. Shall I go with her?”

  His eyes met the dark-haired goddess’ gaze and he studied her for a moment, frowning. Then he gave Persephone a nod. “Don’t go far.”

  She leaned in and kissed his cheek before taking Hecate’s hand and walking with her between the pools of Mnemosyne and Lethe.

  “Did Tisi ever find the two shades Aidon sent to Elysium?” Persephone asked as the two goddesses began the ascent up the steep staircase guarded by the three headed dog, Cerberus. He raised only one head as they approached, his tail thumping, a clear indication he knew them both. Persephone had grown fond of him and stopped to scratch him behind the ears as Aidon did.

  “Meleager’s uncles?” Hecate led Persephone up the last few steps and they walked along the banks of the river Styx as they spoke. Up here, the walls glowed a deep, dark orange. “No, thankfully. He’d be scattered in tiny pieces all across Greece by now if she had.”

  “Well, I’m glad you saved at least one young, impetuous hero.” Persephone followed Hecate as she settled herself into Charon’s skiff. The boat rocked with the weight of the goddesses as the boatman ferried them across.

  “I shouldn’t meddle, but Tisi…she can be so vicious.” Hecate gave Persephone a hand out of the boat. They were now on the opposite shore, near the entrance of the Underworld.

  “It’s justice, of sorts, I suppose.” Persephone took the goddess’ hand again as they walked toward the gates. Persephone, so involved in their conversation, realized for the first time how far they had come from the Chamber of Judgment. She remembered Aidon’s warning not to go far with a stab of fear.

  “Hecate, perhaps we should go back?” Persephone stopped short of the gates and the dark-haired goddess glanced back at her.

  “You know I am a twain-traveler.” Hecate turned and grasped the blonde goddess’ hands in hers. “I can take you home, Sephie. Is this something you wish?”

  Shaking her head, Persephone backed slowly away, her eyes wide. “No…I don’t want to go back.”

  “You don’t miss your mother?” Hecate cocked her head, her eyes searching. “I have spoken to her, you know. She misses you a great deal.”

  “My mother?” Persephone looked to where Hecate pointed, past the gates of Hades, where the world she had always known still resided. She knew her mother must be worried sick, wondering what had happened to her, but she had tried to block out the thought. “What did she say?”

  “She asked me if I had seen what manner of god or mortal had stolen her fair daughter away.” Hecate sighed, her dark eyes filled with sadness. “She was very distraught.”

  Persephone felt the blood drain from her own face at the thought. She grabbed Hecate’s arm. “What did you tell her?”

  “I told her the truth, at the time.” The dark-haired goddess clasped Persephone’s hand again and squeezed it. “I had heard your voice, but had not seen who had taken you.”

  Relieved, Persephone glanced again toward the gates. “Please don’t tell her, Hecate. She wouldn’t understand.”

  “She loves you.” Hecate caught Persephone’s gaze with her own. “She does nothing now but wander alone, calling and searching for you. Won’t you give her some answer?”

  Persephone shook her head, hugging her arms and looking across the river. What answer could she give her mother? What could she possibly tell her?

  “She spoke of a necklace she gave you,” Hecate continued. “For protection. She couldn’t understand how you could have been taken if you’d been wearing it.”

  “I wasn’t,” Persephone frowned. “I took it off, just before Aidon—” She touched her throat, where the ruby pulsed now. She had traded one necklace for another. Her mother would never understand. Persephone turned from the gates and pulled away, shaking her golden head. “I can’t, Hecate. Please, just don’t tell her where I am.”

  “I won’t betray you,” Hecate agreed with a sigh. “But I would ask you to reconsider…at least tell her you are safe.”

  “No.” Persephone backed away, raising her hands in a warding off gesture. “She would never allow me to stay here…and I can’t imagine my life anywhere else.”

  “You are a woman, now.” Hecate frowned. “And Queen of the Underworld. Perhaps it’s time you started acting as such?”

  Persephone’s face flushed and her jaw set as she stared at the other goddess. “You will not tell me what to do.” Turning, she stormed away down the shore, heading back toward the ferry and leaving Hecate standing near the gates. The dark-haired goddess didn’t follow her.

  Chapter Eight

  Pacing the shore, Persephone waited and watched as Charon’s boat emptied of its passengers on the opposite side, willing him to hurry. She wanted to get back to Aidon as quickly as she could. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Hecate no longer standing by the gates, and she hoped the goddess wouldn’t betray her and tell Demeter her location—or her activity.

  “She has gone, Queen Persephone…”

  Persephone whirled in the direction of the voice addressing her, surprised to find a shade sitting behind her on a rock. She found herself startled by her own ability to understand him. He spoke the language of the dead, and yet she recognized the words. What magic is this?

  “Pardon me for addressing you so, my Queen.” The older man stood and bowed low before her. She realized there must have been some change in things when she accepted her position as Queen of the Underworld. Aidon could understand the language of the dead, and now she could as well. “I should have asked your permission first.”

  “No, please…” Persephone shook her head, frowning. She was used to a great deal of attention as a beautiful, young goddess, but this kind of reverence and formal greeting wasn’t something she had ever experienced and it made her uncomfortable. “Rise and come across the river with me.”

  The man shook his head sadly and glanced longingly across the black river, where Charon began his way back. “I am afraid I cannot. My wife left me no coin with which to cross over.”

  Frowning, Persephone watched the man sit back on the rock, his chin in his hand. A great scar crossed his cheek, like a half-moon, only partially hidden by his fingers. “I’m so sorry…were you too poor?”

  “Oh, no.” The man sighed again, his eyes on the skiff as it skimmed slowly toward them. “She had the coin, but chose not to send it with me. In fact, she left my body naked and unburied in the middle of the town square.”

  Persephone gasped, her eyes widening. “Blasphemy! That is no way to treat the dead!”

  The man nodded, his eyes brimming with tears he bravely blinked back. “Just so, oh fair and righteous Queen of the Underworld. I wish there was some way to repay her unkindness to me, but I am stuck here forever on this side of the Styx…”

  Her heart went out to him as she watched Charon dock his skiff against the rocky shore and begin to collect coin from the shades clamoring to climb on board.

  “I am Queen of the Underworld,” she murmured, almost as if reminding herself. She glanced back at the man sitting on the rock. He looked so sad and forlorn as he watched the other shades climbing on board the little boat. “Is there any way I might help you in your plight?”

  He brightened, his eyes gleaming. “Perhaps there is, oh generous one. If you would give me permission to return, just to ask my wife to amend her ways and give me a proper burial…?
”

  Persephone glanced toward the gates, remembering Hecate’s plea. Perhaps she could get a message to her mother after all. “If I let you go, will you deliver a message up there for me?”

  The man nodded eagerly. “Anything, goddess!”

  “Go to Demeter—Goddess of the Harvest, do you know of her?”

  “Of course.”

  Persephone frowned, thinking. “Tell her…her daughter is safe and well and happy and she need not worry. Can you do that?”

  “Indeed!” He stood, grinning, rubbing his hands together. “Does this mean I can go back up?”

  Nodding, she smiled at him, pleased to grant such a simple request. “It shall be so. Go, shade…and come back to us as soon as you are given a proper rest and have delivered my message.”

  “Thank you, goddess!” He leapt up and burst toward the gates so quickly she felt more than saw him pass. A sudden chill went through her and then he was simply gone, disappearing through the gates at the end of the cavern.

  When she sat in the boat, crossing the river Styx, she began to think twice about what she had done. It had seemed like such a simple request to grant, her first as Queen of the Underworld, and yet perhaps she should have waited to ask Aidon…

  Things were all so different and new here, and she knew it would take time for her to get used to it all. She stopped to scratch Cerberus behind each ear, making his back leg twitch uncontrollably, before making her way back to the Chamber of Judgment.

  Aidon still sat on his throne beside the three judges, but she saw Thanatos had departed. When Aidon saw her, he smiled, using his two-pronged scepter to wave her toward him. Most of the time, she almost forgot she spent her time here completely nude, until his eyes found her again. The realization filled her with heat as she advanced, feeling her black bridal veil brushing her hips as she walked.

  Using the pressure of his scepter on her shoulder to guide her, he pressed her to kneel before his throne. Then he cupped her chin, his eyes searching her face. “You were gone too long, beauty.”

  She turned and kissed his palm and then pressed it against her cheek. “Every moment away from you is too long.”

  Smiling, he held his hand out to her. “Come, my Queen.”

  Persephone took the throne beside his, marveling again at its warmth. From here, they could see the entire Chamber of Judgment with its seemingly constant influx of shades entering and leaving again toward their final destinies. She thought briefly of the man whose pardon she had granted and wondered if she should tell Aidon about him.

  “Hecate didn’t return with you?”

  Persephone flushed, remembering Hecate’s berating tone. “She had other things to attend to.”

  “Everyone seems busy, except us.” Aidon leaned over to kiss the nape of her neck. “Maybe we should go lock ourselves in our room again.”

  Persephone smiled as his lips traveled over her shoulder. “But what about what happened to poor Thanatos while we were locked away? Your kingdom clearly needs its king…”

  “And its queen.” Aidon’s hand slipped down to her lap, massaging her slim thigh.

  “What, exactly, do you do down here, anyway?” She wiggled away from his roaming hands, turning to look toward the three thrones on her left where each of the Underworld judges sat.

  Aidon grinned. “As little work as I can get away with and as much pleasure as possible.”

  She laughed. “I’m serious.”

  “So am I.” He winked and took her hand, caressing her palm with his thumb. “I am not so different here than I am in our bedroom.”

  Persephone flushed, trying to ignore the electric sensation traveling down her arm from the pressure of his hand against hers. “What do you mean?”

  “I am known for my fairness.” He lifted her hand to his mouth, kissing her palm. “I may be stern…even cruel…” His teeth raked over the sensitive flesh of her wrist and she gasped. “I have even been called unmerciful.” His eyes glowed as he saw her respond to his touch. “But I am always just.”

  “Aidon…” she whispered breathlessly as he nibbled his way up her inner arm.

  “Yes, my queen?”

  She wasn’t used to being called that and it made her feel too small and too big all at once. Trying to change the subject, she asked, “You didn’t answer my question. What exactly is it you do? Is it all about sitting on a throne all day?”

  He chuckled, pulling gently at the tender skin at the inside of her elbow with his teeth. “Hardly. I forget how little time you have been in this world.”

  “It takes getting used to,” she agreed, turning her eyes toward the ghostly light of the cypress tree. The lack of sunlight seemed to affect her the most. She met his eyes, seeing the concern in them, and smiled reassuringly. “But I’m adjusting, thanks to you.”

  “I want you to be happy here.” His eyes told her he didn’t quite believe her words, and she didn’t know if she believed them, either. Nuzzling her silky cheek against his thick, bare upper arm, she feathered soothing kisses there. “I know being my queen won’t always be an easy task.”

  “I just don’t understand what I’m meant to do…”

  Aidon slipped his arm around her and kissed the top of her golden head. “You will know when it’s time to know.”

  “Why is it never time for me to know now?” Persephone sounded contrite and childish, even to herself, and she gave him an apologetic smile.

  “Being a ruler is about striking a balance between right and wrong, black and white.” Aidon gave her a sideways smile. “Pleasure and pain.” She returned his smile with a blush. He glanced over to the three judges and then down to where the shades gathered. His eyes grew distant and thoughtful. “Being a ruler is about being a leader, but being a leader isn’t about tyranny…it’s often about finding a solution that creates the most harmony.”

  “Is that what you do?”

  “I try.” He shrugged. “I don’t always succeed. It’s a balancing act.” He chuckled, shaking his head. “It reminds me of Diopeithes.”

  “Who?”

  “Oh, just a juggler at one of Zeus’ infamous Mt. Olympus parties.” He frowned. “I don’t go to them anymore. Anyway, Diopeithes came out with these sticks and plates and did his act for all the gods and goddesses. At first it wasn’t that impressive. A pole with a plate spinning on top—big deal. But pretty soon, he had ten, twenty, the whole front of the room filled with these spinning plates.”

  Persephone stared at him. “Sounds difficult.”

  “He made it look effortless.” He smiled down at her. “As long as he gave each plate the attention it demanded and deserved, he could keep them all going. But then, he got distracted.”

  “What happened?”

  Aidon snorted. “Aphrodite happened. She could distract any god, let alone a man.”

  “Could she distract you?” Persephone raised her eyebrows.

  “Not anymore.” He grinned. “But I do like your jealousy.”

  She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “So what happened?”

  “Just what happens when a ruler gets distracted.” Aidon shrugged. “All hell broke loose.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The moment he let his attention slip, one plate crashed into another, and then another, and they all fell like dominos around him.”

  Persephone blinked, imagining the catastrophic scene. In a little voice, she asked, “Was he punished?”

  Aidon shook his head. “Aphrodite found it flattering, so she wouldn’t let Zeus punish him too harshly. He just had to clean up his mess.”

  “I guess that’s a fair punishment,” she murmured.

  Aidon waved the response away. “My point is you have to learn how to juggle, how to keep all the plates in the air at once, and make it look easy.”

  “No pressure or anything.” She made a face at him, turning to look down at the shades below. What could possibly fill the plates I will have to juggle?

  Aidon lifted her
chin and made her look into his eyes. “You already make it look effortless.”

  “Don’t flatter me.” For some reason, Persephone thought of her first act as Queen of the Underworld—the pardoning of the man by the front gates. Had she done the right thing? Should she tell Aidon? She opened her mouth to say something when Tisi burst into the Chamber, calling for the King of the Underworld.

  “Aidoneus the Unseen, God of the Underworld!” Tisi’s voice resounded loud and clear over the murmuring and moaning of the shades.

  “Uh-oh.” Aidon cringed as Tisi stormed over to his throne, followed by the Moirai—the three Fates. They wrung their hands as they came into the chamber, lagging behind the Fury. The black snakes on the Tisi’s head writhed and hissed all at once, as if in some terrible agony. Persephone had never seen Tisi’s eyes so red and blazing before.

  “Have you heard the call of Althaia, grieved mother of Meleager?” Even Tisi’s wings seemed to be quivering with rage.

  “I…uh…” Aidon sighed. “I might have heard something…”

  “You well know she has been pounding the ground with rocks and calling your name for hours!” Tisi snarled, her fanged teeth flashing white under blood red lips. “Will you not answer her plea?” Tisi stepped forward, her voice dropping to a low hiss almost lost in the sibilance of the snakes curling around her face. “Because if you will not, I promise you, Aidon…I will!”

  “Tisi…” Aidon frowned. “You know how little I answer the ‘prayers’ of mortals. Why should I consider this plea from Althaia? How is it any different from any other human curse? So her son killed both of her brothers, and now, in her grief, she wants him dead… do you really believe she will want the same thing tomorrow, when her head has cleared and her heart has ceased its bleeding?”

  The Fury’s wings spread wide and she began to take flight. Aidon quickly grasped her hand and held her, shaking his head. “No, Tisi. I know how upset you get about the killing of relatives, but what would this be, but more familial bloodlust? Meleager is Althaia’s own son!”

  “Aidon, I swear…” Tisi jerked her hand away, her wings still flapping gently, as if she might take off at any moment. “If you do not answer this woman’s plea, I will enlist my sisters and we will tear Meleager limb from limb!”