by Marie Medina
“I’m not asking you to. She told me to leave her alone. Do I wait until she comes to me?”
Alala considered this. “Yes. It’s safer. She expects people to read her mind sometimes, but in this case, leave her alone. Don’t try anything because if she doesn’t want to see you, she’ll get angrier and push you away more. It’s possible she wants you to pursue her, even seduce her now, but if that’s wrong and you tried it, she’d be so angry.”
He nodded, but his heart sank.
“I know she’s hard to figure out. I’m sorry I don’t have any answers.”
“I’m not sure why I expected you to. My ethics lately have been pretty questionable. It’s unfair to ask this of you.”
“It makes perfect sense to me. I am the best person to turn to. I went to Aphrodite to reassure myself because I didn’t want to meddle but being so in the dark was driving me crazy. Your situation is too complicated. Only you and Persephone can work it out.”
“I had to try though. Zeus and Hera are now limiting their help to not kicking my ass.”
“You’re not what I expected.”
“I’m not?”
“You’re from the Underworld, so you’re supposed to be dark and brooding. I expected a bad boy, dangerous and mysterious like Thanatos and Hypnos. But you’re different. You’re like Ares. Very vulnerable beneath the darker parts.”
He couldn’t help smiling. “I’m sure he doesn’t want that getting out.”
“Probably not, but I can see you bury feelings the way he does. It’s very bad for you.” She touched his hand. “I’ve never felt loneliness like this. How do you live with it?”
He wasn’t sure he understood her. He was anxious about Persephone, but he didn’t think he really seemed that upset. “I don’t understand. I’m worried about what to do, but do I seem that pathetic?”
“No. That’s not what I’m saying.” She ran her hand up his arm. “I can sense pain. It comes from a life spent on the battlefield. It’s all over you.”
She seemed so serious. Her hand was warm, but he felt his nervousness returning. Was she trying to do something to him? “What’s all over me?”
“Loneliness. Why do you deny how unhappy you are? You are not like the other Underworld dwellers. Emotionally, you’re different. I don’t know Hypnos or Thanatos well, but their auras, their essences are different. They feel things, they can love and hate, but they have more defenses than we do. It’s part of who they are.”
He pulled away from her. “Maybe my life isn’t exciting, but I’m not unhappy, all right?”
“What does excitement have to do with it? You could have a great social life and be lonely. I didn’t mean it to sound offensive. You are like Ares. He’d still be just like you if I hadn’t reached out to him.”
“I’m at a disadvantage then. Persephone isn’t in love with me. She isn’t going to reach out to me.” He stood up and began walking away. “This was a mistake. Forgive me for disturbing you.”
“Wait, please!”
He didn’t want to, but he did. He felt like a fool. He shouldn’t have come. No one could help him. “What?”
Alala stood up and walked over to him. “Be patient with her. She’ll come to you and want to talk. No matter how long she’s upset, she likes to have things settled.”
He nodded.
“I meant what I said. I’m worried about her hurting you because I know she could. She’ll get over you quicker than you could get over her. Okay? I didn’t mean to insult you. I’d probably take her side before yours in some cases, and I’m going to be angry if you hurt her or pressure her, but I’d be glad to hear you two had worked things out and were happy together.”
“Thank you. And I didn’t mean to be rude either. Don’t worry about me.”
“Can’t promise that. I have a soft spot for tough guys who turn out to be teddy bears.”
“So long as I’m the only one who gets to touch that very sweet soft spot,” Ares said as he came up behind Alala.
She put her arms around him immediately and kissed his cheek. She beamed up at him as he embraced her, and Hades wondered if Persephone would ever be so happy to be near him.
“Just finishing up harassing your sweetheart,” Hades said. His heart felt even heavier seeing them so happy.
“No wedding invitation yet? Damn. Maybe next week,” Ares said.
Hades forced a smile. “Nice. You’ve destroyed all the confidence Alala managed to give me. It wasn’t much, but it was something.”
Ares rolled his eyes. “Am I the only one around here with a sense of humor?”
“At the moment, yes.”
“Fine, go brood. You’re pretty good at it.”
Alala poked Ares in the ribs and said to Hades, “Ignore him. Go home and be patient.”
“I’ll try. But don’t be surprised if you see me again.”
She nodded, and with a thought he was back in his bedroom. But despite her encouragement, he felt he was right back where he’d started. He headed for the garden, needing to be alone before Persephone came back to the palace. The closer she was, the more he wanted to see her. It wasn’t going to get easier to resist, but he knew he had to.
* * * *
Persephone looked at the three-story shopping mall and wanted to laugh. She turned to Hypnos. “There’s a mall in Hell? Haven’t they gone out of fashion in the mortal world? What kind of stores does it have?”
Hypnos smiled at her. “Your ideas of Hell, including the word itself, are very human. That’s the reason for this tour.”
She nodded. “Okay, I guess you’re right, but still.” She gestured to the building. “It’s a mall in the middle of an orchard.”
“This is like Heaven. The things here in the Elysian Fields make those who dwell here happy. Natural beauty and animals side-by-side with modern things.”
She looked back to the water. She hesitated to call it an ocean, but it certainly seemed that big. “And the Elysian Islands? That’s where the best of the best go.”
“Yes. The heroes and the people who helped their world and others dwell there. Aphrodite’s son Aeneas, for example. Great warriors and monarchs from all over the world.”
She nodded again. “But Tartarus looks just like this.” She walked back toward the houses, looking at the faces of the people moving around them. “Are the people there made to be unhappy by magic? They didn’t have a mall or so many flowers and animals, but the houses were just as beautiful, the light just as bright.” She looked up. “Is there a sun? A moon?”
“There is light and dark, but no sun or moon.”
“Ah. But back to my point, what makes the people there unhappy? They seemed melancholy. Depressed even.”
“They remember the bad things they did and regret them. If they had no conscience, they are given one. If they never felt remorse, they do now. That is how they are punished.”
“Forever?”
“They eventually move on. Hades decides those things. A judgment is held once every ten years.”
Persephone looked all around, admiring the trees and flowers as they moved away from the houses and people. “Is he fair?”
“Yes. He is fair and just.”
She nodded once again. She wanted to ask so much, but she was a little afraid to do so. “How big is this place?”
“How big is your world? Mount Olympus is in the center, but do you know what is on the edge? Do you know how you pass from your world to the mortal one?”
She smiled. “It really doesn’t matter, does it?”
“Not really.”
To avoid being more inquisitive about Hades, she moved on to another slightly uncomfortable subject. “Did you get in trouble for what happened between us?”
“In a way. I know I wouldn’t be forgiven if I succumbed again, but I’m not in trouble. You shouldn’t feel self-conscious about it. I’m not upset with you.”
“I used you. I wanted to get his attention as much as I wanted to be touched by a man I
knew was attracted to me.”
“Your action was an innocent mistake. You were confused and meant me no harm.”
She shook her head, laughing. “The Underworld isn’t what I expected. I imagined it would be dark and scary. I thought I’d see actual flames and boiling rivers. I expected you to be dangerous. And Hades? I thought he’d never let go as soon as we touched.”
“Once you knew who he was, you expected to be ravished, I suppose?”
“I thought I was in for a night of…I don’t even know what. I was terrified and excited.”
“I can understand that.”
She looked at him and sat down on the grass, inviting him to sit with her. “I’m glad. I don’t want to talk to anyone else yet. I do want to see Hades.”
“You do?” he asked as he settled down beside her.
“Yes! I was expecting a leather-clad bad boy who’d tie me up, but instead I’m in some twisted beauty and the beast story, wandering his palace as he watches from a distance hoping I’ll love him.”
Hypnos remained silent.
“He loves me, doesn’t he?”
He nodded.
She closed her eyes. “I don’t see why.”
“I can’t help you on this subject. Love is something I’ve never felt.”
“Never?” She turned her gaze toward him and blinked away the images of Hades that had danced behind her eyelids.
“Never. I’ve felt drawn to certain women and visited them in their dreams. It’s the only safe way to touch them. I’ve been with goddesses and nymphs. But I’ve never been in love.”
She thought he looked sad, even though his solid black eyes made judging his moods difficult. Was he telling the truth about never having been in love? Or did he regret never having felt it? His touch had been tender and loving. Perhaps he longed for someone to love. “Then we have something in common. I’ve never been in love either.”
He smiled. “I suppose we do. I’ve never had a friend either.” His smile faded. “My brother and I are not close, at least not anymore.”
“My brother’s sweet, but we aren’t close either. Alala is my only friend. I’d like you and I to be friends.”
“I would like that too.”
She stood up. “I think I know what I want. Tonight, at least. Tell Hades we’re going on our first date.”
“Your first date?” He rose and followed her as she walked to the south toward Hades’ palace.
“Yes. It’s what we did wrong from the start. We went from talking online to this. It can’t work. I want to talk to him for a few hours. So I want us to have dinner. One date, and then we’ll see what happens.”
“He’ll probably be terrified of you.”
She considered his words, looking down at her hands. “The Lord of the Underworld? Terrified of me? That’s what you said before.” She shook her head. “I don’t see it.”
“Yes, terrified of the beautiful woman who holds his heart in her hand.”
“I liked him before. I’ll like him again when we’ve talked. Really talked. I’m still upset, but not angry. Not the way I was. I’m going to be more patient. I was cruel the other day.”
“He deserved it. He needed to see he’d never win you by force. He didn’t mean to force you to stay.”
“I know. He panicked.” Persephone felt warm as she thought about him using force to seduce her. She shook the thought away. She was not going to let her curiosity ruin what she had planned. “I guess I can see that. It simply reminded me of my mother, and I lashed out because nothing was going the way I wanted it to. I’m going to apologize for purposely hurting him.” She remembered what she’d done, kneeling at his feet naked and mocking him. “Gods, I was a bitch.”
“He’ll be honored to receive an apology. He thinks you despise him now. That he deserves any punishment you see fit.”
“Honored, huh? We’ll see. Hopefully it won’t be an evening of us both tripping over our words.”
Hypnos shrugged. “I wouldn’t worry.”
Persephone wished she had his confidence. Her stomach was already questioning her decision.
* * * *
Thanatos walked around the tree he’d been hiding behind once they were both gone. “No, brother, we aren’t that close anymore. And we’re nothing alike.”
He knew what his twin had done, daring to kiss Hades’ bride. Persephone would’ve gotten much more than a kiss if he’d been in his brother’s place. Hypnos had already warned her, gently, to avoid him. He resented that, but he felt no shame in admitting he would be painfully tempted to take her sweet maidenhead. He thought of how tight the little virgin would be, how she would gasp as he penetrated and pushed deep inside her. Whether she blossomed into a passionate temptress or screamed and struggled against him, he knew taking her would bring him great pleasure.
He’d been keeping his distance since her arrival. Hades probably suspected nothing. Thanatos had no trouble getting as much sex as he wanted. Mortal girls and the many nymphs of Olympus who sought out the “wicked” god of death were always very willing. Some of them ran away afterwards, frightened at having learned just how wicked he could be, while others came back begging to be used and abused by him. He’d need one of them soon, his cock responding to his lascivious thoughts of Persephone. They slaked his lust, but they meant nothing. They were nothing.
Persephone was a prize, a woman worthy of devotion and capable of keeping a man satisfied once she was trained properly. She was beautiful and powerful. Now free of her mother, she had the chance to come into that power. She was worthy of being the queen of the Underworld, if the right man were to become its king.
Chapter Four
“Are you serious?” Hades asked.
Hypnos blinked. “I would joke about this?”
Hades shook his head. “No, of course not. I just didn’t expect this.”
“It’s a good thing. She seems to have sorted through her feelings. Listen to her and see what happens. She didn’t tell me anything specific, but she wants to talk.”
Hades looked out the window. He’d been doing that a lot since Persephone’s arrival. “I’m sure you’re right, and thanks for the advice, but I need to be alone right now. When do I meet her?”
“In the dining room after dark. She’s making dinner.”
He couldn’t hide his surprise. “She’s making dinner?”
“Yes. She and her brother love to cook, so she’s very good at it apparently.”
“Oh.” That had to be good. She didn’t want to simply have a chat. She wanted to go on a date, and she was going to cook for him. Hypnos had said she wasn’t angry anymore. He almost smiled. No matter what he’d done, if the Fates had a plan, it would be achieved in the end. He knew that was true more so than any other god could. It didn’t calm his nerves though.
* * * *
Alala didn’t usually sneak up on people, but she didn’t want Apollo to disappear. Since her talk with Aphrodite, she’d been wanting to talk to Apollo. They hadn’t spoken alone in ages, and the last time they had talked Ares had been accusing him of raping her. It hadn’t been a comfortable environment for soul baring.
She touched his shoulder, using powers she hadn’t used in over a hundred years. He would be unable to move until she released him. “Apollo?”
His body tensed, and he turned his head to look at her. “Where’s Ares?”
“Somewhere else.”
“Then perhaps we shouldn’t be alone. I don’t feel like being accused of anything else right now.”
Apollo was the only man, besides Ares, she had ever been with. She’d loved Ares as long as she could remember, and Apollo had used that to seduce her, appearing to her as Ares. “I felt you weren’t Ares after we touched, but you looked like him so I gave in. If I couldn’t really have him, then why not enjoy a fantasy? I knew you weren’t Ares before you took my virginity, and I still made love with you a second time that night.”
“Made love? We fucked.”
Sh
e smiled, easily tolerating his bad temper as she used to. “I got love from you. I felt loved those years we were together. Maybe I won’t tell Ares that in so many words, but it’s true. I’ve explained to everyone, and they understand. Ares resents you because you got to have me first, but he doesn’t think of you that way anymore. Even though he went through with challenging you, he knows I was with you by choice.”
“You don’t have to make me feel better. Why are you here?”
Alala looked out into the field and scanned the trees. “Which one is she?”
Apollo tried to stand up, but she wouldn’t let him. She sat beside him.
“Which one?”
“Can’t you tell? The one in the middle with the purple flowers.”
Alala nodded. It looked like a laurel tree, but it was covered in star-shaped purple flowers and the leaves were more ornate. She’d never seen another tree like it in her world or the mortal one.
“It hurt me you never told me about her.”
He stared at her. “So it wasn’t enough you knew I had a completely perverted thing for Aphrodite? You wanted to hear about my heartache too?”
Alala sighed. She could tell their conversation was going to take a while. “You were never together. You felt the pain despite never having enjoyed the love thanks to those magic arrows. That seems to have been the problem. I think it’s also why you wanted Aphrodite so much. Did you two ever have sex after the night I caught you?”
He shook his head.
“You wanted to subdue her. You wanted to fuck her and be the one to leave. Any man with a cock wants her, but not all give in to her. You were angry with her for hundreds of years.”
“Why bring this up? Why do this to me, Alala?”
“Meet with Zeus and Hera. Beg them to give you and Daphne another chance. Or go to Peneus. Ask him to plead with her.”
“She’s been in this state for too long, Alala. Don’t you understand that? She doesn’t even talk anymore. She hums. She hasn’t spoken in a very long time. She wants nothing to do with any of us.”
