Eternal Night (Skeleton Key)

by Marian Tee

Of all the Olympians, Apollo was the one who held the humans most dearly to him. However, he was also the god of plague, and when the time came that the Fates decreed the need for massive deaths to take place---

  It was Hades who had struck the final blow, Hades who had willingly spared Apollo from the weight of those deaths.

  “Sometimes,” Apollo admitted under his breath, “I think what happened to him is all my fault.”

  “Preposterous,” Hermes dismissed with a rare note of practicality injected in his normally mischievous voice. “You are no Eros to have made him fall in love with her and make the choices he made.”

  “But I was the one who made him blind to the faults of mortals, and she is more mortal than she would ever care to admit. For most of us, our word is our bond but it is not so for her. She has spent most of her childhood surrounded by mortals, and it has made her as…duplicitous. That humans are flawed I already know, and I care for them despite it. But Hades – the only times he knew of them was in the times when they were most cruel and selfish, sickeningly in need of purging. It had made him shun the human race and this had blinded him how they have the power to fool even immortals like us.”

  They looked at the lord of the Underworld. Tallest and second most powerful among the Olympians, Hades was every inch the warrior, and he wore his strength and authority like second skin. He drew gazes everywhere he went, with young and old goddesses falling all over themselves to catch his attention, never mind if they all secretly thought the same thing.

  Hades was still in love with the former Queen of the Underworld, and it might never change.

  Might being the operative word, Hermes thought. After all, Hades had never said anything to affirm or deny it, and since the Prince of Darkness had just about the world’s best poker face, there was no way to know if it was a lie---

  Or could they?

  He looked at Apollo. “Does he still love her?”

  The other god slowly nodded.

  “Congratulations, milord. Your party is once again a success.” Hypnos, the wickedly playful god of sleep with his telltale drooping eyes, spoke with a yawn.

  Hades rolled his eyes. “You don’t have to act with me, Hypnos.” Hidden from the mortal world was the fact that Hypnos, despite his ability to send others to sleep, was actually immune to the attraction of sleep himself. He only pretended to and never hesitated to exploit this little-known advantage to eavesdrop on mortals and immortals alike.

  Hypnos yawned again. “I do not understand you at all, milord.” But his gray, slumberous gaze held a wicked gleam that belied his words.

  “Of course you don’t.”

  Hypnos leaned against the wall, his casual stance deceptive for his senses were always on the alert for any kind of threat. “Shall we leave, sir?”

  “Are you not enjoying the party?”

  “I am,” he said easily, and it was true. In fact, it was precisely that reason why he had also been chosen to act as the king’s bodyguard. His other brothers, most especially Agon, the god of agony, despised all sorts of gatherings and more so when they took place outside the Underworld.

  “On the other hand, milord---” Hypnos glanced at his king with hooded lids. “You are not.”

  A moment passed before his king said finally, “I should have brought the god of grief with me. At least I could count on him being silent all time.”

  “And boring,” Hypnos countered. “You must not forget the strong and silent types like my older brother are also the boring types.” He paused. “They also have shorter tempers, and they would have turned your celebration into a complete disaster.”

  “You have a point,” Hades acknowledged with a grimace.

  “I serve to please,” Hypnos said, straightening off the wall to bow at his king.

  “Stop that,” Hades growled irritably. “It makes you seem more like a damn fop than a warrior.”

  “But my king…” Hypnos’ gaze was of sham innocence. “I am only taking my cue from your continued insistence to pretend as well.” Hade’s murderous gaze sliced into him, but Hypnos pretended ignorance. He knew he was treading on dangerous ground, but he also knew, like all the other subjects of the Underworld, the way things were for the past two millennia could not continue.

  Since the former queen had left, the king had changed into someone almost completely unrecognizable.

  Once, the king had been a too-serious man, and it had been a common pastime for the kingdom’s children to see who could win a smile from their ruler.

  When the queen came to his life, he had started to smile more. Talk more. Love more.

  When the queen left, everyone had thought the king would change, and everyone had been prepared to aid him.

  But instead the opposite had come true.

  The king had continued to smile. The king had even continued to throw the most magnificent parties on his birthday. And for a while, they had been fooled, thinking that the king had not been as hurt as they had feared.

  Until that day.

  Remembering made Hypnos clench his fists with an impotent need to fight for his king. It was not right, he thought. It was not right at all that his king would suffer so while that woman---

  “I can feel you radiating anger,” Hades warned quietly, “and that is not good.” After all, the demons that carried out dreams and nightmares answered to the god of sleep. More of this vibration, and even the immortals around them would have trouble sleeping.

  Hypnos sought control over himself. “I apologize, milord.”

  “It is not of consequence, but be sure not to let it happen again.”

  “Yes, milord.”

  Hades shook his head. “Shake off that seriousness from your shoulders, Hypnos. You are the youngest of my Underworld’s guards, supposedly the only one who knows how to have fun.”

  He gestured to the ongoing festivities behind them. With Dionysus’ powerful and vaunted wines flowing in their bloods, most of the immortals were now celebrating with passionate abandon. Restraint was all but forgotten, more so with the nymphs and fauns dancing and seducing about them and a siren was humming, the music just enough to overwhelm the senses and allow their most basic instincts to rise.

  “Go and have fun, Hypnos.”

  The command in the king’s tone could not be ignored, and the younger god bowed. “Yes, my king.”

  Hades watched the warrior god join the crowd. Nymphs flocked around him immediately. It was a rare instance for someone belonging to the Underworld to make an appearance outside it, and bedding someone from the Underworld would add a much-envied feather to one’s cap.

  Turning around, he strode out into the balcony and glanced up at skies that were unfamiliar only to him and his subjects.

  They thought his world was dark, Hades mused, and yet it was this human world that was blacker, this human world that was so flawed and so steep in sin that it made the air smell rotten.

  “Milord!”

  It was Thanatos, and Hades immediately turned, alerted by the ominous note in his second-in-command’s voice. “What is it?”

  “Something inexplicable has shown up at the entrance of our world.”

  “Show me.”

  “Yes, milord.” Thanatos ripped the air around him like it was a piece of canvas, and a moment later Hades saw the entrance to his world, where the rest of his powerful sentries still stood guard.

  “Above the gates, my king. Do you see it?”

  Following Thanatos’ line of gaze, Hades started when he saw a doorway of some kind blazing above the gates of the Underworld. “I have not seen anything like this in my life.” He stretched his arm and with a wave of his hand, he drew the scene closer to him so that this time the doorway would be right above his head.

  “Could it be human sorcery?” Thanatos asked grimly.

  “Perhaps, but somehow this door feels much…stronger than anything a mere mortal could make.”

  Before Thanatos could speak, Hypnos had come to join them in the bal
cony. “What’s happening?” Having sensed the winged demon’s presence, Hypnos knew that only the direst of circumstances could have compelled Thanatos to leave the Underworld.

  Looking up, Hypnos almost took a step back when he saw the doorway right above the king’s head. “What is that?” Immortals moved freely from one world to another, but they did so without the use of portals---

  And that door looked exactly like what a portal would be, Hypnos thought with a frown, if such a thing existed.

  Then he noticed something else.

  “Milord, the door is opening!”

  Hades stiffened.

  “Stay back, milord!” Thanatos growled.

  But it was too late.

  The door was opened, and the sound of a feminine cry reached them.

  Hades tensed.

  Did that woman truly need his help or was she but a bait for a trap devised by powerful humans?

  The answer to this fell on the lord of the Underworld, literally, as the next thing Hades knew, a woman was thrown out of the door in the sky---

  Her ear-splitting cry made them wince and had everyone inside the temple running to the balcony.

  Hades fell into the floor as she landed atop of him with enough force to make him suck his breath.

  The woman quickly pushed herself up, her hands planted on his chest, and a dazed look on her pale face.

  In the fraction of a second, two swords were pointed straight at her throat, with neither Hypnos nor Thanatos willing to underestimate any threat to their king.

  Hades looked up into the bright blue eyes staring down at him with seemingly innocent confusion.

  Who the fuck was she?

  But before he could ask the pertinent questions, someone in the crowd started to clap.

  “What are you doing,” Hades heard the god of light hiss under his breath.

  “I can’t believe none of you are thinking what I’m thinking.” Hermes’ answering laughter held the usual note of amiable malice that was expected from the god of mischief.

  “Stop speaking in riddles---”

  “I will, if you start thinking in them,” Hermes returned with laconic ease. Pointing to the girl still lying frozen atop the lord of the world, he quoted, “The lord would fall because of her.”

  The crowd gasped, having recognized the words.

  The two guards drew their swords back.

  Hades whitened. Impossible. It was impossible. When had a prophecy ever been so literal?

  And yet---

  He, the lord of the Underworld, had fallen because of her.

  When Thanatos and Hypnos saw the look in their lord’s eyes, the two sentries immediately dropped down on one knee as a sign of respect for their prophesied queen.

  At this, the lower-ranking immortals in their midst fell on one knee as well, hoping to gain favor with the lord of the Underworld.

  When the girl saw everyone kneeling, she quickly scrambled off him---

  Hades’ jaw clenched when she squirmed against his erection. Dammit, was this girl trying to seduce him in public? Feeling his erection press noticeably against his pants, Hades bit back a curse and swiftly rose to his feet. He turned his back on the crowd, hoping no one had caught sight of it.

  Hermes and Apollo glanced at each other, both of them having noticed the lord of the Underworld’s reaction to the girl.

  Hermes had only meant to joke about the prophecy but maybe there was more truth to it than he had originally seen.

  When Hades turned to face the girl again, he was stunned to find her on bended knee as well. “What do you think you’re doing?” he asked in exasperation.

  “B-because they knelt down, so I thought---” She gazed up at him, bewildered. “Shouldn’t I?”

  Not when you’re the reason they’re kneeling, Hades thought. He said finally, “Stand up, milady.” He offered his hand to assist her, but she had already gotten to her feet. He waved a hand to his sentries and the other immortals, and the rest stood up as well.

  He addressed the crowd, saying politely, “I would appreciate a moment of privacy with my brothers, if you please.” Although it was phrased as a request, everyone knew they didn’t really have much of a choice where an Olympian was concerned.

  Recognizing that they had also been given their orders, Thanatos and Hypnos did quick work at ushering the guests back inside before pulling the doors of the balcony shut. The two then took position next to the doors, ensuring that the Olympians and their prophesied queen would not be disturbed.

  “Do you really think it’s her?” Hypnos could not help but ask his companion.

  The winged demon took his time replying, and when he did his voice was carefully neutral. “Unless it has been proven otherwise, I shall treat her as our prophesied queen.”

  Hades and Persephone

  The night of the long-awaited ball had finally come, and the queen of the Underworld could not contain her excitement as she and her husband galloped throughout the kingdom to survey ongoing preparations. The pathway to the lord’s castle, which had always been shrouded in darkness and made treacherous by both living and magical obstacles, was now ablaze with light and cleared of all dangers.

  Hades reined his stallion to a stop upon reaching the cavernous entrance to the kingdom. Jumping off, he took hold of his queen’s slender waist before swinging her down. Once, this would have made her gasp or giggle but now, Persephone didn’t even say a word and immediately left his arms as soon as her feet touched the ground.

  Picking up her skirts, she ran here and there, inspecting every little detail, her face a picture of intense concentration.

  “There are not enough asphodels here,” Hades heard her fret. Asphodels were glowing white flowers that could only be found in the Underworld, and its rarity had led to immortals treating them as prized collections.

  Tonight, the blooms would serve as welcome gifts for the queen’s esteemed guests, the flowers stringed together to form wreaths. Prepared in advance, the wreaths were laid out on a floating table, and after a cursory glance, Hades walked to where his queen was, asking quietly, “Are you sure you still need more? There seems to be enough.”

  Persephone wringed her hands anxiously, saying, “Enough isn’t enough, Your Majesty. There must be more than enough. I would be so embarrassed if a guest were to come and find out that we’ve run out of wreaths. They would think we’re being selfish or worse---” She lifted worried eyes to his. “They would think you are unsupportive of my endeavors---” Persephone bit her lip. “I do not want them to think that, Hades. I want them to see for themselves that you are not the big, bad, scary monster the legends make them think you are.”

  With her gaze swimming with tears, Hades was unable to deny his queen’s request and he said finally, “It shall be as you will then.”

  He issued a command to one of the retainers and when he was done, Persephone threw her arms around his neck, her face lit with joy. “Thank you, thank you, oh you don’t know how excited I am. I know this shall be the most wonderful night of my life.”

  Pulling away, she stepped back, saying teasingly, “But first, I must know. Do you think my dress wonderful?” She twirled around for effect, loving the way the voluminous skirts, which were spun from gold thread, played around her legs.

  “It makes you even more becoming, my queen.” But was the gown worth risking antagonizing the goddess of wisdom?

  In his last visit to Mt. Olympus, he had been stunned to have Athena giving him the cold shoulder. As they shared many similarities, there had never been a quarrel between them, and as such he had not hesitated to ask what was troubling to her.

  At his question, Athena had looked at him with narrowed silver eyes before saying finally, “You do not know then.”

  “Know what?”

  “Your wife has approached Lady Arachne.”

  Hades had been surprised. “Arachne? The brainless chit who has been boasting about her skills in needlework and her supposed superiority over you?�
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  “Yes,” Athena had answered dryly, “and apparently, your wife believes it.”

  Hades had swiftly apologized on behalf of his queen and tried to excuse it as folly caused by her youth.

  “I shall overlook it because of you, but Hades – we both have been young once, and even then we knew the difference between right and wrong, did we not?”

  The memory made Hades grim, but he deliberately pushed the thought aside. Athena was only being her usual pessimistic self, he thought. Focusing on his queen, he told her with a smile, “You will make me the envy of many men tonight.”

  Persephone giggled. “Do you really think so?”

  “Of course.”

  “Do you believe I am beautiful?”

  “Do you truly have to ask that?”

  “As beautiful as, perhaps, Helen of Troy?”

  “More so in my eyes,” he said honestly.

  “What about Aphro---”

  Hades blinked, a part of him incredulous that she would actually ask such a question. Surely she knew how vengeful the goddess of love and beauty could be when it came to anyone challenging her title as the world’s most beautiful woman?

  Thankfully, the sound of powerful wings slicing through the air cut Persephone’s words off and Hades looked up just in time to see his second-in-command flying down.

  Upon touching the ground, Thanatos bent down on one knee. “Milord, milady.”

  Persephone squared her shoulders, and before her husband could react, she said in her best regal-sounding voice, “You may rise, Thanatos.”

  Hades glanced at his queen in surprise, wondering if she was aware of how pompous she had sounded.

  His face stoic, Thanatos reported about the influx of guests and the estimate time of their arrival. “With your permission, I shall inform the subjects living next to the doors to temporarily evacuate the area while---” He stopped when Persephone shook her head.

  “Which subjects are you talking about?” the queen asked.

  “Those who live near the entrance, milady.” The winged demon’s tone was unnaturally ambiguous, making Hades frown. Why was Thanatos being evasive?