Goddess of Spring

by P. C. Cast

Chapter 17

  " Good-bye! Thank you!" Lina waved to the Limoniades as the glowing spirits faded into the distance, taking their shining golden drops of nectar with them. Their farewel coos tumbled musical y on the wind.

  "That was wonderful to watch, Persephone. " Eurydice was al smiles as Lina rejoined her at the edge of the gardens.

  "I'm so glad they cal ed me. It was an amazing experience," Lina gushed. She felt giddy and energized, like she'd bad too many double-shot cappuccinos before breakfast. "Oh, Eurydice, this world is incredible. " She grinned, slinging an arm around the spirit and hugging her. Lina glanced around them. "Hades left?" she asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

  "He had to attend to the business of his realm. But," she added quickly as the Goddess's shining face dimmed, "he commanded me to request your presence at the stables on the morrow. "

  "Riding Orion again. " Lina's smile turned dreamy as she thought about the black stal ion. She would definitely look forward to the morning ride - almost as much as she'd look forward to seeing Hades. Her mind skittered around, jumbling images of the God's sweat-beaded body, the sensuous song of the Limoniades and the way Hades' lips had burned against hers. Lina's young borrowed body tingled erotical y.

  "That horse frightens me," Eurydice said.

  Lina blinked, refocusing on Eurydice's pale face. Merda! She needed to stop letting her mind wander.

  "He's nothing to be frightened of. Real y, he's like a puppy in my hands," Lina said breezily, trying not to think about Orion's master, and how unlike a puppy he felt under her hands.

  "I think I'l just stay away from him," Eurydice said.

  Lina told herself that's probably the attitude she should have about Hades. He was too damn dangerously attractive. She should just stay away from him. But the low ache in her body murmured that she wouldn't.

  She definitely needed to get her mind off Hades.

  "Hey, how about we go find me something to drink?" Lina wiggled her eyebrows at Eurydice. "Al this nectar-gathering has made me thirsty for ambrosia. "

  Eurydice tittered, "It has also made you sticky. "

  Lina glanced down at herself. Shiny speckles of golden dots were sprinkled like dew al over her body. She touched one of them and then put her finger to her mouth. It tasted like sugarcane mixed with honey mixed with something like caramel or maybe butterscotch. It was delicious. But Eurydice was right, she was a mess. And she certainly was not going to think about how it would feel to have Hades lick the sweet drops off her body.

  "I need a shower. A cold one," she muttered.

  "You wish to be caught in a cold rain?"

  Lina laughed. "Not exactly. A shower isn't just rain from the skies. It's kind of like bathing, only you're standing up and water is being poured over you. "

  "Oh, that sounds like my mother's bathing ritual, although she did not like her water cold," Eurydice said.

  Startled, Lina asked, "Real y, what kind of bathing ritual did your mother have?" Eurydice grinned impishly. "I could show you. It would probably be an easier way to get the nectar off of you. " She touched one of the drops and it trailed long, gooey tendrils from her finger back to the Goddess' skin. "They might make your bathing water a sticky mush. "

  "Eurydice, you are a genius. Tonight I put myself in your capable hands. "

  The little spirit had turned into a mini dril sergeant. From the second they reentered the palace she had been firing orders and directing a bevy of flitting servants. She wouldn't al ow Lina to do anything except sit on the edge of the vanity chair and sip ambrosia.

  "The Goddess would prefer to bathe on the balcony. "

  Mid-gulp of ambrosia, Lina sputtered. Bathe on the balcony? What was Eurydice thinking? The spirit was using the voice that Lina was rapidly coming to recognize as her formal, she's-myGoddess-you-better-mind-me tone as she tapped one slender foot thoughtfully against the marble floor. Without giving Lina a chance to speak, Eurydice barreled on.

  "Yes, mother always used our inner courtyard. No! Not there!" She snapped at two male servants who were struggling to carry a large basin into the bathing room. "She pointed to the door in the middle of the wal of windows. "Take it through there. "

  "Um, Eurydice, why are we going out on the balcony?"

  "You are not to worry, Persephone. Al wil be perfect. " She frowned at one of the servants who jostled the basin a little too roughly against the marble floor of the balcony.

  "Goddess," Iapis entered the room and bowed politely to Lina before turning his attention to the spirit. "You have need of me, Eurydice?"

  "Yes," Eurydice said, hooking her long, wispy hair behind her ears. "The Goddess is going to bathe on her balcony, and - "

  Here Lina had to interrupt. "Wait, I think it's a lovely idea for me to bathe on the balcony - I mean, the view is spectacular - but I'm real y not comfortable with, wel ," Lina dropped her voice so that the daimon and Eurydice had to lean forward to hear her. "I don't want a bunch of guys seeing me naked. " Even if they were dead guys, she added silently.

  Eurydice squinted at her as if she didn't fully understand what she was saying, but Lina was relieved to see Iapis nodding his head.

  "It is also true of the Goddess Artemis. She wil not al ow her nakedness to be glimpsed by any mortals except for her handmaidens. But that problem is easily remedied, Persephone. I shal simply command that al spirits stay away from your wing of the palace and the surrounding grounds. "

  Eurydice gifted the daimon with a smile fil ed with warmth, and Iapis looked inordinately pleased with himself. Lina felt like she had been caught in the middle of a wel -meaning tornado. It was whirling her around and around, and was determined to spin her clothes off.

  "I real y don't want to cause any trouble," Lina said helplessly.

  "It is no trouble at al ," the daimon assured her.

  "You are the Goddess of Spring," Eurydice said.

  Apparently, that was the final word on everything.

  Resigned, Lina settled back, deciding not to care if she got nectar al over the silk-lined chair. She was, after al , the Goddess of Spring. She watched the whirlwind of preparation for her bath. They appeared to like cleaning up after her. Eurydice shook her head severely at an insubstantial servant who had failed to retrieve the correct number of towels from the bathing room. Or maybe they were just scared of Eurydice. At least the little spirit didn't seem to have been traumatized by the day's events. Lina sipped her ambrosia, considering. Had it only been that morning that Orpheus had descended into the Underworld? It felt like it had happened so long ago. How could she only have known Hades for a couple of days? What was it that Demeter had said? Something about the passage of time being measured differently by the gods. Her instincts told her that Demeter's words rang true. The passage of time was different in the world of the gods, as different as her borrowed life. Her heart felt different, too. The veneer of cynicism that had muffled it the past several years didn't seem to have transcended worlds. Lina's stomach tightened. To lust after a god. . . wouldn't that be the ultimate stupidity?

  "Goddess, I wil leave you to Eurydice and the maiden servants. Let your mind be eased - no mortal male wil gaze upon you. " Iapis bowed to her.

  "Iapis!" A sudden thought made Lina cal him back. "You said no mortal male would see me, but what about Hades? Where is he?" Lina pretended that she didn't know her cheeks were blazing with hot color.

  lapis' face remained impassive. "The Lord of the Underworld has gone to the Elysian Fields. He spoke of seeking out Dido and escorting her to the River Lethe. " Even though Lina was pleased at the news that Hades had fol owed her advice, she frowned and pointed out the open glass doors to the balcony and beyond.

  "Aren't the Elysian Fields that way?"

  "Some are, Goddess. " Then his eyes flashed with understanding. "I wil go to my Lord and guide him back to the palace by a different route. Rest assured, Persephone, Hades would not wish to disturb your pri
vacy. "

  "Oh, no, of course not," Lina said nastily.

  "Enjoy your bath, Goddess. " Iapis bowed again.

  Eurydice fol owed him to the door.

  "If your Goddess requires anything else, you need only send one of the maidens for me, and I wil see it done," Iapis said.

  Eurydice tilted her head in acknowledgment. "That is most gracious of you, Iapis," she said, stepping into the hal . There she lowered her voice so that Persephone could not hear her. "Did Hades real y go to Elysia?"

  "Yes," Iapis whispered.

  "But you wil not stop him from returning through the gardens?" Iapis answered with a slow, knowing smile and a wink. Eurydice had to clamp her pretty lips together to keep from giggling.

  Eurydice was chattering happily as she helped Lina out of her nectar-speckled robes. They were standing in the middle of the spacious balcony that looked out over the glorious rear grounds of the palace. Grounds that were decidedly empty of al spirits, male or otherwise, Lina noted. Directly in front of her was the basin Eurydice had ordered the servants to bring. Beside it was a smal table covered with bottles and sponges. Sitting closer to the basin than the table was a short, fat stool. Near the edge of the balcony was a chaise lounge that Eurydice had insisted the servants drag out of Lina's bedroom. On the chaise sat an intricately carved wooden tray, which held sumptuous pomegranate fruits, their skins already opened and spil ing forth their garnet-colored seeds. And, of course, there was also a crystal bottle fil ed to brimming with chil ed ambrosia. Lina grinned. A Goddess could certainly never have enough ambrosia.

  The balcony itself was, like the rest of the palace, opulent and unique. It didn't just extend out and around the wal of windows. It curved gracefully, like one half of a Valentine's Day heart, until the balustrades opened to a circular marble staircase, which spil ed out into a flower-lined path, which led, like spokes in a wheel, to the first tier of Hades' gardens. It was her own private entrance to paradise.

  Lina gazed out on the amazing scene while Eurydice unwrapped her clothes from around her. She hadn't been exaggerating when she'd said that the view was spectacular. And there was something about the light - it had begun to change. The pastel sky was darkening and the colors were deepening from pink to coral and violet to purple. Suddenly, torches flared alive al throughout the gardens, causing Lina to jerk in surprise.

  "There is no need to worry, Goddess. " One of the maidens who had stayed to assist Eurydice spoke up with the voice of a child. "The torches light themselves. There is no mortal man in the gardens to look upon your nakedness. "

  "What is your name?" Lina asked the young spirit.

  "Hersilia," she ducked her head shyly.

  "Thank you, Hersilia, for reminding me not to be so sil y. " Lina smiled at the servant. Eurydice unwrapped the final layer of silky fabric from around her waist and bent to help her off with her leather slippers.

  "Now just step into the basin, Persephone," Eurydice directed her. The marble basin felt cool against Lina's bare feet, and she decided that it was a little like standing in a giant cereal bowl. The lip of the bowl came up to her knees. She was about to say that she felt like a naked Fruit Loop when Eurydice climbed on top of the stool.

  "You may bring me the urn. "

  The waiting servants formed an unlinked chain from the balcony, through the glass doors and into the bathroom. From mere they began passing hourglass-shaped clay urns fil ed with water, which, to Lina's delight, Eurydice poured in steaming waves over her head.

  More servants dripped soap onto sponges soft as cotton bal s. Slowly, gently they began cleaning her skin. Lina's initial response was to stay very stil , with her arms held at a rigid T away from her sides.

  Then Eurydice began to sing, softly at first, but soon the other spirits joined with her and sweet, feminine voices fil ed the balcony.

  Pale, beyond porch and portal, crowned with hair of silk, she stands, she who gathers al things mortal within her soft, immortal hands.

  Their song was slow and sensual, like the beat of bolero, and it stirred something deep within Lina. Intrigued, she accessed Persephone's memories. They sing ancient praise to the beauty of Goddess. They do you great honor. They did her great honor. . . Suddenly it didn't matter that she was wearing a borrowed shape. She was alive and beautiful and fil ed with the exquisite power of a goddess. Lina let her body go loose. She drew a deep breath and exhaled al the stress and cares and inhibitions of her mortal life. Her ivory skin tingled and she began to sway graceful y with the tempo of the song.

  Her languid lips are sweeter than love who pines to greet her no mortal man shal meet her the Goddess solitary stands.

  The hot water sluiced over her naked body, a river of silk the soapy sponges traveled along. Lina turned and laughed and reveled in the sensations cascading down her skin. She felt the evening air lick her sleek sides. It was warm, but in contrast to the heat of the water it brought gooseflesh rising on her skin and caused her nipples to pucker erotical y. Her laughter was infectious, and soon the maidservants joined her and the sounds of song and joy drifted through the palace and the gardens of the God of the Dead.

  With slow, thoughtful steps Hades fol owed the snaking path that led from the forest, which separated his palace grounds from the Elysian Fields. The path took him through the third tier garden. He was glad that he had listened to Persephone's advice. Dido had been easy to find. Al he had had to do was to locate Aeneas. Her spirit had been nearby, pining miserably as she obsessively shadowed the warrior's every move. She hadn't wanted to drink of Lethe, such was the strength of her unrequited love, but Dido's soul belonged to Hades, and what he commanded she must do. As always happened, when she drew near Lethe her spirit had quickened. The river's seductive voice had entranced her, making her transition a gentle one. But it was not the memory of Dido that slowed the God's steps. It was Persephone. The Goddess haunted his senses. Though he had only held her in his arms briefly, he could stil feel the satin of her skin against his. . . taste the sweetness of her mouth. . . smel the scent of woman that clung to her body. He could stil hear her laughter. Hades swore under his breath. Was this what love was like? Must he be consumed with thoughts of her?

  The laughter came again. Listening carefully, Hades halted. Then he drew a relieved breath. The sound wasn't coming from his imagination. It was being carried from the palace by the warm evening breeze. Now he could discern different voices along with Persephone's. Some were laughing, some were singing. Al were delightfully female. When Hades began walking again, his stride was no longer slow and thoughtful.

  Entering the second tier, Hades scanned the rearview of his palace. Daylight had darkened to evening and the flickering torchlight that periodical y il uminated the gardens did little to aid his vision. As usual, the palace windows were gaily lit, and Hades thought he could see graceful, curving shapes outlined against the wal of windows that belonged to Persephone's chamber. He thought it odd that they appeared to be on her balcony. Hades increased his stride. When he reached the stairs that would take him up to the first tier, he was sure that he could hear the splashing of water. Taking the stairs three at a time, he climbed quickly up to the level of his palace. Here the greenery and flowers wound around in labyrinthine twists and turns, and Hades did not have a clear view of Persephone's balcony until he was very close to the edge of the gardens. The God stepped around an ornamental hedge and stopped like he had slammed against an invisible wal .

  Persephone was naked. She stood in the center of a large marble basin, looking like an exquisite statue that had come to life. The stray thought passed through Hades' numbed mind that he suddenly understood Pygmalion's obsession with Galatea. Then his mind seemed to cease functioning completely and he became nothing more than a receptacle for the desire that scorched through his blood.

  Eurydice was pouring trails of steaming water over Persephone while semitransparent maidservants lathered her skin and hair. The Go
ddess laughed and teasingly splashed water at the spirits, who were humming a slow, seductive tune between breathless, girlish giggles. The evening light was muted, but Persephone's body was silhouetted against the wal of glowing windows. Hades could see the flush that swept her ivory skin. His eyes ravished her body. His fingers tingled as he remembered how the delicate curve of her neck had felt under his too-brief caress. Hades'

  gaze lowered to her breasts. The soft globes were ful and heavy. Their blush-colored nipples were taut, begging for the touch of his lips and tongue. His loins tightened and throbbed achingly with the heat of his lust. He ground his teeth together to keep from giving voice to the moan of frustrated desire that was building within him. But he did not turn away, he did not stop gazing at her. He could not.

  Persephone's waist curved in, and then swel ed to flare into wel -rounded hips. Her legs were long and shapely. Hades' eyes were drawn to the inviting V of dark hair that formed at their junction. The curling triangle glistened with water, which dripped down her inner thighs. As if sensing him, Persephone's chin went up and her gaze shifted from the laughing servants to rove over the distant gardens. Hades was sure he would be discovered, but his dark cloak blended like night with the shadow of the hedge and the Goddess's eyes passed unseeing over him. Eurydice poured a final stream of water over Persephone and then the little spirit cal ed for a maidservant to bring her towels. They helped the smiling Goddess step from the basin and began drying her body.

  Now was the time for him to turn away. Persephone's laughter floated to him and his eyes refused to leave her as they sought glimpses of her nakedness. His conscience told him he should go, but the voice of newly awakened desire and longing and loneliness drowned it out. The servants finished drying Persephone's body. Her hair drifted around her in long, damp tendrils, which Eurydice gathered and piled loosely atop her head. Then the spirit poured a thick liquid from a tal glass bottle into her hand and began gently massaging the oil into her skin. Two other maidservants joined her. Hades watched Persephone's eyes close. A sensuous smile curved her lips as the slick hands of the maidens anointed her body. Hades' breathing quickened. The glistening oil caught the flickering lights that shined through the windows of her bedchamber, and soon the Goddess's body glowed with a wet, luminous invitation.

  The throbbing ache in his loins was unbearable and Hades' hand sought his engorged flesh. His breathing turned ragged as he stroked himself, quick and hard, never taking his eyes from Persephone's body. His focus narrowed until she was al that existed in his world. He imagined that it was his hands that were slick with oil caressing her breasts, cupping her luscious buttocks, traveling up her ivory thighs to find her moist core. There he wanted to bury himself, to pump his need into her and to be surrounded by her velvet heat. His orgasm ripped from his body, exploding with such hot intensity that it drove him to his knees. There he remained, knelt within shadow, alone, struggling to regain his breath. And, stil , his longing eyes locked on the Goddess.

  "Persephone. . . " Her name was a harsh whisper on his lips.