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Our months together passed too quickly, with the excitement of being newlywed burning through the days faster than either of us had hoped. We rarely spent time apart from each other unless Hades was overseeing the courts, a duty he never allowed me to be present for.
"Maybe after we are married for one thousand years," he told me when I asked. I suspected it was because even now he was worried I would see something in him that would cause me to run. One year of marriage was one day for gods.
Instead, I sat in the throne room to read over the day's decisions while he was away so we could argue about them at night. The scribes always told the particularly interesting stories in verses that ended with their placement into the tiers of the afterlife. Debates with Hades about mortality rarely lasted. Debates with Hades about anything, really. If either of us grew impassioned in our points it was enough for the other to be swept away and the conversation always ended.
I still was polite enough to come to our discussions prepared. Today was no different until, movement scuffled in the cavern and a mighty voice bellowed the announcement of a pair of mortals.
"I am Pirithous, here to rescue you from Hades House!" the first one announced and wrenched me from the seat. Parchment scattered onto the floor and I yelped with surprise as he caught me in his arms.
I was being accosted by a middle-aged man.
His lookout seemed more fearsome, but not by much. In fact, I recognized him. Theseus, hero of the divine drama. I had never cared much for him before but now, the loathing was personal.
I was so surprised they had been brazen enough to come here that I didn't blast the skin off Pirithous's bones right away. I wrestled against him instead.
"How dare you," I seethed. Had he met me at Olympus, he would have been ash scattered by Zeus and Demeter.
"You are the wife I have chosen for myself," he said as if he thought that would work on me a second time.
Theseus called for him to look and we all turned as Hades swept into the room. I didn't know how he was summoned here so quickly, but somewhere in the day, his crown had pierced the side of his temple and a golden rivulet of blood had dried down his cheek. He had obviously been interrupted from his work.
It made him terrifying, as if an incident from Tartarus was a minor inconvenience. Worse yet, he must have been in the middle of attending to it, but had stopped to intervene in this mess. I had never been so afraid for any mortals.
"Welcome to my home," he said formally. His gaze fell to where Pirithous still held me, one hand on my breast. His eyes flashed. "I see you have made yourself very comfortable."
"Yes," Pirthous said with drunken courage. He didn't take his hands off me, and I didn't fight him. The rage in Hades's eyes told me that he would take care of it soon enough.
"I didn't realize my bride had decided to leave me for such a...charming life in the mortal world. Is this what you wish, Persephone?" he asked politely.
"No," I said. My voice was flat and a private moment passed between us. Don't even ask me that as a joke, I thought and narrowed my eyes. He chuckled darkly.
"Then Pirithous should remove his hands before I cut them off."
Theseus was white with terror, and did not speak as Hades strode to stand behind the massive throne of bones. Pirithous finally released me to face him, drawing his steel sword with a deafening slash of metal on metal.
"You're here to take my wife, Pirithous," he began. "Would you like to take my kingdom as well?"
"I am only here for my Lady," he slurred.
"Oh but I insist," Hades continued. He strode towards him, but despite his pleasant tone, his eyes were murderous.
Pirithous struck when he was close enough, but my husband caught the blade of his sword with his bare hand, meeting the force with such resistance the mortal staggered back. More of that golden blood ran from the space between his fingers, but he remained impassive to it.
"You have more audacity than I have seen in many gods," he noted. "Do you think you could be a suitable husband to Persephone?"
"I—"
"She is not easy to please," he warned. "I have never been one for conquests or war, so I'm able to devote every minute to her. I am ready and willing to spar with the Olympians on her behalf at any given moment. Most importantly, perhaps, I bow and worship to her. Be warned before you decide. Persephone will not have anything less."
"You would lower yourself? Below your wife?" he scoffed.
"Several times every night," Hades replied. I laughed despite myself, even as he used the sword as leverage to swing Pirithous around, stumbling towards the throne. "But clearly, you are more of a king than I am. Since you are more worthy of my new queen, take my throne as well."
"I—"
"Sit."
All his humor had evaporated in the command, and Pirithous blanched. Unlike Theseus, who had not moved or spoken since Hades had arrived, he seemed to realize the danger only at this moment. Hesitantly, he sank into Hades's chair and the bones of hands immediately gripped his arms, clawing at the unrecognized imposter.
Hades removed his crown with the jagged obsidian prongs that had cut him. Pirithous screamed in anguish as his flesh melded to the seat and stretched over his own frame, but the pain fell on deaf ears.
"King of the Underworld," Hades muttered and tossed the crown onto Pirithous's lap.
The skeletal hands that had first trapped him grabbed it and passed it up the animate mound of bones until they attempted to rest it on his head. There was no ration behind their attempts as it didn't fit. They merely kept trying, forcing the crown again and again despite the blood dripping from his skull.
Theseus stepped forward and we both turned. I had nearly forgotten he was there. Hades, it seemed, had no such lapse.
"Please, my lord. Show mercy," he said.
"I've heard it said that you are the company you keep," he drawled and allowed a thousand shadows to sweep him into oblivion. "I tend to agree. Come, Persephone."
I took his arm and followed him out of the throne room, glad to be away with him. My skin was still crawling from the entitlement behind their touch. In another world, I might have been horrified to glimpse the brutal side of my husband he so seldom showed, especially because I knew he had still restrained himself in front of me. But I followed him away, and the mortal screams dimmed behind us.
"Are you alright?" he asked gently as soon as we were alone.
"You're bleeding," I said in response. I took his hand, although the cut had already come close to healing. I touched his temple and tried to find the source of blood, but that too had closed. "I should be the one tending to you."
"This is nothing that won't wash away," he replied. I considered this for a moment as he pressed a hand against my cheek. A beat passed and he tilted my face up to look at him.
"Did I frighten you?" he asked.
"No," I said and meant it. It was the first time I saw how much he had changed me.
"There is no living creature more protected than you," he promised with a kiss against my temple. "And there is nothing more dear to me than your happiness."
We were a wicked pair in love, and I knew there were no lengths I wouldn't go to for him. Clearly, he was possessive of me too. He took my hand and kissed it, as if to convince me he really wasn't so brutal after all.
"Let's dine. Today has been demanding for both of us," he said. I followed him to the table, and a new thought dawned on me.
"What are you going to do with them? You'll need your throne back," I said.
"I think I'll feed him to Cerberus," he mused. "But I will probably still cut his hands off first.
"May I watch?"
CITEȘTI
Hades and Persephone: A Fated Love
Dragoste"You can have anything you want," He plucked the ripest for me from the tree. "Everything in my world is yours." With all of my mother's warnings, I had been afraid to eat from his table or drink his wine. These were binding things, and I would sta...
