Hades |Lesbian Version|

Chapter 5: The Temptation

Persephone could not tell how many days had passed since her abduction. It was always night in the Underworld. Everywhere was dark, dull, and lifeless. She felt suffocated from being confined to her chamber all the time.

The maiden of amaranthine loveliness longed for the sunlight and the warm fresh scent of the earth. She missed her flowers and all the birds and faunas of her home. She grew lonely and terribly bored.

Hades had not come to her chamber since that night. For that, she was grateful. Persephone was still terrified at the prospect of seeing her captor again. She wouldn't know what the fierce goddess would do to her.

Yet she needed to escape this tormenting loneliness that plagued her mind. Quietly, she rose and crept towards the doors of her chamber. To her immense surprise, they were not locked as she had thought. With a pounding heart, she opened the heavy door slowly to peek outside. There were no sentries and no palace maids - nothing but empty hallways lit by green-flamed torches, which hovered eerily in the air.

Persephone gingerly stepped forward and out of the oppressing chamber. She looked around her and found not a single soul, which was strange in a place full of them, she thought.

Suddenly, a red carpet unreeled itself and rolled out to her feet from the dark end of the hallway. She jumped back with a shocked gasp. Persephone waited but nothing else leaped at her. At last, curiosity overcame her fear and she decided to go explore the mystery.

As she began to walk down the hall, her mind was captivated by the august size and splendid masonry of Hades' palace. It was said that after three chief gods had decided their domains, Hades left Olympus and came down to her new kingdom with great disappointment. She immediately set out to build her underworld palace and make it greater, if not brighter, even than Olympus. Persephone couldn't help but agree that the place was strangely beautiful in its own way.

One of the torches had floated ahead of her, lighting the way. From the luminous glow, she could see full battle scenes between the gods and the Titans on the mural walls. Persephone followed the floating torch. It led her through a long winding corridor before stopping suddenly in front of grand double doors. The doors were burnished gold and encrusted with finely cut rubies and quartzes of various colors.

As if on cue, the grand doors opened themselves up soundlessly, revealing a large hall inside. Persephone was hesitant but couldn't stop her legs from moving forward. The doors closed themselves behind her when she stepped into the room. Her heart skipped a beat at that, even though she saw nobody around. The young goddess was even more curious than frightened now.

The torch beside her began to whirl itself then glided away to join the others that latched themselves onto each of the black marble columns. There was a giant bronze brazier at the end of the hall. At least, it burned normal fire. The golden flames glowed and flickered like tongues of manic dragons, lighting up the entire space.

In the center of the room was a long polished dining table with only two crested golden chairs. On the tabletop was an abundance of foods overflowing from one end to the other.

The bright-haired goddess hadn't eaten anything since her arrival. She was instantly lured by the myriad of platters filled with delicacies - seasoned roasted lamb with garlic and herbs plus goat cheese and grilled geese drizzled with olive oil. Persephone circled the table as if in a trance. There were fresh-baked sweetbreads, dripping honeycomb, and lemon cakes dusted with icing sugar. It made Persephone's mouth watered at the sight of them.

However, she had to remind herself to be true to her words. She tried not to notice a thing, not even allowing her nostrils to twitch, although the rich aromas had awoken her hunger. Her throat felt raw from all the crying. Persephone almost wished she could have a glass of cold wine to quench her thirst but she knew she could not permit herself to touch anything in this place.