Arden: The Gift Of Delirium

75. The Very Dark Queen

Perseph-Persephone? Persephone. "Persephone?" I repeated lowly. Hayden nodded. His mother was Persephone?

I tried to click my thoughts together. Persephone was Hades wife- of course. She's immortal- obviously so if they were to have a child- there would be no gene of an absolute human. Hayden is a deiko.

But...why hasn't he told anyone? Or maybe he has. Does Perri and Zane know at least?

"Wow," I choked out. "It's- it's really nice to meet you." She gave me a sweet small smile. Being near to her, I concluded that she was just as beautiful as everyone thought her to be.

Her eyes were a bright green color and her skin looked really soft. "The pleasure's all mine."

"Fantastic." Hayden rubbed his hands together. "Now that we've handled that- Mom...I kind of need a favor from you." Hayden asked hopefully.

Persephone continued to twiddle her thumbs and I couldn't help but watch her. She was really pretty and she seemed so....introverted. "What is it, sweetie?"

"It would be great if Dad didn't know we were here."

Persephone tilted her head. "Why?"

"We just came down here to look for a few spellbooks. I don't want him to read too much into it." Hayden explained.

Persephone hesitated before nodded. "Okay. I won't tell your father." She agreed. "But I want to see him before I go. Do you have any idea where he might be?" Hayden shook his head. "Alright then, I guess I should leave you to it."

Hayden smiled a little before gesturing to his head. "Go ahead, Mama." Persephone stepped forward and gently fixed Hayden's hair. "You good now?"

Persephone nodded. "Yes. I'll see you soon, okay?" Hayden nodded. "I love you."

"I love you too." Persephone gave me one last smile before walking out of the Archives and Hayden turned towards me. "Shall we continue searching?"

I shook my head violently. "No."

"No?"

"Nuh uh." I continued to shake my head and pointed a finger at Hayden. "You, sir, have a lot of explaining to do." Hayden rolled his eyes as he leaned on one of the tables. "You never told me that Persephone was your mother."

Hayden lifted his shoulders. "Why would you want to know?" He countered.

Was he serious? "I don't know, maybe the fact that you're not even a disparate. You're a deiko. Maybe you're different from the rest of us- maybe there's something special about you. Plus, you're still in contact with your mom. That's a big deal." I rambled.

Wait, if Persephone was Hayden's mother- surely Perri and Zane knew that. I mean they had to. They were super close to Hayden and his father- why wouldn't they know about their uncle's wife- which he had for a couple solid thousands of years.

Or maybe they didn't know. Maybe Hayden didn't tell them either. How tragic that would be. Maybe Hades doesn't want them to know he's married to Persephone. Does anyone know? Do the gods know that there's definitely a queen of the Underworld?

"No, Arden. There's nothing different about me." Hayden clarified. "I'm just like any other disparate- my mother just happens to be immortal." He shrugged.

"So, why hide it?" I asked. "Surely you didn't want people to know- why?"

"Well, first, I didn't think it was a big deal. My mom was just...my mom. And it seemed that I was the only disparate out there who wasn't exactly a disparate and I felt like that's something I wanted to hang on to. I didn't want it to alter my life, so I decided that it wouldn't. Second, My mom isn't exactly the most outgoing person. There are certain scenes where she's just not as comfortable as she is down here. Not everyone really needs to know about her, you know." Hayden explained.

"Makes sense," I responded quietly. "I guess if it were me, I'd think the same thing."

"Yeah, you would." Hayden agreed with me and I gave him an unamused look. "But speaking of thinking the same thing- as much as I wanted to rip Zane's head off back at Inspire, clearly you had much more anger dwelled up inside."

I rolled my eyes and groaned. I swiped a hand across my face as I involuntarily began to think about what happened when we were with the Muses. Zane was such an idiot. I know we were both angry but...how could he?

I didn't want to be angry with him, and I wanted to just let go and tell myself that he didn't mean all of it but it hurt. They're abstract and don't physically hurt at the end of the day, but words do have an impact on you. And I couldn't help but feel like Zane took a damn knife and stabbed me in the chest.

I felt nothing but coolness and avoid when we were arguing. "I've never been so mad at him," I muttered silently. Hayden heard my mumbling and tilted his head.

"Don't go reading into this, darling, but I like you two."

"What?" I gave Hayden taken aback. I pursed his lips tightly.

He shrugged. "I liked you two together. I didn't expect him to fall in love with you- it took me off guard. But, what really shocked me was that I understood. I understood why he fell for you." The actual words I was hearing dazed me a little. They were actually coming from Hayden.

Hayden. "You've heard it a thousand times, Arden. You are extraordinary." Hayden told me slowly.

I narrowed my eyes slightly although I wanted to smile a little. Hayden wasn't a bad person. At all. I've known for a while now. He just made some bad choices for some not-so-bad reasons. And I think he didn't exactly like to show it, but he was actually sort of sweet....when he wanted to be.

"Who are you and what have you done with the real Hayden?" I asked.

"Haha." Hayden mocked me. "You are literally on fire today." He took his weight off the table. "But let's go. I know my dad has to have something about Hera here somewhere."

"Great. Now I'll have this and everyone else to worry about." I was worried about everyone- they all split up in search for Johanna, the harpies, kobalos, or their long-lost cousin. "I wonder if they're okay."

*****
Did you like the chapter? What do you think about Persephone being Hayden's mom? An artistic choice- jk.

It's Monday so I hope everyone has a great day. Next chapter, we check in with Zane and Harper. She opens up and tries to give him some advice.

Until then,

-brittany.