Author's Note: I'm introducing two more characters into Persephone's world, friends from her time with her mother: Chloris the Greek goddess of flowers, and Hegamone the Greek goddess of plants (especially those that bear fruit). I also wanted to share that I did a little research on ancient beauty rituals—none of which were particularly pleasant—on how ancient Greek men and women dyed their hair; some of that research appears in the story. BEFORE YOU BEGIN I would like to point out that this story is SEQUEL to Rightfully Hers and I would highly encourage reading that story before reading this one. This story was a special request from some of my readers of Rightfully Hers and I was quite surprise that an idea for revenge came about so quickly. To those of you who were hoping for a sequel I sincerely hope you enjoy it! Happy reading!
Persephone was anxious. It had taken quite a bit of planning to arrange a visit for her friends, although she couldn't understand why. It was wintertime in the world above, and the flowers and foliage would not be in bloom. Of course, Persephone remembered, her mother kept a tight hold on her "minions." The gods and goddesses of flora and fauna, nymphs of the water, the air, and the earth all answered to her especially during the months of growth and harvest for Demeter oversaw it.
You'd think that Mother Gaia would be in control; she is the earth, after all, Persephone thought as she paced. She hadn't wanted to make an enormous procession of her friends' arrival, but she would keep the ceremony regal. She was a queen, and queens were expected to carry themselves with a certain air of dignity and grace even around childhood friends.
Thanatos, whom Hades not-so-fondly referred to as the doorman, announced the arrival of Persephone's guests. She took her place on her onyx throne and bade them brought to her. The door opened once more, and the great throne room was filled with the sweet smell of flowers. Earthy scents accompanied as two figures clad in pink and forest green were escorted in by the gargoyle-esque figure. Persephone rose in greeting and clasped her hands before her mustering as much royal air as she could. Thanatos announced the arrival of the goddesses Chloris and Hegamone of the flowers and the plants, bowed and left the women alone.
A smile broke across Persephone's face and she jumped from the dais towards her friends, purple silk training behind her. They were all three just like little girls again. She hugged them to her tightly smelling the familiar aromas of freshly tilled earth and cut flowers. Her friends hugged her back and commented on how glorious she had looked standing as ruler, even if it was of such a dismal place.
"It's not so bad, really," Persephone told them. "It was a bit gloomy at first, but it only lacks a bit of color."
"You seem so happy, Persephone," Chloris said in her singsong voice. "I never would have guessed marring the king of the underworld would bring such joy."
"I never would have guessed myself. You'll get to meet him later if you wish; he'll be at dinner. You'll stay, won't you?"
"Of course, we will," Hegamone answered. "It took us this long to escape your mother's temple. We're definitely staying for a while."
Persephone's face fell. "Oh, Heg, is she really as bad as everyone says?"
Hegamone gulped. "It's not that she's so bad, Persie, it's just that she likes to be in control. Surely you knew that though?"
Persephone nodded slowly. "I just hate that you had to sneak away."
"Don't worry about it, Persephone. It was fun being so sneaky!" Chloris giggled. "We've been dying to see you, anyway. We miss you when you're not up there."
"I'm so happy you could come when you did. I need your help with something."
Chloris began to jump up and down. "Ooo! We're happy to help! Aren't we, Heg?"
Hegamone looked at Persephone suspiciously. "Just what does the queen of the underworld need our help with?" She couldn't contain her smirk. "It doesn't like many flowers or plants grow down here."
"Come with me; I'll tell you everything." Persephone took her friends by the hands and led them up the back stairs to her chambers.
She started by telling her friends about her marriage and how happy she and Hades seemed to make each other. Persephone showed them from her balcony the rose canopy he had made for her with the help of Gaia as well as the affection that he poured out for her through gifts and letters.
"Oh, Persephone, it sounds so romantic." Chloris sighed and leaned back against the chaise.
"You're hopeless," Hegamone laughed.
"Yes, well, we had our first little hiccup not too long ago."
Chloris shot up. "A hiccup! Oh no! Is he mad at you? Your marriage isn't in danger, is it?"
"Chlo, you're too dramatic." Hegamone shook her head. "Let her tell."
"Heg, she's our friend. I don't want her trapped in a bad marriage."
"I'm not," Persephone defended. "Really, I'm not. He's absolutely wonderful. Hades and I have reconciled and are back where we should be. Besides, it wasn't his fault."
"It wasn't?" Hegamone raised an eyebrow.
Persephone's eyes grew a little darker and Chloris gasped. "Persie, I think the underworld is getting to you."
Persephone looked at her friend and smiled. "It is true that while I am here, I belong to it. I am its queen." She winked. "Actually, I haven't been able to shake this grudge I've been carrying for a while."
"You?" Chloris laughed. "You're too sweet for that."
"Persie," Hegamone began slowly. "What happened between you and Hades?"
Persephone told them about the horrible incident that had happened last year before left the underworld and returned to her mother. She mentioned Aphrodite's spell and told them both about the horrible little eel of a nymph who had the audacity to even look at her husband. She even brought out the little sweet-smelling plant that was ready to sprout at the first signs of spring in the world above.
"You turned her into a plant?" Hegamone asked.
"And I trampled her beneath my foot," Persephone seethed. "She can be ruled by you now. I don't want her here. I was going to grow it last year, but I couldn't even bare to look at the thing when I was leaving. It stayed down here while I was gone."
"Persephone," Chloris gasped childishly. "Are you jealous of her?"
"Not jealous, Chlo," Hegamone answered before Persephone had a chance to speak, but she was smiling knowingly. "Territorial."
Persephone blushed a little and smiled demurely. "Well, I can't have a husband with wondering eyes, can I?"
"You've become a whole new person down here, haven't you?"
Persephone shook her head. "No, I've just found someone who helps bring out a strength in me I never knew I had, and I intend to keep him."
"I think you're both lucky to have each other," Hegamone told her friend sincerely. Persephone's smile was genuine when returned.
"So, what do you need our help with?"
"Aphrodite tampered with something that is mine. I'm going to tamper with something that his hers."
"Like what? The only thing she really cares about her son. Mr. Angel Wings." Chloris rolled her eyes.
"There are only two things that she cares about, really. Eros," Persephone ticked him off her fingers, "but he was not a part of this treachery and I like him. We were presented together." Persephone shrugged. "That leaves her beauty." She ticked the next finger.
"What are you going to do?" Hegamone laughed. "Turn her into a crone?"
"Something like that. Do you remember when we turned my mother's hair a different color on accident?" Persephone asked her friends, leaning closer to them.
"I never thought it was an accident. You were mad at her." Chloris giggled at the memory. She stopped when she saw the look on Persephone's face. "Is that your plan? To change her hair color? She'll look good with black hair too, you know. Your mother did."
"We're not just going to color it black. We're going to make it green."
"Green?!" Hegamone's eyes grew wide. "Why green?"
"She'll know who it came from. I'm the goddess of spring, remember?"
Chloris fell into a fit of laughter. "Persie, I love it! Oh, she messed with the wrong queen." She squealed and fell against the chaise once again, kicking her feet in the air.
"Well, someone likes your plan," Hegamone said, watching Chloris for a moment. "Do you remember what we used to change your mother's hair?"
"I have a recipe for a hair dye of sorts."
"Who gave you a recipe?"
"The Erinyes," Persephone smirked.
"Aren't they dangerous? Mortals are terrified of them," Chloris exclaimed.
"They should be, but down here they're quite wonderful. Very pleasant, truly. Megeara was particularly interested in helping. She punishes infidelity." Persephone smiled wickedly.
"It smells horrible!" Hegamone pinched her nose and went back into Persephone's bedroom.
"That's why we're out here. It's only vinegar, Heg. Don't be so dramatic."
"You're worse than me," Chloris threw over her shoulder and Persephone giggled.
The bowl was filled with slop. Persephone and the others had thrown in many of the ingredients that Megeara had written down for them. Ashwood had gone in first and had mixed with the vinegar poured in. Persephone threw in two or three different fungi as Chloris dumped fermented leeches into the bowl.
"Where did you find these?" Chloris gagged.
"Don't ask. It's better that way. Alright, put some of this lichen in it. It's supposed to make a greenish color." Persephone dropped a handful in and stirred.
"How are you going to mask this smell?" Hegamone asked. "She'll know something is wrong with it."
"I'll take care of it. We're deities, remember? I can make it sweet smelling and look nice."
Persephone stirred the bowl once more before reaching for a pair of knitted gloves. "One last thing." She turned and pulled off the leaves of the plant before her in clumps of three. Persephone tore the leave in half and threw them in the bowl.
"Poison ivy?" Chloris asked.
"Not enough to hurt her," Persephone promised, "but enough to make her blotchy."
The three of them were giggling like girls when the door to the chamber opened behind them. None of them heard the king of the dead enter his wife's room until he stopped and groaned. Persephone turned quickly and gasped. She stripped the gloves off and pushed her friends through the doorway back into the bedroom.
"What is the awful smell?"
"Nothing." Persephone shut the curtains quickly and turned back to him. "We didn't expect to see you until dinner."
"I had a moment to come and introduce myself to my wife's friends, but now I'm curious to know what the three of you are doing up here."
"Nothing!" she persisted. "It's just a beauty regiment."
"A what?"
"Chloris wanted to lighten her hair. "Persephone pointed to her friend in pink and she waved meekly. "You need vinegar to do that. It's nothing, really, just a mixture to brighten hair."
Hades raised an eyebrow. "You never struck me as the type to participate in beauty rituals, my queen."
"I don't. It's for Chloris if you'd listen to me." She smirked up at him. "Now, you're ruining our fun. Go back to your work, like a good king, and we shall all be more presentable when dinner is ready."
"Am I being banished from the ladies' chamber?" Hades asked in a mockingly shocked tone.
"My love, you have yet to see the person I become around my closest and oldest friends. I don't think you'll ever see me giggle more in my life than I do with I am with them." She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him sweetly.
"And I cannot witness this girlish fit of giggles now?"
"Oh, you will see it soon enough, but for now you have an underworld to rule and I am spending the day my friends who came a very long way to see me and had to escape the talon-like clutches of my mother."
"Say no more, I understand." He kissed her forehead and turned to two other goddesses. "My ladies, it was a pleasure to make your acquaintance however brief. I look forward to seeing you all at dinner this evening." He bowed and left the room.
"Why Persephone, he's downright charming." Hegamone was impressed.
"And so gallant." Chloris sighed dramatically.
"He's wonderful; I hope you see why I love him." Persephone smiled at the door before turning back to them. "Come on, we're almost finished. We have to make it smell good."
"Put some of your new plant in it."
"Chloris," Persephone grasped her hands and spun her around. "You're a genius!" She plucked some leaves off her special little plant and carried them outside. When Persephone dropped the leaves into the bowl the vinegary odor was instantly replaced with the sweet aroma of mint. "What goes better with revenge than punishment?"
"At least she didn't suffer in vain," Hegamone said.
Persephone scoffed. "Like I care if she suffered. She wasn't under any spell; she just took advantage of his weakened state." She smiled at her friend. "Let's get this in a bottle. I want this sent to Olympus today."
"Your friends were positively charming, my flower, not that I expected anything different." Hades and Persephone sat together in her rose escape, wound around each other in Persephone's vine decorated chair. They had only been gone a few days, but he longed to see his wife so giddy again as she was during their visit.
She nuzzled against her neck and purred. "I hope they can come again soon. I've forgotten how much I miss them. Even when I am back with my mother we're so busy with the growth we don't get much time to socialize together."
"Does my company bore you?" He gave her a pitiful look.
"Don't start that, my brooding prince of darkness." She kissed his cheek. "If I could have a place where I kept you and Chloris and Hegamone with me forever I would be the happiest goddess alive." She kissed him sensually.
"Tell me, my queen, was your smelly beauty treatment successful?"
"My room still smells like vinegar if you call that success; I suppose I shall have to sleep with you for the time being until the smell clears out."
"As if I would have it any other way," he growled.
"It did not work on her hair, though, since you ask." Persephone shrugged. "Maybe she will find a new way to lighten her hair and come back to try again."
"Yes, why not stink up the world of the dead. Not that they can smell it." He pouted, and his flower gave him a smirking reproach. Persephone was almost asleep again when she heard the rose curtain rustle. Her husband tightened his arms around her and his chest rumbled when he spoke. "Thanatos, my favorite doorman. Who have you let in this time?"
"Your brothers have come to see you, Majesty."
"Both of them?"
"Yes, Sire. The goddess Aphrodite is with them."
Persephone bolted up at this. "What does she look like?"
Thanatos and Hades both gave her astounded looks, but Thanatos answered his queen. "She, uh, does not look like herself, your grace."
Persephone smiled. "Come, my dear, let us greet our guests."
"Since when were you so happy to see my brothers?" he asked her, following her back to the palace ahead of them, but she flashed him a dazzling smile and he forgot about his suspicion.
Once seated on their great thrones the doors were opened and the three Olympians pushed through. Zeus was dressed in his traditional purple robes, Poseidon covered with blue and white waves, but Aphrodite, usually a picture of loveliness, was shrouded in a magenta cloak that covered her feet all the way up to her face. She looked like a walking pink statue. Persephone stiffened a giggle and watched the three of them approach the dais.
"What a surprise this is, my two brothers coming to see me, and this majestic stranger?"
"Surely you know who I am, Hades," Aphrodite answered from inside the cloak.
"Of course, my lady, but you will forgive if I could not recognize you. Your face is not usually covered."
"We're sorry to intrude like this, but we wanted to come and speak to you about something, brother. Just a few questions if you have the time." Zeus sounded agitated, but not quite angry. Yet.
"Of course, my wife and I always have time to welcome family. Shall we go upstairs?"
Persephone tried to catch a glimpse at Aphrodite's face as the quintet settled down around the plush couches circled in the room. Several minutes passed in silence, the four of them exchanged looks and Aphrodite sitting motionless. Finally, Zeus' agitation crossed the threshold into anger and he spoke.
"Dite, we might as well show them now and see if they know anything. I don't even know why you wanted to come down here in the first place. What would my brother or his wife have to do with your face?"
"Her face?" Hades asked. He looked at Persephone and saw her trying to hide a smile. "What is the matter with her face?"
"Take the hood off and show them."
"No," Aphrodite murmured and drew further inside the folds.
"Enough of this. I'm not sitting here all day." Zeus pulled the cloak's hood down from her face and Aphrodite shrieked.
Hades and Persephone gasped. Her skin was whiter than a ghost and blotched with nasty red splotches; some of them had pussy yellow centers. They covered the skin of her neck and reappeared on her arms. Her hair was tangled and unkempt, but what was more peculiar was its color. Aphrodite's once splendid golden curls were now putrid greenish black knots that hung limply around her face. She looked more like a gorgon than a goddess. Not even Persephone could have guessed it would have turned out this horrible.
"My word." Hades was speechless. "What happened?"
Aphrodite hid her face in her red blotted hands. "I don't know," she sobbed. "I took a bath as usual in my pearl tub, and my nymph brought in new bath oil. She said it smelled like nothing she had found before. So, she opened it, and I was so intrigued. It was an incredible aroma."
It took all of Persephone's willpower not to smile. "She poured it into the water and the room filled with a luxurious sweetness I had never known. I must have dozed off in the water, and when I woke up I dawned my robe, the same as always. But as I was passing the mirror I saw myself, and I looked like this!" She wailed again and hid inside her dirty green tangles.
"Perhaps, uh, perhaps it is a negative reaction to the new bath oil?" Hades offered.
"We have already tried to tell her that. We've tried to tell her it can't be permanent." Poseidon placed a hand on Aphrodite's shoulder and she flinched. "It has to wear off sooner or later."
"It's not permanent." All eyes fell on Persephone. She looked at Aphrodite directly, a fierce calm in her expression.
"What?" the other goddess demanded.
"It's not permanent," Persephone repeated. "You will go back to normal eventually, though I'm not sure when."
Persephone was caught completely off guard by the goddess of love and beauty pouncing on her. Both tumbled backward off the backless couch and onto the floor a heap of purple silk and magenta cotton. Aphrodite clawed at Persephone's face, pulled her hair, tugged at her dress. Persephone screamed for her husband as Aphrodite continued her attack, boils opening and leaking puss on Persephone's chthonic silk. Persephone shrieked when the filth touched her skin, but was pulled to her feet by strong, familiar arms.
"Do control yourself, woman," Hades seethed. "How dare you attack my wife?"
"You did this to me!" Aphrodite screamed, writhing on the floor at the couple's feet. "You made me into this monster. Look at me! Look at me!"
"I daresay it worked better than I had hoped." Persephone jumped back when Aphrodite lunged for her.
"What is the meaning of all of this? Hades, there had better be a damn good explanation." Zeus was on his feet and helping Aphrodite back to a couch.
"He had nothing to do with it." Persephone took hold of her arm and squeezed. "This was all my plan; I take full responsibility for it."
"But why?" Poseidon was the one to speak now, and his voice was demanding.
"Why?" Persephone raged. "Do you think my marriage is a toy that can be played with and discarded? Do you think that just because your lives of luxury atop that accursed mountain are dull and full of monotonous boredom that you can tamper with the lives and love of those below it? You," she pointed to Aphrodite, "sent that witchery to entrance my husband, and as a result I found that slug riding him where I should be!" The three Olympians reddened at the mention of such private acts, but Persephone's anger did not subside. "What gives any of you the right to come between a husband and wife, a king and his queen, for your simple amusements? Ruin your own marriages if you must but leave mine alone!"
"But that was over a year ago," Zeus protested. "How can you remember?"
"Do you think I would forget the sight of another woman with my husband?" Persephone shouted. "And even sooner those who put her there?"
"You dare raise your voice to the king of the gods, you little harpy!" Zeus thundered.
"If she had not, I would have." Hades stepped between his brother and his wife. "I will remind you, brother, that I am the eldest of the three of you-born first of our mother, Rhea, though I was eaten straight from the womb by our father-though you are credited with being the savior of the universe." He sneered these last words. "Living down here, with a kingdom greater than both of yours combined, I am still the eldest brother and a king and will be afforded all the respect and honor that title deserves. My wife, my queen, will be afforded that same respect." Hades looked back at Persephone whose smile gave him the strength to press on. "She was braver than I was to confront that fiasco that nearly tore us apart. Your blunder and your boredom almost cost me my marriage to the woman I love more than my own existence. You two have your pick of every moral, goddess, nymph, animal, anything you want in the upper worlds." He threw his hands up. "And yet you came after me and my bride."
Zeus and Poseidon sat still and silent while their brother ranted. Neither of them was accustomed to this sort of language or this demeanor from anyone, least of all Hades. He had spent most of his existence quiet and passive, choosing to remain in his dark kingdom instead of venturing upward where he was the butt of jokes, gossiped about and ignored simply because he ruled over the dead. He had just witnessed his wife attacked and felt an undeniable sense of pride that she had retaliated and fought back for the sake of their marriage and their love. How he adored her more and more.
"You should have seen what she did to that poor nymph." Hades sat down and stretched out on the couch.
"Poor nymph?" Persephone questioned. "I knew you were a sympathetic king, my love, but for her?"
"Cool your anger, sweet one," Hades told her. "I am simply finishing the story for our guests. You see after my wife broke the spell over me, she turned her fury on the sadder creature you chose for your game." Zeus hesitated for a moment before asking what happened to the nymph they had used. Hades smiled wickedly and turned to his wife. "Would you like to show them?"
Persephone was gone for only a moment but returned holding the flowerpot that contained the little green plant. The familiar sweetness filled the room and Aphrodite gasped. Poseidon and Zeus stared at the plan in amazement. Persephone placed the little plant in the center of the table and rejoined her husband.
"What is this?" Zeus asked never taking his eye off the shiny green leaves.
"I've been calling it mint, like her." Persephone's smile was horrifyingly amused. "I used the leaves to make your 'bath oil' smell so tantalizing. I was going to share it with the mortals last spring but could not bring myself to carry it above the ground with me. I was still too disgusted. So, it sat down here waiting until this year. It shall bloom at the first signs of spring when I return to my mother."
"And just how long will I be like this?" Aphrodite demanded, pointing to her face.
Persephone looked from her and then to the little plant and shrugged. "I would say you'll go back to your vain self when the first of this plant blooms."
"But you've only just arrived! The leaves are only beginning to change their color!"
"The only reason that change isn't permanent, goddess of beauty—I use the term loosely—is because I was able to bring my husband back from your grasp. I promise you that if I even lose Hades and I find that one of you is behind it, your mountain will fall." Persephone glowered at them all.
"I had no idea that you had married Scylla, brother," Zeus hissed. "Who knew that ripping the little rosebud away from her mother would turn her into such a monster?"
"It is passion she is fuel by, not anger. My wife is a gentle creature until what she holds nearest and dearest is threatened."
"Well aren't you the lucky one then? She must think very highly of you," Aphrodite sneered.
"I am the luckiest of beings to have earned her affection." Hades draped an arm around his wife's shoulders. "I think it is time for you to leave. You came for answers and found what you were looking for. You will return to your mountain top and leave my wife and me in peace." He rang for Thanatos.
When the guardian of death's doors came and collected the underworld's visitors, Hades shut the door behind them and locked it. Before Persephone had time to acknowledge his movements, he had picked her up and fallen onto the closest couch with her on top of him.
"Oh no, Hades, don't touch me. I'm still covered in whatever came out of those spots of hers." Persephone examined her purple silk disgustedly as she straddled her husband.
"Here, let me fix that." He ripped the garment over her head and threw it in the fire.
She sat atop him naked now save for her jewels and the silver band around my arm. "So many of my clothes have ended up in the fire down here," she mumbled.
"And they are always replaced, are they not? Usually with something grander than before." Hades massaged her hips. "Who is the new angry goddess that I have discovered living inside my wife? I must tame her."
Persephone smirked and leaned down to kiss him. She captured his bottom lip between her teeth and he groaned. "Don't you know you already have? She only wakes when she fears she has lost you."
"She will never lose me," he told her softly, kissing her again. "Although I am curious, why did you decide this course of action?"
"Why did I strip the goddess of beauty of her beauty you mean?" She smirked, and Hades nodded. "She tried to take my most valued treasure from me, so it only seemed fit to take her most valued treasure from her. She's as vain as I've ever seen and thinks only of her looks."
"But you were able to break my spell and bring me back to you."
"Yes, which is why the potion isn't permanent. She will be back to her old self soon enough, but not before I have my fun with you." She leaned forward again, but this time did not come back up.