You are the Queen, and I am the Consort
Pirithous could not believe it. The plan had been perfect, with no flaws! Surely a great King as himself should be worthy to have one of Zeus the Almighty's various daughters as a bride? A Goddess as Queen would bring glory to his kingdom like nothing else! And now he found himself chained to a throne of stone, unable to move.
"So, this is the brazen mortal who tried to kidnap my dear wife?" a voice spoke, and Pirithous looked up, expecting to see the God of the Underworld whose name no mortal wanted to mention outside burials or telling myths.
Hades...was nothing as one could expect from a ruler of the dead. Instead of the pale skin akin to the dead, or even more bone pale because there was no sun in the Underworld, Hades had the skin colour of bronze, with all the signs of a tan from the sun. His eyes were a stunning green, which along with the skin colour brought out the copper-red colour on his hair, which hung feely down to the shoulders instead of being cut short. Rather than gold, a silver crown set with emeralds and rubies were worn as a sign of his regal status, and his chiton were purple with golden patterns.
"Well, Pirithous? Or did Cerberus get your tongue as a snack from the Furies?"
When no answer came, Hades poured up some wine in a cup on the table and drank it, clearly enjoying the fine taste.
"Pfff. Did you really think that you would make my darling a favour? "Poor little daughter of Demeter, trapped in the dark Underworld for half a year with all the dead souls...married to a such cold and gloomy husband. Surely I can kidnap her from a such horrible life, have her become my sweet little wife and give birth to a dozen of screaming brats that have the blood of the Gods in their veins, right? Especially a lot of strong sons. Because it is every woman's dream to marry and have children". As if that ever would happen!"
Hades slapped Pirithous hard, on both sides of the face.
"Listen up, you little rat to bastard child of Zeus! Do you really think that any mortal would honestly be able to wed a child of Demeter, without her permission? With a such whoremonger to father as Zeus? Nope, that you are even more foolish than Chronus, who mistook a simple rock for his newborn son! No, my darling wife and I are different from the other Gods. In fact, we seduced each other...both pretty willing, although poor Demeter were not too happy at first over my choice of spouse. before I reminded her that Zeus is not exactly a great role-model in how to be a husband."
Picking up a pomegranate in his hand, Hades did bite deeply and tore out both seeds and peel with his teeth, making it seem like it was blood on his lower face and clothes.
"As for this little edible beauty...the seeds are merely a very good birth control I created here in the underworld, for my wife have no desire of children. And neither do I, not with all the half-gods running around up in the living world."
A light cough were heard from the doorway that led into the room.
"Are you taking over my role to punish those who dare to be rude against the Gods, sweetie?"
A woman had arrived, dressed in black and silver. A silver-grey were the colour of her long curly hair, hanging free yet with two braids at the front, but her face were that of a adult woman in her prime, not a innocent maiden or old crone. Was this Persephone, the daughter of Demeter? If so, Pirithous had guessed right in that she must change appearance depending on it being summer or winter.
"You told me to show something of my darker side to our "guest" who tried to take you...Hades."
The last word made Pirithous go numb with shock. He couldn't understand what he was hearing, the words just refused to make sense, it was like his brain was simply rebelling against the facts and refusing to accept them. How was it possible!? Everyone knew that Hades were a man, and Persephone a woman! Hades were always told be a lord of the dead! The woman laughed softly.
"Really, mortals are so scared of a woman in power that they swapped our genders when telling the myth of our marriage! As if my dear sister Demeter would protest against me marrying her beloved son, when he is nothing like that skirt chaser who sired him."
Kissing her husband softly on the lips, even taking time to gently licking off pomegranate juice from his face, Hades then turned around to face Pirithous, a calm yet cold fury in her eyes that turned her black eyes red.
"As my dear Persephone already have told you, I am the actual ruler of the Underworld. Unlike the myths, this is our true forms. And I do not tolerate being viewed as a prize to be used for carrying little brats to a man who only cares for sons, not for daughters unless they can be used for marriage!"
Pirithous said nothing, for now his mind were completely empty tanks to the magic inside the throne he had been chained into. Taking hold of a dead flower Persephone gave her, Hades threw it to the ground, causing a large piece of rock to suddenly shot out from the stone floor and it took the human king with it, himself still seated on the throne without any reaction. Judging from the distant sounds above them, he had not escaped some body injury on the way out from the Underworld.
"Let's see how he reacts on getting attacked by Demeter for a while. After all, she have never liked it when foolish mortals attempt to do something of dishonor against her family."
"I asked some of the flowers on Crete to tell her why I suddenly left for the Underworld despite that it is still a few weeks left to autumn equinox when I normally returns to you. And that wedding gift you gave me, a set of flowers that would open up the ground and allow me a very fast way to your kingdom, worked very good to arrive just in time to see you knock that bastard out with your own helm of invisibility," Persephone grinned at her. In return, the Queen of the Underworld gave him a look that few others would be able to read because she normally was pretty stoic and not spoke much.
"Glad to hear that it proved useful outside you sending annoying half-siblings and cousins down here when they start pesting you too much."
Persephone rolled his eyes, she knew perfectly well how annoying the other children sired by Zeus could be for him, especially Ares who always looked for trouble or a possible fight, outside the few ones he could stand like Athena and Artemis because they had always respected his manners in treating them with respect for being virgin goddesses, while Hephaestus sometimes could need a little help about Aphrodite. More than once in the past, Persephone had been teased for being more feminine than his half-brothers since a early age and most of the gods had believed his growing power over vegetation to be merely temporary before switching to something more masculine while he struggled in puberty from boy to grow into a adult.
"Come. The Queen requests some time alone with her Consort. Do you accept, my love?"
"If it pleases my Queen and wife, then indeed."
Hades smiled as her hand were kissed by him, a promise of what was going to happen soon enough in their bedchamber.