Chapter Nine
Persephone was sat in Hades' throne room, she felt drained and exhausted. Her black dress did nothing to lighten her mood, all her clothes were black. She was kneeling on the floor, a scroll in one hand, her eyes weren't moving as she couldn't concentrate on the words. All she could think about was home, the warm forests of Greece with their fresh scents and beautiful wildlife. Footsteps echoing down the halls made her look up and she was greeted by the sight of Hades walking into the throne room looking unusually happy with himself.
"You're up!" He grinned sweeping her off the floor and planting kisses on her forehead, nose, cheeks and lips. Persephone was too tired to fight him off, she endured the kisses with gritted teeth, trying her best to not clench her hands so she'd not destroy the scroll in her hands.
"Where did you go?" She asked as he released her and took his seat on his throne.
"Olympus."
"Without me!" Persephone cried angrily, "why didn't you take me! You told me I'd be bound to the Underworld once I married you, surely that means I can go to Olympus and visit the mortal world!" Hades shook his head. "Why?"
"I want you to be happy first, I don't want you running to your mother. You're married to me, there's no getting out of that. But I want a wife who is here with me. Not one who I never see because she hides herself either in the mortal world or Olympus! When you're happy then of course I'll let you visit your mother."
"Hades I..." Persephone trailed off and shook her head, "never mind." She sighed.
"No, what?" Hades concern was genuine; he reached out to squeeze catch her hand and squeeze it comfortingly but stopped himself. His touch never did seem to comfort her; in fact it seemed to worsen whatever mood she tended to be in at that time. This was the first time he'd seen her look this way, truly defeated and distraught. "Persephone, please tell me what's wrong."
"I – I don't love you, I don't even like you. I'm sorry but I don't, I won't ever be happy. How can I be? You kidnapped me and forced me to marry you." Tears were in her eyes, but like all the other times he'd seen these tears she blinked them away rapidly determined not to let him see her cry. Hades could feel his shoulders slumping and he rested his elbows on his knees as he looked up at her.
"I'm sorry you feel that way. But you're not the only woman who's ever been forced into wedlock, all over Greece, all over the world people are forced into marriage. Whether by their fathers to benefit them financially, or their lovers just because they can. Just for the power. Persephone, I genuinely love you. I'm sorry for how I've treated you, how I've acted but..." He shook his head and decided to try another angle. "Do you really think you'd have been free to choose? Your mother would have kept you away from all men; your father Zeus would have wanted you to marry a great God. Do you know how happy he is that you're married to him? Do you know how relieved he is?"
"Would he be relieved if he saw me like this?"
"Yes." Hades said sharply, "you're married to an 'outstanding god' his own words." Standing up he took her upper arms in his hands gently and forced her to face him. "How many fathers do you think care about the happiness of their daughters?"
"All of them!" Hades shook his head sadly amazed at her ignorance.
"Hardly any, not in this day and age. All they care about is their daughter making a good marriage, not bringing shame upon their family. You may be a goddess, but you know yourself you're a lesser one. Marriage to me makes you more known, when word spreads in the mortal world how do you think they'll react? They'll see you as the warmth to my coldness, the forgiveness to my judgement." Persephone bit her lip, she could see what he meant but she still didn't want anything to do with this world. "What you want doesn't matter, not in the higher scale of things." Hades told her comfortingly as if reading her mind. He sat her on the throne and knelt on the highest stair leading to it so he was kneeling before her.
"What do you expect me to do? Smile and pretend I'm in love with you? That I'm devoted to you?"
"I should," Hades said firmly, "but I want you to be happy, I just want you to give it time. You can't tell me you're not at least a little bit attracted to me. I saw it in your eyes last night, and you didn't protest – you wanted to have sex with me."
"I never –" Persephone began to protest horrified.
"I saw it in your eyes; you didn't protest or put up a fight. And when you weren't fighting with yourself I could see you were enjoying it. Why be ashamed?" He pressed her, "we're married there's nothing wrong with it. Why shouldn't you be attracted to me? Why not has sex with me?" Persephone had no argument for that, she could feel her cheeks burning with embarrassment. Was she that easy to read? "Come on, let's get something to eat."
"No." She said shaking her head, "I'm sorry...I'll try to settle in but I will not eat." She held the scroll up, "You go eat...I'll just sit here and read for a while longer." She could see Hades wanted to argue with her and she couldn't help grinning.
"Fine." He sighed rising to his feet; the grin was wiped off Persephone's face as she saw the look of hurt on his face. She opened her mouth to apologise but kept it tightly shut, she didn't have anything to apologise for. As soon as he was out of sight she was out of his throne and leaning against a wall lost in the scroll once more.
That night Persephone lay awake once more, her head was resting on Hades chest his arms wrapped around her waist holding her in a gentle grip. She'd not protested, he'd not even hinted for anything sexual to happen. He'd simply held her in his arms and drifted off to sleep, leaving her wide awake with her thoughts. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath trying to think what life would be like if she just accepted this. It was hard though, every time she envisioned how it would be she thought of how she had come to be here.
Opening her eyes she looked up at Hades' sleeping face, tears pricking her eyes. How could he sleep so peacefully? How could he hold her in his arms like this? As if they were a happily married couple, was he really happy living a farce? No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't bring herself to allow herself to fall in love with this man. No matter how tender his kisses, how lightly he cradled her in his arms...nothing could make up for what he had done. He was a kidnapper, her captor and her jailor...he'd never be anything more than that to her. How could he?
