After staring into the Styx that night, Persephone didn't see the Underworld the same way. Charon recognized the look in his eyes: Hades had the same look in hers when finally let her life in the world above go after months of clinging to its memory. "He always shows you what you need to see," Charon had said about Styx.

To Persephone, it felt like death to leave the only life he had known behind for this new one, and he feared it the same way people fear death. Hades fought against her lot the same way she fought to avoid death against the Titans, until she finally, exhausted, gave in to what fate had determined for her. For Persephone, it would be swallowing his fear of the unknown, leaving the past of least resistance, and accepting this great responsibility.

Despite what everyone might think of Hades and Persephone – including the two of them – Charon saw more similarities than differences. Their journeys were different, but they were on the same path, with the same ultimate end, and moving towards each other, no matter how distant they felt.

Persephone found himself wandering more than usual, trying to understand this place he was meant to rule, to understand this place mortals and gods alike avoided. Both ruling Hades the realm and ruling with Hades the queen seemed like unattainable goals to him. His short life with his mother, the harvest, and flowers felt useless in the face of ruling every mortal who had ever lived. Hades did everything with such confidence, calmness, and authority, he couldn't imagine her as anything but a queen.

This day his wandering landed him in the throne room. The room was massive and cavernous, centered around a grand bronze throne. He approached it timidly. Here she sat when making judgement on souls. Most gods thought themselves so far above humans they wouldn't flinch at the thought of deciding a mortal's fate – many of them did exactly what they wanted with mortals while they still lived. But Persephone had lived among them, so it was not a task he took for granted. Unlike Zeus and Hera's crowns that shone with gold, or Poseidon and Amphitrite's crowns studded in pearls, Hades' crown was a dark onyx embedded with enormous, striking red rubies. Persephone carefully lifted it, finding it to be much taller and heavier than he expected.

He sat on the throne, finding that it suited his height, as Hades stood as tall as he did. He set the crown in his lap to admire it, and upon further inspection saw it was lined with diamonds too. He ran his fingers along the cold stones. It fit Hades – it was a simple design that allowed the jewels to shine in dramatic contrast. He hesitantly lifted it – it was slightly too small, but he straightened his back to balance the weight of it on his head.

At that precise moment Hades entered the room, looking for him. She didn't understand his recent restlessness – he rarely stayed in once place, and she rarely found him in the same place twice. She didn't know if boded well or poorly for her quest to get him to stay that he was seeing more of the realm.

Those thoughts left her as soon as she laid eyes on him. He was stunning, his posture tall, the dark crown seated on his messy red hair. His broad shoulders were back, his chin tilted up, his eyes staring straight ahead. He looked every bit the king she had always seen in him, and seeing him in her seat, with her crown, she was overcome with possessive desire.

Persephone turned to see Hades staring at him, unsure of how long she had been there. He immediately jumped up, stammering out an explanation as he stepped towards her.

"I'm sorry, I-I-"

"Stop."

Hades walked slowly towards him without breaking eye contact, her cape dragging behind her. He watched her even steps nervously. She had said they should rule together but taking her place may have finally crossed a line. She stood face to face with him, her expression giving nothing away.

"Take it off," she demanded. Persephone reached towards his head, but she grabbed his wrist, stopping him.

"Not the crown." She looked down at his tunic, then back to his eyes, releasing his hand.

Persephone shakily fumbled at his clothes to loose them from his body without tipping the crown from his head. She watched his every move silently until he was standing before her wearing nothing but the crown.

"Sit."

He obeyed, shivering as his back made contact with the cold stone. Her crimson eyes flickered over his bare sun-tanned body. Persephone was kind, humble, and gentle, but he had a broad, masculine form that radiated an energy of strength and power he was oblivious to. Seeing his muscular shape with nothing but her throne around him and nothing but her crown on his body was burning her up with lust; he was hers, and she would make good on it now.

He stared up at her in awe, his expectant blue eyes waiting on her instruction. Every move she made and every word she said had such weight, such purpose, he couldn't look away. Not only did he listen to her every word, but he had followed her every instruction in bed every night for weeks as he learned her body and his own.

"You like when I tell you what to do, don't you?" she asked him. He gave a small smile.

"I do. Do you like telling me what—"

"Yes," she interrupted with a smirk.

She pressed on his shoulder, and he leaned back until the back of his head touched the back of the throne. She lifted the skirt of her dress and seated herself on his thighs, the soft material pooling at his waist and falling down her back into his legs. She slid her hands up and down his neck and shoulders, knowing he couldn't move or risk tipping the crown. His skin had paled a little in his time below, but it was still darkened by a life in the sun and sprinkled with freckles. She brushed a lock of his auburn hair from his face; that too was highlighted from a life outdoors on Earth. The pale blue in his eyes reminded her of the sky on a clear, cloudless day. The Earth may have to do without flowers, but Persephone was the sun and sky to her, and she couldn't go back to the darkness.

Hades felt him harden against her dress as dragged the dull point of her nails across his skin, admiring the hard muscles of his chest and arms. She lifted herself off him enough to reach beneath her and squeeze him in her palm, pulling a groan from him. Hades lowered herself slowly onto his pulsing length, enjoying his reactions up close. They had never been intimate outside of the darkness of her bedroom, and she thrilled to have him stripped on her throne, sitting face to face with him inside her. Her breath hitched when she took him, shocked at how his size felt in her at this angle, having never taken him this way before. She shifted slightly in place, parting her legs wider on either side of his hips to allow him all the way in.

Hades held her hands on his shoulders and steadied herself, taking deep slow breaths, eyes shut, as she adjusted to having him fully seated within her. He surged with masculine prowess to think his member alone, despite his inexperience, earned him this reaction. Even when she lead the way in all their physical endeavors, he never felt more powerful, more strong, or more desired, than when he was with her. She reached above his head to the top of the throne, using it as leverage to drag her body up and down him in waves.

Persephone watched in awe at how Hades took and gave pleasure on him. He had never seen in a woman in a sexual situation before, so watching her slowly, methodically build towards her pleasure in soft groans aroused him just as much as her body encircling him did. As usual, he was caught in her captivating sexual aura, and she delighted in his willingness to be there. Most men she knew felt the need to throw their weight around and prove their dominance in every domain, which she had long since found tiresome. But Persehone let her have him, all of him, and she was all the more attracted to him for it.

He panted, light headed and sweaty as she continued to slide up and down his erection. She settled back down on his lap and grabbed his hands, pulling them onto her backside. He hesitantly took her firm curves in his broad hands, and she sighed, closing her eyes. Encouraged, he squeezed his open palm tighter around her rear then stroked over the cloth of her dress, and she liked that all the more. His long fingers pulled her closer to him, and he lifted his head forward to kiss her.

Triggered by his warm mouth on hers, she pushed him back against the throne, jutting her hips against him, taking him deep then deeper towards breaking point. She didn't let up her lips on his until he broke from the kiss with a cry. She loved the sight of his completion: unbridled, unashamed, honest. It sent the tingling between her legs into overdrive, and her groan of satisfaction came not long after. She pressed her forehead to his until their breathing finally slowed. It wasn't long until reality began to set back in for him, the crown feeling too heavy on his head.

Persephone shifted, taking Hades by the hips to gently remove her from his lap. She stood, confused, but followed along as he pushed for her to sit. She did, and he placed the crown back at her head a knelt, still naked, at her feet. He rested his head on her lap and wrapped his arms around her legs, letting her stroke her fingers through his tangled hair.

He might never live up to the title of king, he thought, but he determined he would succeed as loving husband of the queen.