Again, this is kinda short, but I just wanted to let you all know that I hadn't died or abandoned this story. I'm set up in my new place, so chapters should be coming along faster now. Thanks for the support, everybody.

There was a knock at her door, and Persephone, unthinking, answered it.

But it was not the small shade of Danea that stood before her, but the Lord of the Dead himself. Persephone, startled, instinctively stepped back and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Yes, Lord?" She said stiffly.

Hades was visibly disappointed at her reception of him.

"May I enter?"

"It's your palace."

"But it's your room."

"No, then."

Hades let out an exasperated sigh.

"I would speak to you."

"I do not wish to let men into my bedchambers."

Hades arched one black eyebrow.

"I am your husband."

"All the more reason."

"I have promised to do you no harm."

Persephone's eyes narrowed.

"Swear. Swear it to Zeus." The most powerful thing to swear on for most of the Gods was the Styx, of course, but she didn't think the same could possibly apply to the man who lived most of his life by it's banks.

Hades raised his left hand, palm towards her.

"I swear by my brother Zeus, Lord of Heaven and King of the Gods, that I will not intentionally harm the Lady Persephone."

Persephone waited for some sign that Zeus had heard, but of course none came.

It was her turn to sigh.

"Then enter."

Hades shut the door behind him while Persephone sat, still staring into the fire, arms crossed.

When he turned, he had drawn scrolls from somewhere. He sat beside her in the other chair.

"Demeter never told you much about the other Olympians, did she?"

Her mother's name on his lips made her slightly uncomfortable. She shifted in her chair to look at him.

"No," Persephone said, shaking her head. "All I've learned about my relatives I heard from the mortals who lived in our valley. She did her best to hide me from them as well, but of course they knew of my presence."

Hades nodded.

"Then you'll undoubtedly find these of interest."

He looked much less threatening now that he didn't loom above her. His hair was pulled back into a knot at the base of his neck and he wore a simple white tunic. His hands were ungloved.

Hades passed her the scrolls one by one.

"The world begins, birth of the Olympians, War with the Titans, Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Aphrodite, Demeter, Artemis…"

He spread his hands, and Persephone's eyes were drawn to the scar on his left palm.

"When you're done with these, there are many more in my library. I also have stories about mortal men and women, if you are interested."

And she was. She craved knowledge in a way that her mother and the non-human inhabitants of her valley didn't understand.

She clutched at the pile of scrolls, and for the first time, smiled at her husband.

Hades' blue eyes seemed brighter for an instant, and he also smiled hesitantly.

Then he stood.

"I shall come tomorrow, and perhaps we can discuss what you've read. Would that please you?"

There was a pause.

"Yes, it would."

Hades left the room, with the warmth that the brilliance of her acceptance allowed him.