A Scolding

The last word rang through Persephone's mind like a chiming bell.

Pregnant... pregnant… pregnant…

Slowly, she let that one word – and the news it brought – absorb into her mind, allowing her to think straight again. She felt frozen at this moment of truth; so very sudden and so much unexpected. Upon realization, the last time she had heard that word was only about a few several years ago, when she had been carrying Macaria in her womb.

But now, she has heard it because she was once again with child.

Persephone seemed deaf to her mother's loud ranting because her mind was all clouded by only one new fact; that there was a child growing in her womb again. The news was, of course, shocking and surprising, but yet at the very same time, it was also so very exciting and joyful to her ears.

Slowly, she could feel her hands moving to place themselves atop her belly, trying to find new life within her. The minute her hands came in contact with her belly, she could instantly feel a new aura, which was soft and small but very fresh, intertwining with her own. Due to how small the aura felt, it was no wonder why Persephone hadn't felt it sooner; it was because it had just been given life.

And just like that, she suddenly felt enlightened.

"Whose baby is it, Persephone?"

Finally, Persephone got out of her cloudy thoughts and looked up at her mother, who was looking down at her with a frown, a stony glare, and lips pressed into a thin, angry line. Usually, Persephone would feel nervous when Demeter looked like that, and now was no exception.

"I repeat my question one more time," Demeter said in a low and dangerous voice that was coated with malice. "Whose child are you carrying?"

At the concept of that question, Persephone knew that Demeter was wondering if she had slept around behind her back. True that she did, but did not need to wonder whose child she was carrying, due to the fact that she had only had sexual intercourse with one man and one man only.

Plus, she was now very sure that she had conceived on that night at Nysion.

"It is my husband's."

All of a sudden, Demeter's eyes widened to twice its size, giving her the complete horrified and confused look. "But that's impossible!" she exclaimed almost hysterically. "You've been away from each other for a month! If that is the case, then it could only mean -"

Suddenly, Demeter stopped short in her words when realization had finally set upon her. Her anger flared instantaneously once again and she snarled, "You've been seeing him behind my back, weren't you?!"

The gulp that Persephone made was enough to give Demeter the answer.

"The nerve of you, Kore! How could you?!" she exclaimed in absolute fury and outrage. "You know yourself that your time on the Earth's surface is with me and me only! Why would you give part of the limited time I have with you to him?! I don't see you coming back to the Earth when you're down in that dark kingdom of his! Did you really think that this was fair?! What's more, I trusted you to not do anything like this! I trusted you because I know that you would want time and space to yourself! But since you've done this, do you now see why I was so hesitant to trust you in the first place?!"

Persephone remained quiet as she listened to her mother with her head hung low. She hated it when Demeter scolded her like that; partially because it made her feel bad for making her upset and feel betrayed, but also because she felt annoyed that she was being chastised as though she was still a naïve child.

After a few more minutes of ranting and scolding, Demeter finally sat down on one of the seats at the dining table and pinched the bridge of her nose with the thumb and forefinger of her right hand as she squeezed her eyes shut. Persephone could hear her mother inhaling and exhaling deeply, trying hard to regain control of herself and calm down.

It was a short while before Demeter spoke again.

"Please go to your room, Persephone," she said in a low and stressful voice. "We'll talk about it later."

Obediently, Persephone got up from her chair and walked quietly to her room, willing herself to not give another glance to her mother so that her guilt or her irritation – or both – would not rise up even a single notch. When she had reached the only part of the house that truly, though partially, felt like her safe haven, she shut and locked the door before she sat herself down at her vanity table.

But a few seconds later, she gathered up a piece of parchment, a quill feather and a wooden casing of dark ink to write her letter to her husband.

Though she still felt bad that she had upset her mother, on the inside, she felt happiness and excitement encasing her heart at the thought that she was bearing Hades' new child.

She couldn't wait for him to hear the news.

Author's Note:

Woah, Demeter's getting a seriously huge amount of hate in the previous chapter.

I know that this chapter's kind of short, but I just thought that it would give you some insight, if I may add. Demeter's not actually mad at Persephone for getting pregnant. She's just mad that Persephone had seen Hades behind her back, since the pomegranate agreement did say that they weren't suppose to meet when Persephone's on the Aboveworld (though they break this rule many times in secret).

Plus, Demeter felt that it wasn't fair that Persephone still met with Hades during her six months above, since she doesn't come up to see her during her six months below.

Well, one question remains here; What would be Hades' reaction?

Find out on Saturday!

Muse of Fanfiction