"What?" The wench blinked at me innocently.
"You poisoned my people!" I screamed at her. "You killed my best friend!"
I could not control myself, and the window behind her shatter into a million pieces. I could see past it, into the dark, beloved kingdom of mine.
"Immortals cannot die," She said, walking around the table in the center.
"They cannot," I nodded. "But they can apparently be killed. You have been at this castle for centuries. Have you been working on a poison that long? You sent lampades, who served you, to get close to me and Cyane. You used my magic to help you finish what you had been working on for centuries."
"My queen, there is no need to jump to conclusions." She came closer, despite the power that was choking even me, consuming me from the inside.
"Is this true, Hecate?" Hades said dangerously from my side.
"Of course not," Lies. I could see them as tangible as she was. This was the power of a judge of the Underworld. I could see the lies as they fell from her lips. "My queen is grief stricken and-"
She threw something at us. Small darts.
Hades threw his power to throw her as she made to disappear, and I threw a shield over us both. The darts clattered harmlessly to the floor.
She lifted the darts with her magic and threw them a second time, I threw the shield, but she attacked at the same time. I doubled over as if I had been punched in the stomach. They would have hit us had Hades not stopped them in time.
Hecate threw all of her considerable power into her next to attack. It was strong enough that it shook the building, her power vibrating over the stone. Hades countered her attack, pulling a blanket of force to throw her back.
I recovered enough to add my power to his.
Together we pushed back and cornered her. She pressed herself against the blasted window, causing jagged wounds from the wicked claws of glass on her arms. She hissed but they meanded themselves quickly, her magic healing her.
"Lady Hecate, as ruler of the Underworld, I take you captive, until all the judges can be present for your trial." He said, through his teeth. His cold stone face was back, and this time I was thankful for it.
Trapped, she attempted to jump from the window. I was able to reach her physically now. I pulled her back from the window, Hades holding down her magic with his own power.
I released her, before I let the pulsing anger under my skin take control of me.
"You killed her," I whispered.
She broke from our hold, utilizing a power deeper and unknown to me. My lungs filled with heavy, unnatural air. I choked, a hand to my throat.
Hades reached for me, holding me with one arm, and I pressed myself against him. I gasped and struggled to breathe against his chest, knowing that all the while, he was fighting Hecate and her new power. He had shielded himself when he had noted an attack on me.
I pulled myself from my grief and panic, knowing that there would be a time later. I tried to block out the clamor, the cries, and noise, from before me and in my mind. I searched, grasping and loosening consciousness.
I finally grasped it, a stable hold on my mind. I forced myself to exhale, releasing that toxic air that had filled my lungs. I breathed in again, bringing into me the scent of Hades. My husband and king… who was at the moment struggling to keep Hecate at bay. That she had enough power to counter his was extraordinary and horrible.
I used Hades, his touch, as a rock. I turned to Hecate, watching her successfully countering Hades' power. It was about the same, developed for ages.
I lifted a hand, slightly shaking. I poured all my power into the blast, magnifying what Hades was doing. Together, we brought her to her knees. Hades stepped away from me and he and thanatos bound her in chains of impossible weight.
I sagged against the wall and watched as the goddess disappeared to whatever prison Hades had taken her to. I did not have time to rest, though. I looked back at the dozens of eyes watching me. Some scared, some angry, and some cold. There was much work to do.
The trial was held without me.
I knew that if I was allowed there, I would force Lady Hecate to drink the poison she had killed those twelve with. It was only fair, a life for a life.
But that poison became forbidden, the greatest weapon in all existence, never to be used again. She had used the magic of several gods and goddesses, asking for help just as she had me over the centuries, but that did not pardon me from my involvement.
My role in killing Cyane and those eleven others.
They were buried the following day, postponing the trial, as it was considered more important.
Their bodies were buried to the east of the stables, and a garden was built around them. A garden that was later deemed so frightening, only Hades and I visited. It had the bodies of dead deities, the only buried bodies in all of the Underworld.
The shades of those gods never appeared. I never saw my beautiful friend again, and I did not have the comfort human had that somewhere their loved one existed, even if it was not with them.
Lady Hecate was sentenced two twelve centuries in Tartarus, under the Underworld, where the greatest evils dwelled. One century per god that she killed. She would be wrapped in vines, thrones pressing on her skin all those years.
Lady Hecate had not thought that I would return, thinking Zeus would keep me in the Aboveworld. She thought Hades would be to distraught to return so soon. Her plans were sloppy with impatience. She had never meant to harm, I later learned she said. She was testing her magic to provide an escape for deities. One that many had looked for.
But there was a certain order to the world, a balance that could not be tipped. Mortals were to die, living their short span as fully as they could. Immortals were to live forever, no matter how painful it became.
Hades and I dedicated ourselves to keep that balance, to keep chaos from reining. Even so, many came looking for it. Gods and mortals. The power to kill immortals. Humans convinced themselves it also held the power to give immortality to mortals. It became a rumor, a legend, and then a forgotten myth.