That was it. I was done with her. Everytime I tried to reach out to her, she just pushed me away. It had seemed like we had finally connected. No, it was all a mistake. I never should have brought her here. Maybe I should just...give her back to Demeter. I grimaced. I could just see it now.
"So sorry for stealing your daughter, Demeter. No hard feelings I hope! Do you want to get together for a drink sometime?"
Demeter wouldn't hesitate to kill me. The fact that I was immortal wouldn't phase her, she would just kill me again.
And again.
I was going to need that drink right now.
I went down to the wine cellar to grab myself a bottle. I picked one at random and glanced at the label. It was from the first year that Dionysus made wine, the vintage was the strongest one he had made. Perfect.
I snatched up a dusty corkscrew and glass and sprinted up the stairs, knocking down the descending Aspasia in the process.
"Oh!" Aspasia gave a slight cry as she fell on her backside. I made a clumsy attempt to catch her, but only succeeded in dropping the wine bottle and glass. Both shattered, spraying dark liquid and glass everywhere.
I muttered a curse to myself. I looked down at Aspasia and held out my hand. "I apologize. Can I help you up?"
"Please, don't trouble yourself!" Aspasia said, scrambling to her feet. Her foot slipped on the slick wine and she tumbled into me, knocking us both down.
My head smack against the stone floor with a resounding smack! At the same time, Aspasia's shoulder rammed into my sternum, knocking the wind out of me.
"Oh, my Lord Hades! I am so sorry." She carefully raised herself to her feet. I rolled onto my side, gasping desperately for breath. I couldn't remember the last time I had had the wind knocked out of me. Wheezing, I pushed myself off the ground. I winced when a large shard of glass embedded itself in my palm, and Ichor gushed from the wound. Could this day get any worse?
I plucked the shard from my palm and balled my hand into a fist, the ichor dripping down my wrist. I could feel the skin regrowing on my palm, which reminded me that the wound on my cheek from earlier still refused to close completely.
"What are you doing here?" I said gruffly to Aspasia.
Aspasia lifted up her chin and said with dignity, "The Mistress isn't feeling well and I thought some wine would help, if she will drink it, that is."
I gave a grunt at that. She wasn't feeling well. Ha!
I walked over to the shelves of wine and picked another bottle, along with a glass, scooped up the dropped corkscrew, and left the room. Aspasia grabbed a bottle as well and hurried after me.
I took off my wine splattered jacket, tossed it to the side, and sat down on the throne with a groan. My head felt like Hephaestus had cracked it open with a hammer. A very large hammer.
Aspasia was still there. I opened the bottle and poured myself a glass of wine. I downed it in one gulp, savoring the warm feeling it gave me in the pit of my stomach, and said, pouring another glass full, "What do you want?"
"My Lord, is everything alright? If this has to do with the Mistress, perhaps I can help."
I gave her a wary look over the rim of my glass as I took a sip. How well did I know this woman? I wasn't even sure where she came from. She wasn't an undead, that was certain. Why was she here?
Did it really matter all that much? She seemed trustworthy enough, and I wasn't up to caring.
"I made a mistake in bringing that girl here," I admitted with a sigh, running my fingers through my thick hair. "All that risk, all that arm twisting, and what do I get? A girl who is just like every blasted woman in the world: the form of an angel with the heart of a viper."
"That's too harsh," Aspasia said sternly. I lifted an eyebrow at the unusual tone for soft spoken Aspasia. "She's young, my Lord. She's lived a secluded life away from anyone, especially men. She's scared to death of having to face a new and rather frightening situation. And, if I may say, you haven't done the best job of helping her overcome it."
"What haven't I done for her? I've racked my brains, trying to think of a way to make her happier, to make her at the very least content. I even asked the goddess of love herself for relationship advice and it didn't work. She's resisted everything I've done!"
"Yes, she has," Aspasia confirmed. "My lord, Persephone has felt a lot of pressure from her mother in her past. Her way of dealing with that pressure was to run away so it wouldn't be applied. She feels pressure from you. You expect her to be some perfect woman who will make you happy. It's a lot to deal with, and it's not a burden she asked for in the first place. Back down."
"I did back down," I snapped. "I've tried giving her space, I've tried giving her attention. Nothing has worked, so I don't care what Persephone does any more. She can leave and I won't ever bother her again."
"Hades, you can't do that."
I was surprised that she was so informal as to use my name like that. It only added to my irritation.
I was about to give a stinging retort, when at that moment, Persephone herself walked in, looking more beautiful and more like an illusion than ever. I glared at her over Aspasia's head.
"Aspasia! Where have you been? I've been calling-." She stopped in her tracks as she noticed me. "Oh. It's you." She glared right back at me.
I rose from my throne, wine bottle in hand, looking like a complete mess I am sure, and brushed past Persephone, who now bore a slightly confused look on her face.
"Hades!" Aspasia called after me.
I stalked out of the room without a further glance at either one of them. I went to my private room, where I was sure no meddling females would follow me. Thank the Fates that I hadn't decided to tell Persephone about it.
I whirled around and smashed the half full wine glass into the fireplace, trying to relieve some of my pent up anger. The banked fire flared up. It began to form itself into images.
"None of that!" I hissed, slamming my fist into the mantle. "Today, you will leave me in peace!"
The fire, with an air of hurt pride, died down to almost nothing. I collapsed into my chair and polished off the rest of the bottle.
Curse Persephone! Curse all women! If only the blasted creatures were as rational as men. If only…
The wine slowly got to my head, and I drifted off into sleep.
