Author's Note: Consider this my Post-Christmas Gift to all of you who waits paitiently for the next updates. =) I'm sorry that I couldn't update this one as much as I would've wanted to myself. Past months had been pretty much crazy. I exist in a highly analytical world and this is my only creative escape. Can't describe how excited I am to always read your feedback. Always gives me a good kick to get my writing juices going!
p.s Thanks to Guest for reminding me.. yeh. Kinda updated CAPTIVATED's Rate from a "T" to an "M" haha. I wasn't sure with myself that I could write all those sizzling chapters when I began writing this. I'm kind of a prude. haha So it's pretty shocking myself that I can elaborate on those stuff. sheesh
VISITATION
As soon as Hades stepped out from his carriage and into his mother's sprawling villa by the Phlegeton, he was surprised to have his mother nearly flying down at him from the flight of stairs with all her flaming fury, slapping him where she can reach him, her auburn hair almost looking as if it's on fire.
"What!" Hades could barely utter a sentence, trying to keep his mother at arm's length, the servants by the foot of the steps welcoming his arrival all looked dumbfounded as he, "What on earth's the matter with you? I just arrived!"
"How dare you!" she hissed, "How dare you not tell me you've fathered a child?! And HOW did this thing escaped my notice?"
Hades was able to grab hold of both her hands and declared, "Can you let me explain, mother?"
That earned Rhea to take a step back, retrieve her hands and exclaimed, "Oh, how wonderful! HE still remembers I'm HIS mother!"
'Now, THIS can't be good,' Hades judged, 'She's referring to him in third person.'
"What nonsense!" Hades complained.
"First, you crossed me out from your guest list to your wedding, now I am to learn that you have fathered a daughter who's already SIX years old?" she nearly screeched, and began hitting him again, "You might as well stop calling me your mother if you've all but crossed me out in all your significant personal details!"
"Stop it!" Hades tried to avoid her hand, but couldn't quite get nowhere, "RHEA! Stop it!"
He heard her gasp and freeze for a second, and then she was already pushing him away, "How dare you call me by my given name! Have you no respect?"
Finally getting a good grasp of his mother's hands, Hades answered, "I'm obedient. You told me to stop calling you mother. I just followed."
"Haven't you learned that most women don't really mean what they say when they're angry?" she lectured.
"Then why say it?" he asked.
"Because we can and we want to!" Rhea replied.
Hades furrowed his brows at his mother, "That doesn't really explain anything."
"You're in MY house, MY rules!" his mother insisted.
Making sure that his mother's hands won't hit him anymore, he bent down to kiss his mother's forehead and whispered, "But you're in MY land. MY laws."
Rhea grabbed her hands away from him, "I'm still waiting for an explanation!" she huffed, deliberately ignoring his statement.
Hades huffed, if that is what one calls a long, exasperated breathe, "You were busy overseeing the building of your new temple at Delphi when she was born," he explained, "You haven't been to your villa here for quite some time then, and when you finally took a time here, I had nearly but disowned her."
"Because she was the reason your Leuce died?" Rhea questioned.
"Yes," Hades confirmed, "Because she is the reason that Leuce died."
"Now that is a first!" Rhea snapped, "Disowning a child for the sole reason of her birth. It's as if it's the child's fault she was ever created in the first place!"
"Mother, please," Hades requested, "Are you seriously going to get angry with me for the rest of the day?"
"For the rest of the millennia!" she corrected, as she turned on her heels and marching inside.
"Mother..." Hades called, following her footsteps, and carefully lowering down his voice for no one else to hear, "Would you be kind to tell me where Persephone is?"
"JUST ABOUT TIME!" Rhea exclaimed that thundered all the way down the long hallway, "I was beginning to think you'd also forgotten that you're married!"
Hades shook his head in confusion, "What's all this about?" reeling from all the anger being thrown at him. He used to think he was an agreeable fellow to deal with.
His mother spun around at him and placed her hands on her hips, making him stop in his tracks. Her stance somehow reminds him of a time long ago whenever Zeus, Poseidon and he were caught sneaking back into their house at the early hours in the morning after some feast in the mortal lands. She always catches them. Hades had no idea how she managed it, but she never fails to catch them red-handed. The combined forces of the three of them were no match to her motherly instinct.
"How long had you kept her waiting?" she asked.
"Waiting?" he repeated. HE did not keep HER waiting. Persephone kept him waiting! How did it happen to be the other way around?
"How long?" Rhea pushed.
By the Gods! The woman is persistent! Hades thought to himself and made a rough estimate, "Two weeks and a half...?" he guessed.
Rhea raised her hand at him in the most unladylike manner and gestured, "TWO weeks and FIVE days, Hades!" she corrected, "That's nearly THREE weeks!"
"What's supposed to be the problem with that?" he demanded, "I gave her time to think. I thought that's what she needed," Hades scratched at his jaw, "Is three weeks not enough?"
"IS THREE WEEKS NOT ENOUGH?" repeated Rhea with vehemence, "You made her feel like she didn't matter!"
"I was giving her the time and space that she needed!" Hades reasoned, "You've got to give the woman credit. She ran all the way to you to get some peace of mind. Fancy that!"
Rhea made one last slap at his chest and said, "She was such a mess when she arrived here. And you never even once inquired about her. Not even a note!" she reprimanded, "Every woman wants to be wooed! Of course she'd feel disregarded."
Totally at a loss, he inquired, "Do you have some sort of manual on how to deal with women, because apparently, for the past months, I've been doing everything wrong with the lot of them!"
Rhea rolled her eyes, turned around and continued on her steps, Hades trailing behind her. She led the way to her airy balcony, facing the river Phlegeton, where a banquet has already been set.
She gestured to the seat at the head of the table, saying, "Eat!" she ordered like a captain, "I know you've been travelling the entire night and more than half of the day. Your chambers have also been prepared for your stay," she made a know-it-all shrug, "You see, I'm not heartless."
"That's good to know," Hades mumbled as he took his seat, but did not touch the food. It's way too late for lunch but way too early for dinner, "I'm in good hands."
Ignoring his remark, Rhea took the seat to his left, declaring in her most pompous tone, "I would like to meet this granddaughter of mine real soon."
Hades draped one arm behind his chair, trying to tease his mother, "Is this what you demand of Zeus and Poseidon when they fathered other children?"
"In direct contrast to you, dear son," she responded, intentionally prolonging the word 'son' for emphasis, "Your brothers acknowledge each and every one of their children that sometimes it embarrasses me to the number of their offsprings!"
Hades' eyes wrinkled at their sides, trying his best not to laugh, "You? Embarrassed?" he asked, "Now that's got to be something!"
"And whoever told you to let your stubble grow into a beard?" Rhea suddenly complained, waving her hand at his face, "You look like some Athenian general in the middle of a battlefield with no access to a mirror and a shaving knife!"
Hades ran a hand to his jaw. Out of the many things he had been thinking lately, he did forget to manage his stubble. Everyone was used to him with just a stubble, he shook his head, saying, "Woman, is there anything in my arrival that you don't find disagreeable with?" Hades protested, "What's the matter with it anyway? Eris said 'it defines my jawline and draws attention to my eyes.'"
"Don't trust her too much," Rhea argued, "That girl is trouble! You can see it in her eyes, and besides, Eris has been pining on you since she stepped into her adolescence." She informed matter-of-factly, "And, anyway, if you're here to woo your wife, you should've thought about looking at your best," Rhea reasoned, "You should've looked dashing, not someone who looks ready to lead an army."
"Eris?" Hades repeated with surprise. Now how was he not able to notice that?
Suddenly, a vision appeared by the doorway in a flowy cerulean gown, delicately cinched at her tiny waist, her wave of dark hair, falling to one side of her shoulder, calling, "Rhea! The nymphs and I have been thinking if..."
Persephone stopped midway when she noticed Hades, Rhea glancing at her tensely.
"Darling," Rhea greeted quite warmly, "We have an unannounced guest."
Not even taking her eyes off from Hades, Persephone made an awkward and abrupt round-about, excusing, "It's nothing important really," she mumbled, waving her hand dismissively, "I mean, we can wait, you know. I'll come back later... when you're... not that preoccupied."
A not-so-unpleasant blush immediately crept to her face and she made a swift turn on her heels, and walked out of the door in a hurry.
'What on earth was that all about?' Persephone demanded of herself, biting her lip. She used to think that she was quite a smart girl, but after she met Hades, she'd been seriously doubting that. There were just moments with Hades that calls into question her intelligence. And one of those moments has been the recently concluded scene at Rhea's balcony.
It's not as if it was bad enough that she seemed to forget how it was to breathe by the mere glimpse of who it was Rhea was talking to. But to make herself look like a rambling halfwit was just dreadful. Absolutely dreadful.
She wanted to give a dash into her room and hide herself under the covers to hole up her embarrassment. She locked the door in her chambers and was just about to do exactly just that when a knock in the door startled her out from her musings.
"Persephone?"
'Holy Olympus! She'd recognize that voice even in a crowded place.'
"Persephone?" Hades repeated, "I know you're in there. Can we talk?"
She began pacing her chamber. 'What should she do? Should she open the door for him? Would he be angry with her? Would he demand an explanation on why she ran away? Quite honestly, she didn't know if she can answer those things.'
"If you're not ready yet, I can wait," he said outside the door, "Just tell me when you're ready."
She could hear him stepping away, she bit at her thumbnail, made a hasty decision, and ran to the door, unlocking it.
Persephone pushed the door slightly ajar, just enough for her to peer out, and found him there, just leaning at the wall by the opened door, his stance relaxed, with his arms crossed and watching her closely with a glint of a smile in his eyes and said, "Hi."
She had to swallow hard with that, "I thought you just left," she admitted.
"Do you want me to leave?"
"Do you?" she returned.
Hades shook his head, saying, "No."
Persephone pointed at his jaw, noting, "Your stubble... you let it grow," she haven't seen this man for nearly three weeks now.
A boyish grin spread across his lips and he covered it with a hand as he ran it over his jawline, "Don't you like it?"
Actually, she did. It defined his face even more, it made his eyes look a little bit darker and it called to attention his lips whenever he speaks. It made him look more patrician. But for those who didn't know him well, it may make him look even more intimidating.
"I preferred the stubble," Persephone admitted even before she could stop herself, "But I don't mind the beard."
To which his brows raised, "You do?"
She blushed at the question.
He shrugged as he ran a bold gaze down her person then back to her face, "I don't mind you wearing other colours either," he responded.
'Now how was she supposed to respond to that?' she asked herself. She didn't even really know when and why she began to explore wearing other fashion than what she normally wear back in Enna. It took Rhea and a couple of her nymphs to point the fact out to her before she realized that she'd actually stopped wearing... white.
He took something out from his riding cloak and raised it up in the air; it was the ruby necklace he left her with the day after they...
"My present..." he stated with a hint of accusation, "You threw it away."
She scowled.
He studied her expression, "By the glare on your face, I can tell... you don't like rubies?"
"It's not that I dislike rubies," she immediately corrected. Goodness! Who can ever say no to the one he was practically swinging at her face, "It's a matter of why you even gave it to me in the first place."
Everything seems to come to light just then to Hades' features, and he explained quite simply, "It's my poor way of asking for apology..." he left the sentence hanging to what he was asking apology for.
"You could've settled for flowers," she grumbled.
"Well, that's good to hear," he quickly responded, throwing a somewhat thankful look into the heavens, "It's good to know I married someone who's not so difficult to please. Flowers then, I'll take note of that the next time."
Persephone narrowed her eyes at him, and he raised both hands, "Don't look at me like that," he protested as he invested the necklace back to his cloak, "You're beginning to look like my mother."
What was he so jovial about? Persephone demanded. He apparently seemed so cheerful, while she was a ball of confusion. She was surprised to see him, glad even - if she'd be honest, her heart sure made a little flip-flop when she saw him at Rhea's balcony, but she's not quite certain if she'd be able to provide him answers if he'd start to question her about why she'd ran away.
Hades seemed to have followed her thoughts and murmured, "You know, I don't mind standing outside your door while we're discussing things, if that's what you're comfortable with," he acknowledged, and then made a quick glance down the long hallway, "But I'm pretty sure the walls and halls here have... eyes and ears."
Persephone knew for a fact he was referring to his mother. Hades stole an inquisitive gaze inside her bedchamber as she speculatively studied the expression painted in his face, before she obliged, proclaiming, "I have to warn you," she said, opening the door wider for him, "This chamber is a whole less simpler and smaller than the chambers you allowed me in your palace."
Hades met her eyes and replied, "I don't mind if it's smaller."
Persephone had no idea why, but that reply and the look in his eyes also made her blush. She turned away and allowed him room to get in.
He strode inside as she closed the door and then rooted herself at the farthest corner that her small compartment could offer away from him.
Hades cleared his throat. One glance at him and Persephone realized that he was keeping up a facade to make her feel at ease with him, but in truth, he was as tensed as she was.
Hades started quite straightforwardly, "Would you like me to explain about Macaria?"
Persephone shook her head, "No," she said, "I understand."
Both of Hades' brows raised in a show of surprise, then continued, "Do... you want to talk about Minthe?"
"No," she replied quite abruptly.
Hades nodded, "Do you want to discuss what happened between us?"
Persephone's eyes widened in answer, "No!"
Hades titled his head a little to the side, as if assessing her, and when what he found seemed to reach his appraisal, announced, "You know, Hermes paid a visit the other day."
Persephone instantly straightened up, "He did?"
"You're reaction, lovely wife, is quite wounding," his face registering something close to a snarl.
"He is a dear friend of mine, just as Aphrodite is a dear friend of yours," she explained, although it somehow darkened his expression all the more.
"You would be proud how passionately he was rallying to get you off my land and back to your mother's arms..." he pointed, "and his."
Persephone widened her eyes with the last statement, "You must be jesting," she refused to believe Hermes would say that in front of Hades, for if there was a god Hermes often felt intimidated with even for no apparent reason, it was Hades. "He couldn't have said the last one," she argued.
Hades shrugged, "Maybe that was not his exact words, but that was precisely the implication."
Persephone furrowed her brows at him, "Are you jealous?"
Hades levelled his shoulders, "Whatever I felt for Hermes is inconsequential to the message he brought," he said in diversion, "Your mother has secured a meeting with Zeus and Hera to discuss the validity of our marriage in a private hearing around two days from now."
'Gracious!' Persephone realized, 'He really WAS jealous!'
She could hardly suppress the smile on her face and focus at the actual news at hand.
'Her mother,' she repeated to herself, 'It's about her mother.'
"What are you smiling about?" Hades demanded.
"Nothing," she denied, the expression instantly wiped out from her face.
Hades cleared his throat again, and she caught his gaze.
"I just want you to know..." he started quite seriously, "That I'm not here to force you back into the palace..."
The slightest twitch in her mouth made him reply in apparent defense, "I'm not saying that your presence is not missed in the palace," Hades immediately retracted, "Quite the opposite is true."
Her brows raised in an unsaid anticipation. It's really amazing how he renders her speechless.
"Macaria's been looking for you," he informed, trying not to look at her at the mention of his daughter, "She'd been bugging the nymphs to no end as to your whereabouts. Nyx and Hecate are no good either. They're behaving more like a child about your absence."
Persephone smiled, picturing them perfectly in her mind, "How are the judges?"
"Worse," Hades retorted, "They can make noise better than the Furies."
"And the Fates?"
"Giving me daily premonition on the most auspicious day to follow you," he provided.
"And you?" Persephone whispered.
Hades ran a hand at the back of his neck. Persephone had come to realize that he does that whenever he's uncertain of what to do, and then he confessed, "Getting undone every single day."
Her breathe caught in her throat.
Hades recovered himself quite quickly though - he always does - it made her think she heard the wrong thing, as he continued, "Well... earlier, what I just meant to say, is that I'm not forcing you to do anything," he clarified his previous statement, "Whenever it pleases you to return to the palace or meet with Zeus and Demeter in Olympus, it all depends on you. I'm not going to force you. Not anymore."
For a while, Persephone just stood there looking at him and Hades staring back at her, no one really making any effort to break the silence. She bit at her lip. She'd actually been dying to ask him something ever since he showed up, she took in a deep breath, "If..." she began quite unsurely, "If I'm going to kiss you right now... would you take it as a sign that I will go back to the palace?"
Hades seemed to have been caught off guard by the question, his eyes bore onto hers before he slowly shook his head without a sound.
She nodded, and then whispered, "Good," as she stepped closer towards him.
Every movement was set to entrance him. She didn't stop until she was only a few inches away from him, pausing only to reflect at how she always gets drowned by those dark grey eyes, before she then pushed herself on her toes and planted a soft, lingering kiss on his lips.
She meant it to be a quick chaste one, just to feel him, just to know that he was more than the recurring image from her dreams, but somehow Persephone found her hand curling itself languidly around his neck and the other one finding its way inside his cloak, pressing herself closer to him.
Hades' response wasn't as chaste either. He was as hungry for her as she was for him. And the only time that they paused to catch their breaths it was only for Hades to ask, in a ragged voice, "Are you sure?"
Persephone nodded, 'Yes,' she wasn't even able to voice it out.
Hades actually looked relieved about it, he dug his hand into her hair and crushed his mouth into hers. And Persephone was lost. She was lost by the taste and touch and smell of him. And she couldn't get enough. He was consuming her senses. She wanted this. She wanted him.
He pushed her towards the bed, and she pushed his cloak off him. She clumsily fumbled at his buttons while he easily slipped her gown down into the floor. He drove her backwards into the bed and they both stumbled on it.
Hades heaved himself up, Persephone following his movement not even once breaking the kiss, as he tried to make good with the buttons she was unsuccessfully trying to undo. An approving moan passed her lips as he shrugged his shirt away and she spread her hands across his sculpted bare chest.
"We have to teach you how to do that next time," Hades murmured against her mouth, pressing her back into the pillows.
He trailed his lips down her neck, his beard upon her skin sending tingling sensations down to the tip of her toes. She instantly clutched her hand on his hair when his mouth clamped on her breasts, lavishing each one the same thorough attention that he gave the other. She bit on her lip when his mouth began to trace a downward path to her flat stomach, and then downwards, and downwards. He ran a rough hand through her legs and pushed them apart, opening herself up to him, and when suddenly his mouth sought the center of her womanly being, she threw her head back, crying out in a tone that was supposed to be reprimanding but came out as a gasp, "HADES!"
His sweet torture caused her to near whimpering, writhing against him as his hands anchored on her legs. He didn't stop no matter how urgent her cries had become. Persephone found herself tumultuously arched forward as she burst into a million blinding pieces, and then falling back down into the mattress, shaky and terribly out of breath.
Her heart had barely stopped racing when she felt Hades poised above her, she gripped on his upper arm to warn him, and he nestled on her neck, nibbling at her lobe in response, causing shivers to run down her entire being. A soft gasp escaped her lips when he finally drove deep into her, digging her fingers into his shoulders.
She felt her eyes prickle, she didn't expect it to hurt like the first time, but it did. A soft sob must've escaped her lips because she suddenly heard Hades assuring her, "It's okay. It's okay."
Feeling her relaxing beneath his touch, Hades trailed his lips down the soft flesh of her neck, and then gripping at her leg, lifted her on top of him catching her by surprise, her hair falling wildly over her shoulders. 'What was he doing?' her mind rummaged as she looked down on him, his darkened eyes staring back up at her, and when he suddenly eased her into a drugging rhythm, she had to close her eyes, willing herself not to scream.
She let out a soft moan when she felt him straining deeper into her as he pushed himself up, his lips finding her ear, growling, "Open your eyes."
She did as she was told, helpless. His eyes roamed over her face and he whispered, "God, you're beautiful," before taking her into a deep kiss, his tongue plunging into her, his lips molding perfectly with hers.
Their movement immediately picked up the pace. They became more frantic, more hurried. Straining for that one final fulfilment. She pushed Hades back into the pillows, one hand on his chest, pinning him down. And in that instant, Persephone realized how she affects Hades in the same way that he affects her, and it empowered her. She threw her head back as she felt herself closing in on him, one final stroke and Persephone let out a loud cry, followed by a roar wrenching from Hades' chest as she fell forward on him from their shared shattering release.
She opened her eyes, her hands supporting her from falling down into him, Hades gazing back at her through heavy lidded eyes, and she heard him say with a short shake of his head, "Where have you been my entire life?"
Persephone completely collapsed into Hades' chest, not knowing if her breathing will ever find its stillness, and replied, "In Enna. I've always been in Enna."
A rumble tore from his chest as he pushed her back into the pillows, crushing her, "Damn Enna! Damn it to pieces!" as he drowned her once more with his kisses.