Chapter Eight:
Icy touches merged into heated caresses. A type of fever descended upon the night, causing it to pulse, bloom, light filtering into the shadowy realm unbidden. A piece of heaven descended into the bowels of the earth and elicited cries of pleasure from the bed of Hades and his Queen, Persephone. Once daughter to the harvest, now wife to darkness.
And Hades. Once darkness itself, and now the light she craved.
Hades looked down upon his sleeping wife a tender smile upon his full lips, and his heart filled with a warmth that made him wonder if the sun itself had made its home there.
But with this joy there was also a sadness of sorts.
She still refused to eat the food of the Dead with him. This saddened Hades. It showed his Queens reluctance to stay here with him. He looked down upon the pomegranate that he held in his pale hand and wondered for a moment. No, he would not force her to feast with him, nor would he mention it. She would love him one day, and when that day came, he would praise the heavens themselves.
She had already been here many long nights, but those nights had not been bleak but filled with a light that Hades had never experienced before.
He felt… changed.
Carefully and quietly he placed the pomegranate within the vanity chest he had bestowed upon Persephone days before, a sign of his affection.
The wreath of narcissus' lay there beside the pomegranate also and Hades looked for a long while upon that crown of flowers before he finally shut the chest with a sad sigh.
'Hades, lord of the dead, Zeus demands Persephone's return to her mothers lonely side.'
Hermes stood bravely before the tall lord and his bright eyes were unafraid. Not many could wisely look upon the Lord of the Underworld without fear or uncertainty. Hermes could do both, and still hold a smile on his wide mouth. Persephone stood just behind her Lord, her blue eyes wide with many emotions.
Hope, relief, confusion and strangely, sadness.
'Why should I relinquish my most beloved jewel to the world above? Why must I go back to wandering in darkness alone? Zeus may have any woman that he so desires, yet why not Hades, Lord of the Dead though he be?'
'Zeus chooses his conquests wisely, my Lord.' Hermes voice was light and teasing, meeting the dark and murderous eyes of Hades. 'I do not come to demand fair Persephone's return without reason.' Hermes continued reasonably, 'Demeter brings famine to the land in her sorrow and life fails. This may sound like a blessing to you, a lover of death though you are, but to the Gods of Olympus this is grievous news. Where will we get our sacrifices if mortals should perish? Who will worship us, construct our altars if they die?
'No, Dark Lord... return Persephone to the world of the living once more, or you too will be without worship and have many enemies though you still hold true your stolen prize.'
Hades was silent for a long moment and then with a growl he turned to his wife, looking down at her, his stern face filled with anguish.
'Gather what things you may from your chambers and return here when you have done so.' His eyes shimmered with what looked like tears, but Persephone thought her eyes must have deceived her. For why would the Lord of the Dead mourn a loss such as she?
The young Persephone nodded numbly, finally fleeing to her chambers, her heart thudding wildly in her breast.
What was this that she was feeling? Why did her heart hurt this way?
She shut the heavy doors of the chamber and stood breathing heavily, suddenly weary at the entrance of the room. Her eyes brimmed with tears and she wiped them away in confusion. This was her chance to leave the darkness finally, to embrace the light once more! Hadn't she longed for this?
She looked about the room, memories of nights past wafting through her mind, before she slowly walked to the wooden vanity box that Hades himself had bestowed upon her. Where she had placed her wreath of narcissi's.
How long ago that seemed.
The box clicked open and she spied the crumpled crown, murky in the darkness of the chest. She pulled it out slowly and looked over it with great sorrow. She could barely remember the child who had worn it now. She could vaguely remember the light of the sun, its sweet song as it rose over the mountains each morning, and its lament as it fell from the skies to make way for the moon and stars each night.
She placed the crushed wreath upon her head slowly, resignedly, and as if on cue, songs drifted in the back of her mind. Beautiful yet haunting voices sung lilting melodies that spoke to her very heart. Persephone's eyes fluttered closed and confronted the murky darkness of her mind, where the songs became louder, a dance laying itself on her feet, gradually beginning to move her body to the steady song from her memories.
Something caught her eye then. A flicker of red in the black - a splash of colour in the gloom. Persephone stilled and approached the small chest once more, peering inside.
A pomegranate. She knew not where it had come from and wonder crossed her face as she stood looking into the chest with thudding heart. She reached a trembling hand to it and felt its smooth fullness in her fingers.
Memories of that first meal with Hades flickered across her mind.
A stubbornness she had possessed. A keening for the light above, and not the light of her true love.
She was... changed.
Ignorant of life she had been, yet she had lived it everyday. Unaware of love she had been, and had pushed away her heart.
A fire kindled and raged then, in Persephone, Goddess child.
No more fears lived in her fair heart, no more regrets, only a courage and a sweet adoration for her dark Lord that she had never thought could exist.
She plucked a seed from the bright red fruit slowly, hesitantly, knowing there was no way back if she did what she planned.
She placed the seed, like fire, upon her tongue and consumed it. She paused, waiting for some sort of outward change that showed she had partaken of the food of the dead, but there was nothing. Relieved but surprised, she picked another seed and ate it almost greedily. And another and another and, another again. She had just placed the sixth seed upon her tongue however, when Hermes pushed into the room, sensing a disturbance as only an immortal could.
His eyes went wide and his wail of despair echoed throughout the great halls with his realisation that he had failed his master and friend, to perhaps the downfall of all.
