Hades and Kassandra

Chapter 5

It was autumn again, and that meant Kore's return to the Underworld as Persephone once more. For the first time since their marriage, Hades was not in a frenzy to have his palace made clean and presentable for his wife. He had no desire to make more futile attempts to please her. Not when he had Kassandra waiting for him in Colchis.

The dark god sighed. He had to do something, and soon. Persephone would be furious to see him leave the Underworld for a mortal woman, even though she knew that her bed held no charms for her husband any longer.

Hades glanced into one of the mirrors in his Great Hall, the one he had focused on Kassandra. She was helping in the kitchens. It was still only midday in Colchis; she wouldn't be expecting him for several hours yet. And Kore would not return for a few weeks. Hopefully it would be enough time to come to some sort of a decision.

***

On Olympos, Kore was not happy. It was not the usually melancholy that pervaded her spirit even after she had left her home in the Underworld. It was anger, furious wrath at her husband.

Two months into her stay, her father Zeus had approached her with startling news. Hades had taken a lover. Kore had at first not believed him, for after all, didn't Hades worship the ground she walked on? Hadn't he pushed gems of startling beauty from the earth where she stepped, for no other reason than to amuse her? And hadn't he created a gorgeous flower just to see her smile? There was no way that Hades would take a lover...and especially not a mortal one, as Zeus was claiming.

Kore remained steadfast in her denial for a few weeks, but then her mother Demeter, recently returned from a planting festival on earth, had informed her that she had seen with her own eyes Hades in the bed of the mortal girl, a priestess from his temple in Colchis. Kore could no longer deceive herself, and went to Colchis that very night to see for herself.

It was true. Hades was there with a mortal girl. Kore raged with anger, and would have entered the room to confront the lovers then and there if Hera had not appeared. "Not yet, Kore," the goddess had said. "Let him think that he is safe. Wait until you are back in the Underworld, and *then* reveal that you know the truth."

Kore had not wanted to back down, but she knew that Hera had much experience with a cheating husband, and so took her advice. And now she waited. There was still nearly a month before she was due to return to her grim home, but for once she welcomed the voyage. She would confront Hades with her discovery, and watch him squirm in attempts to shift the blame and placate her. But she would have none of it.

And then she would turn her attentions to the mortal girl.