For who could ever learn to love The One who doesn't know love?
By Asso
Chapter Fourteen
The will of Destiny.
Or…
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
She almost did not notice. It was her hand that moved. As driven by its own will.
Or, perhaps, by a higher will.
The will of Destiny?
Or maybe... an even higher will?
The will of... her heart?
She did not think about it.
She did not want to think about it!
But her hand had no doubts.
It rose up.
Gentle and delicate, it went to rest on the small portion of skin, left exposed from the helmet, of his mighty shoulder, covered by the black iron armour.
Her light and sensitive fingers did perceive that skin.
They felt its hardness. Its otherworldly cold.
And yet they also sensed its smoothness.
The strange softness.
The pleasant softness.
And something...
Like a kind of myriad of hot sparks that broke its frost. That… that hid like a promise of concealed, rip-roaring heat.
As if overwhelmed, her hand withdrew precipitously.
But it had done it.
It had settled on his skin.
It had called him.
And, at that call, he turned.
And his eyes beyond the world once again rested on her.
Puzzled and questioning, they rested on her.
What eyes... what outrageous eyes are profaning with their lubricous gaze the purity of my daughter? Of my Persephone?
Zeus withdrew a little.
He knew very well that his wife had made fun of him, but he knew just as well that she had offered him a way out.
In her own way, of course. But she had done it.
And it was a good way out.
He composed himself.
He straightened in all his impressive height.
He nodded gravely.
With ostentatious self-assurance.
"Very well, wife, I think I have established with shrewd wisdom the course that my action will have to follow."
Hera's eyes winked slyly.
"Of course, my husband and lord. You have established the best path to follow."
Zeus could not help it. He coughed with slight embarrassment.
But - it must be said in his honour - he quickly recovered.
What the hell! Was he or was he not Zeus?
"Exact." And his voice was firm and sure. "And no one will ever suspect of whom the eyes..." And at this point, Zeus' voice betrayed a clear note of disquiet. "... of whom the eyes could be that are currently looking at Persephone."
Helios shuddered.
Incredible, is not it? The conductor of the solar chariot that shivered!
But how could it not be done?
He...
He was ancient.
He had seen so many things.
He had even seen the eyes...
…the upsetting spectral eyes…
…of…
Hades!
The eyes that he knew that, at that moment, were looking at Persephone with their netherworld gaze.
Those eyes... his eyes... Hades' eyes... were indescribable.
Of Ice and Fire.
Of everything and nothing.
Never more than at that moment, Persephone perceived it.
Yet... yet they were also beautiful.
Wonderfully beautiful.
Wonderfully...
Wonderfully sad.
Wonderfully sweet.
Wonderfully eager.
In their perplexity... in their silent request... they were eager.
Wishful.
For...
FOR…
Persephone swallowed conspicuously.
The desire of those eyes...
The desperate desire of those eyes...
Their unexpressed hope...
Pushed her.
Prodded her.
Spurred her.
She lowered her gaze for a moment. Then she lifted it. And she looked straight with her eyes of sky and sea in those eyes of nothingness.
And softly she spoke.
And the words flowed directly from her heart.
They revealed what her heart knew and wanted to say.
Not openly, not clearly, not plainly.
But they did it.
And Persephone knew it.
And she did not fight to stop the impulse of her heart.
She let it be it - her heart - to speak.
Without asking anything else.
Without asking questions.
Without asking any reason why.
Without invoking Destiny.
Without cursing its indecipherable will.
"It has not been Zeus, my lord. It has not been my father to drive my steps to the forest."
They did it. Hades' eyes widened.
Abysses of sudden wonder and hope.
"It has been… it has been…?" His voice was almost inaudible. "You mean that… that it has been… you?"
As overwhelmed by what she had just said - by what she had implicitly admitted - Persephone widened her eyes in turn.
She swallowed again.
Then she sighed deeply.
She struggled desperately to master the tumult that stirred inside her.
Again, she swallowed.
Again, she sighed.
She narrowed her eyes.
She hid her hands that did not know how to stand still behind her back.
Finally, at last, she managed to say something.
A question.
A twofold question.
Of which she knew the answer.
"Why, my Lord, can I see what your helmet conceals from the sight of all the others? And why, in realizing it, you asked me why I penetrated into the forest?"
Yes. She knew the answer!
But she was afraid of that answer!
And she...
She wanted Hades to find other answers.
More... reassuring!
Or... or maybe...
Persephone felt shaking inside.
Or maybe she just wanted Hades to give her the answer she already knew?
His voice was soft.
It was sweet.
With levity, it rose to quell her inner turmoil.
And in it, clear and perfectly perceptible, there was a note of tense hope, now.
"Persephone, wouldn't you like to try to find the answer yourself?"
Persephone! My daughter! Hold on! Resist those eyes! That look! Of whomever they are! Do not give up! Do not tremble! I will find you! I will find out who will know how to give me answers! Who will tell me of whom those impudent eyes are!
Helios knew Hades' strength.
It was not a force made of violence.
Yes. With violence, Persephone had been taken from her world.
But Helios knew there would be no more violence.
Hades did not need violence.
His eyes...
His eyes could do everything.
Persephone was lost.
And he too, Helios, would get lost if he'd revealed that he knew where Persephone was now.
Hades' eyes, in this case, would rest on him.
And he too would get lost.
And in a very differently way from that of Persephone.
Hades' eyes... his unendurable look...
No! He, Helios, could not even think he could be the object of that look, of those annihilating eyes!
Trembling was Persephone's voice.
Yet her words were firm.
And her gaze was quiet, as she spoke, as her hands regained calm and showed themselves again, by moving softly to underline her words.
"The answer, my Lord, is in your realm? Is that what you mean? I should go with you further - further down - to find the answer?"
Hades didn't reply.
He stood silent.
And his eyes stood quiet.
In wait.
Persephone remained for long moments staring at those eyes.
Then, proudly, she straightened her shoulders.
Almost impudently, she returned Hades' gaze.
It no longer trembled, her voice.
It resounded perfectly calm.
"Tell me, my lord, how is your real kingdom? What lies..." Her arm gestured all around. "...beyond this dead nothingness?"
This time Hades answered.
Calmly and quietly, he spoke.
"It's up to you to find it out, Persephone. If you want it."
Persephone remained silent, her gaze fixed on his.
Then, slowly, majestically, with a broad and regal gesture, she held out her hand to Hades, for him to take it.
"Lead me beyond, my Lord. Bring me in the depths of your realm."
End of Chapter Fourteen
TBC
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The will of Destiny.
Or…
The will of the heart?