For who could ever learn to love The One who doesn't know love?
By Asso
Chapter Twenty-Five
The Kingdom of Dead.
And its Queen.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
"I changed the nothingness of the Realm that had been assigned to me. I gave it shape."
Hades' grave voice was narrating.
It was telling of ancient times.
It was telling of the birth of the world as Persephone knew it.
It was telling of the dawn of her world.
It was telling of how he, Hades, had shaped that world. The part of that world that was his own world.
That... that was her own world, now?
Persephone felt something inside her, something putting you in awe. Somehow... somehow Hades' words made it so that she perceived in full, as never before, who he was.
Hades.
The Lord of the Underworld.
Sure.
But also one of the makers - and, perhaps, in some way the major - of the world as it was now. Indeed... indeed, in hindsight, the only true builder of this world. Eh sure! Because Zeus' dominion so had been before him and so with his advent; he had nothing to do with what it was. And the same was true of Poseidon. But the dominion of him, of Hades, had not existed before him. He had given it a form, as he himself had revealed to her. And therefore, if the world of now was what it was, it was because Hades - He. EXACTLY HE! - had made it so that it was so!
Hades... Hades was really an ancient and powerful God. Frighteningly powerful.
And only now did she fully realize it.
Yes, she knew how ancient her father Zeus was, how ancient was her mother Demeter.
And all the others Gods born from Rhea's womb.
And she knew how great Zeus' power was, as well as Poseidon's, albeit a bit inferior.
But now, Hades' words, the vision, albeit nebulous and indistinct - quite different, wider, more complete, more significant than she had been able to observe in her descent towards that world on his chariot - of his metaphysical yet tangible realm, of its immensity - and of its antiquity - were making her truly comprehend the mystery of the vastness of the world under the sky and, above all, under the ground. And the vastness of time, the time from which Hades - like Zeus, like Poseidon, like her mother, like the other Gods born of the monstrous Cronos - came.
And the incorporeal and appalling sight of the vastness of Hades' realm, the acquisition of the awareness of its tremendous extension back in time and of its prolonging ahead indefinitely forward in it, gave a force - a terrifying force - to that understanding of her, which took her breath away.
Because the vision of that realm, the understanding of its infinity - in space and time, as Hades' words had made it be clear - was the vision of the infinity of space and time in themselves.
And of the infinity of the dominion of Hades.
And of his impalpable power, practically unknown in its real extent and substance.
Yet immeasurable.
IMMEAUSURABLE!
A power able to put even Poseidon in awe.
Even...
Even her father!
The high Zeus!
A power...
A power perhaps infinite.
As infinite his dominion was.
Oh certainly! Because, as he himself had made it be very clear, Zeus' dominion could be immense, Poseidon's dominion could be immense ... but infinite had it to be - and it was, in time and space - his dominion.
The dominion of Hades.
And...
AND…!
And that supreme God, that God whose shadow dominated everything - including the immeasurable shadow of Zeus; including the immense shadow of Poseidon - ... that God ... that God was her God! He had wanted her! He…
He had lowered himself to her!
To the last born among all the Goddesses!
And... he hadn't forced her to give herself to him!
Even with his infinite power, even with the right coming to him from being what he was, he had not do it!
Not at all!
Who or what could have prevented him?
He was Hades!
Now she fully understood what this meant.
And she was nothing in front of him!
A twig!
A miserable, newly born Goddess yet unable even to really understand of what she was the Goddess!
A little female with no skills nor talents of whom take possession to his liking!
Without so much thinking about it.
But he hadn't done it.
He had waited.
He had waited for her to want him to take her.
She!
She had wanted this to happen!
She had wanted him to take possession of her!
Sure! He had kidnapped her.
SURE!
But... but would there have been any other way to steal her away from her mother's asphyxiating hug?
No!
There was no other way!
And...
And besides... after all... she... she...
She had followed him spontaneously!
And...
And it had been her who had given herself to him!
She!
She had wanted him inside her!
Inside her body!
As… as he already was inside her heart!
Will of destiny?
Maybe.
Or... or better, certainly.
But she had not opposed this will.
Far from it!
She...
She had made such a will her own!
And she had stated this clearly!
And now...
Now she...
She was looking at his world as no one else had ever observed it!
She was watching it as...
…as if that world...
Could that one be her new, true world?
Could she feel it as if it were her own world?
And, if so, even if this had taken place, what part would she have in that world?
Whom, what would she be in that world?
"But for it to have a truly accomplished shape, my Realm, Persephone, needs a Queen."
Persephone's head snapped towards Hades.
Her eyes did point, wide open, at his face.
It was serious.
Grave.
And he was looking at her intently.
"You understood very well, Persephone, my Lady. I already told you, at the time of our descent on my chariot. But perhaps you didn't pay much attention to it, in the inner turmoil that you certainly felt in those moments."
It was true. He had already told her and, even then, she was surprised by this. But it was also true that his words, his affirmation, had immediately slipped away from her, because ... because certainly she could not, in those moments, fully grasp them in all their power and substance, exactly as he was now saying. However, now it was different. Many things ... many things had happened. And now ... now she could pay to his statement, which he had now reaffirmed with quiet strength, all her attention. She could grasp its meaning for what it really was. And this meaning took on even more strength in light of the fact that ... in light of the fact that, on closer inspection, all in all he would have no need to tell her. Because he had already made her his own. And so... so that meant he didn't lie, that it was really true that the lie was something that could not be harboured in, that didn't have place in the Lord of hereafter. Ultimately… ultimately that it had not been false promises, his. That he really wanted... that he really wanted her to...
Persephone couldn't believe it.
But it was true.
He, Hades, answering her unspoken question, was definitively telling her that...
"It is not a concubine, a female to take pleasure of, what I want. I want a Queen."
Persephone was open-mouthed.
Almost she could not think straight.
His cloak, no longer held by his hands, slid down from her, but she didn't feel cold. Actually, she felt blaze up.
It wasn't... it wasn't possible!
She couldn't believe her ears!
But he continued.
And his words were unmistakable.
"A Queen. And a Bride."
Persephone felt her heart beat like a hammer.
Blood throbbed at her temples.
But really... really he...?
"I am the one who did not know love. Now I know it. You taught it to me, Persephone, my Lady."
REALLY HE ...?!
"And what I can give you in return is really little compared to the immensity of your gift. But it is yours, if you want it. Not my heart, no matter how cold it may be, because it already belongs to you. You made it beat, as a living and warm thing, really, for the first time in my very long life. You made it beat with that thing for me earlier incomprehensible, remote, distant, which I knew only by name. You made it beat with love. For you."
Hades paused.
His face was tense. He was saying difficult things, really hard to say, for him.
He recovered.
His face turned determined.
And his voice with it.
"My Kingdom. That's what I want to mean. It is yours. Exactly as I already told you previously, during our descent. You will reign over it as its Queen. As my Bride. "
Abruptly, that alabaster visage seemed to go even paler.
Hades' voice dropped to be a murmur.
Shy.
Hesitant.
And his eyes made of darkness seemed to sparkle with something...
Something...
As if they... as if they were... moist!
"If you want that, my Lady."
Then those eyes came back to life.
His face turned to be Hades' face again.
And his voice again assumed its vaguely mocking tone.
At least it attempted.
"You had a far off view of my world, during our overflight over it and now, more... vivid. Of the world that I give you, as long as you want it, in exchange for your gift, Persephone. Now, as you wanted, the time has come to see it up close, to explore it. In this way..."
And the deliberately mocking tone disappeared.
"... in this way, exactly as you yourself understood it was to be done, you will be able to comprehend if, as you said, its cold could become your warmth, if your warmth could become its cold. If my cold can become your warmth, if your warmth can become my cold."
It disappeared totally.
"If my gelid and dark world may be worthy of being warmed by your warmth and lightened up by your light. If it may be the world of which you might be willing to be the Queen. As my Bride and Lady."
For not a few moments Persephone stood looking at Hades with her mouth and eyes wide open.
Then finally she managed to recover her voice. A faint breath of incredulous voice.
"You... you are not talking seriously, are you, my Lord?"
Hades' eyes blazed.
"Do you think Hades can lie, woman? Again this absurd and offensive thought gleams to your mind? "
Involuntarily, Persephone, under the force of that gaze and under the vehemence, although restrained, of those words, found herself stepping back.
"N... no! No, my Lord! But ..."
"But?"
Persephone unexpectedly managed to regain her brazen force. The one that had led her so far.
Maybe...
Well yes.
Perhaps the force of destiny.
Of her destiny.
"My Lord, I am nothing in front of you."
Hades' face seemed to lose its alabaster appearance. It seemed to go living flesh.
"Nothing? You are..."
"Nothing but a poor female to whom you have had the magnanimity to lower yourself."
"What? WHAT?"
"You are Hades, my Lord. The incredibly powerful, the incredibly ancient Hades. How can I - I, little, young, insipid Goddess - aspire to be ..."
Persephone felt herself fail the words.
But she tried to say it.
Desperately she tried.
And she desperately succeeded.
"... your Queen? Your ..."
She managed to finish in a whisper.
"... your Bride?"
Persephone lowered her eyes, bashful and ashamed.
It has been necessary for Hades to prick up his ears very well to hear her last words.
Many words.
Really many, if you think about the situation she found herself speaking in.
But very few in comparison to all she would have wanted to express.
"Everything I aspired to, my Lord, after I understood, with... with joy, the inescapability of my destiny…"
Words that could not be said all together, one behind the other, in a single, coherent speech.
"…o… o… obviously in case… in case…"
Words that could not help but to get fragmented, in the excitement and the emotion of that moment.
"…in case I…"
Words that could not help but be unable to arrange themselves in a logical and coherent order in those dramatic instants.
"…and… and I… I will never… I will never cease to amaze me... and… and to thank you… infinitely… for your magnanimity… for your magnanimity in giving me the… the liberty to decide about that…"
Words that could not fail to reflect the tumult that at that moment was eddying wild inside Persephone.
"… I mean…in… in case I had found… I had found it feasible for me to be part of your world…"
But clear words, ultimately. Perfectly clear. As much as they were fragmental and messy.
Absolutely clear.
"Oh in short! I mean... I mean that... that everything I aspired to, after… after I realized that I could not but be yours…"
Crystal-clear.
"It was to warm your heart and your bed!"
Unequivocal.
"Without hankering for anything more!"
Words coming from heart.
"The idea that I could really be your Queen and your Bride didn't even cross my mind!"
And silence fell.
Persephone was now silent, a little panting, her eyes still lowered, tormenting her hands.
She felt Hades' gaze on her.
As silent as her.
And she felt her cheeks get hot with redness.
Then something came to give a little freshness to her burning cheeks.
His hands.
Cold.
Yet warm by their strange warmth.
A warmth - abruptly she realized it - that only she could feel. Which was only for her.
Those hands gently forced her to lift her face towards his.
But she didn't dare look at him.
She couldn't, after what she had said.
Her eyes were shut.
And, so then, came his voice.
Could that voice, the voice of Hades, be so gentle?
So sweet?
Was it really his voice?
And yet it was his.
His unmistakable voice.
"Open your eyes, Persephone. Look at me."
She did it.
Hesitantly and shamefully, she did it.
And she saw his eyes.
They shone.
And not of black light.
They shone like suns.
And of an inexpressible sweetness.
"My sweetest Persephone, my great little Goddess. My Lady. Lady of my heart, of the heart you have made live and beat in my chest. Listen to me."
Those hands didn't leave her cheeks. And they did something else. Gently, the thumbs of those hands began to lightly caress the burning lobes of her ears, which, as her eyes got opened wide even more, were well pricked up.
To listen to that voice that enchanted.
"I was sitting on my throne. Down here. Letting spend over me another day. A day that I knew would be like all those that had preceded it since I had given my kingdom its definitive form and law. And like all those that would follow. An empty day. Like all my days."
Persephone felt something go up in her throat, something tormenting.
Heart-wrenching.
"Empty. In spite of all the work I had to do, as always. A gray day that would be lost in the infinity of all my gray days."
His loneliness.
His dreadful loneliness.
The harrowing loneliness of the Lord of the Underworld.
"And yet. That day ..."
The voice grew animated.
Persephone sensed.
"What was it, Persephone? What started to agitate, incomprehensible, inside me?"
She could do it.
She could sense the strange, by him never perceived before, tumult of mind he had experienced that day.
"I didn't understand, Persephone. I was unquiet. I, who didn't know disquiet. I, whose life was unchanging, flat, immovable chillness."
Unconsciously, her hands went up to rest on his.
"It was a shiver. A frisson of the soul. A yearning. Which I did not understand. But which was there. And which was getting more and more powerful. And which spoke to me of it, Persephone. It spoke to me of love."
Persephone's hands found themselves clenching suddenly those hands of him, which wonderfully tormented her cheeks and ears.
"Love. But this was impossible! All I knew of love was its name. I couldn't even conceive it. And yet... and yet ... - I don't even know how I was capable of, how I was able to come to understand that to this, to this sentiment, alien to me as any other sentiment, my obscure inner frisson was addressed - ... yet in some obscure way I realized that I was incredibly pining away for love."
Persephone could hear her heartbeats in her temples.
Her eyes were fixed wide open on his.
Her ears eagerly drank his words.
While her hands clutched his hands convulsively.
"No. It was not a day like the others, Persephone. It was a different day. And do you know what day was, Persephone?"
Persephone knew it. Yes. She knew it. It could only be that day!
The day...
"The day of your sixteenth birthday. The day you were presented to the assembly of the Gods, in Olympus, to take the place that was due to you within that supreme gathering and everywhere in the universe. The day when your amazing beauty was made visible to the whole world."
Yes! Yes! She knew! She had understood it even without him saying it! It had been the day she had observed that throne! That dark and bewitching throne, empty, in the midst of all the other thrones where the high Gods sat. His throne! The day she... the day during the night of she had been sleepless, as thinking about that throne! Sensing next to her, around her, on her, his overwhelming presence!
"To the whole world. But not to me."
The words shook Persephone's soul.
She felt his hands slip away from hers, abandon her face.
She saw him withdraw backwards, his eyes dark.
She saw him turn around, show his back to her.
She saw him cross his hands nervously on his back.
She heard his voice, low and gloom.
"I was not invited to the ceremony."
The voice paused.
Then it resumed.
Grim and leaden.
"It had never happened."
Something, a tight lipped laugh that wanted to be sarcastic. And that sounded sad.
"Oh, but that's understandable. I had always brushed every invitation off. It was time to stop being polite. This must have been thought by the great Zeus, your father. Hades... let him stay where he likes to stay. In his realm of darkness and shadow. Persephone deserves all but his unwelcome, unnerving presence. "
Persephone was still.
She almost didn't breathe.
She was listening.
Was listening with her heart in turmoil.
"Or maybe..."
If possible the voice became even darker.
"Or maybe Zeus must have thought it was best preventing my eyes from resting on you, Persephone; that it was best avoiding some possible stupid nasty prank of destiny from coming true."
The low sardonic and sad laugh was heard again.
"Well, let's not forget that we are talking about Zeus. The very high Zeus. Who knows things that no one else knows. Zeus. Whose wisdom and power have no equal. Zeus. Who can oppose everyone and everything."
And, suddenly, the voice grew hard. And mighty.
"But not Destiny."
Hades turned abruptly.
His eyes cold with a ghostly light.
Persephone jumped.
They were eyes that cut soul, like his whispering voice.
"And not even me, who of Destiny am the ultimate hand."
Persephone's face was pale, white as a sheet, and Hades suddenly realized the scare he was arousing in her.
His eyes widened, terrified at understanding.
Choked, his voice sounded.
"No, no, Persephone!"
And, in her utter astonishment, he threw himself at her feet.
"Forgive me!"
His hands held hers.
His anxious face was turned upward toward hers, which was looking at his in mute amazement.
"I didn't want to scare you! I ..."
And Persephone smiled.
And Hades abruptly fell silent and remained motionless at her feet, able to do nothing else but stare at that wonderful smile without understanding anything anymore.
Her small, soft hands pulled him, inviting him to stand up.
Her smile did not go away, like the riant shimmer of her wonderful eyes, while - he now standing in front of her, his face expressing wonder and mute questions - they looked at his.
"It is passed, Hades, my Lord."
It was music. Very sweet music. Her soft voice.
Such was that voice for Hades.
But he was certain that such it was in absolute.
Then Persephone laughed.
And Hades felt that silvery laugh penetrate deep down him.
"On the other hand, my Lord, I will have to get used to having to deal with the terrible Hades, if ..."
And the laughter vanished.
Her eyes became as serious as ever.
And a murmur her voice.
"... if it ever happens that I ..."
"That you become my Bride?"
Hades had become Hades again. Strong and confident and subtly sarcastic, as Hades had to be.
That unspoken assertion from her had forced him to do so.
Because... - He understood it. Suddenly he understood it. In full. - … because he was Hades and to Hades she had given herself.
So he had to be Hades.
"This will depend on your choice, Persephone."
Hades put his hands again on her tremulous face, with infinite kindness.
He spoke softly, looking into her eyes.
"But it hasn't depended on your will nor mine or that of Zeus that I laid my eyes on you. It was Destiny."
His hands resumed his tormenting, wonderful caresses of her face.
"Was it the furious beating of the wings of Hermes' sandals - noisy to such an extent to penetrate even into my kingdom - in his spasmodic search for those who were invited to the ceremony? So it was, apparently. But, now, I no longer believe it was this. My yearning, Persephone. It was that inner tremor that I had never felt before to make me do what I did. That annoying, deafening noise was simply the means that Destiny used in order to make me do it. "
Persephone's eyes preceded her in her question.
"Wh... what did you do, my Lord?"
Hades' face became stone. An alabaster stone of inconceivable beauty.
Persephone nearly choked on gazing at him.
On thinking that that was the face of the one - of the tremendously powerful God - who had made her his own and... and who wanted her as his Bride!
"From time immemorial my eyes had not looked beyond the borders of my Kingdom. But they, Persephone, can see everywhere. Nothing can escape the sight of the Lord of the Underworld. Death can range everywhere, with its gaze. And I am the Lord of Death."
The strength of those words, the power of them, of that quiet, sure assertion, got carved into Persephone.
The Lord of Death!
This was Hades!
This was the one who was asking her to be his Bride!
Persephone lost herself in the immensity of that revelation.
Of that thing that she knew - she had always known - but that now stood out in all its might in her mind in turmoil.
The Lord of Death!
She had given herself to the Lord of death!
To the Lord of Death she had given her body and her heart!
But...
But then...
Did that meant ... did that mean ... that she was attracted to Death?
To the darkness of the annihilation of any light, of any possible hope for any future?
And... so... was she... was she darkness herself?
Was there something obscure in her that prevailed over the light of which she was carrier?
Was this why she had almost absently headed for the forest that marked the border between the kingdom of the living and the kingdom of the dead? Between the kingdom of light where she was born and where she lived and the kingdom of cold darkness where she was now and in which... in which she wasn't feel uncomfortable?
Was this why - truth... truth had to be admitted - ultimately she had resented not so much, after all, of being kidnapped by him?
Was this why she had accepted his invitation so easily?
Was this why she had found herself so at ease in wandering, alone, in his immense and line and dark palace, feeling within herself so attractive its mysterious obscurity?
Was this why she had let herself be enveloped and penetrated by his darkness?
For this reason, in front of his hesitation, his procrastination... for this reason had she... yes! She had done it! ... had she made so that she would become his?
Was this why ... was this why Destiny...
WAS THIS WHY DESTINY HAD CHOSEN HER TO BE HIS?!
How could it be?
There were two different people in her, perhaps?
Two different essences?
Two distinct entities competing for her being?
And... and so... what would she choose?
The light?
O ... or the darkness?
Was this the choice Hades was calling her to make?
Becoming his Bride, the Queen of his Kingdom, which would become her own Kingdom, and sharing his darkness, by uniting it with hers own, or giving up on his embrace, giving up on him? And losing him! To follow the light that was her own light!
But would this have given her...
Would this have given her... happiness?
How... how could a happiness exist that was the renunciation of love?
"You will know how to choose, my Lady."
Persephone goggled at Hades.
But how was it possible?
Could he perhaps be capable of reading other people's minds?
He laughed.
"Your eyes tell me that I have hit the mark, my little great Lady."
He laughed again.
"I could tell you that there can be no secrets for the Lord of Death, because nothing can escape his judgment. And, all things considered, I would not lie."
The soft laugh made itself heard again.
"But I think it can be said more than ascertained, by now, that I never lie, right?"
Then Hades became serious again.
"But truth is more prosaic. Simply, it's easy to understand what's going through your mind. Perhaps without even being fully aware of it - I have to admit it - I'm revealing myself to you for what I am. And, in hindsight, the why can be well understood. I want you to choose your future with full consciousness of what I am. I can't change, Persephone. I can be lightened by your light, but I will always be the Dark One. I made my choice already and from that choice I can't withdraw anymore. Now it's your turn. You too are called to choose. Your light. Or my darkness. But if you choose my darkness, it will mean that there is darkness in you too. And this makes your heart tremble."
There was something great in Hades' words.
Imperceptibly, Persephone realized that there could be nothing so high in the words of any other God.
Really Hades was different.
And her heart was swelled up.
It was to him that Destiny had consecrated her!
To the dark God. Yes sure!
But also to the God who from every other God stood out, standing above everyone else!
However...
Persephone frowned.
Clearly visible, the shadow passed through her eyes.
However, choosing him would have meant choosing love, sure. But it would also have meant admitting her own darkness.
And... and this was... this was...
With a faint voice, troubled in every fiber, and all the more reason because she realized that, in formulating her question, she also admitted she really harboured in herself... darkness, Persephone found herself asking.
"But... but what if I choose... if I choose to deny my darkness? To abjure my dark side? To not share your darkness? To not melt it with mine?"
All of a sudden, the words began to burst out from Persephone's depth, without her being able to hold them back.
"Will you really let me leave you?"
A dark shadow flared in Hades' eyes, at those words. But it quickly dissipated when he heard what she said immediately afterwards.
"And you? You, my beloved Lord? What will you feel, what will you do, if I choose to abandon you? Will I be condemned to feel forever the remorse for what I have denied you? For having damned you to your everlasting aloneness? After having giving you an instant, nothing more than a fleeting and ephemeral instant, of warmth?"
And the shadow in those eyes, the eyes of Hades, became sweetness, suffused with something that appeared for what it was.
True, authentic love.
And gratitude.
"You will not have to feel nor will you feel any remorse, Persephone. Your life is yours, it belongs to you. Despite your mother. Despite me. And it will smile on you whatever your choice may be, because you are purity."
Persephone jumped at that statement.
And he laughed softly, at her wince.
"Yes, you are pristine and crystal clear spring water, my Lady. Uncontaminated and incontaminable."
Persephone began to feel something inside her. Something... a warmth... never felt before. Which was making its way trough her. Which was advancing.
"You will be happy anyway, Persephone, for you are destined to give and have happiness. Because you are happiness in itself."
A warmth that was becoming flame.
"Therefore do not fear, Persephone. Explore my Kingdom with me and then make your choice. Make it, you who can do it. I did not have such a luck. And rest assured that whichever it is, it will be the right choice."
A flame that was becoming raging fire.
"And as for me ..."
Hades' eyes veiled. They seemed to get lost in the distance.
Like his voice.
"I had no choice when I was born as Hades. And I had no choice when my eyes got resting on you."
A sigh interrupted, fleeting, Hades' speaking. A grievous and deep sigh.
"The most beautiful thing, the most beautiful creature I'd ever seen. That I could ever have hoped to see."
His eyes cleared. They looked at her dreamily.
"You, Persephone."
And the fire inside Persephone flared up.
"At that moment, Persephone, at that precise moment, I realized that once again I had no choice."
Persephone felt like being enveloped in an embrace by those eyes that were absolutely no longer cold with the frost of the Lord of the Underworld. They were hot. As warm as the hottest love.
And the fire inside her turned disruptive.
Its burning blaze took her breath away.
"I had to... I had to! ... have you, Persephone! At any cost! Anyway! Even... even by kidnapping you! And I did it!"
Hades lowered those eyes, and Persephone felt she missed something she could not do without. His look!
With downcast eyes, he went on.
"I proposed to me of course, and I swore it to myself and took even an oath on the Styx, that I wouldn't abuse you, that I would let you choose the destiny you would want. But, ultimately, I've kidnapped you. At the end of the day, I've exercised violence on you. Why? Because I couldn't help but try to have you, whatever it was the obstacle that could get placed in my way, be it your mother's ostracism or even Zeus' denial, even if, about the latter eventuality, honestly I shrugged my shoulders. But then..."
His gaze rose. It rested on her again. And Persephone saw in it something she would have never thought to see.
Was it shame?
Was this what could be sensed in his voice?
"You asked yourself, Persephone, why on earth I hesitated, why I wasn't capable of making up my mind to ask you - perhaps even to exact from you, considering my position and rank - what I wished you to give me. And I circumvented, sarcastically and frankly a bit cravenly, your question. And it was you who bit the tail of the dragon. You who solved - wonderfully - the issue, my stupid and inane impasse. Stupid and inane, but understandable."
Persephone's eyes were wide.
Her heart was pounding hard.
"Now it is right and sacrosanct that you know the true why, my little, great, very great Goddess. I wasn't able to make up my mind because..."
Sadness.
Into his eyes.
Into his voice.
Untold sadness.
Which gripped Persephone's heart.
"For who could ever learn to love The One who doesn't know love?
Then, all of a sudden, those eyes, veined of unspeakable sadness, shone. The most vivid light glistened in them.
And his voice - the voice of Hades! - was pure joy!
"And instead you did it, Persephone! You gave me your love!"
Persephone was out of breath. All she could breathe was the powerful breath of her heart beating wildly.
"You said I've lowered myself to you. You're wrong, my wonderful little great Goddess. I haven't lowered myself to you. Anything but this. On the contrary I've elevated myself. You allowed me to do so, to rise until your height. You did so that I could breathe the high, fresh, pure and intoxicating air of your love."
Wildly!
"And you taught me to love."
WILDLY!
"YOU!"
The light in Hades' eyes lessened. It became a luminescence of sweetness. A smile of the heart.
"And so, my beloved..."
My beloved. MY BELOVED!
He had said... MY BELOVED!
"Have no fear for my lot, if you decide to leave me. What you have given me will never leave me. I'll never be alone anymore. You will always be with me."
And the fire inside Persephone exploded in all its violence.
It wrapped her.
It burned her.
And she reacted.
In the way it couldn't be otherwise for her to do.
She lunged forward.
She threw her arms around Hades' neck.
She enveloped him like she was ivy.
She shouted on his mouth.
"You will never be alone again! I will always be with you!"
She kissed him passionately, mixing the words with the kiss.
"I... choose... you!"
It was difficult, extremely difficult, for Hades detaching his lips from Persephone's.
But he made it.
And, no matter how even more difficult this could be, he - looking at her seriously - also managed to say what was right for him to say.
"Wait, Persephone. Don't be in a hurry. Don't let the passion of the moment overpower your mind."
Persephone looked at him, her arms still wrapped around him, without understanding.
He sighed.
"Follow your own wise advice, Persephone. Explore my world with me. And then, only after that, make your choice."
Persephone broke the embrace. She placed her hands on her hips, looking at him with what could be called a proud frown.
And, in her speaking, her way seemed to echo his own sardonic way.
And so it was, actually.
With, plus, an overt air of challenge.
"Listen to me attentively, my dear Lord of the Underworld."
A decidedly tough and resolute tone, besides proud.
"Is it true or not that it is not without reason that I went towards the dark forest that I knew very well to be, by all accounts, a tenuous border to your Kingdom?"
Hades found himself being stunned, unable to respond.
"Answer me, o powerful Lord of Nothing! Is it true or is it not?"
And Hades stammered.
Oh yeah.
He stammered.
"Act... act... actually..."
"And is it true or not that I was able to see what your helmet should have prevented me from seeing?"
"Persephone ..."
"Answer me, o great King of Netherworld. Have I been or not?"
"Y... yes!"
"And doesn't this have a precise meaning? Wasn't you yourself who realized it first?"
"I..."
"Is it not so?"
"It's... it's like that!"
"Very well."
Persephone folded her arms over her chest and fiercely advanced towards Hades, who, inconceivably, found himself stepping involuntarily back away from her.
"Now tell me one more thing, O King of Avernus."
"W... which one?"
"Am I wrong in saying that you told me that I would find the answer to all my questions if I'd followed you into your kingdom?"
"I..."
"Answer me, Hades!"
"Yes! I said it!"
Suddenly, Persephone lost all frown, every tough and challenging attitude.
Her face, her body, became pure passion.
Passion.
Passion in her gaze, in her expression.
In her voice.
Lightly shrill.
Because of the excitement.
"You were right, my Lord. I found that answer."
And Persephone snapped to hug Hades once more.
She literally threw herself into his arms with such fury that he, in order not to be thrown back, had to stop her momentum by raising her upwards, so that her face found itself at the same height as his, her feet lifted from the ground.
She pressed herself against him so strongly that even he felt his ribs ache.
Her face on his, her eyes on his.
Her lips on his.
Whispering softly and voluptuously on them.
"You are the answer."
Her lips stroked his.
They articulated one by one the words she had already said.
With strength and conviction.
"I. Choose. You."
And then those lips sealed his in a gruelling kiss of love.
The kiss was long.
Long and ardent.
Then, out of breath, the mouths detached from each other.
Persephone drew back a little her face, still sheltered in Hades' arms, still lifted from the ground by them.
She struggled to dominate her breathlessness.
Panting and smiling, her face just an inch from his, she wheezed "Take me... take me… take me to know your world, my Lord. Take me to know the world that will be mine."
Hades remained looking at Persephone without speaking, gazing at her beautiful and passionate face.
At that turgid and voluptuous mouth of her that was promising it would never stop kissing his.
At that mouth that said that...
That she chose to be his.
Really.
And forever.
Hades looked at that face for a long time.
Then he finally roused himself.
Slowly and gently, he lowered her, so that her feet could rest on the ground again, without ceasing to embrace her, though.
A new light, which he too - and not unconsciously - realized, in his eyes, he nodded.
And there was no uncertainty or hesitation in his words anymore.
"Come on, Persephone. Come to know your kingdom."
She laughed and extricated herself from his embrace.
"And how, my Lord? Is there a conveyance able to allow me, the debuting Goddess that I am, to accompany you in all the infinity of your kingdom ... oh, sorry ... of our kingdom? Perhaps ..." - And she laughed again, mischievous. - ... you will have to carry me in your arms. "
Hades' austere face did not move a single muscle.
Only, his eyes laughed.
He didn't speak.
He simply beckoned lightly with his head.
And a noise arose.
Faint at first.
Distant.
And then stronger and stronger.
And nearer.
Until it became a rumble.
In the air.
Nearer and nearer.
Near.
Near!
Until it revealed itself.
The rumble of the mighty hooves of the infernal steeds pulling his iron chariot across the void.
Persephone saw the chariot materialize in the nothingness of that sky of nothing.
She saw it slow down as it approached them.
She saw it touch down gently to the soil at a short distance from them and get still there, the proud steeds - big, black, powerful - puffing and beating their mighty hooves on the ground.
Hades looked at Persephone with a teasing glisten in his eyes.
"I fear that, though strong, even my arms would end up getting tired of holding you to carry you to know the Kingdom of the Dead in all its endless immensity, Persephone.
He turned towards the chariot, still, waiting.
His arm made a broad gesture towards it.
"Here's the conveyance, Persephone."
He turned to her, his lips bent into a wry smile.
"You know it. You were forced by me to board it rather... violently. But it is the best means. The only one, I would say."
Then the wry smile disappeared.
Hades' face became serious.
Extremely serious.
"At least as long as our union will not be sealed by the sacredness of the bond of marriage. Then you will be mistress of moving everywhere, here, by your simple will. Exactly like me."
Persephone stood watching Hades for a few moments, without answering.
Then she smiled.
And her voice was as playfully wry as Hades'.
"It was not a very disagreeable journey the first I did on this chariot, my Lord. Rather unwillingly, to tell the truth, at least at first, but not really unpleasant, all things considered. And I have the audacity to believe that this second journey will be definitely better."
And, having said that, she turned her back on Hades and headed steadily toward the wagon to board it, without waiting for him to guide her.
"Persephone!"
His alarmed voice made her stop suddenly and turn around abruptly.
"Hades! What ...?"
"The horses! Be careful! You are too close! Pass far away from them! They are my horses! The infernal steeds! They are dangerous for anyone but me!"
Persephone turned swiftly her head towards the horses. Without realizing it, she had approached them as she moved toward the chariot.
Much.
Very much.
And their proud and fierce snouts were turned towards her.
Their deathly shining eyes were watching her.
Close up.
Dangerously close up.
And, at that moment...
Just at that moment...
She could not explain why.
Was she crazy?
Yes, she was crazy.
That was the only explanation.
But she did it.
And something inside her told her she wasn't doing wrong.
Quickly but quietly, she moved even closer to the horses, almost up to touch them.
Careless of Hades' voice.
"Persephone! No!"
Careless of the noise of his quick, anxious steps.
She stopped right in front of the first of the big steeds.
The driving one.
Great.
Immense.
Proud.
With quivering nostrils.
And her hand rose.
Softly it settled on the steed's snout.
It stroked it.
Slowly and delicately.
And the steed gently moved the proud muzzle, pandering to the caress.
And snorting softly.
By contentment.
For a few moments this continued.
Then something enveloped her.
His cloak.
And then his voice.
Hushed.
"You'll need it, Persephone."
She felt his hand on her shoulder.
And his voice again.
Even softer, if possible.
"Come on, my Lady."
The hand, while her own hand almost reluctantly left the muzzle of the steed, made gently turn her and guided her, making her move away from the steed.
"Come."
She let him lead her and help her get on the chariot.
For a few moments he stood still down, at the foot of the chariot, without getting on, watching her standing on the chariot, wrapped in his black cloak, watching him in her turn.
Intensely.
As intensely as he was watching her.
And intense, even in his still subdued voice, a clear note shone that was unbelief and pride together.
And contentment.
Joy.
"It is time for you…"
Hades broke off an instant and then finished the sentence, vigorously stressing his words.
"…to take possession of your Kingdom."
There was a moment of silence. Long, as intense as the gazes.
Then Hades jumped on the chariot.
He stood still and upright beside Persephone, with his face turned to her, who, standing at his left side, firmly grasped from under the mantle his arm with both hers, quiet and trusting, her face proudly and determinedly turned forward.
Hades turned his face and looked forward, the way Persephone was doing.
He breathed deeply swelling his chest.
Then, finally, he grabbed the reins with the hand of his free arm, as the other hand, the one whose arm Persephone was gripping strongly, held steadily the front edge of the chariot.
He made the reins snap vehemently, as his voice rang imperiously.
"Go!"
The chariot leaped and rocketed overwhelmingly upwards.
End of Chapter Twenty-Five
TBC
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
The Kingdom of Dead.
Its Queen goes to take possession of it.