Persephone pulled her self from Hades. The touch of his lips and hands still sending shivers through her body.
"Glad you're okay," he breathed against her lips.
She smiled and took a small step back to her room without another word, smiling to him before she closed the door. She bit her lip and heard him walk downstairs. Taking a deep breath she slid down the door frame and to the floor in a puddle of bliss. Her buzzing and passionate side wanted to run after him and press for more. Sure that he wanted it too.
But when she stood again, she saw Onyx asleep on the file Hades had given her only a week ago. An entire folder full of his dealings with her mother. Pages and pages of detailed contracts and notes that completely ripped apart the woman she thought she had known.
The isolation Persephone had been told was for her safety wasn't the case at all. In reality their island home was used to dock illegal drugs and goods that her mother used her produce business to push.
And it wasn't just Demeter. It was a myriad of people in Olympus. Names that Persephone recognized. They were all coming to Hades. The shock of the hypocrisy is what got to her the most. She felt like an idiot. How many lies was she led to believe? Her own childhood, stripped and taken away from her so that her mother could continue this secret life without questions asked.
But was any of this true? Who could she trust? Did Hades have his minions write all of this up just to turn her against her mother? Or was it all true? She needed to get away and find out for herself. She needed to leave when he'd least expect it and learn the truth before she gives everything she has to this Lord of Darkness.
Her house glowed from the freezing river. It looked welcoming and warm. She turned her boat and slowly gained toward the frosted edge shore. When her boots hit the pebbles with a crunch a prominent and understandable thought settled in her mind.
"What the hell is the plan, here?"
What's she going to do? Walk in and wave a quick hello to mom and go up to her bedroom? Spy through the windows and hope to catch a glimpse of her beating a service worker, thus proving her criminal mind?
And where the hell was she going to sleep? It's freezing outside and she literally knows no one. The truth of this gets to her. What was she going to do? Who could she see? There was no one she could rely on.
A buzzing from another boat sounded from the water. Persephone pulled her hood tight and ran into a thicket of snow covered trees. The boat pulled to the dock in a rush. And a man jumped off and climbed the stairs to the house quickly. He was shadowed and Persephone couldn't quite make out who it until the house flood lights shot on, Hades.
It was him. His face almost scary calm. But his body spoke otherwise. His hands fidgeted as he ran to the back door and pounded his fist against the wood frame. Cerberus and another man Persephone didn't recognize followed behind. They were trying to talk to Hades, but he whipped around and yelled for them both to shut up.
From where she hid, Persephone could see her mother come into view. She was impeccably dressed in a sapphire blue suit. Her hair set in a glossy black bob. She went down the stairs with almost a cheery edge.
When her mother opened the door Persephone wanted to look away, scared of what she might see next. But she heard her mother laugh. She moved through the trees, so she could hear more.
"Where is she?" Hades demanded.
Demeter leaned against the door frame, unbothered. "What do you mean? She's supposed to be with you for another week."
Hades scoffed. "That agreement's dead since I haven't seen any sign of Zeus in the Underworld."
Demeter's shoulders hunched as if she were annoyed. "Believe me, I tried. We need a different approach. He really hates you."
Hades ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "You sent word to me two weeks ago, offering Zeus into my hands as way of payment. Yet again, you find yourself in a debt."
"I just need more time to think of a different plan. . ." she looked at her nails. "How is Persephone, by the way?"
Hades flared his arms wide. "She's gone you incompetent wench!That doesn't bother you at all?"
Demeter waved her hand in Hades face and Persephone saw his hands clench as if he were ready to rip it off.
"I'm positive she'll turn up. Listen, Channel 3 will be her in an hour for an interview, I've got to get the kitchen ready, they're sure to ask about the winter vegetable supply."
A knot that had been growing in Persephone's gut grew heavier. Who was this woman? She had sought out to look for answers and here they were. Hideous and heart breaking.
She heard the door slam and Hades yell and slam his fist against the thick wooden frame. When he turned to talk with Cerberus, Persephone edged her way to the back of the house and ran to the garden shed.
Shutting the door behind her, she fell to her knees and sobbed. The betrayal and confusion, suffocating. She crawled to the back of the shed and rested her head against a bin of pomegranates. The shed was full of them. Catching her breathe, she looked at her mothers winter fruit supply.
A box cutter was laid on the edge of a wooden pallet. Persephone wiped her arm across her eyes and grabbed it. Without hesitation she let out her rage on the fruits. Slicing, stabbing and crushing them under foot. Her mother was dead to her.