I AM OFFICIALLY IN DOUBLE DIGIT CHAPTERS! AHH! Thank you to all who have stuck with this story. I am honored that each and every one of you have taken a chance on Twilight Maiden, and thank you so much for sticking though ten dang chapters with me. I hope that you enjoy my tenth chapter! Happy reading, everyone!
Hades
Hazel irises widened in shock. Cheeks flushed scarlet. Lips that once smiled hopefully fell open in a gasp. Hades had not intended to say those words, but they spilled from his mouth like water from a dam. Hades had intended on approaching Persephone calmly and rationally, speaking to her of his concerns and confessing why he had kept his distance.
But the jealous fire in his heart raged stronger, burning away the carefully constructed barriers that Hades had put in place to keep them at bay. His anger towards Rhadamanthus still seeped into his actions. The burning emotions in his chest slowly engulfed him.
Though, the hurt in Persephone's eyes did cool his ire enough to make him wish that he had been gentler with her. Persephone numbly blinked at him as the stunned goddess tried to gather herself enough to stammer out a reply.
"How do—how do you—what do you mean?" Persephone breathed, shaking her head in disbelief.
"Persephone," Hades mumbled somberly. "I know that you have met with Rhadamanthus."
He watched as Persephone's chest heaved, the goddess taking in a deep, steadying breath.
"How?" She sighed with voice carrying the heaviness of one resigned to their fate. "How do you know?"
"He told me himself," Hades admitted gruffly, remembering the moment that Rhadamanthus' smirking, triumphant face had openly and gleefully told him about meeting her. As he revealed this truth, Persephone pulled her elegant brows into a frown. She turned away from Hades, her darkening expression frowning. The profile of her face nearly lost to shadow as she stared into the throne room beyond, brooding and upset.
"Why would he do that?" Persephone hissed, her anger unmistakable. Her arms were crossed tightly over her chest and Hades loathed the confidence that surged within him. It pleased him to see her cross with Rhadamanthus' betrayal and he hated himself for this selfish pleasure.
"To defy me," Hades growled, unable to keep the bite from his response. "To challenge my authority."
Persephone did not reward him with a response. The wheels in her mind turned over and over, carrying her thoughts down a path unknown to him. Her frown grew darker and the woman's rosy lips turned into a tight, thin line as she pressed them together.
"What exactly is he defying?" Persephone asked her question in a clipped tone. She still would not look in his direction.
"My commands. After you first arrived, I...I forbade him from seeing you." Hades admitted begrudgingly. Perhaps he played the part of a fool, telling Persephone the truth of his actions. But that burning jealousy inside of his chest drove him onward, reckless and vengeful. As soon as the words tumbled from his lips, Persephone whipped her head around, finally looking at him but only to fix him with a heated glare.
"Now you are trying to forbid me from seeing him?" Persephone demanded hotly. Her sudden anger only served to fuel his own ire.
"He is not safe. Meeting with him would be putting yourself in danger." Hades argued, hearing his own voice raised in frustration. He would do anything to make Persephone understand that no good would come of Rhadamanthus' request.
His feet moved to close the distance between him and the goddess. In turn, Persephone balked at his nearness; she flinched away from him, even though he did not move to touch her. Hades was struck by how that movement reminded him of their first interaction in the woods, when she was full of fear and apprehension.
Yet there had been none of this rage that now seeped from the goddess in their current meeting.
"I am immortal; what sort of danger is he to me?" Persephone challenged the god. Her words echoed noisily over the marble tiles, filling the room with her demand. Hades leaned closer to Persephone once more and this time she did not shy from him.
"You know exactly what kind of danger I mean," he murmured, not pandering to her willful ignorance of the Judge's intentions. The heat in persephone's glare turned to stone. She narrowed her eyes up at him and Hades saw her jaw clench.
"The kind of danger that brought me to the Underworld in the first place? The kind of danger that you are?" Persephone accused with a ruthlessness that cut Hades straight to his heart.
He wanted, desperately wanted, to deny that he presented himself as a danger to her, but how could he? She spoke the truth. Hades raked his hands through his hair as the goddess waited for him to fight back, but the words could not come. Her words had rendered him speechless.
"So, you won't deny it?" She spoke somberly. Fearfully, even. The lack of denial from him seemed to stir something within Persephone. Her flaming ire snuffed out and a shadow fell over her. Uncertainty replaced the hardness in her gaze.
"You won't deny that you are just as great a danger to me as what he is rumored to be?"
"Not a rumor, Persephone. The truth." Hades implored. His hands reached to grasp her shoulders. "Whoever has spoken to you of his ways does not exaggerate. I just want to warn you—"
"No! Enough!" Persephone ordered. She brushed aside Hades' hands before they could reach her. "Annis has warned me against it. Nyx has warned me against it. Now you are warning me against it. You of all beings have no right to tell me what is safe and what is dangerous."
Persephone spoke with a desperation that both confused and worried him. In the dim light, Hades saw shimmering tears glistening in her eyes. Where was this sudden surge of fear coming from, he wondered.
But instead of offering comfort or pressing for the reason behind her fearfulness, Hades allowed his pride to be wounded by her words. And he allowed his damned pride to take precedence over her phantom fears.
"Do not forget that you are in my realm; I do have a right." Hades argued before he could stop his lips from speaking those words. His fuming companion's eyes narrowed dangerously and color flushed her already reddened cheeks.
"I am not your subject!" The goddess scoffed. "I am not even supposed to be here."
"But I am the god of the Underworld, and you are here now." That jealous monster roared within him, chasing away reason. Those wounded feelings within him cried far louder than that still voice trying to warn him that with each word he spoke, he only made things worse.
"So you are going to bully me into obeying you?" Persephone cried. Hades ran his hand through his hair, tangling his fingers in his dark mane. Why would she not listen to him?
"To protect you!" He all but shouted. Frustration had taken over any sense of calm that Hades tried to hold on to. She did not flinch at his raised voice but instead raised her voice to match his pitch.
"Protect me?" She let out a bitter laugh, one free of any mirth. Her head shook slightly in disbelief. "Then protect me from yourself! You brought me here without my permission! How can you pretend to have regard for my safety?"
"That is not something that I pretend! I care for the safety of the ones that I love."
In a second, the air in the room thickened. Hades' declaration rang throughout the empty room like a ceaseless clanging bell. Never before had he wished that he could snatch his words out of the air and shove them back in his mouth.
Shame heated his cheeks. Hades closed his eyes and roughly rubbed his temples with his fingers, hiding his embarrassment from Persephone.
It should not have been this way. This confession of love came on the tail end of a heated quarrel. There should have been tenderness and warmth, not arguing and harsh words. Hades should have been holding her close, murmuring softly into her ear instead of needlessly blurting out his feelings.
"Damn you," Hades chided himself. "You have acted poorly since the beginning of this mess. You cannot take this back!"
"The ones that you—you love?"
Hades pulled his hand from his face and willed himself to face Persephone.
The gloomy shadow that shrouded her had lifted. Instead he found himself staring down at wide eyes and lips parted slightly. A glimmer of something that was not anger or fear shone in her gaze. The corners of her mouth twitched. Was it a smile or a deepening grimace?
Hope swelled within him. She drew in a steadying breath, her chest rising softly as she readied herself to speak.
"If you love me, then you would let me go home."
Just as quickly as his hope had grown, Hades felt dread darken his heart. Persephone did not speak to him with accusation this time. She remained calm and steadfast in a blossoming hope of her own.
But Hades was not blind to the weight that her softly-spoken statement carried. Persephone could not have been ignorant to what she asked of him.
She had him pressed into a corner with no chance of escape.
By freeing her from captivity, Hades could win a chance at gaining her love, but also face the consequence of undermining his own reign. By keeping her here as a prisoner, she would prove to Hades that his love was false.
How clever this goddess was, to use his unwitting confession of love as a tool for her own use. How foolish he had been to not guard his mouth more carefully.
She waited patiently for him to respond; a denial or a confirmation or even a fresh new quarrel to break this silent tension. Hades could not muster up any of those things. He could not give her what she desired.
Not a word.
Not her freedom.
The silence stretched on for an age. At long last, the goddess' shoulders fell and she tore her gaze from him and once more settled on staring at the darkness beyond them.
"Then you do not love me." Persephone affirmed flatly, showing no sign of any emotions that might be raging beneath.
Still, Hades could say nothing and this seemed to only disappoint her. Could he be mistaken, or did he detect the slightest hint of sadness?
He did not dwell on it for long. Persephone came close to him, closing the gap between them until her toes nearly touched his. She peered into his face, her features set into a mask that he could not read.
"You will no longer be allowed to determine my fate," the goddess decreed, her voice a gentle storm. "Not you. Not anyone. Only me."
With a swish of her forest-green robes, Persephone brushed past Hades. The scent of flowers lingered in the air as the goddess disappeared into the shadows of the throne room. So in the end, she reigned victorious with Hades backed into a corner.
And neither one of them could possibly be content with the outcome. Hades stood there, still and unmoving as a statue.
How did everything go so terribly wrong? His hands curled into tightly clenched fists. He squeezed his fingers until they trembled.
Persephone was wrong. His affection for her flowed as deep as Poseidon's oceans. What once lived as an infatuation had grown into something much more. Could it be called love? Perhaps not. But given a chance to flourish, Hades had no doubt in his mind that one day he could truly come to Persephone with his heart laid bare before her and say with certainty that he loved her.
Yet the hope of that moment ever coming to pass dwindled until it was nothing more than a foolish wish. In a second, the sadness that threatened to topple him changed into that burning rage.
Rhadamanthus had won. He, not Persephone, reigned the true victor.
Before Hades could make up his mind to march to straight to the Elysian Fields and strangle that white-haired menace with his bare hands, the doors to the throne room burst open. A Nymph came tumbling inside.
Annis. A pair of frantic golden eyes locked onto Hades and she rushed over to him.
"Lord Hades!" She breathed heavily as if she had spent herself from running. "Have you seen Persephone? I left her in the woods and she was not in the same place when I returned to fetch her!"
Her worried cry filled his ears and Hades wished that he could just have a moment of peace. Every fibre of his being wanted to order the Nymph out of his sight. He inhaled a sharp gust of air through his nose in an attempt to soothe his irritation.
Hades uncurled his fists to beckon Annis to come to him. She hesitantly crept across the black tiled floor until the god of the Underworld loomed over her. Annis hunched like a crone, expecting him to bestow a harsh reprimand.
"You left her alone?" Hades questioned the cowering Nymph in a dangerous rumble. "In the Underworld? Close to Tartarus?"
"Yes…" The woman answered in a strangled whisper, unable to glance up at him from where her gaze was trained on the floor. Annis had dwelled in the Underworld for centuries; long enough to where she had been a witness to his terrible wrath; the rare display of power that gave him the reputation of being a fearsome god.
"Why?" That one word was spoken with a bite that made Annis flinch.
"For foolish reasons!" Annis confessed, gazing up at him with an apologetic and worried face. "I am sorry, Lord Hades. Please forgive me!"
Hades sighed and roughly tugged at the end of his beard, frustrated and weary of this conversation; he had a sneaking suspicion that her "foolish reasons" were a matter of the heart. Hades was well aware of the identity of Annis' lover and that tedious matter brought him an entirely different headache. He would sort her actions out at another time. All he desired at this moment was to be alone.
"Do not be so careless with her again. I entrusted her safety and wellbeing to you since the beginning. You are now her closest confidant in the Underworld. Look at me, Annis." Hades frowned down at the Nymph. "Do not disappoint me again."
His stern command resounded over the marbled surfaces and Annis nodded her head.
"Of—of course!" She stammered.
Hades sighed again, the action unable to ebb the rising tension in his chest. He placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder and relief flooded Annis' paled cheeks. Hades hoped that he had been firm, but not terrifying. His was not a rule of fear and intimidation. Hades wanted his subjects to have a healthy respect of his rules and commands, but he did not want to subdue them with an onslaught of abuses.
A smirking face shrouded by silvery hair rudely came to mind. Not all of his subjects were so willing to respect his authority. Perhaps he had been too lenient as of late? Now did not seem the time to dwell on how he ruled his realm. The god gave his subject a comforting squeeze on her shoulder.
"You will likely find the goddess in her chambers. Go to her. She is in distress." He advised. Annis mumbled a hasty response before she scampered off to find Persephone. Hades watched her go, brunette locks bouncing between her shoulder blades, before marching to the opposite end of the room.
The god hardly paid any mind to his surroundings as he stormed through the corridors of his palace. Anyone who found themselves unlucky enough to be in his presence quickly and wordlessly gave him space.
He did not stop until he had reached his personal chambers. Hades practically pushed the doors down as he entered his room and stomped inside. Behind him, the doors closed shut with a decisive slam.
"This is a disaster," he growled to himself as he paced in his room like a caged dog. He should have never brought up Rhadamanthus in that way.
Annis and Nyx were both trying their best to steer Persephone's mind against that man. He should have left it alone. If there ever had been even the tiniest shred of hope for Hades to sway Persephone to his side, he had snuffed out that hope by his own doing.
If only he had spoken kindly to her and explained his shift in mood, as he had intended to in the first place...he could be enjoying her company instead of fuming in his chambers alone. Had they not come so far since he first forced her to the Underworld? Why did Hades allow his frustrations and jealousy to soil the tentative budding of a companionship between them?
The doors to room's balcony were wide open, letting a gentle twilight breeze to come flowing inside. Hades wearily walked the length of the room to the balcony, stepping outside and breathing in the cool air. A view of the courtyard opened up below him. Hades gripped the stone railing as his eyes traveled over the dark gardens and found himself searching for something beyond the gardens: another balcony, almost directly across from his.
It was her chambers.
Hades had not intended to set her up with a room that could be seen from his own. Annis had done it on accident, but he would be lying to himself if he had not found a silly glee in having her so near to him.
A dim, yellowish glow emanated from her balcony door, signifying that the occupant was in her room with the candles lit. Hades longed to cross the courtyard and comfort her.
But his presence would not be well-received. He had been the cause of her current misery. Why would she want to have anything to do with him?
Desperation to set himself apart from his siblings had been the driving force behind all of his actions as god of the Underworld. Ever since he became appointed as lord over the realm, Hades sought to rule firmly and justly and mercifully. He had struck a balance with his subjects, one of respect and familiarity.
They were wise to his power and wrath, when he extended it to those who were truly deserving. And they were just as wise to his steadfast and steady nature. After an age of being god over this realm, they had come to expect him to act differently than the immortals of the world above.
But now, in light of how this young maiden unwillingly pulled his heart in so many directions, to what avail had all his careful actions been? In the end, he acted out of desire. In the end, jealous love drove him onward.
In the end, Hades found himself to be terribly similar to those he despised.
The furious slam of Hades' chamber doors echoed throughout the empty corridor. Anyone who had heard the noise would have wisely turned on their heel and fled.
Everyone except for a certain woman with flaming hair.
Delicate ivory hands glowed white in the soft light of the torches that burned on the walls. They were resting gently on the smooth marble pillars that flanked the entrance to Hades' room, steadying herself as she leaned around them to peer at those closed doors. A triumphant smile curled on her full lips.
She loathed having to cause him pain, but it was necessary. And as far as that twiggy little goddess running from him in tears?
It was a deliciously wicked pleasure at getting to watch her crumble.
Those smirking lips let out a laugh, giddy but carefully hushed. Wasn't she a lucky one, for all to go according to plan?
Persephone
The persistent pounding fists on her door did little to stir Persephone from her sullen reverie. Annis returned from wherever she had slinked off to in search of her lover, and Persephone found herself not too keen on speaking with her friend at the moment.
A bitter part of her felt that if Annis had never left her on her own, she would not have made her way to the Fates. The croaking warning of the Crone buzzed around in her skull. All she could see in her mind's eye was that black thread fluttering to the ground, cut in two by those shiny shears.
Darkness. The Crone had foretold that the fate of darkness awaited her.
Persephone sat on her bed, hunched over with her chin resting on her knees. Fingers tangled into ash blonde hair, clutching at her scalp in a fierce grip. Tears leaked from her tightly closed lids. Her entire body trembled, still reeling from her encounter with Hades.
All her woe about Hades and Minthe being lovers again now rang hollow and silly. There were far more pressing matters at hand.
That thread of fate, tying her to the god of the Underworld, tugged mightily as he all but demanded that she stay away from Rhadamanthus. Persephone, in that moment, had never felt more smothered. The thread wrapped itself around her body like a snake that sought to trap her in an inescapable snare. A dread gripped her soul as that dark thread tightened. All she could think of as Hades pleaded with her was that darkness the Fates damned her to. His obvious jealousy was proof that obeying him would only tie her further to him, was it not?
Her parting words to Hades were an attempt to fight that darkness. Persephone refused to allow this god to control her fate! She would fight against her destiny, even if it meant openly defying the god of the Underworld and facing whatever punishment that he chose to bestow upon her. She would try to be the master of her own life, even if it meant going against every single warning from Nyx and Annis and going to see that silver-haired man…
Yet even after their heated quarrel, Persephone could not quell the ache in her heart when she recalled Hades' harried face with those handsome features pulled into a frown. Was this draw to the god who had stolen her freedom just a symptom of their entwined fate? Or did Persephone find herself truly wanting to let that string tug her closer to him the more she stayed in his world?
What was an act of her own free will and what was just a whim of a fate that she could not control?
Annis' incessant knocking on her door faded and her concerned voice replaced it, asking timidly to come inside.
Persephone did not even glance up at her door. She craved solitude from her, from anyone.
For the first time in too long a time, Persephone desperately missed her home; not just her mother, but her home. She missed the gossiping Nymphs that were easy to escape from. The pine woods was lovely and mysterious, but she was eager to once again stroll through the grove of willow trees and wander the rolling hills that surrounded her mother's palace.
There was nothing that could compare to standing on the edge of a sheer cliff, towering above the roiling azure ocean and feeling the wild wind whip around her in a frenzy.
This perpetual twilight cast the Underworld in a gloom that she once found lovely, but as of late, made her soul weary.
Now more than anything, Persephone longed for the brightness of the sun to chase back the pressing darkness.
A gale whipped over the hilltops, bending and swaying the tall stalks of green grass to their will. The sky above boasted of stormy gray clouds and the air held a chill. Persephone had found a wool shawl and wrapped it around her bare shoulders; the cobalt robes she wore did little to stave the unusual coolness of the Underworld.
Ever since Persephone emerged from sulking in her chambers, she noticed that the Underworld had shifted; skies had gone from shades of dusk to dark storm clouds that never rained. The shadows deepened and grew, casting the land into an ominous shade. And this cold air…
Persephone pulled the shawl closer to her skin. Had this shift in atmosphere anything to do with her spat with the realm's ruler?
Nyx would neither confirm nor deny Persephone's musings. She strolled alongside the young goddess as they wound their way over the blustery hills. In the distance, Persephone spotted the mound that hosted the henge and its strange occupants. She kept a wary eye on the mound and made sure to give ample room between it and her. Going back for a pleasant chat with the three women did not strike her fancy.
But Persephone found that she loved the scenery of these hills above the pine forest and wanted to do a bit more exploring of the area. Nyx had been happy to come along to keep her company.
For the first time, Persephone had not wanted Annis to accompany her. She still felt slighted that Annis left her alone in the wilds of the Underworld in a weak and vulnerable moment. And it left a bitter taste in Persephone's mouth. Of course, it was her own fault that she stumbled on the mysterious Fates, but Persephone selfishly wanted to put some of the blame on Annis.
If her lover, one that she still refused to name, had such importance to her, then she could go off and be with him!
Going back to her old tricks and sneaking past Nymphs, Persephone had skillfully avoided Annis' watchful eyes and managed to slip out of the castle undetected.
Nyx must have sensed Persephone's presence near Tartarus as she tiptoed her way to the gazebo in the forest. A familiar head of flowing black hair and pale skin greeted her when Persephone stepped beyond the grove of pines and onto the path that lead to the gazebo. Persephone hoped that she would find Nyx here.
She wanted the quiet countenance of this new friend instead of the fiery and bold spirit of Annis. The ancient goddess flashed her a morose smile when she caught sight of her and Persephone wondered if Nyx had heard of the argument between her and Hades. They were close friends, after all.
True, Nyx had heard of the spat, but not from the god himself. He had made his presence scarce and nobody had seen him. He had not come to her seeking council. He had not been seen at the palace in days. Nobody knew where the god had disappeared, but none of them were foolhardy enough to go looking for him.
Persephone wondered what listening ears lurked in the shadows, eavesdropping on their fight and spreading it like wildfire all over the Underworld. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment when Nyx gently explained to her that she was once again the center of the latest gossip.
After that, Persephone steered the conversation away from Hades and to her frightening experience with the Fates; Persephone was anxious to hear about these women from the one who had given them birth. Nyx could not hide her surprise after hearing that Persephone had an encounter with the Fates and at first, was hesitant to tell Persephone about them. But when she persisted, admitting that she argued with Hades because of something that they had told her, Nyx conceded.
"Clotho, lachesis, Atropos." Nyx revealed the names of her daughters to Persephone while they waded in the flowing grass that brushed against their waists.
"Clotho is the first of the three; her appearance is that of a young woman, reflecting the youth and newness of life. She spins the thread of life from her distaff onto her spindle. When she has spun the thread to her liking, she hands it over to Lachesis. This daughter of mine measures the thread of life allotted to each mortal, and holds never-ending threads for us immortals. When her task is complete, the thread goes to the last woman. Atropos, the one you call the Crone, is the cutter of the thread of life. Her face is that of an aged woman, to represent the end of a mortal's life; decrepit and worn. This daughter...she chooses the manner of each person's death; when she has sensed that their time is coming to an end, she cuts their life-thread with her dreaded shears."
The immortal women fell silent as Persephone pondered this new information. A gust of wind blew and their skirts billowed behind them. A thousand questions danced on the tip of her tongue and Persephone could not pick one to ask. Nyx took the silence as a cue to further explain the nature of the Fates.
"The Fates, the Moirai as they are often called, they hold the threads of the future for both mortals and immortals alike. What they told you was true; not even the mightiest god of us all can escape the destiny that the Fates foretell."
"But is it truly inescapable, or is that something that they say so that nobody will try to rebel against their power and everyone will do exactly as the Fates want them to do?" Persephone argued. Part of her held suspicion that these so called Fates were truly as powerful as they claimed.
"Oh, Persephone, you speak as if the Fates hold any power over destiny itself," Nyx chided in a manner that one would correct a child. "They are the ones who act in destiny's will. They do not control what happens; destiny speaks to them and they listen. That is how they measure the time of one's life and how they know when to snap the thread."
"So if the Fates cannot be swayed to change the future, then there is no escape from my fate of darkness?" Persephone grumbled. She stopped in her pace, letting Nyx take a few steps ahead of her before the goddess, too, stopped. She turned around and gazed back at Persephone with a question unasked on her lips.
Persephone glanced past Nyx and followed the trail ahead of them, the dirt path twisting in the grass until it led to that horrid mound.
"Do my own choices matter if there is no free will?" Persephone asked with her gaze trained up at the hill where the Fates resided. Nyx smiled a mirthless smile and also turned her sights upward at the mound.
"Fate. Destiny. Free will." The goddess sighed. "What does it all mean to us beings, gods and goddesses and humans? You are not the first to question the Fates. It is not so straightforward as a simple inquiry that begs for a simple answer. You are facing a puzzling riddle that cannot be solved. Fate can be tricky, destiny fickle, and free will, complex."
Nyx continued on when Persephone offered no reply. "Some find it a comfort to blindly follow a course, flowing with the current without a struggle. Then there are those who seek to find a new current, much like yourself. The gods and goddesses and humans were given free will to make choice after choice after choice. We are not like the beasts of the earth in that regard, who have no choice but to follow instinct and commands of their masters. Countless choices will lie ahead of you in your life, Persephone and each choice you make will carry you to your destiny. There is a fate for everyone. Each of us follows a path, whether it is chosen for us or we chose it for ourselves. It is in a sense, unavoidable because it is inevitable. You have a fate. A destiny. Something in your life will unfold, but your own choices will determine how that will play out."
Her heart skipped inside her chest and for the first time in days, Persephone felt a weight ease from her shoulders.
"So...does this mean that I can choose my own fate?" She asked carefully, not wanting to raise her hopes too high before they were dashed to pieces.
"The answer is both yes…" Nyx answered, turning back to the younger goddess. "And no." Was her grave reply, but Persephone did not let that steal away her hope.
"The Fates told me that my future is darkness...what could that mean?" Persephone inquired. Nyx closed the gap between them and rested a comforting hand on her shoulders.
"I cannot say for certain what they mean by that. Only the Fates know and they would never tell you directly. They do not believe that there should be an influence on one's destiny; that is why they chided Demeter for trying so hard to control your fate herself. Part of me wonders if somehow, your mother was told that someday you would be put in terrible danger and she took extreme measures to prevent your suffering."
Persephone did not admit this to Nyx, but after her experience with the strange sisters, she too, wondered if her mother had tried to avoid a fate that she feared coming to pass. Nyx seemed to take Persephone's silence as sadness, for she gave her arm a gentle tug.
"Do not be so discouraged! What they told you might not mean that your fate is terrible. My daughters are cryptic and speak in riddles. There are going to be circumstances that are beyond our control but it is how you chose to react to them that will determine your outcome. At least, that is what I have come to believe in my long life." Persephone let herself become lost in her thoughts instead of replying to Nyx, even though her continued silence worried the goddess.
Everything that Nyx had just said resonated with her. She took this as a sign that she needed to at least try to take her fate in her own hands. This string that supposedly tied her to Hades could not be so unbreakable as the Fates had led her to believe. Persephone herself should be the master of her life! She could not let Hades or Annis or Nyx or even Demeter determine the course of her fate. If there were choices that could manipulate the outcome of her destiny, then Persephone would do everything in her power to make her fate her own.
"Persephone? My dear, what is going on in that mind of yours?" Nyx could not help herself. She laid her free hand on Persephone's other shoulder and turned the goddess until hazel eyes met with gray. Persephone blinked rapidly a few times to break herself out of her hazy thoughts.
"You have given me much to think about. Thank you, Nyx, for speaking truth to me," she finally spoke with her voice in a whisper that was nearly swept away by the wind. "I have one more question, however. Why are you and Annis and now Hades too, I suppose, all so adamant against me seeing Rhadamanthus? Annis loathes the man, so her judgement, to me, seems harsh and exaggerated. Tell me, is he really this scoundrel that she makes him out to be?"
Nyx's face broke out into a grin.
"Our little Annis does have a flair for the dramatic, that much is true," she jested as she threw her arm around Persephone's shoulders and turned her away from the Fate's hilltop.
"But the heart of what she tells you is not false," Nyx grew serious while she and Persephone strolled with their backs to the mound and in the direction of the downward sloping path that would lead them through the piney woods. "The Judge that dwells in the Elysian Fields is one to be wary of. I would not suggest taking him up on his offer and going to meet him at his home. Rhadamanthus is…" Nyx let her words fade into the air and her forehead wrinkled as she frowned in obvious dislike.
"He can be enticing and interesting and exciting, but I fear you entangling yourself with him." She finished with a grimace. "I admire you for discovering your boldness and releasing your inner spirit in the short time that you have dwelled in the Underworld. But my fear is that you still might be...naive of the darkness and cruelty of the world. You have only heard of it from others, and have not often experienced it for yourself. I do not want your budding spirit to be crushed before it has a chance to bloom."
Persephone's first gut reaction was to take offense at Nyx's doubt in her, but instead of arguing against the idea that she was a naive, innocent girl, Persephone considered Nyx's warning. Perhaps, Nyx was not wrong? Her heavily sheltered life with its rules and regulations and restrictions had not enabled her to truly experience what it mean to live. She had found a taste of that freedom of life here in the Underworld, of all places, but what else was out there in the world for her to discover?
Far too much.
The pair of goddesses followed the path as it slipped into the woods. The pine trees overhead cast them into a shadowy world and Persephone found herself walking close to Nyx's side. She found herself uneasy in the darkness as of late, and it brought her a sense of safety to have such a powerful goddess as Nyx with her here. She seemed to have resigned herself to the fact that Persephone was through discussing anything and did not press her to speak anymore.
As much as she loathed to admit it, Nyx spoke the truth. Persephone found herself ignorant of life outside of her cozy home. A flame of rebellion rose up within her. Persephone wants to seek out Rhadamanthus not only to satisfy her curiosity about that strangely beautiful man, but to also to prove to herself that she could handle her own in the face of a supposed danger.
Persephone pulled against that damned thread that bound her to Hades. She resented the god for binding them together without her permission and she sought to take that thread out of his hands and put it into hers. Even if she was to live inside of his realm for the rest of eternity, Persephone would try to manipulate her fate as much as she possibly could. And this chance to see Rhadamanthus, to make a choice that could possibly change her future…
It was her future at stake, after all. She believed that she had the right to steer her own course, for good or bad.
Silently, Persephone made up her mind.
Nyx and Annis would not need to know.
Yes, she might be making a foolish choice. That possibility could not be denied. But Persephone wanted to make this choice for herself. Making a decision, whether it be foolish or wise, would perhaps show her who she truly was and what she truly wanted.
A sweeping white wall raised with white marble gleamed like a thousand pearls under the dusky sky. The gates shined with an enticing gleam and Persephone hovered her palm over the smooth metal, waiting for the moment when she would push them open.
The minutes ticked by at a furious pace as her trembling hand somehow could not touch that gate. Annis' heated warnings and Nyx's cautious fears resounded inside of her mind like a pair of ceaseless clanging bells. Persephone curled her fingers into a fist and willed those bells to end their screeching.
This was her choice.
She wanted to do this to ensure that her meetings with Hermes would stay secret.
She wanted to prove to herself, and to Nyx and Demeter and Annis and Hades, that she was capable of handling herself. They all thought of her as so weak and naive. Perhaps this was a chance to prove that her growing spirit could tackle the likes of Rhadamanthus.
And also...this Judge intrigued her. With his silver hair and icy eyes and biting tongue, he already proved himself to be vastly different than that brooding god who held her captive. Her resentment at Hades bubbled angrily in her stomach. Their harsh words still haunted her. His crestfallen face refused to leave her be.
The fact that he was off somewhere in the Underworld, pouting like a child because he was jealous—
Persephone huffed and finally allowed her palm to push the gates open. As if they were expecting her, the heavy metal gate swung open with extraordinary ease. A gravel path lined with ancient olive trees stretched out before her.
With a pounding heart and her ears ringing, Persephone tiptoed inside the entrance to the Elysian Fields. This world did not hold the same suffocating heaviness as Hades' Underworld. There was a lightness in the air that Persephone breathed in and to her, it felt a bit like stepping back into the land of the living. Behind her, those gates swung, the hinges creaking in the still world, and closed of their own accord. Persephone paid them no mind, not even sparing a glance at the gloomy Underworld as she crept further into this new, unknown land. She had not gone a few tenuous paces until a velvety voice above her crooned.
"Well, well, well. I see that I have a visitor."
Persephone whipped her head upwards, instantly catching a glimpse of a man perched in the branches that arched over the pathway. She tried to tame her lips as they tried to curl into a smile. Rhadamanthus lightly hopped from the low-hanging branch, his feet crunching softly on the gravel as he landed gracefully. Persephone's cheeks were aflame as the man's icy eyes traveled over her face, the triumph he exuded unmistakable and undisguised.
"Shall we?" He asked as he flashed her a mischievous smile. Rhadamanthus offered his arm to Persephone and she hesitated for a breath of a second, thinking of Annis and Nyx and their earnest protests against her seeing this man.
And she thought of Hades. She thought of his jealousy. His sorrow. The string that bound her to him and how he had unwittingly proved her darkest fears by asking her to stay away from this Judge that she now stood before.
That fear of her fate…
Fear of her fate drove her to make this choice.
So she wound her arm through Rhadamanthus' and let this man lead her further into Elysian and further from Hades and his realm of darkness.
Hades
He watched with a sinking heart as the gates of the Elysian Fields closed shut and Persephone was lost from his sight. The god leaned heavily against a boulder near the entrance, the very same one that Persephone had attempted to hide behind when she followed him across the Asphodel Fields.
Stone crumbled beneath his hands as he pressed against the stone, letting his seething fury release as his heart shattered. Every inch of his being screamed at him to rush into Elysian and snatch Persephone from Rhadamanthus.
But here he stood, fighting against his desires and instincts and watching as she went willingly to another man.
"If you love me, then you would let me go home."
Persephone had used his own vulnerability in an attempt to guilt him into letting her go. Hades had refused. How could he? She knew how tightly his hands were tied!
But he could not see how she was wrong. If Hades did truly love her and if he could not ever let her be free from his world, then he would have to allow her to live freely within this world.
Even if that meant that he would have to watch her wrap her arm through another's and be led down a path that took her from him, Hades would allow it. He would endure it. She deserved to try and find a modicum of happiness and freedom in this life that he damned her to.
So he let her go and watched goddess that he want to love chose another.