Chapter 11

Hades

Orpheus's ghost stood before me in my throne room, right next to his dead wife. They both stared at me with blank eyes and awaited my judgement.

I had decided to deal with them personally; I knew I would have to answer to Persephone for everything that happened. I wasn't looking forward to it, to say the least. I had gone against my better judgement when I had allowed them the chance to regain mortality. Despite everything, Persephone would blame me.

"What happened next?" I asked the undead servant that I had sent to follow the fool Orpheus. I had hoped he would come back with a report of the fool's success. Instead, the servant had come back with the fool himself.

"As soon as he set foot outside, he turned around. She hadn't gotten out yet. How could she, when she was several feet behind him? She stood crying at the edge of the entrance, but she couldn't leave, as you would know, sir. He cried for a bit too."

Of course he cried. He was probably crying at how weak of a man he was. Pathetic.

I asked, "How did he die?"

"Suicide. Took out a knife and stabbed himself right in the heart. You can see a bit of the wound there." The servant pointed at Orpheus's chest where, sure enough, there was the end of a gash peeking out from the neckline of his pale robes. .

"And then they made the decision to drink out of the Lethe," I guessed. The Lethe was one of the five rivers that ran through the Underworld. Drinking from it would remove a person's memory, leaving them ignorant and - presumably - blissful.

"Yes, sir. Well, see, it was actually his idea. She didn't want to, but he said that he would go mad if he had to remember what he did everyday. She drank after he did."

Eurydice was stronger than I would have thought. She deserved better than a man like Orpheus. He had taken the coward's way out of his pain, twice. But there was nothing to be done about it now.

"Take them to Elysium," I instructed the servant. "He doesn't deserve it, but I wouldn't separate the young idiot from his wife now."

The three macabre figures left me to my thoughts. Despite my irritation at Orpheus, I couldn't deny that there was some part of me that felt for him. The man had staked everything on love. He had lost, yes, but at least he had risked. I had risked...I wasn't sure what I had risked for Persephone yet. I wasn't sure what I had gained yet either.

Persephone. I needed to tell her about what had happened. Although I was apprehensive to tell her what had happened, I could help but feel eager to see her again. Perhaps I was every bit the fool that I thought Orpheus was. This love hurt more than anything had hurt me before, but I wouldn't root it out of my soul even for the throne of Olympus.

I summoned Persephone to my throne room, uneasy about how she would react to the news. She arrived looking nettled. Her arms were folded tightly across her chest, and her lips were pulled into a thin line.

"How dare you?" She hissed. "I'm not some servant or dog that can just be summoned at your will! If you want to talk to me, you'll just have to condescend to come see me yourself."

She turned on her heel, no doubt to storm out of the room again. I think she must have loved doing that to me, because I didn't know why else she would even come to the throne room if she was that irritated.

"Orpheus is dead," I called after her. That stopped her in her tracks.

Persephone whirled on me, her face as pale as death. "What?" She asked quietly.

"Orpheus failed to follow the terms of our agreement. He knew the consequences of his actions when he made that deal with me, and now he has paid for it."

Persephone didn't respond. I shouldn't have kept speaking, but I did.

"He was a fool to take the risk that he did. Fate had taken his wife from him, and he was arrogant enough to think that he could change it."

"A man is dead because of you," Persephone said in a trembling voice, "and separated from the woman he loved, and all you can talk about is how foolish he was to try? Why don't you look at your own actions for an example of someone who is truly foolish? You saw a girl at a feast, decided that you wanted her, and stole her away from her home!"

"Did you actually consider it a home, Persephone?" I asked scathingly. Her words struck me deeply, and I lost a hold of my temper. "Are you actually upset about two mortals who would have died anyway? Or are you just trying to find reason after reason to hate me? I'll admit I've acted like a fool and an idiot, but what do you want me to do about it now?"

"Maybe you could try letting me go! Maybe for once in your life you could think about something other than yourself and your own pain."

"You don't know anything about me."

"You're right!" Persephone threw her hands in the air. She was on the verge of hysteria now with her voice raised to a shout. "I know nothing about you! And you know almost nothing about me. Why? Because you didn't bother to get to know me before you kidnapped me!"

"I supposed I learned something today!" I was shouting now too. The rational part of my mind warned that my anger brought only destruction. "I learned that you talk of showing mercy so easily, but when you have a chance to show it yourself, you refuse to."

As I spoke, I had gotten closer to Persephone, and now I was towering over her. My hands were gripping her shoulders tightly. I hadn't even noticed myself doing it. My anger died away instantly. What was I doing? This was the woman I loved, that I wanted to love me. I didn't want to be like the man I once was. If I went back to that again, I would lose myself completely.

I carefully let go of her and took a step back.

"You're right." I said simply. "I am selfish. The people that could have taught me to be better were ripped out of my life, and I've done a poor job replacing them. Isolation has been my companion, and darkness has been my teacher. I am more sorry than I can say for the pain I've caused you; it was the last thing I intended."

Persephone blinked at the sudden change of my tone. Suspicion darted across her face, but at least most of her anger seemed to have left her for the time being. There was silence between us, and I didn't dare look at her face again. I couldn't bear to see her hatred at me, to have it add to my own hatred of myself.

When Persephone finally spoke, her voice was cold. "There was a moment when I thought I knew a man who was kind to me when he had no reason to be. I thought that maybe I had found someone who understood part of me that I didn't understand myself. But the more I see of you, the more I think that it was a lie. You have no mercy or kindness in your heart. Can you really expect mercy from me? Do you really think I will forgive you just because you apologized? It would take more deeds than you could ever do and more sacrifices than you could ever make to earn that from me."

I hung my head. I had brought a lifetime of unnecessary misery to two people. I, and I alone, was responsible.

Persephone left me, and the pain of her absence added to the pain of my shame.