Chapter 27

Hades

That was it. I was done with her. Everytime I tried to reach out to her, she just pushed me away. It had seemed like we had finally connected. No, it was all a mistake. I never should have brought her here. Maybe I should just...give her back to Demeter. I grimaced. I could just see it now.

"So sorry for stealing your daughter, Demeter. No hard feelings I hope! Do you want to get together for a drink sometime?"

Demeter wouldn't hesitate to kill me. The fact that I was immortal wouldn't phase her; she would just kill me again.

And again.

I was going to need that drink right now.

I went down to the wine cellar to grab myself a bottle. I picked one at random and glanced at the label. It was from the first year that Dionysus made wine, the vintage was the strongest one he had made. Perfect.

I snatched up a dusty corkscrew and glass and sprinted up the stairs, knocking down the descending Aspasia in the process.

"Oh!" Aspasia gave a slight cry as she fell backwards.

I made a clumsy attempt to catch her, but only succeeded in dropping the wine bottle and glass. Both shattered, spraying dark liquid and glass everywhere. I stumbled and caught my fall with my hands. I winced when a large shard of glass embedded itself in my palm. Ichor gushed from the wound. Could this day get any worse?

"Oh, my Lord Hades! I am so sorry." Aspasia carefully raised herself to her feet.

I sat heavily on the stone steps and plucked the shard from my palm. My hand balled into a fist as the golden Ichor dripped down my wrist. I could feel the skin regrowing on my palm. That suddenly reminded me that the wound on my cheek from the Furies still refused to close completely.

"What are you doing here?" I demand gruffly.

Aspasia lifted up her chin and said with dignity, "The Mistress isn't feeling well and I thought some wine would help, if she will drink it, that is."

I gave a grunt at that. She wasn't feeling well. Ha!

I walked over to the shelves of wine and grabbed another bottle of wine. I stalked back to my throne room. Aspasia grabbed a bottle as well and hurried after me.

I took off my wine splattered jacket, tossed it to the side, and sat down on the throne with a groan. My head felt like Hephaestus had cracked it open with a hammer. A very large hammer.

Aspasia was still there. I opened the bottle, poured myself a glass of wine, and downed it in one gulp. The fire it gave me in the pit of my stomach was very welcome.

Pouring another glass full, I asked, "What do you want?"

"My Lord, is everything alright? If this has to do with the Mistress, perhaps I can help."

I gave her a wary look over the rim of my glass as I took a sip. How well did I know this woman? I wasn't even sure where she came from. She wasn't an undead, that was certain. Why was she here?

Did it really matter all that much? She seemed trustworthy enough, and I decided that I didn't care.

"I made a mistake in bringing that girl here," I admitted with a sigh, running my fingers through my thick hair. "All that risk, all that arm twisting, and what do I get? A metaphorically scratched face."

"That's too harsh," Aspasia said sternly. I lifted an eyebrow at the unusual tone for soft spoken Aspasia. "She's young, my Lord. She's lived a secluded life away from anyone, especially men. She's scared to death of having to face a new and rather frightening situation. And, if I may say, you haven't done the best job of helping her overcome it."

"What haven't I done for her? I've racked my brains, trying to think of a way to make her happier, to make her at the very least content. I even asked the goddess of love herself for advice, and it didn't work. The stupid girl has resisted everything I've done!"

"Yes, she has," Aspasia confirmed. "My lord, Persephone has felt a lot of pressure from her mother in her past. Her way of dealing with that pressure was to run away from it. She feels pressure from you. You expect her to be some perfect woman who will make you happy. It's not a burden she asked for in the first place. Don't expect so much."

"I've tried that," I snapped. "I've tried giving her space, I've tried giving her attention. Nothing has worked, so I don't care what Persephone does any more. She can leave, and I won't ever bother her again."

"Hades, you can't do that."

I was surprised that she was so informal as to use my name like that. It only added to my irritation.

"I think you'll find that I can do that, and I will," I told her icily. "Next time you see Persephone, tell her as far as I'm concerned, she's free to go. She can send a message to Zeus to let her out of the marriage, and she won't be bound here any more."

Aspasia's eyes went wide. She was about to answer me, when an undead servant walked in.

After begging my pardon for intruding, the servant told me that Lady Persephone had fainted once more and had been taken to her room.

I turned white when I heard that, as did Aspasia. She was only a step or two behind me as I strode to Persephone's rooms.

She was sitting up now, recovered somewhat from her fainting spell. She turned towards me and grimaced.

"Oh. It's you." She glared at me.

My face hardened as I rapidly regained my composure. I didn't say a word to her as I shoved past Aspasia and left the room without a word.

"Hades!" Aspasia called after me.

I didn't go back. Instead, I found myself drawn to the garden. The only place in the Underworld that Persephone had ever shown a hint of affection towards me

It was in ruins. Plants were strewn everywhere, brown and dead. The lilac bush was still in place, but it had wilted to almost nothing. Only the pomegranate tree clung to life, though it too looked diseased.

This is it, I realized. This is the final action that puts an end to this charade.

Whatever progress had been made was lost, whatever hearts had been softened were hard again. I hadn't been ready to give her up, despite what I had said, but I was now. Persephone would be erased from my affections forever after this.

I went to my private room, where I was sure no meddling females would follow me. Thank the Fates that I hadn't decided to tell Persephone about it.

I whirled around and smashed the half full wine glass I still held in my hand into the fireplace, trying to relieve some of my pent up anger. The banked fire flared up. It began to form itself into images.

"None of that!" I hissed, slamming my fist into the mantle. "Today, you will leave me in peace!"

The fire, with an air of hurt pride, died down to almost nothing. I collapsed into my chair and slowly drained the rest of the bottle.

To Tartarus with soulmates and love and the stupid meddling of bored females who had nothing better to do with their time than make men look like fools. I was done with them all.

Somehow, I made it back to my room. Once there, the wine got to my head, and I drifted off into sleep.