Solitaire
Chapter 4
Persephone tensed not sure if he would really come tonight. She went back and forth in her head about it. Hoping he wouldn't, for his sake. And hoping he would, desperately anyway. She made sure her apartment was spotless just in case. No one had come to visit you for awhile now. And she was decidedly sure, except when hope gave room for wings, that no one ever would. The furniture gleamed and smelled of lemon oil. The carpet felt as soft as new moss.
When she surveyed her own kingdom, the small bedroom apartment, and found it to her liking she suddenly felt her hand shake with nerves. She forced her hands to pick up the book and swung back onto the coffee table trying to smother down the light of hope deep inside her belly. The words on the page began to fade out, like someone turned the dial down. She kept reading over the same sentence. Her mind running rampant with thoughts and desires she couldn't-no-wouldn't make herself form into correct fragments. She huffed to herself rolling onto her stomach and started the chapter over again, realizing she had no idea what was happening in the story anymore even though she'd read it over fifty times already. However every time she could relax she saw that creature in her dream so many moon again. The red face in the window of her dream green greeting her with low gravel: "May I come in?"
Something twisted in her stomach and lept up to her throat. What would she say to that entity now?
She looked at the door and then scolded herself for doing so.
Who did she want that entity to be?
Persephone furiously began biting at the bottom of her lip while she continued in vain to read. Her heart kept beating in her throat despite her best efforts to swallow it down. That dream began to play again in her mind only this time the figure was solidly Hades.
No longer a ghostly entity, but strong reassuring shoulders incased the wickedly real and magnificent body of the King of the Underworld. His palm pressed against the glass of the green house and out from his lips.
"It's rude to spy." Perspehone said while tending to her roses, wishing to turn towards him but not wanting to lose herself to his charms just yet. If she could just resist a little longer to tease him.
"May I come in?" Hades asked. His breath lingering on the window panes, fogging up the glass. Persephone shuddered involuntarily, wondering what it would feel like for that breath to fog up her own skin. Perhaps on her neck just by her throat. Or on her stomach. Or- The flowers bloom in her palm and she felt her breath hitch at the idea of those forbidden thoughts.
"And what would you do if I let you in?" She asked in a sultry voice. Slowly she turned toward the window to see the delicious and hungry expression in his eyes.
"Set you free." The Hades in her head said. And whatever walls she had built around the other walls she was trapped by fell away.
Suddenly they were kissing. Her lips needing him like breath. She pushed herself closer onto him against one of the trellises and he folded his arms across her back pressing her further still onto him. And then slowly his fingers in her tangled hair, cupping her by the nap of the neck holding her face against his solidly like the grasp the root has with the earth. His tongue wiped across the front of her teeth and she parted his lips. When she felt his tongue against hers she rolled her eyes and moaned, feeling fire trickle like a spring down her spine. Hot chills raised her skin as she felt something hard press against her thigh.
She pulled back to catch her breath and stared up into his eyes. "Show me." She gasped, trying to find her voice somewhere in the high heavens.
He raised his eyebrows curiously at her. Suddenly a smile burst apart his lips and he swung down breathing against her neck just how she wanted him. "This is how you'll find your freedom." He kissed the tops of her an exposed shoulder, sunkissed and freckled, then with his teeth her pulled the cloth down exposing her-
There was a knock at the door. Persephone jumped from the couch, breathing wildly. Her chest moved up and down erratically. She held her hands up like she had gotten caught. Was this part of her. . . fantasy?
The door knocked again and Persephone's knees trembled. She shook her head trying to pull herself together. Quickly she checked herself out in the mirror making sure her hair was cute, playing with the sweater around her shoulders and lowering it on one side so that those sun-kissed freckles would show. She blushed at her ridiculous behavior and swung the door open, quietly telling herself it was just those damn teenagers again.
She closed her eyes, not wanting to see her own disappointment. But then she smelled him. Undeniably Hades. Even though he told her he was coming, her eyes popped open wide as if she'd seen a ghost. Words pooled in her mouth but she couldn't turn them into sentences.
He saw her hand twitch on the door. Afraid she might slam the door against him he pulled out something from within his coat. "I thought perhaps you could help me." Hades said. She saw the edges of a regal looking box. The top with squares of white and black. A chess set. "I'm apparently rusty." Hades grinned unsure of himself, but trying nonetheless.
Her eyes brightened and her hand fell away from the door, letting Hades relax a little. "I'm at your service." She bit her lip coyly, playing with the terms of their own arrangement.
"May I come in?" Hades asked earnestly.
Persephone shuddered and yanked Hades in by his front and practically dragged him into her apartment.
Persephone waited by the fountain as instructed by Hera. Waited for the judgement of Zeus she was sure of. She saw a nymph come from the garden, her hand on her stomach and she leaned into one of the ancient vases near the stairway, bile coming up.
She turned away and tried to block out the sound, humming to herself the same tune her mother had when she wasn't feeling well. And she wasn't feeling well. And she knew no one was here to take care of her. That's why she did it. That's why she did it in the first place. Because no one else would listen. No one else would dare stand up to him. She swallowed down her fear. The worst of it was over. Now whatever remind, she could live with. She would have to.
She heard thunder rumble and crack so close. The crowd running away all jumped in unison. Persephone didn't even bat an eye. She knew what awaited her. She wouldn't cower or run from it. Zeus stormed back in, quite literally. His eyes alight with white gold electricity and he swung his arms by his side like the hammers of justice.
She smiled sadly at the sight of him. But where was her own justice? She rose slowly prepared to meet her fate. She saw by the light in the garden a remnant of what her justice meant. And the smile twisted high for half a second before she cooled down to a tranquil expression.
"Persephone!" Zeus' voice boomed.
"Wait!" Hades lunged towards his brother. "Brother, do not do this." If Zeus voice was thunder, Hades' voice was the strike of metal and rock.
Zeus faltered a moment and turned to Hades. He grabbed his brother by the collar and yanked him down eye to eye. "What would you have me do, hmm? You know what I must-"
Hades begged, "You don't have to-"
"It's alright." Persephone stated calmly. "I will be agreeable and go without resistance."
Zeus eyed the pink goddess sadly. "I do not enjoy this." He grumbled.
"Nor I." She bowed her head respectfully. "Can I ask one favor?"
Zeus guffawed. "You are in no position to-"
"Hear her out." Hades pinched his elbow.
"I only wish to speak with you in private to discuss the terms." She couldn't do this in front of him.
Zeus settled down. "Well of course we'd talk in private."
"With Hera." Persephone added.
Zeus narrowed her eyes.
"And without my mother."
Zeus took in a deep breath. Right. Demeter. "Yes, I would very much like to leave her out of this."
"Those are my terms." Persephone nodded again.
"Fine." Zeus shrugged not seeing what this would do. "Fine! Let's get this over with. Hades, fetch Hera and bring her to my office." He turned to Persephone. "You. Follow me."
She relaxed a little and stepped towards the King of the Gods. The rest would be in the hands of The Fates. She turned over her shoulder to the garden happy to leave this all behind.
While Hades set up the game on the dining room table, Persephone poured two cups of tea for them. She kept eyeing the way his pants fit as he leaned over the table to set the rook into position. He turned suddenly to her and she nearly yelped.
"Did I frighten you, Kore?" Hades asked concern written across his forehead.
"N-No?" Persephone swallowed. "Sorry. I - I'm just still not used to someone being here."
"Well, I intend to change that." Hades muttered to himself. Warmth fluttered in Persephone's core. Then he looked up at her. "I mean. I know." He folded his hands together and looked at them with a tight face. "I know what it is to. . . be alone." He finished and swallowed something down his throat. His toes twitched with anxiety. "Until Posiedon, there was n-n-n-n-n-" He stuttered hard on the word. He blushed embarrassed as his mouth shook on the consonant and he turned away from her. "N-n-no one with me." He finally said and gasped in air when he'd said it.
"Oh." Persephone's heart sank for him. What petty little inconveniences she faced compared to the breadth of horror he had. How many years had he been by himself, at such a young age. No one there but the evil all around him. She set down the cup beside Hades and gingerly touched his arm. "Do you want to talk about it?" She asked sincerely. Her eyes shining up encouragingly.
A laugh barked out. "I obviously c-can't." Hades folded his hand over his scalp and pulled his hair through it. "After all this time, it's still so difficult."
Persephone shook her head. She would listen to him talk all night if just to hear a single sentence from his lips.
"No. No." He rose to her. "Kore, I'd much rather play chess with you."
Smiling, she nodded and took her seat opposite Hades. "White goes first." She nodded at him. The game began.
While she overtook his queen with a simple pawn, she could feel his eyes burning into her like coals. She liked the heat. But whenever she looked back up at him he moved quickly as if he had been studying the board in contemplation and not the curve of her jawline.
"So what may I call you." Persephone bit her lip as Hades began to move his King. Before it touched the other tile he switched gears and hovered the piece above another. Persephone winced and grabbed the back of her neck. Hades set the king back down in it's original spot and moved his castle to one of it's available spots. Persephone nodded, closing her eyes. Hades grinned and did as he was told.
"What do you mean?" He asked, watching Persephone play practically against herself.
"You call me Kore. An old dead name to me." She eyed his castle, then looked passed it to his King.
"Do you wish me to stop."
"No." Persephone smacked the table too harshly. "Sorry. No. I like the name when you say it."
Hades tilted his head. "And if the name said by another."
She scrunched up her nose. "Let's just say, I like the name from your lips."
Hades shivered. "Kore." He said, as if trying it out again, saying it new. "Kore, Kore."
Persephone grinned.
"Kore." He looked up at the ceiling, his finger still on his piece. "Kore you may call me. . . checkmate." He smirked at her wickedly knocking over Persephone's king.
"Check mate?" Persephone stood up. "H-" She didn't see it coming. "You tricked me."
"Just as you tried to trick me. Don't say you weren't trying to fool me with your subtle coaching." Hades leaned forward.
"I was doing no such thing." Persephone protested, but a smile crept up the corner of her lips, betraying her.
"You're a terrible liar." Hades shook his head his eyes crinkled with joy.
"You wouldn't have gotten so far if I hadn't." Persephone shrugged her shoulders back. "I could have ended this 15 minutes ago."
"Then why didn't you." He raised his eyebrows enjoying her playful dismay.
But then Persephone's face fell and she sat back down uncomfortably. "Because I didn't- I didn't want the game to be over." She winced at herself. "I didn't want you to go." She said further, wishing she could bury her face in a pile of blankets instead of letting Hades see the blush rise to her face.
"Aidoneus." Hades said solemnly.
Persephone raised her head a bit confused. She watched him start to replace the pieces in their starting position. "What?"
"You can call me Aidoneus." He swallowed, not meeting her eyes quite yet. He continued to pick up the pieces and place them on their rightful tiles. "It's a very old name." He said as loud as a whisper.
"Aidoneus." Persephone tried out the name on her tongue feeling a fire spark in her chest. Hades eyes jumped to met hers. The same spark jumped down his spine.
"Yes." He sighed. The way she said it . . . so different than when the ancient ones used it to tease him. She said it softly. Not like a joke. Not to belittle him or use it against him.
"Aidoneus." She said again. His name on her lips like a gentle breeze. She realized what he had given to her with this name. He couldn't speak of his time of his Father's torment. But he did give her his name.
"Aidoneus?" Persephone hesitantly looked up at him.
"Yes?" He breathed.
"Can we play again?" She asked, nervous about his answer.
"What do you think I'm doing, Kore?" He smiled finishing up the last one. The board set back up ready to be played again. "I'll be black this time." He spun the board around. "We're 1:1 now."
"You're keeping track?" She raised her eyebrow gleefully.
"Of course." Hades grinned. "Don't pretend you aren't either." He eyed her ruefully.
She giggled and felt the walls around her begin to crack. Perhaps he wasn't here to free her, perhaps he wasn't here to kiss the freckles on her shoulders. - She sighed and began to see the whole game of chess play out in her mind. - This right here was enough. Enough for now.