The hall of gems was not empty anymore. Side to side, Immortals and shades alike glistened under the changing light. Kore hesitated on the threshold. Styx, standing next to her – for how much a river nymph could stand – encouraged her by pushing her forward, a smile upon her transparent lips.
When Styx had said Kore would be clothed, Kore had believed she would have tried on tunics, shawls, maybe sandals, though she did not like sandals in the least.
Nothing of the sort.
Kore's body was covered by a shower of silver and golden pearls, falling from her shoulders down to her ankles. They shifted and tinkled as she breathed, and with every step they echoed in a symphony of metallic chirps. More had been braided in her hair, so that she appeared crowned and yet was still not.
And sitting at the centre of the jewelled hall, there the Elder King waited. His black eyes were already fixed upon her.
Styx stopped pushing the moment the King stood up, and the slight chattering and echoes of laughter from the presents died out, like one who walks away from the shore, and does not hear waves anymore.
"Come, Kore," he called her. "Come to my side, dearest."
Kore clenched her fists, and one last thought at Hecate, crossed the threshold. She was not ready. With every step she came closer, and the echoes of her heart mixed with the tinkling of the silver beads covering her. At last her fingers brushed against the Elder King's own, her hand was lifted in the air, and all around them silence fell.
"Behold," the Elder King said to the hall. "Behold! For this fairest of ladies next to me was Kore, daughter of Zeus!"
Kore's heart pumped faster and faster. She recognized Thanatos among the throng, sitting under emerald light. He was silent, and seemed intrigued, and lifted not a finger, and said not a word.
Then the King's words reached her.
She was Kore?
"I have seen her at the table of the Immortals, and her beauty has been a constant thought ever since. My bed was knives, my food dust, my heart a thorny grip, if she was not with me. But I cannot go into the world of the living, not for long. Or my House, and my Realm, would fall into chaos." He paused. A shadow seemed to pass for a moment upon his face. "And there are other reasons, which I will not disclosure here. Still! She was Kore, daughter of Zeus, and her hair is purer than any gold I can excavate from deep down my realm, and her eyes are clearer than the shiniest emerald. She was Kore, and she is mine now."
The King drew her closer. Against his tall, strong body Kore felt even smaller.
And yet… a tiny part of her, one she did not want to admit existed, did not want to admit it even to herself, was warmed by the presence of the Elder King.
Why, Kore had no idea. Even when he was stripping her of her name and rank and family… he was stripping her of her old needs. He was stripping her of every confidence she had known. He was stripping her of her cage and tossing her into another, one with invisible bars.
She was about to be his wife.
She was about to be his Queen.
"And I am hers," the King added after a pause. He crouched in front of Kore, so that their eyes were level, though he never let go of her hand. "As I do not wish for anyone else to warm my heart." His finger rose to move a lock of hair away from her forehead, like he had tried to do at the banquet. This time Mother was not there to stop him, and Kore's forehead welcomed his touch. "And I will not wish for any other maiden, be she ephemeral and doomed to my Halls or Immortal and dwelling in the sky above. I will not seek another touch in the shadows beneath the trees, nor will I long for pleasures unknown in the depths hidden by tides. I will be King, and husband, and she will be wife, and Queen, and nothing else."
Many cheering voices rose from the halls. Kore inched closer to the King, burying her burning cheeks against his chest. There she was welcomed by his strong hand.
"And on this blessed day, I wish to give my Queen something else. I already have given her loyalty and faithfulness in marriage. But is this enough for the Queen of the Underworld? No! It is not enough. Rise, you who used to be Kore."
The King stood up, and Kore rose with him. All around her people in the stands bowed their heads. Kore knew, for the first time in her life, deference. And not because she had said a kind word, or because she had been a good girl or because she had behaved with respect and proper restraint.
No, these people and shades and Immortals bowed because she was Queen.
Her mind reeled.
"I shall give you three more things. One, this realm." The King opened his hands wide, encompassing the gem hall and everything that was beyond. "Everything that stands beyond Phlegethon and Acheron will now be subjected to your rule, as it is to mine. There will be no shade, nor blade of grass, nor beast or monster or Immortal or spirit, be they lesser or greater than you, who shall not heed your rule. Behold!" The King lifted a hand, and something grew around Kore's forehead.
A crown. A crown of iron and silver and gold, like branches, coiling themselves in arabesques.
"You are now Queen of the Underworld, undisputed ruler of one third of the cosmos. Salute your new Queen!"
And all who was in the hall bowed low to their new Queen. Kore did not know what to say. Was she even supposed to say anything? Everywhere she looked, she only saw prostrating figures. Was this good? Was this supposed to make her feel confused, and also a bit ashamed at the pride swelling in her heart.
"Second," and the King lifted his other hand, letting of Kore's, "I shall give you a power beyond even the Underworld." The two-pronged spear appeared in the King's hand, and he hit it against the floor. The earth rumbled, and far-away echoes rose, like tides rumbling against a shore. "I shall give you the five rivers of the Underworld. Pledges and oaths are tied to them, and whenever anybody shall swear an oath, be they mortal or monster, beast or mighty Zeus: they will be tied to them, just as they are tied to unescapable Ananke!"
Kore's right hand itched.
She gasped as every one of her fingers darkened, each of them gaining a different colour: from her silvery thumb to her black index, to golden, white and at last red.
"And at last, the most precious thing of all. I had said everyone who shall take upon an oath will do so in your name. Well, they will not do so under the name of Kore. That name is gone. A maiden-name, a servant-name, a name unfit for the Iron Queen."
He paused. Something, deep, deep inside her shifted.
She stumbled.
What was happening? This was… Mother had given her a name, did she not? And she knew that name, but… it did not sound fitting anymore. No, she who had been Kore thought, feeling her metal crown and watching her changed fingers, it was not fitting at all.
"You, wife of mine, Queen of mine: hence forth will be known as Persephone."