Hades felt the movement by his shoulder but couldn't shift. He had his hands full coaxing a shield around the Pandora's Box at his feet. The whisper of footsteps was familiar and he didn't panic nor did he take his eyes away from the task at hand. There was far more risk in mishandling the Box then there was from an approaching stranger.

"Always the same," the figure beside him sighed and he recognised the voice. Minthe.

Hades didn't rush. The lovelorn nymph was certainly no threat and nothing that couldn't be dealt with. He ran his fingers through the enchanted shield that lay across Pandora's infamous Box, latching it tightly shut for all eternity. It was one of the few dangerous objects he was securing – the items that could conquer or trap Death. Thanatos's incident was isolated but Hades had gone to pains to see that it never happened ever again. His friend and valued co-worker deserved all the security his Lord could provide him. Zeus's negligence could not result in such a dire threat to the Underworld next time.

Hades flexed his palms and finally the two mechanisms, one magical and one metallic, clicked together forever. Hades cracked his neck on one quick motion and exhaled.

"Are you this absorbed in your work when the Queen is around?" Minthe asked, breaking his contemplation. She wasn't sarcastic, nor was there any hint of condescension or anger in those sweet tones. She sounded nothing more than mildly curious.

Of course, nymphs could be deceptive. Minthe was no amateur actress.

"My instructions were clear," Hades murmured, a quiet order. He had done as he had declared to Hecate– he had publicly denounced Minthe and told her not to accompany him whilst she was in servitude in his dominion. At the time Minthe had done nothing to protest, hiding her face behind her long locks of hair in a bow of deference to her Lord's order, but it seemed as though that was not to be the end of it.

"Indeed my Lord. I will not accompany you anywhere," Minthe quickly agreed. "We simply happen to be in the same area at the same time. I have not disobeyed you."

"A coincidence?" Hades asked, slightly amused despite himself at her quick way of finding the loophole. Minthe gave him a huge smile in return.

"Your servants have been vigilant guarding these artefacts," Minthe gestured at the other items that lay on the floor around their feet. Few of them betrayed their sinister natures but Hades could feel the potency of their properties like a physical heat. It was intoxicating to be surrounded by so much power and that was why he had the staff regularly rotated to guard the items when he wasn't at work with them. Minthe was apparently one of them.

"And so you find a manner to couple your desires with your duties." Hades expected her to be contrite at last but Minthe was anything but coy. In fact, on reflection, Hades regretted his choice of the word 'couple'. Her eyes seemed about ready to devour him.

He sighed. It was irritating. He felt nothing for her, nothing at all except a kind of abstract pity. She was a pretty thing, with a bright heart and she had been an attentive lover. But she wasn't truly courageous or exciting and he had seen so many nymphs like her come and go from this dark realm.

It is not a tally of her faults or shortcomings that detracts from her appeal, Hades considered dourly. She simply is not Persephone and never will be. She cannot compete.

"Leave me be, Minthe," Hades told her firmly. "If I was unclear before, I apologise. I order you to leave my sight and if your duties ever should contend with this order, you are to be assigned new duties."

Minthe blinked and the light behind her eyes shuttered, then was sucked away completely.

Hades watched it die with apathy. Such was the nature of unrequited love that it took from the soul and left a gaping hole behind. It was not in Hades's nature to mourn this.

I have felt her agony now, though. To possess love and then to have it taken away from oneself… Occasionally, such agonies should elicit some small mercy.

Hades leant closer and whispered in her ear.

"I shall endeavour to find a means to free you from this unreturned love. Count on it. This shall end and you will find peace."

Minthe stepped backwards, one fleeting step that made her skirts wave and fly.

"And what if I don't want to be free, my Lord?" she spat. "What if my love for you is too deep and dear to me? What if it is such a part of my soul that to destroy it would destroy me too? What then? Am I nothing at all to you, my Lord? I know what you see when you look at me – just another pretty little whore. I was just a warm body to share your bed with!" She drew a rattling breath and went for sarcastic instead. "Such honour the sons of Kronos have! Oh, such an astounding way with women! How long will your marriage last in complete happiness Hades, truly? Poseidon and his wife lasted quite a time and had sons, the picture of a perfect family! Ha! Have you seen them lately? Have you seen the way she stares through him while she takes care of his dominion? Have you heard the things Poseidon got up to while she turned a blind eye? How about Hera? The agony she feels when Zeus transgresses? Do you really blame her for her lack of patience and the hurt she takes out on the unfortunates that Zeus seduces? How long will it be until you take up with another pretty little whore of your own, Hades?"

Hades's hiss in the darkness was quiet but terrifying. Minthe didn't even flinch but she did still her tirade and started taking heaving breathes of air, trying to slow herself down.

"You have already begun to return to me," Minthe hissed back with her teeth taut, her fury in restraint but only barely. "You know deep in your heart that it is foolish to expect a King to remain beholden to one woman for eternity. It might be different for the mortals but it is not so for us who live on forever."

"That is enough."

Minthe had crossed a line and she knew it but still the infuriating woman stared at him, a God and King, with uncontrollable rage and passion. The combination did make her appear lovely, putting blooming roses in each of her cheeks, but all the God of the Underworld could fathom was his own terror that she could be right. It ate at him in the darkness. It was another new experience for Hades and he found that self-doubt was not a pleasant experience; he'd had no reason to doubt any of his motivations or desires before.

I could not do that to my wife…. Nothing could ever make me…

But still the doubt circled, as it must have circled Orpheus.

Minthe changed her attack, her voice become smooth and enticing. Hades was locked in an inner struggle with his own greatest fears. None of the turmoil was evident on his face – the Lord of the Underworld was too practised for that.

"It wouldn't be your fault, my Lord." The nymph controlled her temperament and stepped back towards the frozen God. Her whole stance screamed seduction but Hades simply was not listening. "Who knows the nature of love? One minute it is all encompassing, driving us from all reason and then the next, it is old and cold and gives little joy. Aphrodite and her children are tricky creatures…" Minthe touched a scar over her heart where it hid, barely, beneath her dress. "You and I know that as well as anyone."

Hades's fixed stare caught the edge of Pandora's Box. Pandora – that foolish mortal woman, created by the gods as a trap for a wayward titan and a punishment to all humanity ever after. She couldn't have helped herself even if she had wanted to be a good and dutiful wife; she was forever destined to betray and give in to her ravenous curiosity.

Could Zeus really be taunting him with the idea of a life filled with Persephone and no other? Was he just living in a daydream, caught before the nightmare of betrayal just as Pandora had been doomed to live out? Was his fate certain and utter destruction of his fidelity and was there any sense in avoiding it?

But he loved her. He knew that. And he knew his duty.

"When you question the nature of love," Hades told the nymph. "You question my own nature and which of the two can overcome the other." He stared Minthe down now and felt his conviction keenly. "I am not my brothers, as I am not my father. I am who I choose to be. I have the power to master my destiny and the path it will take. If you believe that I will fall victim to another's nature then you are very much mistaken. I will not fail my Queen. Be gone."

Minthe bowed and vanished with a slight popping sound.

In her absence Hades sighed and leant against the wall. It appeared that Hecate had been more accurate than he was certain she wished to be. But he had banned the incorrigible nymph from his sight and if she disobeyed she would be ejected from his realm for all eternity. He would see to it.

Hades made himself a promise as he silently proceeded back to his work. He promised the next time anyone questioned his ability to be faithful he would send him directly to Persephone's side, no matter where she was, and swear his fealty to his Queen to renew the conviction that surged in his veins – she was all he would ever need, no matter how long he reigned over this realm or any other. He was hers. There was no question. There would be no argument on that fact.

Should his love ever grow old and dull, his resolution and commitment would not. Hades knew he had better morals than that of his brothers; he knew the devastation on his conscience if he ever failed Persephone.

Hades thought of his baby daughter and smiled.

My family is all I require.

He returned to the tricky tasks ahead of him.

Forever.

The torchlight flickered all around the solemn King as he guarded Death and waited impatiently for his pregnant Queen to return to him once more.