7. So Much For Apologies
Persephone gasped and hid her flaming face in Hades' chest. Her father was here. Her father had seen her with Hades. He had yet to avert his eyes, nonchalantly viewing their still joined forms as her own moans rang in her ears while she choked on the fact that her father—Her father!—had seen her naked, and moaning, and, and…
She fought the sound of frustration clawing at her throat. So close, she was so close to her release. And she wanted it, wanted to feel Hades jerk forward and empty himself inside of her. But her father was there and she couldn't move because she feared if either of them did it would send them over the edge, and that was not a scene for her father's eyes. Not that her father seemed to notice or care. He seemed to want to see them begin to move again, to watch the entire scene play out. Damn her father for being such a, such a… such a man-whore!
"Zeus."
Persephone had never heard her lover speak with such malice. She had upset him once, and his tone of voice had almost made her tremble, but this was different. It sounded as if Hades was ready to ruthlessly murder her father, and it sounded as if he knew he would enjoy the act, too.
The goddess was pulled from her thoughts as Hades separated their bodies, and she couldn't help but gasp at the friction, biting her lip against the sensation. He pulled her into the water abruptly, and she noticed there were marks on his lip from where he'd bit down too.
"Really, you don't need to stop. I haven't seen a show like this for a while." Zeus teased again, laughing. His comment made tears spring to her eyes, tears of frustration and absolute mortification. She couldn't believe they'd been seen like that, and the way her father was treating them…
"Shut your mouth, little brother." The intensity of the undiluted fury in Hades' voice increased, and Persephone's eyes widened as her lover turned to face her father. He was not just mad at his brother for the interruption, he was mad because Zeus had upset her. And now he was facing down the King of the Gods, Zeus himself, naked and still fully aroused, his erection standing proud and full above the surface of the water. For her. Her heart swelled. "You forget this is my domain."
Zeus batted away his older brother's ominous wrath with a hand. "You've always been one for grandeur. If the two of you aren't going to put up a show for me, then I may as well do what I came to do and return to my wife. I was in bed myself when this was brought to my attention, not that I came to you until after Hera was too spent for anything but sleep."
Hades crossed his arms, glaring at his little brother's arrogant smile. "Are you going to get this over with, or would you like to hold a pissing contest?" He retorted, shifting his weight to his other leg.
Zeus' eyes drifted between his brother's legs before he rolled his eyes. "I don't need your validation, brother. My reputation speaks for itself. Anyway, I came down here to tell you that Demeter is very upset about her missing daughter. Now, I won't renege on our deal, but you need to lay low for a while or that over-zealous bitch will steal her daughter back, tear your cock off, and use it as fertilizer."
Persephone might have protested at the first insult (she may have felt smothered by her mother, but she still loved the crazy old woman) but Zeus' threat rang true. If her mother found out a man had bedded her, the over-protective goddess was sure to castrate him and use his male parts as fertilizer in her own personal garden. Persephone blanched. Her mother was a fierce woman, but up against she had a feeling that Hades would take such an attack personally. After all, men tended to be rather protective of those particular parts of their male anatomy.
Hades reached behind himself to put an arm around her protectively. "As if I hadn't assumed Demeter would be upset. Don't treat me as a fool, Zeus. Go home."
Zeus rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. "I suppose that's the closest to a thank-you I'll ever get from you. You're such a cold fish. You should be thanking me for handing over my beautiful daughter to you. You're lucky any goddess is sparing you a second glance down here in this dark, dank hellhole you call home. You should be counting your blessings, Hades, even if she is just a bastard."
And with that final word her father vanished, though she truly wasn't paying much attention anymore as she turned suddenly cold despite the warmth of the water. Hades should be thankful her father had handed her over to him? What the hell was this?
"My father promised me to you?" She repeated, biting betrayal bitter on her tongue as she backed away from him. "You… I thought you were different. You were supposed to be different from all of those suitors who wanted me for my body and my status and my power. I trusted you to want me not because… How long?"
Hades turned to face her, one arm over his stomach in a pose that was so deceptively vulnerable it made her want to hit him. She ignored the bruises in his eyes he was obviously trying so hard to bury, pressing forward. "How long ago, Hades? Is that why you were there at the party? To meet your future bride? To take my future away from me?"
"Your father promised you to me the day he learned of your conception." He spoke evenly, arms falling to his sides as he reclaimed his composure. "He wanted you hidden away from his wife. Obviously, since you lived so long with your mother for so long, I rejected him. Then."
Her eyes narrowed on him, crossing her arms over her chest because she trembled and did not want him to be able to see. "But I'm here now. You brought me to your home, to your bed, called me lover. You obviously accepted his offer."
"That was after I met you. After you wrapped yourself around my mind and wormed your way inside of me and became all I thought about." He shook his head, but looked her straight in the eye. "Your father came to me then, told me about the flower. I only took him up on the offer because it was you."
He sounded so reasonable, and it only made her angrier; she was absolutely seething. "You kept it from me!" She retaliated, eyes filling with tears of frustration. "You didn't want me to know!"
"I didn't."
How dare he. "Why?" She demanded, that sense of betrayal increasing and constricting her, hampering her breathing until her breaths began to come in quick, shallow bursts.
"I didn't think it mattered." He replied evenly. "I would have come after you on my own anyway, eventually. My brother is merely a meddling ass."
He sighed, stepping closer to her, pausing when she stepped back again to give her the most exhausted look she'd ever seen. "Have we not already had this conversation, Persephone? Do you honestly believe me to be forcing this? I may be a hard, cruel man, but I have never been a liar and I have done my best to care for you because I want you to stay right here where you are, at my side. I picked you, not your body or your status or your bloodline. I wanted you then, and I want you all the more now after having known you. I picked you, Persephone."
"Yeah, you picked me." She retaliated harshly, "You picked me because no one else would have you."
The look on his face made her instantly regret her words. Silence stretched between them as innumerable emotions crossed his features. She caught surprise, disbelief, anger, and then—Oh Gods, for a second she wondered if he was going to cry. So much pain contained in a single form...
But again, he quickly composed himself. He walked past her, pointedly skirting around her, exited the tub, and left her standing there, tears running down her cheeks. When she heard the door to his rooms slam shut, the force making all of hell shake, she crumpled, the first sob tearing from her lips as she cried over the stubborn man who refused to cry for himself.
Hades sat alone in the throne room, but he was not seated upon his ebony throne. He could not take sitting beside that empty chair again, so he sat on the floor in the middle of the hall instead, thinking. He knew that both of them were angry and cruel things were said in anger, but that didn't make those cruel things hurt any less. Especially when those things were true.
Cerberus, young and still growing into his body, was hopping around him in attempt to cheer him. Many people balked at the idea of so large a canine being playful, but the three-headed-beast was still technically a puppy. More than that, he was an intelligent, affectionate, and loyal creature. The loneliness would have been unbearable without the great demon dog.
She was going to leave him now, he knew it in his gut. His beautiful goddess was going to leave him even before he'd gotten a chance to properly woo her. There was no way she'd stay after a scene like that. She was right, anyway. He didn't deserve her. She was only in hell because she was the only woman who would have him. It didn't matter that she was the one he wanted anyway, she just happened to be the only one who wanted him back. Not even a nymph wanted to be continuously affiliated with the dreaded Lord of the Underworld. Why would Persephone, a nature goddess, want to stay down in the Underworld with him?
"I really am a fool, aren't I, Cerberus?" He muttered as he reached out, scratching the middle head behind the ears. The three of them had long learned that if they got jealous over another head for getting attention then they wouldn't get a turn, so the creature laid itself down before Hades, each head waiting for a turn. "This means I will have to take her home. You would have liked her. She is very brave. She may be the one other person besides me who would not run screaming from you. You would have liked that, wouldn't you?"
Cerberus nuzzled him, turning to his side. Smiling sadly at the offer, he sat up against the creature's chest and shoulder. Well, at least someone wanted to be around him. It was a shame that companion was a giant, three-headed dog. The pathetic thing was, he would have given up all of the puppy's unconditional love for Persephone to smile at him one last time. How his heart ached for that, for her. It was a thought that made his throat close and the back of his eyes burn. But he would not cry. No, he would not cry. He hadn't cried since his little brother had freed him from their father's stomach and the sudden light had burned his eyes after they had become so attuned to the dark, wet world of Cronus' belly.
Taking a deep, shuddering breath, Hades gathered himself together again and stood. When Cerberus stirred, he sent the dog back to work. It was time to go find Persephone and bring her home to Olympus, where she belonged.
Author's Note:
So, chapter seven. This one was reeeeeally short, but there really wasn't much more to say about it. For their first fight, it was pretty nasty. -sigh- Anywho, thank you for your comments. Your continued support means a lot to me. The next chapter has already been started, so I'll update soon!
xxDusty