Chapter Five
Persephone sat at the table in the dining room eating breakfast. Hades was away but had promised it would only be for a couple of hours. Her skin itched and felt too tight with him gone.
She’d been in the underworld now for a week, but it felt like so much longer.
Once she’d gotten settled into a routine, Hades had taken her on a tour. He’d started with the castle, showing her all three levels. The bottom level was the dungeon rooms, like the one she’d been kept in for a short while on her arrival. That part of the tour had been thankfully short.
The main level held the long entry hall, the ballroom, the kitchens, several parlors and casual living spaces, the dining room, and a library. Off the back of the library was a garden. Or it would be a garden if anything grew. Instead, it was a maze of tangled black branches, interspersed with white marble statues of grotesque beings—like what she imagined a demon might look like. And there were several benches to sit on.
After the castle, he’d shown her his kingdom, or at least the nearby places. The full domain of the underworld was as vast or maybe even more vast than the mortal world she’d known. And there were many different levels. Some places were about punishment and pain and suffering. Those places were far from the castle, and Hades had spared her having to see them.
Sometimes people got out of those places, but mostly they didn’t. Everything else was a type of shadow life. It wasn’t hard to see how someone could find enjoyment in this place. And Persephone was sure that for beings who weren’t still alive like her, that the darkness must not be a problem. Maybe after death one no longer felt the craving for light.
There was no beautiful perfect place of light and happiness—no place like Heaven. Maybe there was a heaven, but if such a place existed, it wasn’t in the underworld. But for most, this place wasn’t hell, either. It was just an existence. People took their pleasures where they could find them—maybe in some ways not so different from life.
There were countless cities. Hades had only taken her to a few nearby ones. Some of them were all lit up like a carnival under the bright moon and stars, others seemed abandoned and haunted. There were areas with thick fog and tangled gnarled trees much like the forest they’d had to go through to reach the castle. And then there were places with rolling hills and pure clear starry sky for miles and miles. There were underground cavern cities as well.
Hades called that level the pleasure caves. Persephone didn’t ask why. She could guess. When she was with Hades, she felt a twisted sort of attraction to the underworld. Although all the plant life and trees were dead, there was a desolate barren beauty to the way the tree branches entwined together as if clutching onto each other for safety.
There were some animals in the underworld beyond the horses from the castle and the giant three-headed monster dog—though Hades said most were just gone when they died. Animals didn’t cling and beg for life like humans did. But sometimes they crossed over into the underworld. When they did, they mostly hid in the forests or the abandoned towns. So if there was a songbird or kitten out there, Persephone hadn’t yet seen or heard about it.
Although a gloominess often settled over the underworld, there was good food, and pleasure, and fun to be had. And an eternity in which to have it.
The underworld felt like a black mirror of the world she’d known. Above, on the surface, she’d been sweet and innocent. Down here, she was something else entirely.
She wasn’t sure which version of herself was real. Was it the sweet girl who didn’t even think about sex, or was it this carnal beast she became with Hades? Either thing could be the truth. If it was true that Zeus had taken her desires away while he’d been hiding her—if any of that were even true—then perhaps Hades had been a strong enough catalyst to bring her back to herself.
Or maybe she truly had been innocent, and Hades was doing something magic to her. Maybe both things were true. Maybe both men had manipulated her desires for their own purposes. One to keep her pure. The other to corrupt her.
Hades was out, busy with last minute party preparations. The party was tonight. Of course, it was always night in the underworld—but the party was scheduled for tonight according to the time in her world. Her life in New York already felt like a distant memory, but still she missed it.
She tried to focus on finishing her breakfast—a buttery pastry, fruit, and coffee. But she couldn’t. Every bite was harder to choke down than the last as she felt the lump forming in her throat and the tears begin to spill down her cheeks.
A female servant left her post in the corner and rushed to Persephone’s side. “It’s okay, Your Grace. He’ll be back very soon. You should try to finish your breakfast.”
“I’m not very hungry. I think I’ll go up to my room and rest for a while.”
“Of course, whatever you like.”
“D-don’t tell him. He can’t know about this.” Persephone was afraid for Hades to know just how much power he truly held over her. He couldn’t know that his absence made her fall apart like this. He might use it against her.
The servant looked torn, but finally she said, “I am commanded to follow your instructions, so I will do as you wish. But if you will pardon my intrusion, you should talk to him about this. He has a right to know.”
“Just don’t say anything. It’s a matter between us.” She tried to sound as regal as possible, hoping her words might sound as if they could carry some threat.
The servant nodded quickly.
Persephone left the table and climbed the steps back to the room she shared with Hades and shut the door. Those stairs felt like climbing a mountain. She was so exhausted. The guard outside her door had raised an eyebrow at her struggle, but beyond that he hadn’t said anything. Would she have to worry about him talking? What about the castle itself? The castle was a little too sentient in its own right for her comfort. Could it tell on her to Hades? Or would it follow her wishes and keep quiet?
But if the castle hadn’t told him yet, surely it wouldn’t now. After all, since the very first time Hades had touched her, she’d been trying to cope with the deep crushing sadness that swept over her whenever he stopped. When his hands were on her, everything felt right. She was indescribably happy. Everything in her head was songbirds and warmth. Safety and security. Peace. Sunshine.
For his part, despite the obedience he demanded of her, there were tender moments that made her believe something inside him had softened to her as well—that this overwhelming need wasn’t one-sided, and that whatever was dead and broken inside him was becoming whole again. But at what cost? Each time he was away from her, it became harder to exist, to breathe down here.
He would find out eventually, and then what?
She stepped out onto the balcony. That stupid bright full moon. And darkness. No wind. No rain. No sunlight. Ever. God, she was drowning down here. Suffocating. She went to the edge and looked down. She should just throw herself over.
This place was so much less beautiful when he was gone. It was as if his very presence cast a sort of glamor over the place to make it tolerable. But whenever he was gone, all she could see was the wrongness of it.
She wasn’t sure if she was truly immortal like Hades said, but even if she wasn’t, wouldn’t she come back here to this terrible dark place if she jumped? Maybe there was another, better place her soul could go? Heaven? Some way she could escape. No. It wasn’t worth the risk. Somehow she knew she’d just end up back here. She’d always end up back here.
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to shake these taunting feelings. He would be back soon. Everything would be okay. He would hold her and stroke her and fuck her, and everything would be right.
Persephone went back inside and ran a bath. That’s what she needed. A nice, hot bath to make this feeling go away. But what if it never went away?
Stop being ridiculous. He’s coming back.
Inside the tub, she let the warm water embrace her as she leaned back against the edge. She tried to think about the party and all the guests and the dirty things they would do together. She wished the castle would listen and distract her again with those disembodied hands.
It was funny how much it had disturbed her the one time it had happened. And now she wanted it to. But it never happened again after that first time, and a part of her thought it was some magic thing Hades had done himself, like so many other magic things he did. It was hard to know what was real with him. Everything felt like a grand illusion, a sleight of hand. The harder she tried to look and pin down anything real, the more wispy and elusive it became.
The water made a gentle gurgle as she raised her arm out and ran her fingertips over the silver collar at her throat. At least this was real. It was the one thing she could count on. When he’d first put the collar around her throat, all she could think about was how to get out of it.
And she didn’t just mean the physical piece of metal. But out of this enslavement, this captivity.
It didn’t take long, however, for the collar to feel like the only anchor she had in this strange, gnarled world of death. Knowing that she belonged to him began to be a real comfort. Watching the way his face lit up when she said Master, chased away any of the doubt she might have felt about the unconventional arrangement. He took care of what was his.
And if she’d thought it meant she was some lesser thing to him, she’d been dead wrong. If anything, being owned by Hades seemed to be the best outcome one could hope for in a place like this.
It began to feel like safety and security—the one thing she could count on. She felt so torn because she wanted to be free of this place. But the man? The god? Never. She never wanted to be free of Hades. In his arms was the most secure and happy she’d ever felt. And if it was magic, she prayed the spell never broke.
She finished her bath, put on one of the many black robes with the silver clasps that now filled her closet, and lay down for a nap, hoping to pass the time until he returned. But she couldn’t fall asleep. She lay on the bed and stared out through the sheer fabric over the arched doorway of the balcony at the bright full moon that always taunted her in its crushing sameness.
It felt as though that glowing orb sucked all the strength and energy from her—at least when Hades wasn’t there.
Persephone’s eyes fluttered open at the sound of the door clicking. She glanced at the watch around her wrist. It was late afternoon already, edging into early evening. She’d slept after all. It had been a blank, dreamless sleep. She didn’t feel rested. If anything, she thought she could sleep twelve or fifteen more hours and still not get enough rest. But then the door opened, and Hades stepped into the room.
He wore a black suit not unlike what he’d worn on the day he’d taken her from the city. He was loaded down with bags of things he’d picked up, no doubt, in a nearby city. His dark eyes took her in, and she felt immediately drawn to him.
He put the bags down just inside the room, and she got up and met him. When she reached him, she dropped to her knees. “Master.” The word came out on a soft sigh, such relief to be so close to him.
Hades bent and pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “My sweet girl. Are you ready for the party? I have your dress.”
If someone had asked her that a few hours ago, or even when she’d first woken up a moment ago, she would have begged to be left alone, the exhaustion so overwhelming that even the thought of doing something so taxing as getting ready for a party might drain her further.
But now, with Hades so close, she felt energized and happy. He was like the sun, warm and bright, and she seemed to draw life from his presence.
“Yes, I’m ready.”
He took her hands in his and helped her to stand. When he touched her, it felt like electricity—as if he were charging her up like a battery. As soon as he let go of her hands, she put her arms around him and trailed kisses over his neck, his face, his lips. He stopped her, holding her in place for a longer, deeper kiss. She moaned and melted against his mouth, wanting to keep this one moment frozen forever.
“You didn’t miss me, did you?” he teased. “I was only gone a few hours like I promised.”
She wanted to tell him what happened to her in his absence. She just… couldn’t. In the beginning, she’d thought he knew, even that he might be doing it to her on purpose to somehow addict her to him. But now she was sure he wasn’t doing it. And if he was, he didn’t do it on purpose. And he definitely didn’t know about it.
Maybe he could be the world’s greatest liar, but he wasn’t a stone. He had feelings. She didn’t believe he could pretend ignorance of her pain so well, especially when lately he seemed to want to cause her pleasure.
No, it was the underworld. The place was too dark and filled with death, too oppressive for her to live in it. This wasn’t a place for the living, only for the dead—and somehow, Hades, who straddled both states. It was just… wrong for her to be down here.
Persephone was beginning to believe he felt something real for her—the same thing she felt for him. If it was all just magic, they seemed equally swept away by the spell. And wasn’t chemistry a type of magic? Maybe this was the chemistry of gods.
Hades unlatched the clasps and pushed the robe off her shoulders and to the floor.
He took a black box out of one of the larger bags in the pile. It had a red satin bow on it. He laid the box on the bed and stepped back. “Well, go ahead,” he said.
Persephone loosened the ribbon and opened the box. Nestled inside black tissue paper was the most amazing dress she’d ever seen. It looked like the long, simple gowns goddesses were pictured wearing in books on mythology. Except instead of white, it was that silver, slinky, glimmering, sheer fabric the dressmaker had held against her skin.
The material itself seemed to be made from a sort of magic. The way it glittered and glowed. The way it moved. It wasn’t natural. It wasn’t something that could exist in the world she’d come from.
Hades helped her into the dress and guided her to stand in front of the mirror. Her long blonde hair was the only shield she could have had to protect the smallest bit of privacy or modesty, but Hades pulled her hair back behind her shoulders.
She may as well have been naked because the dress didn’t cover anything. It was merely glittering decoration to showcase her nudity. There was a high side slit on either side of the dress, which she was sure was meant for the easy access of whoever he shared her with. The thought made her heart leap into her throat. He’d assured her everything was okay down here, that one’s wildest fantasies could be lived out without consequence or guilt or fear of judgment or reprisal.
Before him, she hadn’t had any wild fantasies. Now it seemed that was all her mind could conjure. It was as though something inside her felt compelled to make up for lost time.
Hades leaned closer, his hands resting on her shoulders. “What do you think, Sunshine?”
“I-I look like a goddess.”
He kissed the side of her throat. “Such vanity.” Then his eyes met hers in the mirror, more serious now. “You look like a goddess because you are a goddess.”
Did she believe that yet? It was still hard without access to the powers she was supposed to have. Part of her remained sure he must have made some mistake—taken the wrong girl. And what would happen when he discovered she was a fraud? What might he do to her if he found out she was just a human and not this goddess he’d searched the earth for centuries to find?
“Should I change back into the robe until the party?” She didn’t want to mess the dress up. It was the most exquisite garment she’d ever laid eyes on—even if it didn’t keep a single one of her secrets. Still, when she looked at herself in that dress in the mirror, she could see what Hades saw—beauty and grace… something desirable. And she felt unconcerned by how many others might see it as well at the party.
“No, the party starts in little more than an hour. That gives just enough time for someone to help you with your hair and makeup and for us to have dinner downstairs. You’ll need to eat something to get through tonight.”
She had no doubt about that.
“I’m taking the rest of the party stuff downstairs. I’ll send someone up. Then when you’re ready, we’ll have dinner.”
Persephone closed her hands into fists, fighting the urge to chase him and beg him not to leave her. He was in the castle. He was just going downstairs. When the door closed behind him, she looked back into the mirror. She couldn’t live like this.
He had to let her go. She had to tell him the truth, and he had to let her go. But she didn’t want to leave him. Even if he would let her, how could she just go back to her life and forget the things Hades had already awakened in her? She couldn’t go back to who she’d been before. As much as she loved that life, it wasn’t enough now. She didn’t want to live alone with a bunch of plants. She wanted to warm Hades’ bed. If only his bed wasn’t located in such a horrible place.
“Your Grace?”
Persephone looked up to find one of the female servants had quietly entered the room.
“Let’s finish getting you ready.”
Persephone nodded and allowed herself to be led to a vanity table. She didn’t know the names of any of the servants or guards. They were like shadows. They were there to make sure she remained comfortable and to give her whatever she requested, but they weren’t friends or confidants. It seemed inappropriate to ask their names, and there were times when she had the weird feeling they didn’t have names at all.
It was as though they weren’t their own beings. They belonged to the castle. It was as if they were part of the mind of the castle. Persephone shook that strange thought away as the woman put makeup on her face, painted her nails, brushed and loosely curled her hair, and sprayed a light mist of perfume on her. It was clear Hades had made all his preferences known, and the servant merely carried them out.
Not that Persephone could argue with the results. There was a light glittery dusting of blush and eye shadow and a creamy pink gloss on her lips. She looked young and fresh and alive—so much more alive than she felt when Hades wasn’t with her.
When she went downstairs, he was waiting in the dining room. He stood and smiled and pulled her chair out. It was so hard to believe this was the guy who had locked her in a cage and been so terrifying that first night. There were long spaces at a time, where she thought she could see something in him that was worth saving.
Persephone stood in the doorway, taking it all in.
The table was already set with food this time. The candles were all lit. The fire roared in the fireplace. That awful endless moonlight shone in through the enormous windows. She felt irrationally angry about that. She wanted to throw a stone at the window as if shattering the glass could make the moon go away. Why couldn’t she have sunlight? She was sure everything would be better if she could have sunlight.
Hades held out his hands to her, and she rushed—perhaps too quickly—into his arms. He was so warm and safe. Nothing could hurt her as long as he was holding her. She was sure of it.
“You look enchanting.”
And he would know about enchantment.
They sat and ate quietly. Hades always sat right next to her, ignoring the regal chair set for him at the far end of the table. That other chair felt like it was miles away, but the one he chose left him just inches from her. She could practically feel his energy this close.
The food was what one might find at a formal banquet—large roasted birds, savory stews, homemade bread, and vegetables. Fruit for dessert. But not pomegranates. He hadn’t served her pomegranates again since the first night in the cage. She’d never had that type of fruit before the underworld, and though it had been sweet and delicious, she hoped never to have it again.
“Won’t there be food at the party?”
He placed a hand on her arm as if he needed to be touching her as much as she needed to be touched. “There will be food, yes. But I thought you might prefer eating early. These parties get a bit intense, and I thought you might be too nervous or excited to eat.”
“Oh.” It was true, she was nervous and excited already. She felt both scared of the prospects of what might happen and thrilled by them.
“Who will be there?” Persephone asked.
“Friends. Beings in positions of power down here. Some of my generals. Their consorts. Only the most important of the underworld. You do still want to play with my guests, right? I have great party games.”
Persephone felt a jolt of arousal hit between her legs.
“Yes, Master. It’s not that. I’m just nervous.” As wrong as part of her remained convinced it was, she did want to be open to all the hedonistic pleasures of his world. Partly to please him but partly to please herself. It was a new hunger, becoming just as important as the need for food, and one of the few things about the underworld she liked.
Hades caressed her arm with the tips of his fingers. Persephone leaned into the touch, her eyes drifting closed for a moment.
“Don’t be nervous,” he said. “They’ll love you.”
It wasn’t long after dinner before the guests started arriving. Hades went ahead to greet everyone and settle them in the ballroom before sending for her.
When he had her brought to the ballroom, she was afraid she’d have to go in by herself, but he stood waiting at the entrance, his cold, black eyes warming when he saw her.
Persephone peered in from the hallway. The ballroom was almost too much to take in. She’d seen it on the tour, but at the time, the room had looked abandoned and dead—unwelcoming. She hadn’t wanted to go exploring too deeply because the empty lonely place had depressed her. But now all the cobwebs were swept away. The black marble floor gleamed. For light, tall candelabras lined the walls, and glimmering silver chandeliers with lit candles came down from the ceiling. If this weren’t the underworld, she might worry about the fire hazard, but she was sure Hades had things well under control.
There were alternating white and black marble statues coming out of the walls in high relief. Images of monsters and of the damned. A few highly sexual. The candles cast their faces in eerie glows and shadows. In the middle of the ballroom was an enormous white marble statue. Persephone hadn’t noticed it during the tour.
It depicted a huge man-like beast sitting on a large throne. His presence was so lifelike and intimidating it seemed as if he would bust out of the marble to come join the party. His hands were clawed. He had huge bulging muscles. Sharp teeth showed from his smiling mouth. And there were horns. Persephone was sure if he were real, his eyes would have glowed.
A large cock jutted out from between his legs, and several nude nymph-like women surrounded him in chains. It was hard for Persephone to tear her eyes away from it. Hades had the most distressing and yet compelling taste in art.
On a stage at the far end of the room, an orchestra played instrumental music—lush, dark melodies. It was the kind of music that made you forget all the reasons you shouldn’t listen to temptation, the kind of music that was temptation. Along one wall was a buffet table with all kinds of wonderful-smelling food as well as a fully stocked bar. She didn’t think she’d want to eat anything for a while, even though she’d only managed to eat a small amount at dinner. She was too nervous to eat.
At least fifty people filled the ballroom, though Persephone wasn’t sure they were all—strictly speaking—people. Most of them seemed otherworldly and a little frightening. She hadn’t expected that.
She wasn’t sure what she’d expected but not quite this. It was hard to put her finger on what made some of them seem not human. It was a feeling, an energy. Some of the guests had solid black eyes… not black like Hades had where that was just their color—but eyes that had no whites. Others had eyes that glowed red like embers from a fire. Some glowed a different color like green or gold, though the glow wasn’t constant. It came and went in small quick flashes that one could easily miss if not paying attention, or if they didn’t want to see it.
A few had… horns? She didn’t want to think the word demon, and yet that word kept floating to the surface of her mind. Visually their inhuman quality was subtle—not an overblown show. You could overlook it or miss it if you were just looking with your eyes. But the energy that crackled off them was another matter entirely. It made Persephone feel anxious.
She didn’t think they were evil necessarily. Just as the underworld wasn’t really hell like what she’d heard stories about in the human world, these beings weren’t really demons in the sense she might have heard of either. But though they didn’t seem purely evil, there was something dark about them, something that… disregarded the rules of human engagement. She was sure they didn’t have the same moral restraints or moral reasoning as she was used to. If Hades hadn’t been standing beside her, she might have fled for fear of what some of them might do to her should they become bored with the music, food, and conversation.
“Ready?” he asked.
Persephone nodded. She wasn’t sure it was true, but what were her options here? Make a scene and flee? Embarrass herself? Disappoint Hades? She felt sure he wouldn’t let some nasty down here hurt her. In a short time, she’d come to depend on him, and so far he hadn’t let her down. As much as she missed the world of light and living things, Hades had shown her kindness.
As they crossed the threshold, the room grew very still, the music fading. The murmuring and chattering came to a full stop as all eyes turned to them.
“Allow me to introduce the goddess of spring, Persephone, and now also queen of the underworld.”
It felt like such a lie when he said it, but she didn’t contradict him, and nobody at the party seemed skeptical of her pedigree.
There was a fair amount of oohing and aahing and polite clapping that caused a blush to creep up her neck. Soon enough, though, the moment ended. The music started back up, party chatter resumed, and Hades pulled her into the swarm of underworld beings to make more personal introductions.
The first cluster of people Hades brought her to had two women and three men. Both of the women had dark hair, pale skin, and red painted lips that matched their red eyes. They wore long black gowns which accentuated slim, willowy figures. Persephone thought their fingernails might be more claw than nail. One of the males closest to her had those disturbingly black eyes. The way he looked at Persephone, it was as if she could fall into that penetrating gaze and get lost—more the lost of insanity than the lost of romance.
He was very good-looking aside from that. But when he spoke, there was a slight hiss in his speech that you could only hear if you listened very closely. Persephone could have sworn a forked tongue slipped briefly from his mouth. And when he smiled, his teeth were too sharp.
“Persephone, this is one of my generals, Melos. He does punishment work for me in some of the lower realms.”
She was sure this sanitized version of his job description meant he was head of torturing the bad souls.
“Charmed,” he said as he took her hand and kissed the back of it. “We’ve heard of you for centuries. I can see now why Hades practically tore up the earth searching for you.”
Despite everything, when Melos touched her, her trepidation fell away, and she let him pull her closer. His mouth brushed against her throat in a second, more intimate kiss. She shivered when his snake-like tongue slipped out and vibrated against her skin.
Hades chuckled. “Stop sniffing her.”
“I can’t help it. She smells… delicious. Will you let me taste her?”
The throbbing between her legs intensified. A few weeks ago, in the human world, sex had felt like a blank slate, something confusing and not really desired, at least not enough to go to the trouble of seeking it out. But in the underworld, something new grew inside her—a deep sexual hunger that could never be contained or satisfied. The way they looked at her... the way they spoke. All she wanted was to give in to it and fall under their spell.
“You are my honored guests. Everyone gets a taste,” Hades said. Such a polite host.
Persephone felt she should object to everyone getting a taste of her, but the more the idea lingered on the air, the more exciting it sounded. She was certain the rules of the regular living world didn’t apply down here. As long as Hades didn’t become disgusted with her and throw her away, there were no real consequences to any pleasure to be had with anyone at the party.
The underworld felt like a long, fevered sex dream, barely even real.
For a moment, she considered the awful way she felt when Hades was absent and was gripped with a terror that perhaps he would decide she was dirty and wrong if she did these things. He might decide he didn’t want her anymore. He had seemed thrilled that she’d somehow made it to him without having been with a man. Wouldn’t the thrill be gone if she were with so many now? She couldn’t understand his excitement by her purity only to turn around and corrupt it so completely.
But when she looked at him, his face seemed lit up like the sun, a positively carnal grin on his face, a warm glow in his eyes. He had no doubts about this, and suddenly neither did she.
“Persephone?” Hades said.
“I-I’m sorry, Master, what?” She was sure he’d said something to her and she’d missed it. She blushed when she realized she’d just called him Master in front of all his party guests, but Hades didn’t seem troubled by this. He seemed pleased.
“Ah,” Melos said, “when I saw that silver band around her throat, I thought it might be a collar, but I didn’t want to be impertinent. However did you get the sweet goddess of spring to agree to a kink arrangement? That is… surprising.”
“Well, you know, I did kidnap her,” Hades said.
The general smirked. “Yes. There is that. But, she doesn’t seem too put off by the arrangement. That’s what I meant. As sweet as she is...” He reached out and caressed her cheek. “… she seems to long for it.”
Before Persephone could decide if she should be troubled by this conversation, Hades’ hand moved to the back of her neck. She leaned against him as he stroked the skin there making her feel warm and content. “You’d be surprised how hungry this one is. She may be sweet, but there is a kernel of darkness in her that is so raw and needy. She needs to be touched. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Melos took this as further invitation and reached out to stroke her breast through the glimmering sheer dress. She’d forgotten how on display she was. The fabric pressing and moving against her skin when she moved made her forget.
Persephone leaned into the general’s touch, a small whimper leaving her throat. She’d thought Hades would take her around and introduce her to everyone, but all the guests had come to her instead, forming a wide circle around them.
She felt Hades move away from her as Melos began to explore her body. His hands slipped gently beneath the dress to stroke the tucked away folds of flesh between her legs—the flesh that was swelling with excitement each time he rubbed it. He withdrew his hand and sucked one of his fingers. She blushed, realizing the trail of wetness she’d left behind.
“She really is delicious,” he remarked.
Persephone looked back at Hades to catch a satisfied smile on his face. He motioned to a few of the servants, and moments later, they rolled an absurdly large bed past guests and into the center of the ballroom, stopping next to the statue.
“The queen must be comfortable,” Hades said. He turned to the general. “Well? Entertain us.” He sat on a large regal chair that was brought up for him… waiting.
Melos guided Persephone to the bed. “Let’s get this gorgeous gown out of our way, shall we?”
A trail of goosebumps sprouted up along her skin in the wake of Melos’ hands as he slid the fabric over her body. He passed the dress to a nearby servant.
Hades had left his chair and was beside her all of a sudden. She hadn’t even seen him move. He withdrew a thin strip of black fabric from a pocket of his jacket and blindfolded her with it. His lips brushed the shell of her ear. “Just feel, Sunshine. Everyone is here to bring you pleasure. This is your party.”
He urged her to lie back on the bed. Moments later, more than one pair of hands began rubbing oil into her skin. At first her arms and legs, then her belly and breasts. And then something slick and slippery was being rubbed between her legs, then deep inside her. Her hips arched off the bed, pressing harder into the hands. It felt so much like the time the castle had given her such similar sensations that she couldn’t resist the urge to pull back the blindfold to see if it was only an illusion.
But Melos and two other strange men were really touching her. The general was the one whose hand she bucked wildly against.
“Oh, she should be punished for that,” he said, his eyes meeting hers briefly. “Little rule breaker.”
At first she couldn’t think what she’d done. Oh. The blindfold.
“Indeed,” Hades said. “We have a deviant on our hands it seems.”
Melos pulled the blindfold back down over her eyes.
“Do you want me to punish you, my dear?” he whispered. “I’m quite good at it.”
He pressed a hand against her cheek. All at once, images flooded her mind of the general whipping a chained nude woman. The woman appeared torn between enjoying it and hating it. As these images continued, the general pushed a finger inside Persephone. She moved eagerly against him.
But he didn’t just give her images, he gave her knowledge to go with it. He pushed it somehow into her mind. The scene he showed her had been a sexual game of sorts. And yet at the same time, it had been deadly serious. It was one of his captives in the lower realms—someone there for true and eternal punishment. She’d pleased him, and before long, his punishments had developed an edge of pleasure which she struggled in vain not to crave. Eventually, he’d released her from her sentence and from the lower realms.
The general removed his hand from Persephone’s cheek and the images stopped, then he removed her blindfold. Now the only thing she could see was Melos looking down at her.
“What do you think? Want to try it with me?”
Persephone bit her lip and nodded. She shouldn’t want him to play that game with her, but she did. She couldn’t get the vision and feelings out of her mind of that woman so helpless and scared, still succumbing to pleasure in the pain he gave her. The temptation of being lost inside such a space overwhelmed her—like a weird sort of freedom in the middle of her captivity.
“Hades, you have toys?” Melos called over his shoulder.
“You know I do. What’s a party without toys?”
More servants wheeled in a large, square, dark, wooden box. It had all sorts of strange markings and symbols etched into it as if it had been forged with the darkest of magic.
Melos opened the box and started rifling through it, tossing items out onto the bed. “Put her in the chastity belt. I don’t want anyone touching her until I’m ready for her to come.”
One of the males helped her into a sleek leather chastity belt and locked it. Persephone looked for Hades’ reaction to all this, but his face gave nothing away. He sat silently in the large throne-like chair, nursing a short stocky glass of an amber liquid. His eyes were locked on hers. He was still fully dressed, but she could see the outline of his erection, the one clue betraying his excitement.
She’d thought they would use the bed, but the general made her stand, facing Hades, her legs wide, her arms spread open over her head. The moment he’d positioned her as he wanted her, she jumped as a sharp sound like a whip sliced the air next to her. But the sound wasn’t a whip.
It was black vines shooting out of the floor and ceiling on the general’s command, restraining her in the position he’d placed her in.
He leaned close, that snake-like tongue darting out against her throat to sniff the edges of her fear. “If you want to look at things so badly, look at your master. Don’t take your eyes off his, or your punishment will only get worse. And he won’t stop me. He likes it too much.”
If Persephone had any doubt that Hades was entirely pleased by the events of the party so far, those doubts were erased in the smirk that inched up the side of his face. If anything, it seemed Hades and the general had played like this together in the past, and Melos’ ordinary job was merely extending from the lower realms into the party.
Without the blindfold, she wasn’t sure what would be harder to look at, the other guests watching her being whipped, or Hades. His calm, silent stare unmade her. She knew he’d be disappointed if she looked away. As if she could. His gaze held her so hypnotized that she didn’t see Melos pick up the whip. She didn’t hear him move behind her.
It wasn’t until the leather strip landed against her back that she jerked in the vines that held her. She let out a surprised gasp at the sharp sting that burned across her skin. It was harder than her first and only punishment a week ago with Hades.
Hades’ smirk turned into a full excited smile as he watched her realize what she’d just signed on for.
After the first strike, she heard the whip slice the air the moment before it landed, each time feeling as though it seared all the way through her.
As the general whipped her, she was sure the leather would flay her flesh off, but though she cried out, and the tears flowed down her face, and her body shook in her restraints with each lash, somehow she knew her skin remained intact. Hades wouldn’t let him truly harm her.
She knew it in the way he held her gaze. The general may be whipping her, but it was Hades who touched her and was in absolute control of her. Their eyes remained locked together, connecting them beyond time and place so that everything disappeared but the dark gaze she was lost in. Not the lost of insanity… a scarier lost. Persephone thought as they shared this intimate moment, that something had shifted inside her.
She didn’t just need him near. She didn’t just crave his touch. She thought she might be starting to love him. She hated the underworld, but she loved its master. How could she love the person who had stolen her from the sunlight and buried her beneath the ground in endless night? The man who had put a collar around her throat and made her body open to him and all the pleasure and pain he offered.
Hades took a drink from his glass, his eyes never leaving her. The tears streamed down her face, and she wasn’t sure if it was the pain of the whip or the realization that she would do absolutely anything Hades commanded. She didn’t even want to disobey him. She couldn’t decide if her pleasure was for her or for his amusement. She didn’t know if she liked the pain Melos delivered or if she took it because she saw how aroused it made Hades.
“She takes punishment well. Like a pro,” Melos said.
“She’s more than I ever dared to hope for,” Hades said, his eyes not straying from Persephone’s.
Her throat went tight at that declaration. All she wanted was to please him. All she wanted was for him to never stop looking at her like this.
The general ran his hands gently over the places along her back and thighs where he’d whipped her. Heat rose off her flesh, but though it had hurt, she remained sure he hadn’t broken skin. He laid the whip aside, and then his hand snaked around to the front, pressing between her legs.
She knew he had some sort of powers from the way he’d put images and knowledge in her mind with just a hand on her cheek, but it seemed he had other powers as well. His hand resting between her legs began to vibrate. But even with whatever magic he was using, the leather barrier of the chastity belt muted the feeling so that her arousal crept higher and higher the longer he held his hand against her. She couldn’t reach her peak this way. Still, she closed her eyes, straining, seeking it.
Melos whispered in her ear. “What did I say about not taking your eyes off your master?”
Persephone’s eyes shot open, going back to Hades, who looked entirely amused and entertained by this. Again, his gaze held her in thrall as she thrust her pussy against the general’s hand.
“I can feel the warmth of her cunt through the leather. She’s hungry.”
“Good,” Hades said. Then he turned his words to Persephone. “Tell me you’re my good little whore.”
“I-I’m your good little whore, Master.”
“So much sweeter out of your lips than mine,” Hades said.
The vibrating sensation stopped, and she was no longer sure if it had all been an illusion in her mind, or if it had somehow been real. He moved his hand to her mouth, his finger trailing over her lip before he pressed it inside her mouth. She accepted the mock penetration and sucked, her tongue stroking languidly over his finger.
“I bet she’s a fabulous cocksucker,” he said, pressing a second finger into her mouth as she moaned and whimpered around them, still watching her master for fear that Melos might punish her some more if she broke eye contact again.
She was about to come out of her skin with need. Hades never denied her pleasure like this. The throbbing between her legs had grown so intense she was sure that if she could focus she could come just with her thoughts.
“Bring her to me,” Hades said.
The vines disappeared back into the ceiling and floor, and Persephone fell forward, her hands catching her fall against the cool marble.
“Crawl to him,” Melos said.
By this point, she was a quivering ball of need. When she reached him, he’d already freed his cock from his pants.
“I want my guests to watch you suck me,” Hades said.
“Please, Master… I need.”
His smile was warm. “I know what you need, Sunshine.”
He motioned to someone out of her line of sight. Hands seemed to come out of nowhere to unlock and remove the chastity belt. Cool air hit the wetness between her thighs, driving her even more mad with need
“Please me, and they’ll please you,” Hades said.
Persephone didn’t hesitate. She gripped his cock with one hand as she licked his warm skin. He seemed to pulse with as much desire as she did. He just had better control of his emotions.
As she worked his cock, she had a heightened awareness of being watched. Fifty pairs of eyes on her, watching her pleasure her master with her mouth. She got so lost in the moment that at first she didn’t realize hands were on her, stroking every inch of her, spreading her legs wider. Her body trembled as a long tongue pushed its way inside her. The tongue plunged in and out of her, occasionally coming out to softly lick her clit.
Then the tongue was gone and someone was working a cool thick dildo inside of her. She closed her eyes and returned her focus to Hades, her head bobbing up and down on his cock in time to the phallus fucking her.
When he came, he petted her hair and murmured his approval. She didn’t hesitate to swallow every drop, needing more and more of him inside her. A few moments later, her own orgasm came, clawing its way up from somewhere deep inside her belly. She screamed out her pleasure as she floated on the sea of hands stroking her.
After a few moments, the hands receded, the toy that had been inside her was gone, and she knelt on the ground between Hades legs, her head resting on his thigh while he continued to stroke her hair. They stayed that way for a long time.
But then needy hands began to paw at her again, and her desire to be fondled and fucked returned. There was no amount of pleasure that was too much, no amount of degrading debauchery that she wouldn’t gladly submit to—all for her master’s entertainment and to feed her own growing appetites.
She felt herself being pulled up off the floor and taken back to the bed.
Most of the guests had started engaging in their own sexual games among themselves, but their attention never seemed to stray far from Persephone, as if what happened with and to her helped fuel their own lusts.
Hours passed like this with hands and cocks and tongues all demanding entrance into her body. Persephone gave them everything they demanded over and over again.
She couldn’t see Hades now. She felt him near, but he must be playing with someone else. Strangely, that idea didn’t bother her. After all, she was playing with others. Lots of others.
One of the males lubed the large marble cock of the statue next to the bed while one of the females rubbed more slippery cool lube inside Persephone’s pussy. She didn’t resist the two strong males who lifted her up and carried her to the statue.
She straddled the marble creature as the males helped lower her onto the thick phallus. Despite how much she’d been penetrated, the statue’s cock was frighteningly large. It had required a lot of lube and the insistence of strong hands pushing her down over it to successfully seat the thing inside her. Several guests chanted for her to fuck it, exciting her more. She gripped the beast’s shoulders and raised and lowered herself onto the marble protrusion.
“Harder,” someone shouted from the crowd.
One of the males who’d helped her mount the statue, gripped her hard around the waist and raised and lowered her faster and harder, his speed and strength far more than a mere mortal could have managed. All she could do was hold on as the pleasure built inside her.
“That’s right,” he growled. “Come for us.”