Chapter Eight
Persephone sat in a corner of the playroom, her knees drawn up to her chest, the tears streaming down her face. How could he just run off and leave her like that? This was exactly what she’d feared—that he would know the truth and still leave her to suffer.
She tried to take deep calming breaths as if she could fight and push past the suffocating oppression that crowded in on all her senses. If she could only find a way to survive when he was away. There had to be some coping mechanism… something. Maybe magic? Couldn’t magic help her? This place seemed full of it.
She looked up suddenly. The energy in the castle had changed. Hades was back. She didn’t know how she knew, she just knew. Like he’d promised, he hadn’t been gone long. She got off the floor feeling stupid and melodramatic and wiped the tears off her face. She went to the bedroom and dressed in one of the long black robes from the closet. Then she raced down the stairs to meet him.
She’d expected to run into him. Surely he was on his way back to her. But their paths didn’t cross. The hallway was clear. It was clear down on the main level as well. She stopped in front of one of the guards lining the wall of the massive entry hall.
“Where is Hades?” She wasn’t crazy. She felt him. She knew he was here. She knew it the same way she knew day would never fucking come here—that the sun would never rise for her again.
“Your Grace, he’s ordered no one disturb him, including you.”
Persephone was quite certain that was not the question she’d asked. How could Hades shut her out? She’d been kidding herself all this time. Whatever he felt for her… it was possession and control. It must be. It wasn’t love. It wasn’t like what she felt for him. She wasn’t sure which was worse, to be stuck in the underworld with a man—no, a god—who couldn’t love her, or to be without him and forced to face the endless night alone.
She paced back and forth in front of the staircase. He was somewhere in the castle. She could go find him herself. And yet… she was afraid to actively defy him and disobey his orders. He could simply leave her to her own private hell if he got irritated enough. He didn’t have to break out the whips and chains now that he knew his absence was the greatest pain of all.
The castle’s front entrance opened with a loud creak, and in drifted a crowd of people. A party? He was throwing a party at a time like this? But no, it wasn’t a party. These weren’t under beings. These weren’t his generals and other high ranking officials and their consorts. These were… these were regular people. Souls who had passed on.
It had been so long since Persephone had seen regular people that she hadn’t realized how much she’d missed the normality. Gods, demons, various under beings were not the same, even if they were people-shaped.
The souls entering the castle appeared lost and confused and afraid as they wandered down the entry hall. Was she supposed to greet them? Say something to them? But before she could decide what to do, one of the servants went to intercept them.
“This way,” he said, smiling widely, “Lord Hades is eager to greet you.”
The long line of people followed the servant down one of the main hallways to the ballroom. Was it a party? That didn’t feel right. Something was wrong about this. She’d never known Hades to entertain human souls at the castle.
When the line had passed, Persephone started to follow, but the guard she’d spoken with stopped her.
“Your Grace, I have my orders.”
“And what are you to do with me if I don’t listen? Has he given you permission to hurt me or lock me up somewhere?”
The guard looked away. “No, Your Grace, but you really shouldn’t...”
She stood straight and attempted to look as regal and intimidating as possible even though the guard was a full foot taller than her. “It is not up to you to tell me what I should or should not do. I am your queen. You forget yourself.”
He offered a small bow. “My apologies, Your Grace.”
She hadn’t expected it would be that easy. No one else tried to stop her. When she burst through the doors of the ballroom a few minutes later, she wished they had.
It took a moment for Persephone to fully realize what she was seeing. The crowd of souls had been herded into the ballroom, and all of them seemed frozen. Some kind of magic held them, preventing them from trying to escape, because without it, she was sure they would try to escape. The tension in the room was so palpable, Persephone could barely breathe. It was too much like the feeling when Hades left her.
Hades stood in front of one of them, his hand outstretched, pressed against a man’s chest. His hand glowed bright orange, and then the man screamed and… incinerated. There was a brief burst of flame on him, but it quickly died, and a neat pile of ashes were left on the ground in the man’s place.
Persephone gasped, drawing all the attention in the room to her. “What? Why? How could you…?” Maybe they were bad souls. Like serial killers or rapists. But nobody inside the ballroom seemed evil. And weren’t the bad souls punished? Wasn’t that Melos’ job?
“Bring me another one,” he said. His voice had gone all dark and terrifying. Inhuman, almost like an animal. Before he’d at least made the effort of sounding like a person, but now… he’d given up all pretense.
One of the servants dragged another soul to him, this one a woman.
Hades turned to Persephone. He looked haunted, horrified by what he was doing. So why was he doing it? Why couldn’t he just stop?
“Y-you don’t have to do this,” She said, even though she had no idea why he was doing it.
“Oh, but I do. And as much as it hurts me to see it right now, in a little while I’m not going to care about that look of revulsion on your face.” He turned to one of the guards standing silently against the wall. “Get her out of here. Put her in the cage. I’ll deal with her when I’m done.”
She tried to run, but of course she didn’t get far. His guards were so tall, with long, powerfully muscled legs. They could easily outrun her. It only took one of them to scoop her up and carry her down to the dungeon. He put her in the cage she’d been in the first night and locked the door.
“Please! Please don’t leave me down here!” All regal pretense was gone now.
“I’m sorry, Your Grace. Truly I am. But I cannot defy him.” Then the guard turned and left her.
No one else had been down here since her last imprisonment. The pomegranate she’d eaten that first night still lay in the middle of the cage where she’d dropped it, now dried and almost beyond recognition.
She tried without success to figure out why Hades was doing this. It couldn’t be because she’d hurt herself. Or… was this her punishment? He had to know she wouldn’t put other souls in danger. It wouldn’t matter how much the underworld got under her skin, if she knew souls would be incinerated… she would never…
Could that be why? Oh God, could this somehow be her fault? Persephone moved to the back of the cage and sank to the floor, her back pressed against the bars in a futile attempt to steady herself. No, of course this wasn’t her fault. Nobody was making him do this. But why? She’d come to learn he wasn’t a monster. Hades wasn’t evil. He had his darkness, but his darkness consisted of orgies and temptation, not mass murder.
She told herself she would never forgive him. She’d shun his affections. But he still held the only key to not feeling like she was dying in this place. How could she push him away when his presence and touch were the only things keeping her going? Though that might stop being true. She couldn’t imagine still wanting to be near him now.
He couldn’t come back from this.
She hadn’t been able to stop crying since she was put in the cage, so she didn’t hear the female servant come down.
“Your Grace?”
“Stop calling me that. I’m his prisoner. That’s all I am and all I will ever be.” It was such a joke to pretend she had any power here.
“That’s not true,” she said. “I-I brought you something to eat.” She opened the cage a bit and pushed a tray inside with a sandwich and some water. “I thought maybe a little something might help. Nothing too heavy. I know you might not have much appetite right now.”
That was an understatement.
Persephone thought she could probably overpower the servant and escape. But to where? There was no place to go that Hades wouldn’t eventually find her, and she didn’t want to think about what would happen then. She also didn’t want him to hurt the servant girl.
The servant locked the cage again and started to go back upstairs.
“Why is he doing this?”
The girl turned back but stared at the ground as if she found the interlocking stones wildly interesting. “Please, Your Grace, I’m not supposed to tell.”
“Tell me. It will be our secret.”
She hesitated another minute but then she came back to the cage and sat on the ground near Persephone as if she were afraid to speak the words too loudly. As if Hades might hear her all the way down here and come incinerate her as well.
“I don’t know all the details, but I’ve heard things. Zeus is trying to free you from the underworld. It’s been winter on the surface of the whole earth for months now. And people are starting to die. He wants to flood the underworld with too many souls to force Hades to release you. So My Lord Hades is destroying souls to keep you.”
It was the last explanation she’d expected. “So he doesn’t care if I love him or hate him as long as I’m trapped down here with him?”
The servant shrugged. “I don’t know what he’s thinking. H-he’s lost his mind. He hasn’t been like this in a long time, and n-never this bad.” The girl touched Persephone’s hand through the bars. “Your Grace, he will… change. I don’t know if he can come back to us. He may be lost forever. Whatever happens now, you must be brave.”
“What do you mean? What’s going to happen?” She hated how shrill and terrified she was starting to sound, but the servant’s fear was getting to her.
“I-I have to go. He’ll come down soon and… please don’t tell him I was down here.”
“I won’t.” It wasn’t like Persephone could tell him much anyway. The only thing she could say was that a female servant had been down there to see her. The servants and guards in the castle were hard to tell apart sometimes. And she still didn’t know anyone’s name.
An hour or so passed. Persephone ate the food and drank the water that had been brought for her. It didn’t help anything.
Finally, she heard heavy footfalls getting nearer and nearer. She knew it was him, but nothing could have prepared her for what came down those stairs.
It wasn’t Hades.
It was a monster or a demon, maybe one from the lower realms—the places Hades shielded her from. He was enormous, and even with the high ceiling in the dungeon, he had to bend down to not bump his head. His skin was black and reptilian. His eyes glowed red. He had long sharp claws that were probably better described as talons. And there were horns.
She felt the pieces coming together as the realization hit her. It was the statue from the party. Had it come to life?
Persephone couldn’t stop the scream that left her throat as the beast got closer.
“What’s the matter, Sunshine? My true form too much for you? You seemed to like it just fine when you were fucking a marble copy of it at the party.”
No.
“H-Hades?”
When he smiled, he revealed those too-sharp teeth—teeth that could easily rip fragile flesh like hers. “What did we say about that? You call me Master.”
His voice wasn’t his own. He sounded more monster than man when he spoke.
“H-how many souls did you destroy?”
“A nice even one hundred. And I will destroy more if I have to.”
She crossed her arms over her chest, half anger, half defensive posture. Defiant tears slid down her cheeks. “I will never forgive you for this.”
He laughed. “See, that’s the thing, Persephone. I don’t care. I don’t require your approval or your love. I just want you to scream pretty for me again.”
Before he could unlock the cage and drag her out of it, there was a thundering sound on the stairs. Both Persephone and Hades turned in the direction of the doorway to see a man… no, one of the under beings, race downstairs.
“Nick!” Hades said, jovially. “Did you come to watch me play with my sad little prisoner?”
Nick’s eyes widened. He spared a brief worried glance to Persephone then turned his attention back to Hades. “I can’t believe you really did it.”
“Now, now. Where’s the respect? Is this how you speak to me now?”
Nick bowed. “Forgive me, My Lord Hades.”
“That’s better. Now what has you racing down here like the flames of hell are after you?”
“Zeus knows.”
Hades laughed, a deep thundering sound that caused Persephone’s cage to rattle. “Well, of course he knows. You can’t destroy a hundred souls without word getting around.”
“I’ve just come from seeing him.”
“And why would you do that?” Hades asked as if he wasn’t truly concerned with the answer.
“He’s ended winter and returned the balance. He wants to call a truce. He says he’s willing to meet with you to make a deal regarding Persephone’s release.”
This only made Hades laugh louder. “Oh, he’s willing to meet with me, is he? How gracious. Well I’m not willing to meet with him. I have everything I want. I don’t need any deals. And Persephone isn’t going anywhere. Ever.”
“But My Lord...”
“Tell him it’s done. He lost. I won. She is mine. And tell him not to test me again. If he restarts winter or does anything else to flood us with too many souls, I will start destroying them again, and the next time I won’t stop at a mere hundred. He knows the more I destroy the less reasonable I become. And Persephone has to live with me. He needs to remember that.”
Nick looked as though he might argue, but instead he sighed. “Yes, My Lord. I’ll tell him.”
“Good. Go now.” Hades smiled at Persephone. “I have things to do.”
Nick spared her one last worried glance. “Please, My Lord… don’t hurt her. You’ll regret it.”
Hades moved in closer to Nick, and the under being took several steps back, losing his courage as soon as he’d found it.
“That might be true if the old me was coming back, but he isn’t. We both knew there was no coming back from taking this many souls. This is the god of the underworld you’re all stuck with now. You can thank Zeus for that. Now go!”
“Y-yes, My Lord.” Nick scrambled out of the dungeon and up the stairs. His panicked footsteps quickly receded, leaving Persephone alone with the monster.
Hades walked in a slow circle around the cage. “I’m so excited. I can’t decide what to do with you first.”
Persephone huddled as far from him as she could get, tears streaming down her face. “Please, Master. You don’t want to do this.”
He sighed and stopped circling the cage. “Everyone seems to think they know what I want. What I want is to fuck you and hurt you. What I want is for you to be terrified of your lord and master. I want you to cower and beg and cry and scream for me. I want to watch you suffer and bleed. And I want to do it forever. It might even amuse me to send you down to Melos in the lower realms and let him show you what his real punishments are like.”
She wanted to believe there was something of the Hades she’d known that she could still reach. There was the smallest similarity in the sound of his voice. There were a few facial features that if she looked very hard, she could still find him, but the person she’d known was gone. She’d been a little idiot to think he was scary when he’d first brought her down here. It was nothing to what he was now.
There was nothing to reach. She knew it. Her tears and pleading and pain wouldn’t affect him as they had before. She’d lost him. Her sobs came out in earnest now.
“That won’t help you. It doesn’t affect me,” he said.
She wouldn’t tell him that her crying was for the man she lost, the one she’d loved. He would only laugh at her.
His voice was so cold, so dead when he spoke. His face didn’t light up when he looked at her now. All she saw in his face was the triumph of winning and claiming a prize. That’s all she was to him.
Suddenly Persephone felt something like cold clammy death in the pit of her stomach. Hades’ touch and nearness was the only thing that had made the underworld bearable. And now she had to withstand this place and the monster who had replaced him? It was too much.
All she wanted now was freedom and escape. If the man she loved was lost, and all that remained was this terrible place, she just wanted to get out of it at any cost. But death wouldn’t release her, and she knew Hades wouldn’t.
Before she’d had the smallest hope he might find it within himself to let her return to the surface, that he would understand she couldn’t live down here and take pity on her. Even if he didn’t love her like she loved him, maybe he would feel something and let her go. Now that hope was gone because this creature wasn’t letting her go anywhere.
The weight of the underworld pushed in on her again, the hopeless endless death of night. She felt like she was drowning in it, and that was just the place itself. She was so lost inside herself in this dreaded feeling that she didn’t notice when the cage door creaked open and Hades stepped inside.
It wasn’t until he gripped her arm and dragged her out that she realized what was happening.
But when he touched her… somehow against all reason, she felt the smallest balm of comfort. The underworld’s power to hurt her fled in the face of his hands on her because he remained the master of this place no matter what form he took. Somehow, he could still give her peace even when he was the bigger threat—even when giving her peace wasn’t his goal.
She didn’t fight him when he pulled her out of the cage. Not only was it futile, but it was better to be with him anywhere than be left down here alone with the madness that overtook her when it was only her and the screaming void of the underworld.
Hades was silent as he carried her up the stairs to the main level. There was a palpable change in the air up here—something different in the stance of the guards and servants. They trembled in his presence. If they were scared of him now, what hope did she have? They’d never seemed scared of him before. Respectful and obedient, but not scared.
Even the castle itself seemed afraid.
Hades carried her up the grand staircase and then up to his floor. She knew where he was taking her before they got there. The playroom.
Once they were inside the room, he set her down on the ground.
“I owe you a punishment,” he said.
But they both knew he wasn’t punishing her for the secrets she’d kept or trying to hurt herself. He no longer cared about any of that. He just wanted to hurt her.
Persephone looked down at her wrists still wrapped in gauze. It seemed impossible that all of this had happened in the space of a day, that just this morning she’d loved the monster she now merely needed.
He gripped one of her wrists and unwrapped the gauze. He growled at the sight of her injury. Still too fresh.
“You’re far too easy to damage.” He pushed her away and she fell against the hard stone floor. “No matter, Sunshine, I’m sure I can find ways to hurt you that don’t require long healing time. I can pace myself.”
He raised an arm and the leather table came shooting out from the closet.
“Take off the robe,” he practically snarled when he saw she was still dressed.
Persephone tried to drag it out, unlatching the silver clasps as slowly as she could manage, but Hades noticed, and the look he gave her had her rushing to undress.
“On the table.”
She climbed up on the table, unable to stop trembling. She tried to reassure herself he wasn’t going to do anything that required healing time. He wasn’t going to seriously injure her. There were limits to what he could do. She’d survive it. She tried to push away the thoughts that kept crowding into her head reminding her this wasn’t worth surviving. Going on like this wasn’t worth it. And yet even death couldn’t free her.
It was hopeless.
“Master… please.”
“The more you beg, the more excited I get, so you might want to rethink that strategy.” He moved closer to her, so close she could feel the heat coming off his skin. Then he bent and licked the tears off her face. “Fucking delicious,” he said.
She leaned closer when his tongue dragged over her cheek. She shouldn’t want him to touch her. But she couldn’t help it. It calmed her. It shut up the screaming panic for as long as he touched her. It had to be some kind of magic, but if it was, it wasn’t one he was consciously controlling. Comfort was the last thing he wanted to give her. He no longer seemed capable of it.
Then he pulled away, and the creeping dread was back. Persephone wished he’d just do whatever he was going to do. She couldn’t stand this anticipation. She couldn’t cope with the underworld and a monster bent on her destruction.
“M-Master. You won. You have me forever now. I know you’ll never release me. But do you really want to break your favorite toy?”
He chuckled. “Not an expert negotiator, are you, Sunshine? Maybe I like my toys broken. How would you know? You’ve never met the real me. Until now.”
He was lying. Whatever this was, this wasn’t the real him. She closed her eyes against the memory of him incinerating that soul. He’d done that before he’d become this… thing.
Maybe he had always been worse than she’d imagined. Or maybe just desperate.
Hades took the ropes from under the leather table and tied her down spread-eagled on her stomach.
When he went for the whip, she started to cry. Before, it had been different. There had been someone who was in control of himself, who deep down she’d known didn’t really want to hurt her. She’d grown used to seeing Hades as her protector down here. And now there was no one who could or would protect her from Hades.