Persephone: Chapter 5

Life has really trying to get in the way lately. I had a pretty bad reaction to a new medicine, but, miraculously, I was able to get at least a small chapter written!

Read the first chapter of Persephone here. ​

Chapter 5
Persephone

“I see,” I said quietly. And I did.

Hades, the dark, handsome god stood before me, a stranger. Yet, at that moment, I saw him like I’d never seen anyone before. He was sarcastic and acerbic. Insecure but powerful. Even with power rivaled by none but the other two great gods, Hades hated his life. 

It was strange—I hated my own powerlessness, and yet, here was someone who should have all the power in the world, and he was just as miserable as I.

“How about you,” Hades asked. “What do you do with your time?”

I wanted to do something impressive, like twirl my brush with a flourish or call forth a huge tree or something.  

“This and that,” I shrugged. 

“Those flowers you were painting,” he nodded. “They are quite unique.”

“They’re not my favorite.” I frowned at the small pink patch. “But I have some ideas to improve them.”


“No, I just don’t like doing a job halfway.”

“I know that feeling,” he smirked.

 My stomach fluttered, and the air felt warmer around me.

“I… I should return to my work,” I said, too uncomfortable to meet his eyes again. 

“Goodbye, Persephone Kore,” I heard his quiet reply behind me as I turned back to the flowers. 

These really weren’t my favorite. 

I forced myself to focus and not look back at Hades.

The flowers were all wrong. With my soft sigh of resignation, the petals bled crimson. The color shifted gradually darker, until a black ring surrounded the yellow pollen of its center. My brush, nearly moving of its own accord, traced a black line from the middle, up to the deep red top of each petal. 

The leaves rustled beside me, and Clytia gasped.

“My goodness, Kore. That is so pretty.” Her eyebrows wiggled at me. “But I saw something even prettier a moment ago.”

My friend overtly looked toward where the strange god had been. 

“What did you tell him?” she asked anxiously.

“What do you mean?”

Her hands were instantly on her hips, her mouth pouting.

“You didn’t leave with that god. But he proposed to you, didn’t he?” she asked.

Oddly, my face flushed. 

“No,” I replied shortly. “That was not Lord Hades’ intent at all.”

I raised my chin and focused again on painting.

“Lord Hades.” 

She blinked. 

“The lord of the dead himself came to you,” she whispered.

“Yes.” 

I knelt beside another flower. Red was getting old.

“Don’t leave me like this,” she whined. “You have to tell me everything!”

“There’s hardly anything to tell,” I said. “He came, we talked, he left.”

One of the red flowers smacked the side of my head.

“Don’t be like that,” she said. “I thought we were friends.”

I exhaled slowly. 

“We are,” I said. “But it really wasn’t much of a conversation.”

“Please,” she said. “I saw you with him for a nearly half of an hour.”

Had it really been that long?

“What did he want,” she pleaded.

I thought back to the odd encounter. Why had he come?

“He wanted a flower,” I said uncertainly.

“A flower?” 

“Yes, a flower.”

“Just a flower?” she asked, her nose scrunched. “Hades never leaves the underworld, and he came here just to get a flower?”

“That’s all he asked for.”

“Well, which one did you give him?” she asked.

I frowned.

“He didn’t take any,” I said.

“He… I thought that was the whole reason he visited,” she exclaimed.

“That’s what he said, at least.”

“Well, that was terrible excuse. His intentions couldn’t be more transparent.”

That bothered me. I sat back on my heels, and tried to remember. 

I grinned up at her.

“I got to pet his horses,” I hedged.

“Horses? A god, one of the most powerful in the whole world, comes to see you, and you spend the whole time with his smelly old horses?”

“They were not smelly,” I said glumly. “They were sweet and wonderful. You should have seen them. I’ve never seen such wonderful glossy coats. They were blacker than anything. I might have to paint something that color. Magnificent!”

Clytia gawked at me.

“Really, you would have loved them,” I trailed off.

She shook her head, then pressed a hand to it and breathed deeply.
“Did you even talk to him,” she asked.

“Of course I did,” I said.

“And… What did he say? What was he like? When is the wedding?”
I rolled my eyes.

“No wedding,” I said. “We just talked a bit.”

She gestured for me to go on.

 “He was actually nice,” I said, resigned. “Kind of funny, although he clearly thinks a bit too much of his own wit. He told me a little bit about his job, and he really doesn’t appreciate how amazing his horses are. I would kill to have horses like that.”

“Okay, wait. Slow down. You seriously just talked and petted the horses?”
“Yep.”

Her disappointed sigh was followed by a yawn. 

“Could you even be more boring?” she said flatly. “He didn’t even kiss you?”

“No,” I said tightly.

“Didn’t even try to hold your hand or carry you away?” She swooned dramatically.

I couldn’t stop the laugh at burst out at her ridiculousness. 

“Not that I’d let him,” I said.

“All these gods vying for your attention is completely wasted on you.”

“I’m okay with that,” I shrugged.

“Kore, do you even know how big this is,” she asked, but didn’t wait for me to reply. “Hades has shown a interest in you. He never shows interest in anything above ground. I mean, he doesn’t even date.”

I looked at her askance. Gods weren’t like that, at least, no one I knew of. They jumped from lover to lover faster than a bee to the next blossom. 

“Never?” I asked.

“Well, there was one time Nyx tried to seduce him. I don’t think it worked very well though. I mean, they’re not together or anything now, but they did have triplets.”

“Just like every other god…” I said.

“Persephone Kore,” she shouted. “Look at me.”

I did and was surprised to see her normally blue face was purple. 

“You can’t judge someone like that. Love is complicated, and Hades has lived for thousands of years.”

“So have I,” I said defensively.

“Yes, but he still has a few good millenia on you. Would you expect someone to live alone their whole life? Never wanting to find love?”

I wouldn’t look at her.

“I know you well enough that I know you don’t want to live like that. Hades may not be perfect, but you can’t blame someone for trying to find happiness.”
​
Happiness… The sight of his sad face when he talked about his lonely work came back to me. I wondered if I looked like that too.

Read the next chapter here!