He called the illusion back, and they continued through the garden. As she followed Hades, the scents accosted her—sweet roses, musky boxwood, peppery geraniums, and more. The smell of dense foliage reminded Persephone of the time she spent in the greenhouse where her mother’s flowers bloomed so easily and the promise she’d made never to return. Now she realized she would just trade one prison for another if she failed to fulfill the terms of their contract.
Finally, they came to a low stone wall where a plot of land remained barren, and the soil at their feet was the color of ash.
“You may work here,” he said.
“I still don’t understand,” Persephone said, and Hades looked at her. “Illusion or not, you have all of this beauty. Why demand this of me?”
“If you do not wish to fulfill the terms of our contract, you have only to say so, Lady Persephone. I can have a suite prepared for you in less than an hour.”
“We do not get along well enough to be housemates, Hades.” His brows rose, and she lifted her chin. “How often am I allowed to come here and work?”
“As often as you want,” he said. “I know you are eager to complete your task.”
She looked away and bent to scoop up a handful of the sand. It was silky and fell through her fingers like water. She considered how she would plant the garden; her mother could create seeds and sprout them out of nothing, but Persephone couldn’t touch a plant without it wilting. Perhaps she could convince Demeter to give her a few of her own seedlings. Divine magic would have a better chance in this dirt than anything a mortal might offer.
She thought through her plan, and when she rose to her feet, she found Hades watching her again. She was getting used to his gaze, but it still made her feel exposed. It didn’t help that she only wore his black robe.
“And…how shall I enter the Underworld?” she asked. “I’m assuming you don’t want me to return the way I came.”
“Hmm.” He tilted his head thoughtfully to the side. She had only known him for three days but had seen him do this before when he was particularly amused; it was a move he made when he already knew how he was going to act.
Even with that knowledge, she was surprised when he took her by the shoulders and pulled her flush against him. Her arms shot out, fitting against his chest, and when his lips met hers she lost her grip on reality. Her legs gave out, and Hades’ arms slipped around her, holding her tighter. His mouth was hot and consuming. He kissed her with everything—his lips and teeth and tongue—and she reciprocated with just as much passion. Though she knew she should not encourage him, her body had a mind of its own.
As her hands moved up his chest and around his neck, Hades made a sound deep in his throat that both thrilled and frightened her. Then they were moving, and she felt the stone wall at her back. When he lifted her off the ground, she wrapped her legs around his waist. He was so much taller than her, and this position allowed him to trace her jaw with his lips, nip at her ear, and kiss down her neck. The sensation made her gasp, and she arched against him, driving her fingers through his hair, loosening the tie that held his dark strands in place, and when his hands moved under her robe, grazing soft, sensitive skin, she cried out, gripping his hair in her hands.
That’s when Hades pulled away. His eyes lit with a need she felt deep in her core, and they struggled to catch their breath. For a long moment, they remained still. Hades’ hands were still under her robe, gripping her thighs. She wouldn’t stop him if he continued. His fingers were dangerously close to her core, and she knew he could feel her heat. Still, if she gave into this need, she couldn’t say how she might feel after, and for some reason she didn’t want to regret Hades.
Maybe he sensed that, too, because he pried his fingers from her flesh and lowered her to the ground. His dark hair fell in waves well past his shoulders, creating a dark halo around his face. “Once you enter Nevernight, you have only to snap your fingers, and you will be brought here.”
The color drained from her face, and she stopped breathing for a moment. Of course, she thought. He was bestowing favor. In the aftermath of the kiss, Persephone felt ashamed. Why had she allowed this? Why had she allowed things to get so intense? She knew not to trust the God of the Underworld—not even his passion.
She tried to push him away, but he didn’t budge.
“Can’t you offer favor another way?” she snapped.
He looked amused. “You didn’t seem to mind.”
She blushed and touched her tingling lips with shaking fingers. Hades’ eyes flashed, and for a moment, she thought he might pick up where they’d left off.
And she couldn’t let that happen.
“I should go,” she said.
Hades nodded once, then wrapped his arm around her waist.
“What are you doing?” she demanded.
Hades snapped his fingers. The world shifted, and they were in her room. She gripped Hades’ arms, lightheaded. It was still dark outside, but the clock beside her bed read five in the morning. She had an hour before she had to be up and ready for work.
“Persephone.” Hades’ voice was a low rumble, and she met his gaze. “Never bring a mortal to my realm again, especially Adonis. Stay away from him.”
She narrowed her eyes. “How do you know him?”
“That is not relevant.”
She tried to draw away from him, but he kept her where she was, pressed against him.
“I work with him, Hades,” she said. “Besides, you can’t give me orders.”
“I’m not giving you orders,” he said. “I am asking.”
“Asking implies there’s a choice.”
She wasn’t sure it was possible, but Hades held her tighter. His face was inches from hers, and she found it hard to meet his eyes because her gaze kept falling to his mouth—the memory of the kiss they’d shared in the garden a phantom on her lips. She shut her eyes against it.
“You have a choice,” he said. “But if you choose him, I will fetch you, and I might not let you leave the Underworld.”
Her eyes flew open, and she glared at him. “You wouldn’t,” she said between her teeth.
Hades chuckled, leaning in so that when he spoke, his breath caressed her lips. “Oh, darling. You don’t know what I’m capable of.”
Then he was gone.
CHAPTER VIII– A GARDEN IN THE UNDERWORLD
Lexa sat across from Persephone outside The Yellow Daffodil. They’d walked to the bistro from their apartment to have breakfast before they went their separate ways—Persephone to the Library of Artemis and Lexa to Talaria Stadium to meet Adonis and his friends for a day of Trials.
Stay away from him. Hades’ voice echoed in Persephone’s head as if his mouth were against her ear, and she shivered. Despite his warning, she would have gone with Lexa—but she had a god to research, a garden to plant, and a bargain to win. Still, she wondered why Hades disapproved of Adonis. Did the King of the Underworld know his warning would only make her more curious?
“Your lips are bruised,” Lexa observed.
Persephone covered her mouth with her fingers. She’d tried to cover the discoloration with foundation and lipstick.
“Who did you kiss?”
“Why do you think I kissed someone?” Persephone asked.
“I don’t know that you kissed anyone. Maybe someone kissed you.”
Persephone flushed—someone had kissed her, but not for the reasons Lexa was thinking. He was just bestowing favor, Persephone reminded herself. He would do just about anything to ensure you don’t disturb him again. That included offering her a shortcut to his realm.
She wouldn’t let herself romanticize the God of the Dead.
Hades is the enemy. He is your enemy. He tricked you into a contract and challenged you to use powers you don’t have. He will imprison you if you fail to create life in the Underworld.
“I’m just guessing since you left the apartment at ten last night and didn’t come home until like five this morning.”
“H…how did you know that?”
Lexa smiled, but Persephone could tell her friend was a little hurt by her sneakiness. “I guess we both have secrets. I was up talking to Adonis, I heard you come in.”
What she’d heard was Persephone tiptoeing into the kitchen for water after Hades had teleported to her bedroom, but she didn’t correct her. Instead, she focused on the part of Lexa’s reply that was news to her.
“Oh. You and Adonis are talking?”
It was Lexa’s turn to blush, and Persephone was glad she could redirect this conversation even if she wasn’t sure how to feel about her best friend dating her co-worker. Plus, she had yet to figure out why Hades disliked him. Was it simply that she had brought him to Nevernight, or something more?
“It doesn’t mean anything,” Lexa said.
Persephone knew she was just trying to keep her expectations low. It had been a long time since she had been interested in someone. She’d fallen hard and fast for her first college boyfriend, a wrestler named Alec, a man who was incredibly handsome and charming…until he wasn’t. What Lexa had at first thought was protectiveness soon became controlling. Things escalated until one night he’d yelled at her for going out with Persephone and accused her of cheating on him. At that point, she’d decided things had to end.
It was only after things ended that Lexa learned Alec hadn’t been faithful to her at all. The whole thing had broken her heart, and there was a time when Persephone wasn’t sure Lexa would ever recover.
“We were making plans for today and just…kept talking,” Lexa continued. “He’s so interesting.”
“He’s interesting?” Persephone laughed. “You’re interesting. Fashionista. Witch. Tattoos. What more could a guy want?”
Lexa rolled her eyes and promptly ignored her compliment.
“Did you know he was adopted? It’s why he became a journalist. He wants to find his biological parents.”
Persephone shook her head. She didn’t know anything about Adonis except that he worked at New Athens News and had regular access to Nevernight, which was ironic considering Hades really didn’t seem to like him.
“I can’t imagine what that’s like,” Lexa said absently. “To exist in the world without really knowing who you are.”
She couldn’t know how painful her words were. The bargain Hades had forced upon her had reminded Persephone just how much she didn’t belong.
Once Lexa left for the Trials, Persephone took a coffee to go and headed to the Library of Artemis and the sanctuary of its beautiful reading rooms named after the Nine Greek Muses. Persephone liked all of them, but she had always been drawn to the Melpomene Room, which she entered now. She wasn’t sure why it was named after the Muse of Tragedy, except that a statue of the goddess stood at the center of the oval room. Light streamed through a glass ceiling, pouring over several long tables and study areas.
She’d come here in search of a book, and while she looked, she trailed her fingers over leather binding and gold lettering. Finally, she found what she was looking for: The Divine: Powers and Symbols.
She carried the volume to one of the tables and sat down to open it, turning the pages until she found his name in bold letters across the top of one.
Hades, God of the Underworld.
Just seeing his name made her heart race. The entry included a sketch of the god’s profile, which Persephone traced with the tips of her fingers. No one would recognize him in person from this picture because it was too dark, but she could see familiar features—the arch of his nose, the set of his jaw, the strands of his long hair falling to his shoulders.
Her eyes dropped to the information written on the rest of the page, which detailed how Hades became the God of the Underworld. After the defeat of the Titans, he and his two younger brothers drew lots—Hades was given the Underworld, Poseidon the Sea, and Zeus the Skies, each with equal access over the Earth.
She often forgot that the three gods had equal power over the Earth, mostly because Hades and Poseidon didn’t often venture outside their own realms. Zeus’s descent to the mortal world had been a reminder, and Hades and Poseidon were not going to stand by while their brother took control of a realm they all had access to. Still, Persephone hadn’t considered what that meant for Hades’ powers. Did he share some of her mother’s abilities to call forth storms and famine?
She continued reading until she came to the list of Hades’ powers; her eyes widened as she read it, and she couldn’t tell if she was more afraid or awed by him.
Hades has many powers, but his primary and most powerful abilities are necromancy, including reincarnation, resurrection, transmigration, death sense, and soul removal. Because of his ownership of the earthly realm, he can also manipulate earth and its elements and has the ability to draw precious metals and jewels from the ground.
Rich One, indeed.
Additional powers include charm—the ability to sway mortals and lesser gods to his will, as well as invisibility.
Invisibility?
That made Persephone very nervous. She was going to have to withdraw a promise from the god that he would never use that power with her.
She turned the page and found information on Hades’ symbols and the Underworld.
The narcissus are sacred to the Lord of the Dead. The flower, often in colors of white, yellow, or orange have a short, cup-shaped corona and grow in abundance in the Underworld. They are a symbol of rebirth. It is said Hades chose the flower to give the souls hope of what is to come when they are reincarnated.
Persephone sat back in her chair. This god did not seem like the one she’d met a few days ago. That god dangled hope before mortals in the form of riches. That god made a game out of pain. The one described in this passage sounded compassionate and kind. She wondered what had happened in the time since Hades had chosen his symbol.
I have had success, he’d said. But what did that mean?
Persephone decided she had more questions for Hades.
When she was finished reading the passage on the Underworld, Persephone made a list of the flowers mentioned in the text—asphodels, aconite, polyanthus, narcissus—and then found a book on plant varieties which she used to take careful notes, making sure to include how to care for each flower and tree.
She grimaced when the instructions called for direct sunlight. Would Hades’ muted sky be enough? If she were her mother, the light wouldn’t matter. She could make a rose grow in a snowstorm.
Then again, if she were her mother, a garden would already be growing in the Underworld.
When Persephone finished, she took her list to a flower shop and asked for seeds. When the clerk—an older man with wild, wispy hair and a long, white beard—came to the narcissus, he looked up at her and said, “We do not carry his symbol here.”
“Why not?” she asked, more curious than anything.
“My dear, few invoke the name of the King of the Dead, and when they do, they turn their heads.”
“It sounds like you have no wish to exist happily in the Underworld,” she said.
The shopkeeper paled, and Persephone left with a few extra flowers, a pair of gloves, a watering can and a small shovel. She hoped the gloves would keep her touch from killing the seeds before she got them in the ground.
After she left the shop, she traveled straight to Nevernight for the third day in a row. It was early enough that no one was waiting outside to get into the club. As she approached, the doors opened, and once she was inside she took a deep breath and snapped her fingers like Hades had showed her. The world shifted around her, and she found herself in the Underworld, in the same spot where Hades had kissed her.
Her head spun for a few moments. She had never teleported on her own, always using borrowed magic. This time it was Hades’ magic that clung to her skin, unfamiliar but not unpleasant, lingering on her tongue, smooth and rich like his kiss. She flushed at the memory and quickly turned her attention to the barren land at her feet.
She decided she would start near the wall and plant the aconite first, the tallest flower which would bloom purple. Then she moved onto the asphodel, which would bloom white. The polyanthi were next, and would grow in clusters of red.
Once she had a plan, she lowered to her knees and started to dig. She settled the first seed into the ground and covered it with thin soil.
One down.
Several more to go.
Persephone worked until her arms and knees hurt. Perspiration beaded across her forehead, and she wiped it away with the back of her hand. When she finished, she sat back on her heels and surveyed her work. She couldn’t quite describe how she felt, staring at the grayish plot, except that something dark and uneasy edged its way into her thoughts.
What if she couldn’t do this? What if she failed to meet the terms of this contract? Would she really be stuck here in the Underworld forever? Would her mother, a powerful goddess in her own right, fight for her freedom when she discovered what Persephone had done?
She pushed those thoughts aside. This is going to work. She might not be able to grow a garden with magic, but nothing was preventing her from trying it the mortal way…except her deadly touch. She would have to wait a few weeks to find out if the gloves worked.
She picked up the watering can and looked around for a place to fill it.
Her gaze fell on the garden wall. It might give her enough height to locate a fountain or a river.
She stepped carefully so as not to disturb her freshly-planted seeds, and managed to scale the wall. Like everything else Hades owned, it was obsidian and almost resembled a vicious volcanic eruption. She navigated the rough edges carefully, only falling once, but caught herself, cutting her palm. She hissed at the stab of pain, closing her fingers on sticky blood, and finally made it to the top of the wall.
“Oh.”
Persephone had glimpsed the Underworld yesterday, and yet it still managed to surprise her. Beyond the wall was a field of tall green grass stretching on for what seemed like miles before ending in a forest of cypress trees. Cutting through the lengthy grass was a wide and rushing river. From this distance, she couldn’t quite make out the color of the water, but she knew it wasn’t black like the river Styx. There were several rivers in the Underworld, but she was too unfamiliar with its geography to even guess which one might be in the field beyond.
Still, it didn’t really matter—water was water.
Persephone climbed down from the wall and started across the field, watering can in hand. The tall grass scraped across her bare arms and legs. Mingled with the grass were strange orange flowers she had never seen before. Now and then a breeze stirred the air. It smelled like fire, and while it wasn’t unpleasant, it was a reminder that, though she was surrounded by beauty, she was still in the Underworld.
As she waded through the grass, she came upon a bright red ball.
Strange, Persephone thought. It was a larger-than-normal ball, almost the size of her head, and as she bent to pick it up, she heard a low growl. When she looked up, a pair of black eyes stared back from the tall grass.
She screamed and stumbled backward, ball in hand. One—no, three powerful-looking black Dobermans stood before her, sleek coats shining, cropped ears twitching. Then she noticed their gazes were focused on the red ball she held in her hand. Their growls turned into whines the longer she held it.
“Oh,” she glanced down at the ball. “You want to play fetch?”
The three dogs sat tall, tongues lolling out of their mouths. Persephone threw the ball and all three bolted; she laughed as she watched them fall over each other, racing to claim it. It wasn’t long before they returned, the ball in the jowls of the one in the center. The dog dropped it at her feet and then the three sat back obediently, waiting for her to throw it again. She wondered who had trained them.
She tossed the ball again and continued until she reached the river. Unlike the Styx, the water here was clear and ran over rocks that looked like moonstones. It was beautiful, but just as she moved to draw water, a hand clamped down on her shoulder and drew her back. “No!”
Persephone fell and looked up into the face of a goddess.
“Do not draw water from the Lethe,” she added. Despite the command, her voice was warm. The goddess had long black hair, half of it was pulled back, and the rest fell over her shoulders, past her waist. She dressed in ancient clothing—a crimson peplos and a black cloak. A set of short, black horns protruded from her temples, and she wore a gold crown. She had beautiful but stern features—arched brows accentuating almond-shaped eyes set in a square face.
Behind her, the three Dobermans sat, tails wagging.
“You’re a goddess,” Persephone said, getting to her feet and the woman smiled.
“Hecate,” she bowed her head.