Series: Willow Winters
Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 94417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 472(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 472(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
“Hekate wait—” I start and look back on my lover. My King and my Hades.
I want to stop everything and refuse to move another step until I have all the answers, but it is too late—we are already going, and I do not think Hekate will allow us to stop.
“You must come back to the world that is now forever changed.”
Hekate leads me forward, and I glance over my shoulder to look at Hades.
He stands tall, his hand on Cerberus’s head and his eyes as sharp as ever. I want him at my side, just as I was at his side at court. It does not feel right that I should go and he should stay.
“Hekate,” he calls, his voice ringing through the distance between us. Even Hekate’s name is a command. “Do not leave her side. Do not betray me.”
The mother, the maiden, the crone looks back at Hades, her eyes narrowed. There is some deeper meaning here. Something I do not understand. I have changed, yes—but I have not forgotten how it felt to watch my powers dry up without a single clue why they should do so.
She glances down at my hands—my right in hers, and my left in a fist around the remaining seeds.
“Show me,” she says as tears slip down my cheeks.
Once again, I obey her. Why? There are no chains to hold me. And I want so desperately for someone to stop this madness. This pain. Why does agony fill me so?
“Did you eat them?” she questions.
I nod, not understanding a thing that occurs.
“Foolish girl, what have you done?” she asks breathlessly as the sky cracks above us in a powerful boom.
HADES
Ihave suffered many times before, for far longer than mere mortals could ever conceive.
None of that suffering compares at all to watching Persephone walk away, her hand in Hekate’s and so many questions in her eyes.
It is torture that I cannot answer them. I did this. And I vow if she does not return to me, I will end it all. The only words that keep me from torment are those of the Fates. I must let her go but I fear too much. It is a sickness.
The pain is unimaginable.
It is so great that at first it does not feel like anything but an empty space.
But Persephone glances back at me one last time, and there is nothing but pain.
Then she is gone. Away in Hekate’s grasp. Hekate will return on Deipnon. I will have my words with her then.
They are both gone, and it does not matter that Cerberus is here, nor the two inhabitants of the Underworld who have followed me all day in hopes of achieving this very thing.
I leave them both behind. I cannot find it within myself to speak to them. Not with this mortal blow to my chest.
It is the agony I have lived with all my life, only stronger. It is twice as bitter having known the sweetness of Persephone’s lips. I do not know how to survive the rending ache of needing to touch her and having her taken from me. My mind is unsteady and so is my footing as my kingdom falls to pieces.
Cerberus stays at my side as I move through my home without seeing any of the halls or rooms that pass me by. Nothing matters. Nothing matters but Persephone, and she is not here. The screams are muted white noise and all I can hear is the ghost of her whispering my name.
I was made to be unworthy. I was made to have nothing of my own.
Somehow, I have made it to the door of my rooms. I push it open and go inside.
Moving has made no difference. My rooms make no difference. I do not truly own them. I will never truly own anything. I will have nothing, just as I have always had nothing, yet I will remain responsible for everything.
That was my reality until Persephone came to me. Without her, it would have been my reality forever. It would have been the same as living out my existence in the Titan’s stomach. Bleak and lonely and without joy.
I cling to the pillow to inhale her scent as the cries summon me. Praying for mercy. Death will come to all and I would feel relief.
I am at the windows before I can stop myself. I draw back my fists and hit them as hard as I can. Pain echoes through the bones in my hands.
I hit the windows again, screaming in anger. It is a satisfying sound. The walls around the windows rattle with the force of my blows.
But the windows do not break. For this was made a prison for her and it is where I rightly belong.
The Underworld will not let me out no matter how much I want to follow Persephone. I cannot leave no matter how hot my anger burns.