Goddess of Spring (Goddess Summoning #2)(72)

"Where are we going?"

"Not far. To a field there." He pointed ahead of them.

Al lina could see was more of the huge trees, but they were close enough to the palace that the land was stil well -ordered. The ground beneath the trees was grassy and free from brambles and debris. The night forest had been emptied of the songbirds' tril ing melodies, and Lina began to feel intimidated by the vast silence.

Speaking in a whisper she said, "What's in the field?"

Hades squeezed her hand. "You do not have to be quiet tonight."

"Oh," she said feeling a little embarrassed. Raising her voice to a normal level she repeated her question. "What's in the field?"

"Fireflies."

"Fireflies?"

The God nodded.

The one last thing that he had to show her of the mysteries of the Underworld was fireflies? She'd seen fireflies before. Lots of them.

Reading her expression he grinned mischievously and said, "I believe that you wil find these fireflies unique."

Lina shrugged and kept her mouth shut. Maybe the real Persephone would have thought a field of fireflies was unique, but it would take a little more than summer bugs to raise the eyebrows of an Oklahoma girl, especial y after the wonders she had already seen that day.

"Ah, here is the break in the trees. Watch your step, we must cross this smal gully first." Lina's attention was focused on stepping across the little ditch, so she didn't look up until she was actual y standing in the field. When she did her eyes widened with surprise. The field was fil ed with light, but it wasn't the familiar butter-yel ow firefly light she had grown up chasing. It was light the color of moonbeams, lace, and...

"Narcissus flowers!" She gasped. " Misericordioso madre di Dio! They're making narcissus flowers." Hades' soft chuckle sounded happily self-satisfied. "Few outside of the Underworld have witnessed their like. So, Goddess of Spring, do you approve?"

Lina stared at the field. What must have been thousands of fey fireflies were hard at work. And they were spinning flowers. From the middle of tufts of ordinary-looking green foliage a group of the tiny insects would swarm, then they would begin flying in a sparkling spiral, around and around until, like miniature comets, their glowing tails took on form and mass, leaving behind a perfect narcissus in ful bloom.

"It's incredible. Is this how al of the narcissus are made?"

"Al of them that exist in the Underworld. Occasional y, a group of fireflies wil get confused and drift too close to the opening to the land of the mortals. Sometimes they create a flower in the world above, but I try to prevent that. As you may have noticed, the fragrance of my narcissus bloom is different than those in the World of the Living. Mortals find it too intoxicating." Lina remembered the night she had bent to breathe in the scent of a very unusual narcissus bloom.

"I can see how that might cause problems," she said faintly. As if the sound of her voice had just registered on their smal consciousness, several of the closest groups of fire-flies paused in their flower building. Then, like they al had the same thought, in one glowing flock they flew to Lina. They hovered in front of her spinning in sparkling circles and making strange little chirping noises that Lina thought sounded a lot like soprano-singing crickets.

"What do they want?" Lina whispered out of the side of her mouth to Hades. The God tilted his head and then smiled. "They want you to create flowers with them."

"Real y?" she said, undecided about what to do.

"Real y," he said. Hades let go of her hand. "Go to them. I wil wait for you." She pretty much had to. She was supposed to be Goddess of Spring. Building flowers would definitely be a part of her job description. And, as she stood there pondering what she should do, she realized that she wanted to join them, very much.

Just touch them and wish the blossom into being. They wil bloom. Her internal monitor told her. Lina stepped into the field. The long grass swayed softly against her calves. The fireflies danced in dizzying circles around her, chirping happily. Lina approached a clump of green that wasn't grass and wasn't flower. Hesitantly, she stroked the wide, flat leaves with her fingertips, thinking about how much she would like it to bloom. In a burst of bright light that reminded her of a fireworks display, a bril iant white blossom exploded from the center of the plant. She bent and inhaled the unique fragrance. Lina laughed aloud. She had created that beautiful flower. The joy of youth and new beginnings fil ed her. Without thinking, she fol owed the lead of her body and did a graceful pirouette and a little leap step to the next cluster of greenery. The fireflies haloed her body as she caressed the flower alive and then danced to another bloom. Hades stood at the edge of the field and fil ed his eyes with her. How could anyone be so lovely?

He felt a ferocious desire to have her, and through that act to final y gain true belonging - the kind of belonging that he had born witness to so many times as he had watched it reflected in the eyes of soul mates.

She spun and danced and cal ed the narcissus flowers alive. And wasn't she doing the same to him? The Lord of the Dead, the God who had considered himself immune to love, had fal en in love with the Goddess of Spring. No matter how ridiculous or ironic it seemed, it had happened. And he didn't want it to end. The decision was made. He wanted to do more than to watch the ghosts of love - he wanted to experience love for himself.