Goddess of Spring (Goddess Summoning #2)(75)

"But she's a part of your realm now. You're not technical y meddling. You're doing your job." Hades spoke through gritted teeth. "Persephone, do you not remember what happened the last time you made a judgment about sending a spirit back to the Land of the Living?" Lina flinched as if he had slapped her. "This is different, and I can't believe that you are heartless enough not to see that." Her voice was ice.

"Oh, please!" Alcetis threw herself on her knees between the two immortals. "I did not mean to cause strife between the King and Queen of the Underworld."

"What is it you cal ed Persephone?" Hades said, fast and sharp. "What title did you give her?" Trembling, the out of place spirit answered the God. "I cal ed her Queen of the Underworld, but I did not give the title to her, Lord. I simply repeat what she has been named in the world above." She managed to smile shyly at Lina. "It is well known that she is now reigning at your side." Lina was struck speechless. Queen of the Underworld? People were real y cal ing her that? She looked at Hades and the dark God captured her gaze. His eyes flamed and his face seemed to burn with transparent joy. As he spoke, Lina could not look away from him, and she forgot to breathe.

"Pronounce your judgment, Persephone. I bow to your wil ."

And then he did, almost imperceptibly, bow his head to her.

Lina forced her eyes from him. She smiled shakily at Alcetis. "Then my judgment is that you return to the mortal world and your husband to finish living out your fate. And tel your husband that he can continue fol owing whatever new thread the Fates have woven for him." With a happy cry, Alcetis jumped to her feet and took Lina's hand. She kissed it, then held it to her wet cheek. Through shining eyes she beamed at Lina.

"Oh, thank you, Queen of the Underworld. My children and my children's children shal make sacrifices to you every spring until the end of time."

"That's real y nice of you, but you should know that I prefer a little wine and honey scattered around the ground. I don't so much like the blood sacrifices," Lina said quickly. Alcetis curtsied deeply. "I wil always remember your kindness, Goddess."

Chapter 21

Hades had been very quiet after Alcetis disappeared back down the road that would return her to her mortal life. Lina watched him with little sideways glances. He was holding her hand, but his face was inscrutable. He was definitely making her very nervous. Were they stil going to his room?

Had she misunderstood his reaction to hearing her cal ed the Queen of the Underworld? Could it have been an emotion other than fierce happiness she had thought she had seen? But then why would he have al owed her to pass a judgment that he was clearly against? Her mind felt like it was fil ed with fireflies.

They entered the palace through the rear courtyard, and turned to the left away from the direction of Lina's room. They walked past the entry to the dining room. Final y, Hades stopped in front of a huge door into which had been carved the rearing image of Orion and the helmet from the Great Hal .

Feeling nervous, Lina pointed at the door. "It's a good likeness of Orion. He looks very ferocious." Hades snorted. "I think a new rendition is needed - one which shows him nickering softly to his goddess."

Relieved by his banter, Lina gave him a playful nudge with her shoulder. "Oh, he's stil thought of as a dread steed. Eurydice certainly avoids him."

Hades shook his head. "I'm afraid his reputation of being a fierce, solitary creature has been forever shattered." He turned to her and took Lina's chin in his hand, tilting her face up. "But he does not mind. His gain far exceeds his loss." He kissed her gently, and murmured against her lips.

"Wil you join me in my chamber?"

"Yes." Her stomach tightened.

Hades opened the great door for her and she stepped into the God's private world. The first thing she noticed was the enormous bed that was centered in the room. It was canopied by a gossamer net of sheer silk that hung in luxurious folds al around it. Lina could see that the bed itself was covered with thick white linens so that the whole thing looked like it was a cloud that had lost its place in the sky. It was opulent and sexy and very, very inviting. Lina realized she was staring at the bed, and letting her imagination wander. She felt her cheeks grow warm. Yanking her eyes away, her attention was drawn to the impressive pair of chandeliers that hung from the domed ceiling. They appeared to have been made from black glass, and flames from hundreds of candles danced and glistened in their unusual surface.

"Your chandeliers are always so beautiful. Are these real y made of black glass?"

"Obsidian," Hades said. Pressing his hand intimately into the smal of her back, he led her into the room. "Although when it has been cut and polished it does resemble glass." Lina smiled at him. "What are its properties? I know they must be special if you chose this stone for your room."

"Obsidian's powers are that of protection, grounding, divination and peace." He glanced up at the winking light. "And I find it soothing."

"Wel , it definitely works with your color scheme." Lina gestured at the rest of the vast chamber. The predominate colors were black, white and silver. But instead of making the room austere and cold, the dramatic differences fit well together, as if the God had found a way to comfortably wed light and dark.

"Would you like some wine?" Hades asked. He was nervous and he wondered if she could hear the pounding of his heart.