Goddess of Spring (Goddess Summoning #2)(83)

He fed the coals until they screamed with the voice of searing heat. Then he thrust the naked sheet of unformed metal into them and pulled it out when it hummed with readiness. He began pounding it to his wil .

On and on Hades worked. His shoulders ached and his blows coursed through his body, and stil he could not pound the pain from his soul. He did not blame her. She was just a young goddess. He should have known better. He had been wise to set himself apart from the immortals. She had simply proven how wise he had been. His way had worked for age after age. He had been foolish to deviate.

He felt her presence the moment she entered the forge. Absently he wondered if he would always know when she was near him. How could his soul be linked to hers even though she did not love him? It would bear consideration. Later. When he was alone again, when he could think of her without feeling such raw yearning. Now he must end it. He must return to his old ways before he humiliated himself further. And before she caused him irreparable pain.

"I wish you knew how incredibly handsome you are when you work at your forge." When she entered the room he had stopped pounding metal against metal, and her voice sounded too loud in the echoing silence. He could not force himself to speak.

"Hades?" She cleared her throat and continued, even when he didn't respond. "I'd love to see more of Elysia today. Would you escort me?"

Her voice. It was so young and sweet. For a moment his resolve wavered. Then he remembered how easily she had al owed Apol o to take her into his arms. When he turned slowly to face her, Persephone did not meet his eyes. Hades felt a little more of his soul dissolve.

"I am afraid our travels have come to an end. As you can see, I have work I must complete." Lina felt her stomach rol . The man who turned from the forge to speak to her wasn't her lover. He was the cold, imperious God she had met when she had first come to the Underworld. No - she studied him more carefully and realized her initial impression had been wrong. He wasn't even that familiar.

"But, I thought you liked teaching me about your realm," she said inanely. He laughed, but his voice held no warmth and his eyes were flat and cold.

"Persephone, let us stop this - "

"But," she interrupted him, shaking her head. "Last night... I don't understand." The look of naive shock on her face sliced through him. It was al a cruel pretense! He wanted to scream his pain, and with the anger of a god he hurled the hammer across the forge. When it landed sparks exploded and the floor beneath them shook. His eyes blazed and his voice thundered.

"Silence! I am Lord of the Dead, not a lowly teacher!"

Lina felt her face lose al color. "Al this time you've just been pretending to - "

"DO NOT SPEAK TO ME OF PRETENDING!" The wal s of the forge vibrated with the intensity of the dark God's rage. Before he destroyed the chamber in which they stood, Hades brought the force of his anger under control. Through tightly clenched teeth he hurled sarcasm at her. "Have you not been vacationing here, Persephone? Masquerading as Queen of the Dead?" His laughter was cold and cruel. "You may be young, but both of us know you are far from inexperienced. Yes, our lessons were amusing, but you must realize that it is time the charade end, and, as I sense your visit is also concluding, my timing is perfect. Unfortunately, I have al owed our dal iance to take me too long from my duties. If I do not find time to speak with you again before you depart, let me wish you a pleasant return trip to the Land of the Living. Perhaps you wil sojourn in the Underworld another time, perhaps not."

He shrugged nonchalantly, and then turned his back to her, closed another hammer within his shaking fist and resumed his rhythmic pounding. He didn't need to see her leave, he felt it. Soon sweat poured down his face, mixing with his silent tears, and stil he kept on beating against the unspeaking metal until the ache in his arms mirrored the pain in his soul.

"I don't belong here." Lina's lips felt bloodless, and she spoke her thoughts aloud to assure herself that they could stil form words. It didn't do any good to tel herself that Demeter had been right, that Hades' treatment of her was the norm for one of the immortals. She wasn't real y a goddess, and so it was her mortal soul that grieved, and her mortal soul that couldn't understand. Lina fled the forge without caring where her feet led her. She just wanted to be away. She skirted the stables and passed quickly between rows of ornamental shrubbery, but instead of keeping to the paths in Hades' gardens, she plunged into the surrounding woods. Final y, through the tumult of her mind, she recognized that she was retracing the path to the firefly meadow, and instantly changed direction. Her mind cringed away from the sweet memories of that night. She couldn't bear to go there.

She didn't notice the spirits of the dead except as vague, distant images that might have whispered her name. Her eyes were too blurred with unshed tears, leaving her vision as unfocused as her thoughts. Somewhere in her mind she realized that she was grateful that none of them approached her. She couldn't be their Goddess today.

As she passed, the dead paused. Something was wrong with Persephone. Her face had lost its color. Her eyes were glazed and she did not seem to be able to hear them. She moved with the numb steps of the newly dead. Concern for their Goddess began to flicker throughout Elysia. Lina kept walking. She'd be al right. She'd make it. Time would help it not to hurt so badly. The three sentences were a familiar litany. They had become her mantra when her husband had left her for a younger, more perfect woman who could bear him children. They had helped her through the shattered dreams and the sleepless nights that had fol owed. They had kept her strong through the series of disappointing relationships afterward. And they had soothed her when she had realized that she probably would never love again.