A Touch of Malice (Hades & Persephone #3)(38)

She met Hecate’s gaze in the mirror, and the witch offered a gentle smile. She’d heard her thoughts.

“This darkness is not the same. This darkness is toil and trauma, grief and loss. It is the darkness that will make you Queen of the Underworld.”

Then Hecate leaned forward, holding Persephone’s lithe shoulders between her hands, settling her chin upon her shoulder.

“Look long at yourself, my love, but do not fear the change.”

She stared for a moment longer and found that she wasn’t afraid of the person staring back at her. In fact, she liked her despite the pain and the grief. She was broken and somehow better for it.

“Come,” Hecate slide her fingers through Persephone’s and teleported.

They appeared in the middle of Asphodel, beneath an ethereal canopy of lights and glimmering white cloth. Lanterns and bouquets of white and blush roses, delphiniums, stock, and hydrangeas flanked either side of the road. There were candles in every window and tables outside each home crowded with an array of food, all various specialties of the souls who resided inside. The smells were varied and mouth-watering. The souls themselves were out in droves, all well-dressed and gleeful.

“Lady Persephone has arrived!” Hecate announced and after they bowed, they cheered, approaching her to hold her hand or clutch her dress.

“We are so excited, Lady Persephone!”

“Congratulations, Lady Persephone!”

“We cannot wait to call you queen!”

She smiled and laughed with them until Yuri approached, throwing her arms around Persephone.

“What do you think?” she asked, smiling so wide, Persephone was certain she hadn’t seen the soul this happy since meeting her.

“It is truly beautiful, Yuri,” Persephone said. “You outdid yourself.”

“If you think this is beautiful, you have to see the meadow!”

Yuri took Persephone’s hand and guided her down the long road, past homes and flowers and lanterns to the emerald green of the Asphodel Meadow. From the center of town, she’d seen orbs of light in the distance, but now that she approached, she saw what they really were. The lampades hovered a few feet from the ground, their unearthly light igniting the whole, narcissus-covered meadow where white blankets were arranged. Each space had a picnic basket decorated with the white delphiniums from the bouquets she’d seen in town.

“Oh, Yuri, it’s perfect,” Persephone said.

“I thought of it because you like picnics,” she said and beside her, Hecate snorted.

Persephone arched a brow at the Goddess. “What? I do like picnics.”

“You like picnics alone. With Hades. You like Hades,” she said.

“So? This is my engagement party.”

Hecate threw her head back, laughing.

“Do you like it?” Yuri asked. She seemed to take Hecate’s words to mean Persephone might not like the décor.

“I love it, Yuri. Thank you so much.”

The soul beamed. “Come! We have so much planned—dancing and games and feasts!”

They returned to the crowded center of town and Persephone found herself marveling at the diversity of the souls—there were people here from all walks of life, and she wanted to learn from each. They were all dressed differently, had different skin tones and accents, cooked different food and made different tea, had different customs and beliefs, they’d lived different lives, some without advancement and others with, some only a few years and others, long lives—and yet here they were, at the end of all things, sharing their eternity with no hint of anger or animosity.

“Look who’s arrived—and in new robes, too,” Hecate said, pulling Persephone out of her thoughts.

She turned, eyes connecting with Hades’ who had manifested at the end of the road—the entrance to Asphodel. His presence halted her steps and made her heart drum painfully in her chest.

He was stunning, a King of Darkness, cloaked in shadow. His robes were the color of midnight, trimmed in silver, and draped over only one shoulder, leaving part of his muscled chest and bicep exposed. She tracked his bronzed skin, the contours and the veins that trailed up his arm and disappeared beneath his long, silken hair. This time, he wore half of it up, and his black horns were crowned with iron spikes.

Standing on opposite ends of the road, Persephone was struck by how similar they were—not in appearance, but something deeper—something that threaded through their hearts and bones and souls.

They’d began in two very different worlds but wanted the same thing in the end—acceptance and love and solace—and they’d found it in each other’s eyes and arms and mouths.

This was power, she thought as her body flushed and fluttered with a chaotic tangle of emotion— the passion and pain of loving someone more than the air in her lungs and the glimmer of stars in the night sky.

“Lord Hades!” A chorus of voices rang out as several children rushed toward him, hugging his legs. Others hung back, too shy to approach. “Play with us!”

He grinned and it hit her hard in the chest, the laugh that followed shook her lungs. He bent and swept a small girl named Lily into his arms.

“What shall we play?” He asked.

There were several voices all at once.

“Hide and Seek!”

“Blind man’s bluff!”