A Touch of Ruin (Hades x Persephone #2)(100)

PART III

The path to paradise begins in Hell.

― Dante Alighieri





CHAPTER XXIV - A TOUCH OF MADNESS


For one, horrifying second, Persephone couldn’t move.

She was frozen, numb.

Her legs felt shaky and her chest ached in a way she never thought possible. It was like her shock had become a monster, and it was clawing its way out from the inside.

Then an awful sound escaped her mouth.

The two froze and turned in her direction. Hades pulled away from Leuce, and the nymph collapsed to the ground, unprepared for his sudden movement.

“Persephone—”

She barely heard him say her name over the roar in her ears. Her power churned inside her, boiling her blood, rushing to the surface of her skin.

She saw nothing but red.

She would destroy him. She would destroy her. She would destroy this world.

Persephone screamed her rage, and everything around her began to wilt. The trees rotted before her eyes, the leaves withered and fell, the grass yellowed and faded until all the earth around her was barren. She would strip Hades’ world of life like he had stripped her of happiness.

Leuce fled and Hades came toward her. At his approach, she felt the devastating blow of his betrayal all over again.

“Persephone!”

“Don’t say my name!”

Her voice sounded different, guttural.

Her power was hot in her hands, and she fed her anguish into it. The ground beneath her feet began to rumble “Persephone, listen to me!”

She had listened to him. She had listened and believed him.

I love you—deeply, endlessly.

She wasn’t listening anymore.

He took a step toward her.

“Don’t!”

As she spoke, the earth between them split, and a massive cavern opened between them.

Hades’ eyes widened.

“Persephone, please!” he sounded desperate, but that was expected.

She was destroying his realm.

She screamed, her voice rang with fury and violence, and her magic was like fire against her skin. She didn’t know what she was doing, but she felt guided to bring her hands together, and the power that gathered there was immediate. It blasted Hades, sending him flying backward into the desolate landscape.

He landed on his feet and dropped his glamour. He was a manifestation of death—dark and menacing.

This is how he looked upon the battlefield, she thought, and for a moment, Persephone’s heart beat harder with the fear that he might overpower her.

Shadows peeled away from his form and raced toward her. He was trying to subdue her, and the thought sent a burst of raw anger through her. She screamed again, and her magic tore from her, freezing the shadows just as she’d frozen everyone at the Lyre.

A deafening silence followed, and she met his gaze before sending Hades’ shadows racing back toward him with a burst of her own magic.

Hades lifted his arm, and the shadows disintegrated into ash.

“Stop!” He commanded. “Persephone, this is madness.”

Madness? She would show him madness.

“You would burn the world for me?” She asked, recalling words he’d used when she’d spoken to him about Apollo, recalling how fervent he’d been when he’d told her never to use the god’s name in their room again. Their room. Power gathered in her hands. “I will destroy it for you.”

Hades’ eyes widened just as a terrible cracking sound filled the air. Massive roots split the sky, barreling toward the earth. She was drawing the life from the Upperworld into the Underworld.

The roots hit the ground with a deafening explosion, shaking the earth and destroying mountains.

“Hecate!” Hades’ voice was powerful and resonate as he summoned the Goddess of Magic. She appeared immediately, manifesting beside Hades. Together, their power fought Persephone’s, and the roots that threatened to spear the Underworld were halted, mid-air.

“What happened?” Hecate cried.

“I don’t know. I felt her anguish and came as soon as possible.”

Hades answer incensed her.

Felt her anguish? He had seen it! Why was he acting like he wasn’t the traitor here?

Persephone’s rage continued. She fought hard against Hades and Hecate. Combined, their magic was like an impossible weight. The more she pushed against it, the more drained she felt, but she wasn’t just exhausted physically.

Inside, her rage was turning to despair.

Inside, she was broken.

“My dear.” It was like Hecate was right beside her, speaking into her ear though she stood on the other side of the cavern. “Tell me.”

Persephone’s eyes blurred with tears and she shook her head.

“Persephone, tell me what happened.”

Tears slid down Persephone’s face as the memory that unleashed her terror welled to the surface, unbidden. If Persephone could, she would have repressed it for the rest of her life, but, at Hecate’s words, she relived the terror of discovering Hades inside Leuce. Seeing the pleasure on her face made her want to vomit.

This time, instead of inspiring the anger that fueled her power, the memory exhausted her. She felt unstable on the inside, defeated, and sick. The power rushing through her body died, and she swayed. Hecate caught her in her arms just as she vomited.