A Touch of Ruin (Hades x Persephone #2)(39)

Hecate sighed. “Perhaps I have overstepped. I am sorry for the bees.”

Once Hecate dismissed the bees, they focused on practice.

“Remember what I told you,” the goddess said, positioning her in front of the pomegranate tree. “Magic is malleable.”

Persephone did remember. They were words Hecate had spoken shortly after she started to feel life in the plants, flowers, and trees around her.

Practicing magic with Hecate was nothing like practicing on her own. The goddess was dedicated to the craft and meticulous in her instruction. Persephone was told to ripen the pomegranates on the tree in the middle of the grove. They weighted down branches of the tree, their skin was a greenish-yellow, bruising with a crimson red. It meant that she was going to have to demonstrate control in gathering and channeling her power.

Hecate’s words rose to the surface of her mind as she called up her magic.

Imagine it as clay—mold it into what you desire and then...give it life.

It was easier said than done.

Persephone felt the heat of magic pulse through her veins. It pooled into her palms like water warmed beneath the sun, and as she closed her eyes, she imagined herself manipulated the glamour into a ripe, red pomegranate.

“Perfect,” she heard Hecate say encouragingly.

Persephone took a deep breath and opened her eyes. She couldn’t see the magic she held in her hands, but she could feel it. It was energy, and it charged the air around her, raising the hair on her arms and the back of her neck.

“Now, direct the magic at your target.”

Persephone did as Hecate instructed, pushing her hands out as the magic pulsed from her palms, leaving them covered in a cold sweat. The magic reached the tree, and the pomegranates began to swell and darken.

“Yes!” Persephone jumped, excited by her success.

But the fruit kept growing.

And growing.

And growing.

Oh no.

“Take cover!” Hecate grabbed Persephone’s hand and dragged her behind a nearby tree.

A second later, she heard a loud pop as several pomegranates exploded. Persephone didn’t want to look, but she peered around the tree anyway. The whole grove was covered in red. It looked like a bloodbath.

Her shoulder sagged with defeat.

“You just used too much power,” Hecate said.

“I think that’s more than obvious, Hecate,” Persephone snapped, frustrated with herself.

The Goddess of Witchcraft didn’t seem fazed by Persephone’s outburst and just smiled. “Do not see this as defeat, my dear. It’s only through a failure to control your power that we will learn how strong you truly are.”

But Persephone didn’t feel powerful, and she said as much. “I can grow plants and kill them. To gods, those are parlor tricks.”

“Right now,” Hecate agreed. “But that does not mean other powers won’t manifest.”

Persephone pursed her lips. She thought about how she’d been sensing emotions off and on since Sybil had come to her apartment.

“My dear, there’s darkness inside of you, and we have only touched the surface.”

A shiver slithered up her spine. It wasn’t the first time she’d heard those words.

Let me coax the darkness from you—I will help you shape it.

They were words Hades had spoken against her skin right before he explored her body for the first time, inside and out. She hadn’t known what he meant then, she didn’t know what Hecate meant now, and she decided she didn’t want to ask.

“Can you fix this mess?” Persephone asked Hecate. Thick pulp dripped from tree limbs onto the flowers below. It looked like a battlefield.

“I could,” Hecate said. “But then I wouldn’t have a lesson for later.”

“You want me to fix this?” Persephone knew she didn’t have to, but she threw her arms out, gesturing to the disaster in front of them. “What makes you think I can mend this when I couldn’t stop it from happening?”

“If I thought you could do it on your own, it wouldn’t be a lesson,” the goddess replied.

Persephone seethed.

One day, she would turn her mother into a carrion flower for keeping her magic from manifesting.

“Do not worry, my love. You will learn your power as you learn yourself,” Hecate promised.

The two made their way back to the palace. For a while they were able to stay away from the topic of Hades and Apollo, mostly because Hecate used the walk as a teaching moment after they’d happened upon a grove of hemlock.

“At some point, I will instruct you in the art of poison,” Hecate said. “It’s a useful skill for any lady to possess.”

Persephone gave Hecate an uncertain look.

“I don’t think poisoning is useful skill, Hecate.”

“It is when you must kill discreetly.”

“And when do you need to kill discreetly?”

She shrugged. “There are all sorts of instances—abusers of women and children, sex traffickers, rapists…the list goes on.”

Huh, perhaps Hecate was onto something.

They walked along in silence for a little while, Persephone contemplating the usefulness of poison against one god in particular when she asked, "What does Hades have against Apollo?"

She knew why she disliked him, of course, but Hades’ fury seemed to surpass her own.