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January 9 - January 11, 2025
He had few vices, among them racing, whiskey, and Persephone, his Goddess of Spring.
“Kill Briareus,” she sneered. “That is your first task.”
“But if you have come here to ask for my aid, as I suspect you have, then you will do well to keep your hands to yourself.”
The Fates were supposed to be neutral deities, but truthfully, they had a tendency to favor tragedy.
“There is no path,” said Atropos. “That will leave her unbroken,” said Lachesis.
“If you are going to continue to question my ability to give my partner pleasure, I would be more than happy to prove otherwise with a detailed account of how I spent my night.”
“Perhaps you should stick to what you do best, then.” “And what is that?” “Fuckery,”
“No one talks like that anymore, Hades.” “I just did,”
“You get this look. The one you have now. Your eyes are dark, but there’s something…alive behind them. Sometimes I think it’s passion. Sometimes I think it’s violence. Sometimes I think it’s all your lifetimes.”
“Darling,” he said, his voice low and fierce. “I would burn this world for you.”
“Speak another’s name in this bed again and know you have assigned their soul to Tartarus.”
“I needed the location of a gorgon named Medusa,” Dionysus said. “There is a rumor going around in the market that she has the power to turn men to stone.
“Find. My. Queen!” he commanded.
“Regret? Excuse me. Did you get laid in those gray sweatpants I suggested you wear?”
It was how he saw her—a moon, a star, a sun, a sky at the center of his universe.
“Who am I to deny a queen?”
“I will always want you, and I would have welcomed you to my bed any night.”
“See what my brother is up to,” Hades instructed. “Which one?” “The wet one.”
“You just pinned me against a wall and not in a good way!”
Hermes crossed the room to a stack of folded towels and threw one at him. “Get wet, Daddy Death,” Hermes said.
“What are you doing?” Hades asked, itching to cross his arms over his chest. “Highlighting,” Hermes replied. “Why?” Hades gritted out. “To draw attention to your…assets.”
“I have never loved anyone as I love you,” he murmured as if he wanted no one else to hear, though he would gladly share those words with the world. “I can’t put it into words—there are none that come close to expressing how I feel.”
“Marry me, Persephone. Be my queen. Say you’ll stand by my side…forever.”
I will always want you as my wife and queen.”
“Make no mistake, my lady, I would burn this world for you.”
“Let me be perfectly clear,” he said, leaning close as he spoke. “I do want to fuck you. More importantly, I love you—deeply, endlessly. If you walked away from me today, I would love you still. I will love you forever. That’s what Fate is, Persephone. Fuck threads and colors…and fuck your uncertainty.”
“Kiss me. Love me. Ruin me.”
“Persephone, this was my choice. I am sorry it had to be this way, but my time in the Upperworld was over. I accomplished what I needed to.” “What was that?” Persephone asked, miserable. Lexa smiled. “To empower you.”
“Persephone,” he said. “I would have chosen you a thousand times over, the Fates be damned. Please…become my wife, rule beside me, let me love you forever.”
“Hades,” Persephone whispered, drawing closer to him. “Why is it snowing?” He did not look at her as he spoke, staring angrily at the flurries whirling over New Athens. “It’s the start of a war,” he said. And you—you’re at the center of it.
