CHAPTER NINE

// THE DREADED DEPARTURE

Hades himself made sure to harness the immortal horses to the golden chariot.

No words were exchanged between the Queen and King, no farewell kiss. At least, not then. Just one meaningful look shared between the two, and the unspoken promise of her return to the arms of her beloved, and to the kingdom that was now rightfully hers just as much as it was his.

She, Persephone, got up on the chariot, and next to her stood Hermes, who took the reins and the whip into his hands and shot out of the palace of Hades. And the horses sped away eagerly.

Swiftly they made their way along the long journey. Neither the sea nor the water of the rivers nor the grassy valleys nor the mountain peaks could hold up the onrush of the immortal horses. High over the peaks, they went, slicing through the vast air. Persephone stood straight the whole journey, not about to lose her dignity, she kept her chin high even when he came to a halt at the place where Demeter was waiting, at the forefront of the temple fragrant with incense.

As Persephone stepped down the chariot, she refused Hermes' hand, which had been extended as he offered his help to her.

"Kore." The icy tone of her mother's voice welcomed her. Persephone met her mother's gaze for the first time in months.

"Mother." Her reply was just as cold.

But she couldn't dwell on her mother's presence any longer as she felt the first sunbeam in months kiss her skin gently. She cried in joy at the warm feeling, the arid and dry land surrounding the temple sprouting green stalks and colorful flowers of all kinds at the sound of her laughter. At her feet, plants tangled between her toes, and emerald vines latched around her ankles in a weak attempt to keep the goddess rooted.

The land had been starved. For how long? She wondered.

Unexpectedly, Persephone was pulled away from her trance by a harsh slap to her cheek.

"How dare you, you foolish girl? Ever since you came out of my womb all I have done is care for you, and this is how you pay me? Humiliating me before all the other gods. What will they say of me, when they see I can't even control my stubborn daughter? You are Zeus' spawn alright, you ungrateful child, just like him. Spiteful daughter, cruel daughter." Demeter spat. Persephone felt nothing but wrath boil inside her. The stinging redness of her flushed cheek only feeding her anger further. Care for her? Her mother had given her up as a sacrifice, willingly spilling her ichor for all the other baleful gods to enjoy. Caring mother? Demeter had only cared for the appearance of the bird she kept imprisoned as a plaything to look upon.

She was no longer her mother's prisoner. She no longer had to keep her mouth shut and her head down. She was a goddess, a Queen, and nobody disrespected the Queen.

"Raise crows and they will peck out your eyes, isn't that what they say? I am nothing but the ungrateful crow you fed and kept under your wing all these years, mother." She replied with a jaundiced voice, her eyes finding Demeter's, challenging her to respond.

Roses are, after all, stubborn plants. As beautiful as they are, they always carry their thorns around. You can try and cut them, but they will always sprout more. As fragile as they may look, they will become impossible to handle. It's better to let them wilt or to cut them off the stem.

Demeter was flushed red with anger. The land shook and the feeble plants that sprout with the arrival of the goddess not but moments ago shriveled and withered.

"You sound just like him. " Demeter spat. "Has he taken you as his bedmate? As his whore? You, the daughter of the Earth and the heiress of the Heavens, a whore to the dark one?" The words ran out of her mouth, accompanied by a nasty scowl. The allusion to her husband and the clear accusations made against both of them caused a crown of red vines to take form on Persephone's head. Persephone wanted to summon the heaviest roots that laid dormant deep within Gaia in order to strangle her mother. She wanted to see the Earth crack open at her will only to swallow her whole.

Ridiculous thoughts, for Demeter, could do that and much more.

She remembered Hades. Her dear husband to whom she wanted to return to more than anything else in the cosmos.

"If I were you, I would watch my tongue, mother. For you do not know who you are speaking to in such a disrespectful manner." She settled on that and struggled to keep her voice low, weaving as much authority as she could muster into the sentence.

Demeter laughed.

"Kore this madness ends right now. You have done me a favor by spoiling yourself in the bed of the Unseen, now no god will ever want you. You will stay here with me, where you belong. The Underworld is no place for the goddess of Spring." Demeter had been counting with her submission at the utterance of her order, much like in the past. What she did not know was that the submissive daughter she had raised to fear her had been swallowed by a crack in the earth months ago. The goddess that had reemerged was someone new. Someone terrible. Someone monstrous.

Spoiled goods she called her? Persephone was spoiled alright.

She was no longer Kore, the maiden of Spring. She was now Persephone, bringer of death, Queen of the Underworld.

"He made me Queen. And I shall not stay, for The Underworld is the only place for its Queen. If you have nothing else to discuss with me then I shall leave, you have seen me with your own two eyes. I am well." The words were met with silence and Persephone delighted herself with the idiotic expression of disbelief in her mother's face.

"Where exactly do you think you are going, Kore? I prohibit you from going back there with him!" She shrieked and for the first time, Persephone saw her mother lose control of her collected expression and calmed behavior. Her eyes feasted on the sight. It was something glorious.

She felt the sweet taste of her victory, like a kiss, upon her tongue.

She feigned ignorance. "Oh? Did you not know, mother? Terrible Hades kidnapped me and took me on his bed, he forced those seeds down my throat, or at least I allow you to spread that rumor. You want to know what I really did, mother dear?" She threatened, taking a step forward menacingly. She could feel it. Demeter's walls were crumbling. She would show her true colors, flash her teeth, and bite at her. "I lured him into my bed, begged him for it, and while he slept, I took the fruit of the underworld and ate greedily." She left out the part where she cried, as he cried for what she had done. The truth would be only ever known by the two of them. She sounded much more intimidating as a rogue seductress.

"No, you didn't. You wouldn't have dared." She gasped, visibly taken aback by Persephone's statement. Demeter held a hand to her mouth, horrified, cheeks a furious shade of red. This was not the quiet girl she had bore. This, whatever it was, was a horrid creature hiding behind the mask of a lovely face. For who in their right state of mind would have willingly chained themselves to the Dark Realm? To the pits of Tartarus itself?

She commands Tartarus now. The hound of hell bows at her. The Unseen One, Lord Hades, kneels to her. She is life, she is chaos, she is destruction. Queen Persephone, Mistress of the Underworld.

The words came from nowhere and everywhere at once, sung in a mocking tone, a sneering chant. The voice was an ancient one, more ancient than herself even. Demeter was no fool, she recognized it. Its existence was ineffable. It rose from the bowels of Gaia and traveled with the breeze. It materialized around her, like a presence, lingering over her shoulder. A shiver ran down her spine.

Fate.

It dictated the kismet of gods and men alike. It was inescapable. But the breed of the Titans was a stubborn one, and Demeter had not coward in the presence of powerful Kronos. Just as she would not yield to her brother.

"Except I did, mother. Our marriage has been consummated most thoroughly. We have the blessing of The Fates, the blessing of Hera and Father. I have eaten the fruit of the Underworld, and neither of us can go against the rules of The Fates." Persephone answered in a clipped and detached tone. Demeter stood before her, fuming, but her anger controlled now. She felt the shift in her attitude, and Persephone knew her stubborn mother would not relent.

"I love you. You are my daughter." She said finally, and for the first time, Persephone saw the fortified walls surrounding her mother's cold heart begin to crumble. The corner of her mouth ticked. The Earth rumbled beneath their feet, the sky darkened and the birds that had once found peace at the trees surrounding them took flight, almost as if they could sense what was coming. "Mine. My daughter." Demeter mumbled, her gaze lost. Persephone took a step back, mortified as a single drop of golden ichor slipped down her mother's cheek.

But not just any tear. The tears of an immortal. The golden tears of one of the Six Traitors. The gods were not meant to cry or be heartbroken. Such things were fickle and insignificant in the broad horizon of their eternal lives.

Not even Hades, upon their departure, had conjured a single golden tear.

Golden tears now streamed down her mother's face, much like the one that was said to be spilled by Gaia herself when she cried for her children and her husband Uranus. Like the ones spilled after by Rhea for her children and Kronos.

Chaos followed.

A loud gasp escaped Persephone's mouth as she watched, in petrified horror, how with every aureate tear that fell to the ground, a thick layer of permafrost seemed to emanate from the soil, expanding like ripples in the smooth surface of an otherwise undisturbed lake. Tears, followed by sobs, carried by the wind to all of the corners of the Earth and deep below it, loud enough for even Hades in his chrome throne to hear.

No...

Persephone had not contemplated this as a result. She had never expected Demeter to react like this. Her anger she had been prepared for, but her sadness? Persephone was for the very first time in months devoid of words. True fear grasped at her heart as she realized that going back to the Underworld would prove more difficult than she first presumed. If possible at all. In a matter of seconds, the whole plane of the once fruitful Sicily had been frozen, the cold unyielding. Even Persephone felt the ichor in her veins run cold as a shiver crept of her spine, followed by goosebumps.

"Demeter!" A voice thundered from above, and with a loud crack and a blinding light, Zeus himself descended from the height of Olympus. "Stop this, I command you! Our daughter Kore is back, stop your wailing, sister!" He proclaimed in that booming voice of his. Persephone blinked, pulled back from whatever tranced she had been put in by her mother's tears. The coldness creeping up her bare feet stabbed her in the chest as she took in the sight of her Father.

"Persephone, Father. I am Persephone now." She intervened stubbornly, raising her chin high in the air, allowing the crown perched on her head to reflect, or well absorb, whatever rays of Helios managed to trespass the thick layer of clouds covering the ether.

Child, I have no time for fickle amusements now. What has happened to your mother?" He demanded from her, his eyes crackling with lightning. Persephone grimaced, taking a step forward. Did he dare command her now? She had to swallow her pride, for there was not much even her could have done against almighty Zeus.

"I have eaten the fruit of the Underworld, Father. I can not, as you see, violate the rules of The Fates." She explained yet again, eyes cold and hard as stone. Her Father traced her figure with lecherous eyes as if he was just now realizing his youngest daughter was no longer a babe, but a grown woman. Persephone felt sick to her stomach. Not too long ago had she learned from Hades himself that her Father had presented her as a candidate to him, an offer he had refused. Until they met under the watchful eye of Fate that day on Demeter's meadow, and she had all but begged him to take her down there with him.

"My, my Persephone," He emphasized her name. "Look just how have you grown. I never thought he would take me up on that offer, that uncle of yours is stubborn, you see. But now I see why he changed his mind. My brother is sure having fun down in that graveyard of his." Persephone had to bite her tongue. "Speak now, how much did you eat?" His voice acquired a more serious tone and his eyes snapped away from Persephone's womanly curves at last.

Persephone weighted his question for a moment, considering just what she should answer. Six seeds. Hadn't that been enough? She was not so sure as she stared at her father's expectant eyes. Persephone locked her jaw and straightened her back, not having realized she had slumped forward in the first place. Her father would not intimidate her.

Her eyes slipped to her mother for a fleeting moment. She looked more like a weeping statute than a goddess. A pity, Persephone admitted cynically. She had grown to respect her mother's coldness and unyielding temper in the last few months. She finally resolved to tell the truth. "Six seeds, pomegranate seeds."

"Very well." Persephone could see the wheels spinning inside her Father's head. The same head from which armored Athena had once sprung fully grown. A wicked head. A wickedly clever head. Nothing good would come out of this. Persephone felt this truth inside her bones. "Hermes, go fetch her Lord husband from the shadows of Erebus. Bring Hades here." He commanded the long-forgotten Hermes, who had stood a mere spectator in the background this whole time. Persephone turned her head and glanced at Hermes with an icy glare of her own. She saw the god tremble and disappear in the chariot just as quickly as they had arrived.

Her eyes turned back to her father.

"Demeter." He spoke again, this time grabbing her mother's hand forcefully. This seemed to break Demeter's spell but did not stop her tears. The cold grew more furious, and in some ancient place deep within her, Persephone could feel the souls of humans descending to the Underworld all over the world at once, their lives ceasing upon the unrelenting frost. "Stop this, Persephone will stay." Zeus proclaimed. Persephone froze.

No, she would not.

"I will not."

"She will?" Demeter asked, hopeful, her voice broken, not a trace of the calculating monster that haunted Persephone's dreams visible. And yet the effect was immediate. The ground beneath her feet grew warmer, and she could see the layers of ice melting, and the snow retreating back from where it had fallen. Persephone would have none of this, as she stomped her foot angrily against the soil, a sudden sprout of fertility uncoiling from within her, melting all the ice at once, vegetation growing all around them in a wild fashion.

"I WILL NOT!" She roared, sharp thorns growing around her arms, around her head, shooting forth from the Earth.

"SILENCE, YOU INSOLENT CHILD!" Her Father thundered. She was fuming, but sew her mouth shut. Why was Hermes taking so long? Where was Hades? She felt pathetic, wishing for her husband. She was weak, she was not able to stand her ground to Zeus. She posed no threat to her father, she was no one without Hades by her side. The realization felt like sharing Atlas' burden upon her shoulders. She felt impotent, and the sourness of it lingered in her mouth. She had foolishly allowed herself to believe she was something she was not.

No! I might not be able to defeat Father, but I am powerful!

She was not weak just because she couldn't do things on her own.

"Enough." A cold voice slashed through the air. Persephone froze, the sound of hooves announcing the arrival of her husband. She turned around just enough to find his eyes, those eyes that filled with inexplicable warmth as soon as they met hers. Relieve washed all over Persephone. She was strong, but with him, she could be stronger. She had to be stronger. "I will not tolerate you disrespecting my wife and Queen in such a manner, brother. Daughter of yours or not." Hades warned in that stern tone of his. He stepped down from the chariot and made his way towards Persephone. She swallowed thickly, setting her face with determination as she laced her fingers with his own. He squeezed her hand reassuringly. She couldn't find the strength to squeeze back.

Persephone will stay

Persephone will stay

Persephone will stay...

"You!" Demeter suddenly roared, the Earth rumbling with her, the fire in her eyes suddenly restored as she stomped her way towards them. "You despicable traitor! Rapist! You took my daughter and turned her—turned her into this-this monster!" Hades seemed unfazed by Demeter's claims. This time, she squeezed his hand. He looked down at her, and she stared back, trying to make him feel the determination she forced herself to feel as well. He kissed her forehead, and she closed her eyes, afraid this would be the last time she would feel his lips upon her skin.

She would not allow it. She could not go back to Demeter's house. She realized she could no longer live without Hades, without his love, without her freedom and her power. What good was a god without its power?

She would rather die.

"Demeter, be reasonable. You're a goddess well above all this madness." He remained stoic as he said this. His calmness only fuelled Demeter's anger. It was like feeding coal into a growing fire.

"Do not talk about a reason to me, Hades! The only madness here is that you have managed to make my daughter fancy herself in love with you! She is just a child, have you no care for that?" She frothed at the mouth, vines growing down her hair in a frantic manner. "She is my baby!"

"I'm not a baby mother. I'm a woman." Persephone asserted herself. Demeter laughed.

"Of course you are, he's made sure of it." She seethed venomously, and Persephone knew her mother was recalling her earlier words about her begging her husband to bed her. "My perfect daughter was meant for greatness, an eternal virgin, an honorable path for a goddess to take. But you took that from her. Did you enjoy it, defiling her of her virtue?" Her venom was now directed towards her husband. Persephone stiffened.

Hades would have none of it, she realized.