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THE CORRIDORS OF THE UNDERWORLD WERE HEAVY WITH THE DEEP, THRUMMING MELODY OF THE LUTE AS IT WAFTED ABOUT, TANGLING WITH THE HEADY SMELL OF SWEET CHAMPAGNE.

Hecate stood behind me, a procession of her velvet clad deities marching behind. Their deep purple robes fluttered about in the cold breeze of the hall like forlorn lilies. Each carried an assortment of items, one bore an inky black pitcher filled with starry waters, another carried an ornate box of lapis lazuli clasped with diamonds.

The Goddess of Witchcraft kept her face impassive as her grip on my hand never faltered, barking orders at the shades scattered across the passageway. In the deep golden light of the exquisitely wrought candelabras, her face kept being cast in shadows, making the emerald of her eyes shine in the darkness like gemstones that had seen the light of the day after centuries.

“Do not fall,” she warned, her voice ominously heavy as the party escorted me to the entrance of the Hall of Hades.

“I have never worn such a long dress-” my words barely came out as a whisper, a direct result of my nervous heart beating faster and faster by the eternal second.

“Do not fumble with the vows,” she went on, washing out my pleas with a mere scowl, frowning as silk creases appeared on her disapproving forehead.

“I-”

“It is time. Come,” Hecate cut me off, her hand now on the small of my back - barely noticing my clenched fists as I shook with roused anger, feeling atrocities bubble up at the tip of my tongue as I was pushed into the antechamber.

The man standing in the darkness turned to me, and relief washed over me like a tidal wave as cries broke out of my painted lips.

“Father!”

A smile broke out on Zeus’s face, thawing over his cold features like the sun melting across the weary ice of winter. The brilliant blue of his eyes twinkled like constellations as he held out his hands for me, his expression laced with concern.

I took a step towards him, before the anger in me reminded to stay me rooted to the spot.

“Persephone,” he said quietly, his voice wary, measured. The light caught the gold in his hair, making him look older than he already was. Worry lined his features, a desperate look shining in his eyes as he saw me standing there, desolate in my bridal finery.

“You aren’t here to rescue me,” I whispered, fists clenching and unclenching.

“Daughter,” he whispered, holding out a hand to me as I stepped back. He sighed softly, his lips pressed in a thin line.

I don’t want to do this, but I must, he seemed to say.

“You’ve come to give me away, Father.”

There was only silence, and undiluted, undiluted fury in me - fury that could have killed atleast a thousand of Mother’s stupid blooms. Flowers - why didn’t they have more flowers here? I could wreck their damned gardens and curse the entire lot of them to hell!

“I love you too much to let you bear this alone, Persephone. I had to be here.”

Some things have to be done. You are a child no longer, you have to understand that this must be done.

“Please,” I whispered, trying not to let the fear show in my voice, but desperation crept into it all the same, slithering in like a wanton serpent over the creeper of loneliness.

“You have to stay away from Demeter, child,” Zeus said softly, approaching me to tuck a stray lock of hair behind my ear, noting the way I gave in now, craving any sort of attachment to hold on to. “She will stifle you and choke you and suffocate you till you drive yourself to the steep brink of insanity. You cannot, must not go back to her.”

Despair stretched out its limbs in me, lazy, hungry, heavy.

“You are young. You have your entire life ahead of you. I want you to live, Persephone - not waste away in front of my eyes. Here, you are safe. Here, you are free.”

“I am being forced into a marriage to a man I do not want to marry! And you say that I am free - free, is that it, Father? Is this what you call freedom?”

“Look at me,” he ordered, placing his heavy hands on my bejewelled shoulders, his calm, steady eyes noting the pain on my face. “Look at me.”

Anger - only anger was what I knew.

“Your marriage to him will keep you safe. Your title will keep you safe. No one can touch you here, Persephone. Here, you stay behind an iron wall of protection - you live. You live your life here. Hades seems cruel, menacing even. But he is a just man. He will protect you till the end of your days, Persephone.”

Weariness was me, woe was me, wistfulness was me, and me alone.

“Give him what he wants. Give him this night. Do what he asks of you. There has to be proof that you consummated, child - until that your union is not legal.”

Well, I could destroy his damned orchards if he let me out of his pretty, gilded cages.

“Come,” Zeus said gently, his warm hand on mine, centuries old wisdom shining in his gaze.

There was nothing I could do but relent.

The crimson silk waves of my dress rippled on the floor as I walked on the glittering onyx, lapping against the silk clad heels as they played a symphony of clicks on the marble. The shades at the doors respectfully bowed to their shadowy knees, letting the heavy, ornamental doors open at last.

The Hall of Hades was full, and filled with hundreds of watching eyes.

The three Fates watched me hungrily, ravenously even - cackling in those withered old robes that were still frayed at the very edges. Shades of every age, young, old, and fair gathered around, wisping out smoke at the seams like dried rose petals. Nymphs and deities crowded around the carpet laid out on the floor, greedy eyes itching to take a better look at me, to seize me up, to eat me raw.

I found myself unable to smile, to even pretend to be happy - even for my father’s sake.

The hall was huge, cavernous, even - stretching out for miles and miles, like an endless symphony. Golden light filtered in through the dust motes from tall, ornate candlesticks. Even though the air I had expected to be stale, it smelled heady, intoxicating, as if mists of red wine hovered above our heads. Banners of ink, crimson and silver hung from everywhere, fixed with artfully arranged roses that gleamed with the hue of blood.

The lutes played on from hidden corners, melodies drifting out from shadows and light, tugging at me, pulling me along to their tunes.

My grip on Father’s hand tightened.

A red carpet pooled out on the floors beneath our heels stretched on endlessly, finally coming to a stop some way ahead of us.

There he stood.

A vision of quiet, powerful strength - waiting in the darkness to claim me as his.

The fine, inky black cloak falling from his shoulders to his mighty feet only contrasted against his pale, fine features - the full lips rounded like marble, the eyes of grey that swirled like raging thunder. They watched me impassively, void of emotion, only a flicker of it showing as his gaze travelled over me. A twitch of his lips, like a quiet smirk - that was bound to be the only greeting I would get. His jaw tightened further, another deep intake of breath. The gaze grew darker, glittering inky black like midnight.

The heat of it scorched and melted my insides, making them pool to the floor.

A fine crown sat atop his head, tempting me to look closer - was it made of bones?

Carved of white bone and set with black obsidian and crimson garnets, it looked down at me, mocking me with its deadly beauty, taunting me, sly and clever.

It took all I had not to take it off and look closer at it.

Hades noticed my eyes flit to it, and his expression grew sheerly bitter, like a seething pit of vipers. It was then that I took a closer look at his robes. They weren’t the solid black I had thought them to be, no.

They shifted and shifted with the souls of the tormented dead.

Dressed in his best, it seemed.

To scare me, to fill me with fright, to back me into a corner to make me obey in every wish of his.

Well, he wasn’t getting that from me - no.

He watched me intently, darkly, gauging my reaction.

It was not fear I felt. Not fear, not intimidation - but awe.

"Who comes here to be wed in sight of gods and men today?" Thanatos asked, his voice gloomy, dreadful, heavy, like nails grating across iron walls.

"Persephone Proserpina, comes here to be wed in sight of gods and men today," Zeus said quietly, a quiet rumble, a mighty wave come crashing to the formidable rocks ashore.

"Who comes here to give her away?"

"Her father Zeus, King of Olympus, comes here to give her away to Hades, the Lord of the Underworld," he replied.

"Is there any here with objection to this union? Speak now, or forever hold your peace.”

I held my breath. It seemed the entire hall held it with me.

No one made a sound.

My father quietly took my hand, and placed it in Hades’s waiting palm. It was cold, but the warmth of my skin and the lack of his made for a comfortable temperature, making my blood sing a high soprano, even as goosebumps erupted over my flesh.

A mighty being like him - the power radiated off him in such sheer waves of strength that the very force of it threatened to make me fall to my knees. His eyes seemed to trap mine, holding them with such fierce, unreadable intensity that could have made every being in the room drop dead at his touch.

“You might consider toning down that frown of yours,” he whispered coldly, his grip on my hand remaining firm. I dare you, he seemed to say. I dare you to run. Persephone. You cannot run from me.

My heart hardened, and I frowned even more.

I dare you, Hades.

Ice crept into the darkness of his unforgiving eyes.

I dare you. Break me.

A corner of his lips turned ever so slightly, as if a ghost of a silver laugh.

Hecate came forward, her footsteps barely audible as she emerged from the shadows, her silk rustling like leaves of autumn. The inky black pitcher from earlier was now in her hands, and a nymph in silver fluttered beside her with a jewelled goblet of sparkling platinum.

“Do you, Hades, take Persephone Proserpina to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

“I, Hades, Lord of the Underworld, take this woman to be my lawfully wedded wife,” he said quietly.

“Do you, Persephone, take Hades, the Lord of the Underworld to be your lawfully wedded husband?" the goddess went on

Husband. The word rolled on my tongue like sugar coated poison.

“I, Persephone Proserpina, take this man to be my lawfully wedded husband.”

My father looked at me gravely, and relief glimmered in the set of his wise eyes as his thin lips pressed to give me a solemn smile.

Hecate poured the liquid from the pitcher into the heavy goblet, and it rippled ominously in it, deep never ending, unyielding.

“I give you the waters of the Styx,” she proclaimed soberly, “so that you may stay bound in your oaths for all of eternity.”

Mother said that every deity swore their oaths on the Styx, for it was the most irreversible form of making a pact - there was no going back once you swore on the river, no going back without damnation to hell forever.

The gilded rim of the goblet met Hades’s lips as he tipped back his head, taking a hearty sip. I watched, mesmerized, the delectable swell of the muscles under his fine skin as he handed the goblet to me.

Wordless, cold, as if I were carved of ice, I took the gilded vessel, bringing it to my lips.

The rich fragrance of it rose up to greet me, thick and heavy, smelling like the nectar of Olympus. If only its scent betrayed it dangerous, binding nature.

Down my throat the liquid went, tasting like stars.

There was no turning back. Not after this.

It was done now.

The hall let out an audible breath, watching me with waiting eyes - no doubt that they half expected me to walk out, to run away, to escape - only to be dragged back in by the Lord of Death himself.

I did not give him that satisfaction.

His eyes practically glimmered with amused delight as I drank, a predatory smile growing fast on his lips. Hunger simmered in his gaze, and he barely could stand to look away from me as he snapped his fingers at someone behind him on the pavilion.

The crown shimmered prettily on the blood red velvet cushion, glittering with precious gemstones that sparkled against the white bone. I could have wept with delight at the sheer beauty of those enormous rubies. An aching to wear it stirred in me from the depths of a great slumber, a deep and grave aching that ate my insides raw. It stretched out its arms to grab the crown, and only sheer determination kept me rooted there.

Hades saw it - the craving, the bloodlust in my eyes, the deep, hungry longing to possess it. Another knowing smile curved his lips as his face lit up, glimmering like onyx as he lifted the crown from the velvet with his own hands.

“Kneel,” he said quietly.

They watched me, they all did.

On your knees, Persephone, his eyes seemed to gleam with predatory delight.

My father kept his gaze on me, as I bent, sinking to the chilled floor like a shipwreck drowning in the middle of the ocean. The folds of my dress spread out like an sea of blood, rippling with every movement.

He put a pale finger under my chin and tilted it up so that he could look into my eyes.

Beautiful, wicked thing.

That deep gaze of my… husband - my King - intently watched my face, studying it for a full moment, the only sign of any emotion being the way his jaw clenched slightly.

“Do you, Persephone, vow to rule your realm beside its King in fairness and in mercy, devoid of biased judgment?”

I took a deep breath, the words that Hecate had taught me swirled in my head like eddies in a whirlpool.

“I, Persephone, vow to rule my realm, the Underworld, in fairness and in mercy; to honour its laws and customs; to protect my people till the last breath leaves my body.”

Hades signed sharply, looking at me with something like pride. His youthful face tensed, as in anticipation, when he finally lifted the glittering crown off the velvet, his hand heavy with a dozen rings studded with every imaginable gemstone.

He settled the deadly, wicked thing on my head himself.

“Rise then, my Queen,” he declared in a deep, dulcet voice that caressed my nerve endings like velvet. I rose, on shaky knees that threatened to give way, as he gracefully took my slender hand in his, rising it to meet the high ceiling. “Ladies and gentlemen,” Hades announced thunderous applause that threatened to shatter my eardrums, “I give you my wife, Persephone - the Queen of the Underworld!”