THE LORD OF THE DEAD GAVE ME THREE DAYS TO RECOVER FROM THE DEVASTATING ORDEAL.

It was on one warm, sleepy afternoon that I found myself sitting opposite him in a boat of oakwood, rowing away on the glittering, magical water of the Underworld's river. The past three nights had been fraught with sleeplessness and a hungry, aching desire to help that wailing spirit. It had taken all the strength I had to finally dress myself in a deep, plum chiton after bathing in steamed waters of scented lemon - before finally placing the mysterious, bejeweled crown of bones upon my waiting head.

Hades had raised his eyebrows in distant surprise, at first. His eye filled with ravenous delight, before a cold, proud smile grew on his face, wearing something like... wonder. Or admiration. Yet he said nothing to me except his courteous greeting, carefully helping me climb into the unsinkable, strong boat of his own creation. Now he looked at me and I looked at him, watching the rippling muscles on his forearms - a consequence of him rolling up the sleeves of his dark robes in order to work the oars.

Every inch of him shone in the dim light like perfectly carved, tasteful marble.

"Where are we going?" did I question at last, curiosity getting the better of me, grasping me like a vengeful demon.

"You'll find out soon. Look at the water, Persephone. See how it shines."

I looked once out of the boat, into the vast, unending body of water stretching out away from us, extending for miles. A tiny speck in a galaxy of darkness, that was us. And if I fell over...

"I won't let you fall. Promise. This boat is unsinkable."

He wouldn't let me drown, at least. Well, now that was comforting. If he wanted to get rid of me, just one little push and I'd be on my way to Charon's merry little abode at once.

I leaned over the exquisite, gilded rim of the boat, and I looked.

The dark waters of the Styx were gone, replaced by water so clear, so pure, that I could look down at it and see how endlessly deep it was - hundreds and thousands of fathoms. And if I looked harder - harder than ever before - so hard that it strained my eyes, as if looking to seek a single star in a universe of millions, I could see a golden, molten glow that reminded me of the blooming sun. It shone at me, as if welcoming me into its warm arms, and reflected back my dazed, bright face at me: eyes shining, cheeks flushed, crown glittering.

It wasn't just beautiful - that word couldn't do it enough justice.

It was marvellous.

"Do you like it?" Hades whispered to me, his voice breathy.

"It's... it's like the sun got drunk on champagne and decided to give us centuries' worth of brilliance at once," I answered, breathing in deeply to drink in the sight.

He gave me a look of pure delight, and something like genuine happiness shone in his eyes.

"You are looking at the center of the earth," he said softly, reverant, worshipping. "So many people hate the Underworld because it is a place of death, but none care to see the beauty that lies within."

Something in his words touched me, and I reached out to sit right beside him, cupping his forlorn face in my palm. His eyes - they seemed to be filled with millennia of sadness, gazing back at me through time like the light below us. I saw despair in it, and lost hope, and songs of love and wonder and beauty in it, looking back at me.

"I do," my voice was gentle, a soft bell ringing in the deep silence. "I see it, and it is beautiful."

The little moment of contact, us both swimming there in the endless abyss, away from miles and miles of any life - with just the heavy, meaningful silence between us made me wonder. Made me wonder how lonely this god across me had been. How many times had Olympus scorned him? People despised him, cursed him, dared not speak his name. Was he that terrible? What I saw was not a monster. What I saw was a man only doing his duty, carrying such a heavy burden with himself that it could have crushed the others alive.

If he truly was the monster others said he was, then why was he doing this? He left me untouched that wedding night. Olympians could have taken me by force and yet here in the Underworld I was safer than before, left to grow tenderly rather than forced into a mould above. Why did he bother to spend his time to watch me falter, stumble and weep? He could have made me his straight away, and yet he gave me an offer to let me leave.

This god was no ordinary man.

Hades finally pulled the boat to shore as I swum and drowned in my aching thoughts, failing to notice the questions in my head as he helped me down on a ground heaped with fine white sand. He spread out his arms to show me the pristine, beachy landscape as I looked around in delight.

"Welcome," he smirked, "to Island Lemnos. Mortals believe this to be a place in the middle of the Aegean Sea, but in reality, this is the little dream island Hypnos built for himself. What we just travelled through was the river Lethe."

"The river Lethe?" I asked, watching the the fabric of my thin dress blow slightly in the mild breeze.

"Yes. The river of forgetfulness and oblivion. This is her home as well. She likes the white sand."

I took off the long, expensive heels of polished silver which I had donned that morning, setting them aside to feel my foot hit the bare sand. A squeal slipped out my lips as I felt its velvety texture under my soft toes, and I let out a sigh of content. The sky was a deep, deep indigo here, dotted with clouds of black, and the little sandy island was fully adorned in heaps and heaps of that exquisite white sand. A few intricate cottages and caves dotted the view with those red leaved trees in sight. In the middle of the island stood an enormous tree of poplar, mighty and huge in its strength.

"While the Styx empties into Oceanus, the river that encircles the world, the Lethe lies right at the border. Where the dark ends and the light begins, the waters bear that golden light from below - and that is where she chooses to live."

"That is interesting," I said, "but the island looks empty. Is it deserted?"

"Only Lethe and Hypnos live here. Come," he placed a careful hand on my back to lead me towards the poplar tree towering over the island, its branches casting dark shadows over the rooftops of the delicate, whitewashed cottages. A low, peaceful humming seemed to be the only sound in the place, and it distinctly grew louder as we approached the trunk of the tree.

A lovely, bronze skinned woman sat in its shade, with silvery long hair that gleamed like platinum. Her beautiful, golden body was very much visible through the thin dress of pale lavender she was clad in. It was drawn up to her knees as she sat near a lake under the tree, dipping her feet in it while toying about with a delicate pink conch and a few other shells she had collected along the shore.

She saw us approaching, and gave me a sleepy smile. It was then that I realised that the peaceful, soothing humming sound was made by her.

"Don't scare her," Hades whispered in my ear. "She likes to be by herself, and approaching company makes her finicky."

"Why is she humming?"

"The shades of the dead are always made to drink the waters from the river so that they forget their past life to reincarnate in their next birth. Lethe's humming and Hypnos's murmuring makes the shades drowsy."

"Mother used to say that drinking water from the river Mnemosyne would make one remember and know everything. So Lethe does the opposite?"

"Exactly," he beamed at me, intertwining his long fingers in mine. His touch was like a spark, making my heart skip a few beats as I tried to regain my composure, lest he thought I was flustered. "Hypnos is waiting for us in his cave, Persephone. Come this way."

We made our way to a shabby looking cave somewhere on the island, where a thin stream branched off from the river surrounding us to trickle into the rock formation. The ceiling was dangerously low, cast into lights of a multiple million colours as the tributary passed in through little beams of light. The sleepy murmuring was even stronger here, like an insistent buzzing the filled our ears.

"Hypnos is the son of Erebus, the Day, and Nyx, the Night. Thanatos is his twin brother."

Surprised, I let him lead me further into the colourfully lit grotto as he continued his explanation. The grass was damp and smelled sweet, dripping with dew and filled with fields upon fields of poppy and other hypnotic herbs. The murmuring around us was now accompanied by soft, melodious notes of music that almost made me want to sleep myself. It was a peaceful place, I decided. Who would ever imagine it existed?

"My King and Queen," a lilting voice drifted to us. "This is an honour."

The man who called to us was a splitting image of Thanatos, yet his eyes were filled with kindness and his voice was like seasoned honey, forgiving and generous. A pair of ivory white wings rose out behind him, and a horn filled with opium sat at his side while his hand carried a poplar branch dripping with water.

Hades nodded to him, and I put out my hand for the God of Sleep to quietly kiss my palm with a polite smile.

"Hello, Hypnos," I smiled back at him.

"Good day to you, Lady Persephone," he beamed. "What brings you forth to my humble abode?"

"I was giving her a tour," Hades cracked a grin before looping a hand possessively around my waist, holding me close to him.

"Ah," the deity laughed. "Excellent, excellent. Would you like to meet my family, lovely Queen?'

Hades gave me a reassuring smile, squeezing my hand softly as I nodded.

"That would be most delightful."

An hour passed as we walked around in the grotto, exploring its little crevices and nooks and cranny. The trickling of the Lethe and the soft lute filled our souls with dance and light and joy as Hypnos introduced us to his family. He meant well, I was sure, but I could barely remember all the names. The goddess Hera had him marry one of the Graces, called Pasithea, the deity of hallucinations. The young woman was merry and jovial in her speech, all soft smiles and gentle touches. They had four sons, called Oneiroi - or dreams. It seemed that they all worked in unison, when Hypnos put a person to sleep, his sons would send forth dreams. Morpheus took on human forms, Phobetor sent waves of horror, Phantasus created illusions and Ikelos gave the true dreams. Hades would explain this and that in between, and he told me that Hypnos was a calm and gentle god who helped the humans in need.

We finally left after a long time, passing by the Lethe sleeping on a heap of soft sand in the shade. And when we sat back in the boat, content after that long trip, I started to realise one thing.

Perhaps Hades was tricking me. Perhaps all this beauty, all this magic - perhaps this was some kind of madness. Some kind of witchcraft stained with illusion to trap me into falling for him. Because where others found death, I only found peace. If there was death, there could not be peace. There must be something darker at work here, and perhaps this god only strung me deeper and deeper into his carefully crafted lies.

Hades was silver tongued death, one which wove smoothly spun lies I could not trust.

I had to be wary of him from now on.

It was the only way.