"NO!"

Moment by moment, I broke.

There was moisture down my cheeks, and there were tears dripping down from them onto her face. It was white - so, so white - and there was static humming in my ears, an absence of sound, of feeling, of emotion - only numb, raw grief that threatened to break me apart.

And then his hands were around me, holding me back, pinning me to his chest as people gathered around us. Thanatos on his knee beside me, his face heavy with grief as Hypnos lingered at his shoulder. Minos was barking orders as they pulled out the sword, and the river nymphs were sobbing as Hecate's acolytes fell to their feet, their voices soft with prayer-

"NOOOOOO!"

"Perse - please," Hades whispered, and his voice was broken, and full of tenderness as I pulled his hands off me, falling onto her chest, sobbing.

"This - this is my fault. I should be dead. I should be gone - she tried to protect me. Hades," I wept. "She saved me."

And so heavy was my grief that I could feel it crushing me again, choking me again, like water was being shoved into my lungs. There were sounds pouring out of my mouth that I failed to understand, broken like shards of glass that made me bleed again and again. The pain came in waves, coming and going and coming back again, each new wave hitting me harder than the last. I was aware of Hades, how he begged me to let her go, to come back to him - the panic in each word sharper than the last. But my arms refused to let her go.

Her body twitched.

And then an unknown force slammed me into Hades' iron chest.

Hecate coughed.

And her eyes fluttered open as I broke into a ragged sob.

"I - how... how am I-"

Tiredness leached into me like a disease.

Around me, everyone went white. Hades' eyes were wide with disbelief. Rhadamanthys stood shocked. And Thanatos - he was in tears, hugging his friend as she coughed up some more blood, trying to sit up.

And I - I almost crumpled to the ground, before a set of white hands broke my fall.

I had never felt so exhausted - so drained. So... so... tired...

"Persephone," Hades whispered, his voice ragged. "How... how did you?"

"You brought me back," Hecate croaked.

I shook my head once, twice. I could not move. My limbs seemed to be frozen. They were aching, so stiff that I could barely move them.

Someone shook my shoulders. My husband, probably.

"Persephone! You brought her back!"

There was a deep, ancient sorrow on Hecate's face as I sat on the bloodstained earth, unable to move - to feel - to believe. And then her arms were around me, stiff and cold, but it was her - and she was there. She was not gone. She was there.

"I died," her voice was still so hoarse. "I - I died. There... was a sword. He - he stabbed me."

I could not stop shaking.

"You brought me back to life, Persephone."

A huge lump was in my throat.

"How?" her voice broke.

My head was between my knees as I rocked, trying to breathe. Hades was beside me in an instant, his warm, caring hands on my shoulders as he wrapped his thick black cloak around me. His eyes swept over my body, ascertaining that there were no other injuries before pressing a tender kiss to my head, his face so contorted with worry that it was nearly unrecognizable.

"Persephone," he whispered. "What did you do? What did you do?"

"Hades," Hecate called out.

"You -" his entire body was shaking, his face turned white. "What.. what did you do, Persephone? How did you get in without the key?"

"Hades, let the poor girl breathe," Hecate interjected, noting the way my shoulders had slumped, leaving me barely capable of movement.

"And how did the shades wake? They are supposed to be asleep! How... how did - how did you bring her back to life?"

"Hades!" the goddess snapped.

He suddenly broke out of the reverie, and his eyes widened instantly. The sheer shock was replaced by fear, by real fear as he bent over me, hands on my shoulders - his touch exceedingly gentle.

"Persephone," he croaked. "Please... please tell me you aren't hurt," he begged. "Just - I... gods - what happened in there? I can't-"

"Because that is the power running in her blood," an old, ancient voice cackled behind us.

The crowds around us parted to reveal a hag with a face well worn over the years like weathered rock.

"Lachesis," Hades rounded on her, his brows a tight knot. "Did you not see her?"

Her. She had been singing.

"I did."

Hades snarled, and the sound made goosebumps rise on my skin.

"And did it fucking occur to you to stop her?"

The old woman flipped back the sleek, platinum white hair that fell over her shoulder in a river of white. Her eyes were like pits, never ending and bottomless - as if looking at them for too long would drown me in her spell.

"Now, now, Polydegmon. I am not one of your sentries," she screeched. My ears hurt so much that I thought I would pass out as the sound grated on my nerves. "And why would I stop the girl? You would not have found out of her abilities if I interfered, no?"

His face went white. So, so white. He looked on the verge of slapping her even as his deathless fist opened and closed.

I had never seen him like this. In such fury.

Clenching his fists, the King of the Underworld looked at me again. And the sheer rage in his eyes made me shrink back slightly into my cloak as I braced myself. The anger would come later. And I better be prepared to face it - because I knew I deserved every inch of his wrath.

"So you knew of her powers? And you never breathed so much as a word?" Hecate's hiss emerged from behind us. My heart skipped two beats as the Fate gave us all a bemused smile, regarding us as if she were an indulgent parent and we were her reckless children.

"Funny of you to assume I answer to your whims, Hecate."

The goddess of witchcraft let out a furious, sharp sigh - before turning to look at Hades. She nodded curtly to him, and I watched as he reluctantly reigned in his anger.

"So I can bring back the dead to life? Is that what this is?" I whispered softly, speaking for the first time. Lachesis smirked, a corner of her lips turned.

"What you are gifted with is a rare form of necromancy, maiden. Bringing back to life what was once dead scars them for there is a terrible price to be paid. It plants a darkness in them that grows us deadly and malicious - for no living being brought back from the dead is ever the same as before. But you, it seems," she mused, scratching at a stray hair on her chin, "it seems you bring them back pure. Untainted. A fitting gift for the daughter of life and the bride of death."

There was only awe on the faces of the court surrounding me.

"So... that explains why she could open the gates?" Thanatos asked, curious. "For Lord Hades enchanted them to only be opened by him. No one else can open the gates without the key."

"She is part life, part death," Hecate muttered. "Perhaps... the darkness in you," she looked pointedly at me, "like calls to like. That is why you could open the gates - and why the shades followed you. They thought you were one of their own, their master - just like Hades. They wanted to beg you for mercy... to set them free. Perhaps the two of you are more similar than we thought."

"I felt it," Hades mused. "Felt that... well of magic inside you. Felt it when it intertwined with my power. Felt it pull and tug at mine," he croaked, his voice strained.

His eyes widened, going glassy... and once again, I felt as if a thread in my chest was being pulled by just being in his mere proximity. I could hear the way his voice had shattered as he recalled it. The way the sheer darkness in me had responded to whatever lived in his body. Like a bird fluttering away under a cage made of bone, anxious to leave. Whatever resided beneath his ribs had called to me, sung to it like an enchanted nightingale.

"Well, well, well," Lachesis grinned, her teeth stained by years of age. "The work of the Fates here is done, Polydegmon. And in the future... I shall appreciate you to not make unreasonable demands of me, yes? We know what we are doing," she let out another low cackle, before donning the guise of a jet black raven which took off into the grey skies.

And then she was gone.

The acolytes were helping their goddess back to their feet, even as she protested with a determined stare. Thanatos lifted her up effortlessly, pressing a finger to her lips and a hand on her shoulder.

"I - am fine. This can wait, I am sure Persephone will have questions-"

"No," I pleaded, my voice gentle. "Please... Hecate. This was my fault. What happened - to you - all because I went in. I am really sorry. So please... please get some rest."

"I was up at three to brew one of my potions... it could only be done on a new moon... and I saw this light - this fire somewhere... lighting the sky. And I thought - I went to check - and... the fire at the gate was lit, and it was open... and - I sent someone to warn Hades - and I-" her voice was interrupted by a short breath as a trickle of blood poured out of her healing wound. "Aah. It seems I must use the very potion I was attempting to brew tonight."

"Please," Hades said gently. "Get some rest. I will send for Apollo to heal the wound." His voice was softer, grieving. As he still mourned the possibility of losing one of his closest friends.

"Ish," Hecate spat. "As if I'll let the young blooded brash youth touch me. My girls will tend to the injury," she muttered, reaching out for Rosamund, the young girl she often favoured. "And Persephone?"

I looked up, repentant.

"What you did tonight was extremely foolish and careless. But I will have you know this. You have guts. Goodnight."

Everyone began to leave as the dawn began to grow over the east side, filling the sky with a river of burnished gold.

And then, only the two of us remained.

There was so much - so much I was feeling.

Beside me, Persephone's eyes were tearful as she nervously flitted her gaze towards me. Gone was the confident woman of the past days, and in her place - was the young woman on her first day beneath the world.

I shuddered to think of what she saw in Tartarus.

Of the fact that anything, anything could have happened to her. If I hadn't woken up in time. If Hecate hadn't noticed her missing. If she had not had her power, if the shades actually hurt her. I was angry, so angry at her - but right now she was shaken. And I was not a beast.

"Let's get you to bed," I said quietly. I hesitantly placed a hand on her shaking shoulder, afraid to hurt her, to scare her. A thankful breath slipped out of me as I saw her visibly relax, shirking into the warmth of my body.

"I am sorry," Persephone's voice was frail.

"You need to rest," I tried to control my feelings. My emotions were not important right now - they could wait. What I needed for her was to be safe, to be sure she wasn't hurt.

"I know. But... I'm really sorry, Hades."

I took a deep breath. Her palm was quivering violently as I wrapped her smaller hand in mine, leading her out of the forest.

"Will you be able to walk? I can carry you."

She shook her head, instead planting her feet and eyes on the ground. It was getting colder - and I had never felt her skin so cold. The prospect of her being in the hands of those vile creatures - the very prospect of them hurting her - it made me want to throw up. To burn the world down. To end it in ash and blood.

A hot bath and a cup of lemon tea later, I found her fervently looking up at me with big, glassy eyes.

I tried to reign my temper in. I truly did.

Never had it been harder to do it.

It rolled in me like a monster, that cold, sharp fury.

"Say something," she bit out.

Thin ice. This was very thin ice. How - how on earth could she be so careless?

"Please," Persephone begged softly, her voice getting through to me. "Say something - Hades. Please. Something. Anything. Anything is better than this silence."

My breathing was getting more and more ragged. And that fury - that fury was beginning to slip from under my control.

"Hades," she pleaded. "Hades."

"Damn it!" I snapped. "What do you want to hear? Tell me what you want me to say!"

And she didn't move.

"Did you fucking lose your mind, woman? The hell were you thinking! What did you think... that Tartarus some kind of park? A garden? Some place you could casually stroll into like going in for a morning walk?"

To her credit, she didn't even flinch. I blinked.

Had some other been in her place, they'd be sobbing by now. But not her. Not Persephone. No. No - she stood her ground, swaying slightly on her feet - but her eyes were fixed on me, and there was not fear, but repentance gleaming in them.

"How could you be so stupid, Persephone?" I growled. "How - how many times did I tell you to stay away from Tartarus? How many times did I warn you?"

"I should have listened to you," she apologized, her voice sincere.

"Do you have any idea - any idea what could have happened to you? What if they hurt you? They are dangerous enough asleep, but you woke them - you fucking woke them... what if they tortured you, Persephone, huh? Do you have any fucking idea-"

"They did," she whispered.

"I - what?"

"They... there was a room. And there was... a thing - a thing there. And it looked like my mother."

The color drained from my face.

"And - and she had a knife in her hand," Persephone's breathing was growing quicker and quicker, her voice beginning to catch. "And... and she said she was going to - to punish me - and then she... she caught hold of me - and - and she bound me to a table-"

"Oh no - gods-"

"And then she was gone," her voice was almost a sob. "And then the creature - and then it... it - it was you..."

"Perse-"

"And that thing - it was pressing down on my throat - and it - it wanted to hurt me. And it... it sliced me open-"

The breath knocked out of my lungs. I was - I was... I didn't even know what to say.

"I," I whispered, and then I realised that there was something wet on my cheek. "I - I would never - I promise - I will never, never ever hurt you - I promise," my voice began to break into tiny pieces. "I am so sorry," I begged, and my hands cupped her cheek, her tender, precious cheek.

"I know," her voice was almost a sob, "I knew it wasn't you." Her lip trembled again, eyes filling with tears.

"No - no - no," my voice was fevered, "gods, no. No. I didn't want to make you cry. I cannot - I cannot imagine what you went through," and my eyes closed, blurred with tears, heart sinking to the bottom of my feet. Gods, those vile monsters - those things twisting her mind. "I am so sorry. I am so sorry, Persephone," I whispered.

"It was not you," she shuddered like a leaf, her palms closing around mine. "I know it was not you."

I nodded weakly, and I felt as if all strength had left my body.

"I... I know - I just cannot bear the thought - of you being hurt," I confessed softly, taking her face in my palms, our cheeks touching each other and wet with tears. "I cannot imagine you hurt. I cannot-"

And then her lips were on mine.

It was like the ground had been pulled from under my feet.

Her lips were warm, like the petals of a young summer rose in full bloom. Tender and golden and all things immortal. My heart began to skip beats as her hands wrapped around my neck, pulling me closer to her. Taken aback at first, my palm tenderly caressed my cheek as I gave her my all.

Even ambrosia paled in comparison to the sweetness of her lips.

Her teeth gently nipped on mine as a low groan ripped out of my throat.

Oh gods - gods. Seven fucking hells.

Persephone made a sound of delight as my fingers moved from her cheek to her hair, weaving and burying themselves in the richness of her mahogany hair. Demanding more, she pulled me closer, the scent of her leaving me breathless.

When we tumbled onto the bed, I pulled her into my lap, my fingers worrying at the tears on her cheek, wiping away the tears as her lips attacked mine.

Our tongues melded into one, curious and demanding and deathless and unholy - I knew this was a sin, but for heavens' sake - I was glad to be a sinner. The warmth of her lush body ground into mine as a fire grew within our souls, expanding into a raging inferno that left me speechless, and her, delighted.

And when we broke apart at last, with nothing but each other's name on our lips - her cheeks were so rosy, her face glowing as if lit up from within. I had never seen someone so bright, so alive with life.

I dared - dared to pull her to me again - to feel that feeling, that... inexplicable feeling again - to make sure that it wasn't a mistake.

That someone so full of life could want someone so void of life like me.

"Oh, Hades," she moaned as my hands tugged her closer. "Yes."

And in each other's arms was how we spent the night.