I CRAVED THE QUIET, HUNGRY SILENCE OF THE FOREST LIKE A FIRE CRAVED AIR.

The moss under us was a soft, velvety carpet. I sighed blissfully as my feet sank into the deep, rich earth. It had rained a few hours ago, leaving the soil soft. The forest was alive in a way no god, no human could ever be alive. It was like a bride of spring - wearing a finery of emerald green and shining mysteriously with ancient, untold secrets.

I loved the forest.

I loved the silence of the woods.

I loved the deep, eerie lullaby of Lachesis crooning somewhere in the tower as she worked on her immortal loom.

I loved the metal and the death and the taste of gunpowder on my tongue, the rust and blood under my feet, the bones hidden miles beneath us. I loved the feeling of being in a place where I fit in not like a sore eye, but like a missing piece of a puzzle. I loved the quiet comfort of being home.

I loved the dark, angry grey skies rolling above our heads, reflecting intensely in the eyes of my lover. Clouds of grey and bitter smoke danced in the depths of his gaze, a thunderstorm all on its own. I realised why some storms were named after people.

We had been lucky to catch a break, one day away in paradise away from life at court. The old me would have wanted to go see Asphodel, the Isles of the Blest, the Elysium, but the new me... the new me was different.

Something in me had changed forever when I embraced the touch of death upon my lips, and drowned myself into it headfirst.

And that something in me refused to go back to the way it was before.

That something in me had embraced this new reality.

I inhaled deeply, pulling Hades' cloak tighter around me. Underneath, nothing covered me except for scraps of lace and embroidered silk. There were roses around my feet - dark crimson and inky black roses. My fingers danced lazily, plucking a petal here, cutting a thorn there as Hades lay his head on my lap, his back on the carpet of moss.

He'd been reading poetry.

Now, he just watched me as I absentmindedly toyed with the rose in my hand. His hair was damp, the ends curling like smoke in my lap. I grinned at him before tossing the petals into his hair.

"And now you've ruined my hair," Hades sighed dramatically, plopping the book down on his face.

"Such a shame," I tossed a laugh at him. "How will you ever woo your lady with ruined hair?"

"With my poetry, of course." He raised a dark eyebrow, pretending to look horrified. "Would you like to listen to my musings?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Hmm..." Hades sat up, crossing his knees, his fingers laced. He leaned closer, and there was a crooked, delightful smile on his face as his lips gently brushed past my collarbone. Fire shot into my veins, rippling into my blood and setting my nerves aflame. "I could just kidnap you again."

I laughed, moving to climb over him, settling into the comfort of his lap. The skin of my bare thighs brushed against his clothes, creating a delicious friction that sent my head spinning. His arms tugged at the edges of the cloak, pulling me to him, eager, eager, always wanting. And I would let him. I would let him take and take and take and take.

"Careful now," I whispered into his ear. His eyes glimmered appreciatively as the cloak inched down, revealing the sparkling sapphire resting in the hollow of my neck. "You wouldn't want to... lose control."

"Plenty of space for us to lose control," his voice was silver. My back arched, legs curling around his waist. Adrenaline rushed through me as the softness of his lips met the tenderness of my neck.

I moaned softly, head thrown back as he continued his delirious assault on my senses.

Hades gave me a delightful grin.

"Oh... Persephone. What shall we do with you?"

"This," I whispered. Reaching up to cup his chin, I pressed my mouth to his. The taste of him was bittersweet and metallic, capable of making me drunk without a single drop of wine.

When we pulled apart, the crimson of my lipstick painted his lips.

"Hmm. What a work of art," I whispered, my fingers feeling the softness of him, the contrast of the red against the pale white flesh of his skin. My hand came away, stained the shade of blood. His eyes were darker than ever, nearly a stone grey, steel glinting in them as sharp and wicked as the midnight.

I was suddenly aware of the hardness of him against me, unmoving, unyielding. It pressed harder into the softness of me, sending my head spinning with dark, darker, darkest thoughts. It was hard enough to resist him as it was, but here - his gaze knowing, his eyes hungry, his blood wanting - this was the hardest thing I had ever done in life.

"Perse..." he groaned, his voice husky, words low. "Please."

"Let's see what you've been reading," I nipped at his tongue before picking up his poetry. His voice was a plea, so, so rough - as I gripped him harder, revelling in the intensity of his gaze.

"Aphrodite," I pleaded to the moon drenched night sky "Tell me; if love is meant to heal, then why does it destroy those who choose it?"

From somewhere beyond the clouds, I heard the Goddess laugh.

And I knew.

I looked up to find his eyes looking right into mine. They were piercing, a sharp grey that seems to look right through me - through the layers of silk and velvet wrapping my body. I could have sworn that a shudder travelled through my spine.

"Enjoying yourself?" Hades purred, his words dulcet.

My lips did not move, instead, I arched an eyebrow in pleasant surprise, daring him.

"You have no idea."

His fingers were tracing the line of my jaw, the curve of my lip as my eyes wandered over his godly form. Gooseflesh bloomed along the length of my arms as he continued his exploration, taking him time to caress each and every inch of my face - as if commiting my features to memory.

"Persephone?"

I flung my arms around his neck, revelling in the closeness of the moment - held tight in the security of his arms. It wasn't as if I wanted to go anywhere else.

"Hmm?"

I cupped his cheek, eyes boring right into his. Death... right here in the palm of my hands. Right where I wanted him. He gasped quietly, taken by surprise.

"The moon turns full in seven days."

I stopped my movements.

A week. That was all I had left. To make a decision.

He knew that I knew what he was talking about. The book of poetry on the moss beside us lay forgotten, both us as still as statues in the midnight - frozen in each other's embrace.

"I do not intend to sway your decision," Hades whispered. "I can not. And I will not. I owe you that much - for spending these last twenty one days with me without doubt, without fear, without judgement. But..." his voice trailed off mid sentence, tucking a lock of hair behind my ear. "But I - I feel too much with you. You make me feel too much. Too much of emotion. too much of everything. And I, I cannot bear to embrace it. I cannot let myself feel even with what you make me feel because... because it feels too good to be true. Because it feels absurd. Because it feels impossible. And I know for a fact that if you make me feel so much for the next seven days - you will drown me and throw me off a cliff I cannot ever hope to come back from."

"Hades," my voice broke, welling with emotion. His finger was on my lip in an instant, gently silencing my words with a kiss.

"Do not stay here for my sake. Do not stay here for your sake. Do not stay here for the people's sake, for Hecate's sake, for the judges' sake. If you do stay, stay here because you liked the taste of freedom too much to let it go."

He plucked a thorn off the rose, and a tiny drop of blood welled up on his white skin. A single tear welled down my cheek as my hands tugged him closer to me.

"Tell me that you stayed here for yourself. That you held up your end of the deal for your own sanity. Tell me that the joy of learning the taste of darkness, the bitter glory of freedom was far sweeter than the pain of losing everything that you had ever known. Tell me that this earth is yours, that the bones of your form call out to the deep darkness of the woods. Tell me that the smoke and the rust and the deathlessness of this world is yours, much more than your mother's springs and lilacs could ever be. Tell me that this crown on your head, this cold silk on your shoulders, this kingdom under your feet is more yours than those shallow rivers and frivolous temples of Olympus. He lowered his voice by several octaves until it was no more than a poet's whisper. "Do not lie to me, Persephone. Only the truth will set you free."

Not even a leaf moved in the silence of the forest.

"Call me selfish if you must. But... I could not bear it," his voice was almost a plea. "For you to... to go back."

"Hades," I began. "Hades."

The look on his face nearly broke my heart. His eyes were poetry enough, and no book in the world could surpass the pain swimming in their depths.

"You taught me that darkness was like any other creature. Not a beast... merely a being that needs to be fed. And once you stare long enough into the darkness - the darkness stares back."

The wind was a wanton thief sneaking through the trees, ruffling the inky black waves of his hair.

"You taught me that real power lies not in revelling in the taste of the pain of others - but in loving someone enough to let them go," I whispered, barely able to speak. My words were now a giant lump in my throat, hindering all voice from reaching my lips before threatening to make me burst into tears. "You taught me that loneliness is the biggest burden a person can bear - and yet you bear it yourself, with compassion for those you love even when your heart burns with pain. And you taught me that," a near sob choked out of me, "you taught me that the true meaning of freedom is to be able to spend the rest of your days with someone who takes away your loneliness yet lives in your darkness."

There was moisture trickling down his cheek as the darkness in me called to the creature of midnight in him, beckoning to it like a predator to prey. That thing that we were both made of coiled into one - uniting into a whole - like a puzzle come together at last.

"Does that - does that mean...?"

"Yes," I sobbed, and my lips met his in an embrace that was both tender and fierce at the same time. "Yes, Hades. I am yours, and you are mine. This is my home now, and these are my people. You have me. You have me until the end of my days. You have me until I cease to exist."