Bride of Fire (5 page)

*****

“Daughter.” Demeter hugged her hard. “You are safe? You are well?”

“Hello, Mother.” Persephone hugged her back. “I am safe. I am well. I have been with Hades in the Underworld.”

Demeter stiffened in shock. “He took you? He dared?”

“He did.” Persephone smiled at his boldness. Even then, he must have loved her a little. He would not have dared the wrath of gods for anything less. “He asked me to become his queen.”

“You refused, wise child.” Demeter patted her back. “Never mind now. That dreadful time is behind you. We will go out into the fields and I will make them live for you. I will fill the world with the flowers you love. My daughter is restored; all the world will rejoice with me.”

“I did not refuse.” Persephone stepped back, meeting her mother’s eyes. “I ate the fruit of his realm. I have bound myself to it and Zeus himself could not stop me from returning. But I swallowed only the pomegranate seeds and not the flesh, so I would still be able to cross the border between the realms.”

Shock and horror filled her mother’s beautiful face. “No!”

“Yes.” Persephone said it gently, kindly. “I love him. He loves me. I have made my choice. He swore to abide by whatever choice I made. Will you do less? Or will you continue to punish the world with your winter?”

“I, do less than him?” Demeter’s mouth twisted. “You maneuver me into a corner.”

Persephone smiled ruefully. “I have some experience with corners now.”

“I see that you do.” Demeter straightened her shoulders. “Very well, daughter. You have made your choice. Return to his realm, rule with him. But return to me once each year to visit. When you come, the world will flower and the harvests will ripen in your honor. Fail, and winter’s grip will not release.”

Persephone inclined her head. “It will be as you say.”

Hades would not like it when they were apart. Her mother would not like it when she returned to him. Yet the bargain would hold the worlds in balance, and the world of light and life would not be entirely closed to her. That was a gift she hadn’t expected.

“Go to him, then,” Demeter said. “I will await you. I will always be glad to see you, fair child of my heart.”

“I will always be glad to see you.” Persephone embraced her mother again, then left quickly.

Hades, she was told, could be found in their chamber. When she opened the door, she stopped and stood like a statue, taking in the tableau.

Their bed was torn apart, covers flung about. In the center of it, Hades knelt with a flower cupped in his hands. The vase that had held it was shattered against a wall.

“That’s mine,” Persephone said in a carrying tone.

His head came up. His eyes went to her. His face looked ravaged with grief, his dark eyes wild. “Take it from me, then.”

“No. You must give it to me.” That was how it ought to have gone, she realized. How it might have, had things been different, had he had different options.

He stared at her in frozen silence. Then he held it out. She went to him and took it, holding it carefully so she didn’t damage the fragile petals. “Thank you,” she said. “It’s beautiful. I’ve never seen another like it.”

She righted the table that had been knocked over. She studied it for a moment, perplexed by the problem of the shattered vase that was beyond her capability to mend. She was queen here now, entitled to Hades’ shared power. The realm would obey her. Still, she had much to learn before she would be proficient. She waved her hand and a bowl of water appeared. She floated the blossom in the bowl. There. That would do.

“There is no other like it,” Hades said in a voice like grating stone.

“No,” she agreed. It was unique. All the gifts he had given her were one of a kind. All designed for her, by him. She bent forward. Her hair fell around him as she did, draping over his shoulder before her lips brushed his. He sat frozen under her caress. Then his arms clamped around her and he hauled her down onto the wrecked bed.

“I let you go once,” he rasped out. “I will never let you go again.”

“You will, actually,” Persephone said between kisses. “I have made a bargain.”

His hands flexed, gripping and releasing her as if he could not contain his frustrated fury. “Explain yourself,” he finally said.

“I must visit the world above once a year, for the fields to flower and the harvests to ripen. The rest of the year, I will take my place beside you and we will rule together.”

His dark eyes bored into her as if he was trying to see her soul. Perhaps he could. She didn’t know the limits of his abilities. “Why?”

“Because I love you.”

“You loved me when you refused to be my queen. What changed?”

She smiled, feeling joy shining inside her as brightly as if she’d swallowed a star. “You gave me the one thing I wanted. Your love.”