Trial would be.
Twelve
Hades
'Good day, Olympus!' boomed the commentator. I tore my eyes from Persephone, her tense anger after her encounter with Minthe rolling through the bond and firing inside me. And despite hating her feeling anything other than happy, I couldn't deny how good it felt knowing how much she resented Minthe. I was hers, and everything about her body and mind projected it and I liked it. In fact I loved it. The idea of being wed to that shallow mountain nymph was too unpleasant to consider.
'It's time to announce the penultimate Trial!' sang the commentator. My stomach tensed in anticipation, magnified by my awareness of Persephone's nerves. 'First thing tomorrow, Persephone will face one of the most exciting and unpleasant demons of the Underworld. One with an appetite for death and destruction.' My pulse quickened. I had known that this Trial would involve one of the nastier demons that inhabited my realm, but there were a few I prayed she would not have to face. A few that I really did not want to have to give up control over for the duration of the Trial, so that Zeus could play his twisted games.
It was impossible for me to guess what demon had been chosen. The depths of Virgo were home to some of the most dangerous creatures ever born, including some the other Olympians didn't even know existed. Many were too dangerous for me to give up control of at all, like the Furies, and some were too strong and willful to be drawn into these games, like Nyx. But Zeus still had a choice of many who would shred a person apart with relish, their power coming from the dead.
The commentator spoke again. 'She will enter the lair of Eurynomos!'
An excited buzz rippled through the crowd as Persephone's eyes snapped to mine, her face paling as my own stomach sank. Eurynomos was the embodied spirit of rotting corpses and one of the worst demons in the Underworld.
Before I could send a word of comfort to Persephone, Zeus stood up.
'See you all tomorrow,' he said, and waved his hand. The room emptied with a flash, and rage seared hot through my veins.
'I have asked you to stop doing that in my realm,' I hissed.
'And I did not agree. You are forbidden from communicating with Persephone before her Trial.'
'What?' I was on my feet, my muscles expanding instinctively. I would not be kept apart from her. Ever again.
'Eurynomos has been under your control for centuries. You will be able to give her an unfair advantage by telling her what you know about him.'
'I will tell her nothing,' I ground out.
'I know. Because you will not be able to.'
'Zeus,' I started, a roaring sound building in my ears and darkness spreading through my core. He would not keep me from her.
'Hades, it is for one night, and you can't deny that your information would help her. It is what is fair,' said Athena, standing up. 'She will be told, and kept safe.'
'Nobody can keep her safe except me.'
'Untrue,' said Zeus, but Athena cut him off.
'She's not going anywhere, you can guard her bedroom door if you wish. You just can't speak to her.'
The rational part of me warred with the shadowed fury. If they were all in agreement I couldn't do anything about it. This was a battle I couldn't win. But perhaps I could get something from it.
'I will agree on one condition,' I spat.
'You don't have a choice,' drawled Zeus, but Athena cocked her head at me.
'And what is that?'
'Leave her brother out of the Trials. He is to remain untouched.' Zeus rolled his eyes but Athena spoke.
'And you will not try to talk to her if we agree?'
'Yes.'
'Fine.'
'You spoil him, daughter,' Zeus said to Athena, then disappeared with a screech of purple lightning. She looked at me, her face soft.
'You are lucky that I'm his favorite,' she said with a small smile, then vanished too. As the other gods began to leave, their thrones vanished as well, the dais reforming with just my huge skull throne in the middle. I strode towards it, still hulking and angry.
Zeus would pay for what he done to her. To us. I wasn't sure how yet, but he would.
'A word, if I may, Hades?' Poseidon strode up to my throne, and I nodded, surprise knocking my anger back a little.
'What do you want?'
'Brother, I am worried. Someone sent Persephone to Tartarus deliberately, and very few know the true consequences of