torture. To ruin, to break, to brutalize.
I had to sever the connection to him, I had to remove my vines. I couldn't take his power, couldn't handle the fearsomely brutal desires. He had told me that he was too strong for me to ever steal his power, and he had been right. There was too much, it could flow endlessly into me and he would still be just as strong. It felt like he was filling me with his wrath, and every second I held on I lost more of myself. Why did my power do this? Why couldn't I take the fury away from him, instead of turning myself into something just as awful?
The gold vines. The thought powered through the cascade of furious darkness. The gold vines did the opposite of the black ones.
I willed the vines that I could no longer see to turn from black to gold, clinging desperately to the remnants of my infatuation with him, the strength of my connection to him, the desire to make him happy, content, loved. I recalled everything Hecate had told me about him, how he'd given up parts of himself to serve Olympus, how he had been forced to become this beast by his brother. I filled my head with the feeling of his lips on mine, his hands on my skin, his beautiful silver eyes, always so filled with emotion when he looked at me. He had created life. As much of him that craved death and destruction wanted life and light. I could give that to him.
I poured my power into my vines, praying it was reaching him.
'Persephone.'
I opened my eyes and gasped, shocked by the light. I focused on Hades, and took in a deep breath. He was still huge, but the blue glow and all the bodies had gone. The new light was coming from the gold vines stretching from me to him, morphing into shining tattoos that coiled around his shoulders and chest, covering almost all of his skin.
His eyes were fixed on mine, silver and stunning and haunted.
'Hades,' I breathed. 'You're back.'
'So are you,' he croaked, and thudded to his knees.
Three
Hades
She was back.
I was vaguely aware of Hecate, and her flashing us somewhere else, but I didn't let go of Persephone's hand, didn't take my eyes from her tear-filled green ones.
She was back.
'I'm sorry,' I said, as she pushed me backward. I felt my legs hit something and sat down hard. My head was still full of darkness, but it was receding. The beast called to me, but green and gold light burned hot through my body, drowning out its voice, piecing my barriers back together, reinforcing them with glowing vines. Her power.
'Sorry for what? Dumping me in New York, or nearly getting yourself killed?' she snapped, and I blinked. She shoved something into my hands. 'Drink. Now.'
I did as I was bid, the sweet taste of nectar forcing the evil thoughts even further into the recesses. I realized I was still twice her size as I drained the tiny glass too quickly, and shrank myself down.
'I'll leave you to it, boss,' Hecate said, but I still didn't look at her. I couldn't take my eyes from Persephone. My Queen. My savior.
'Thanks, Hecate. And, erm, please be nice to Sam,' Persephone said to her.
'As if I'd be anything else,' Hecate responded, and there was a flash. Persephone looked back at me, and her face was stern. 'I'm only here because Hecate cares so much about you. You're an idiot,' she said, exasperation and fear mingling on her beautiful face. 'If Zeus found out that you lost control like that, what would he do?'
'He would give my job to someone else, and leave me in Tartarus for eternity,' I answered. And that's what I had wanted. There was no life without her. No point existing. And I was a monster. I was destined for that hell-hole in the end anyway.
'Hades, you are bound to me, and I to you. Even in New York, I could feel your suffering. Do you think it was fair to put me through that?' Her voice was strained, and I realized she was barely containing her emotion.
Electricity seemed to spark through my body as she spoke, and something the monster had snuffed out completely leaped back to life. Hope.
'You feel the bond?'
'Yes. I feel it. I feel you. And you were right. It's not something. It's everything.' I reached for her, but she stepped backward, out of my