talk ill of Persephone? Did she think he would believe any of these poisonous words? “She set me free from the melancholy life I had built for myself. I trust her explicitly. I know she will return for me. For all of us.”
Minthe’s pretty face twisted into anger. “You think so highly of her, Hades, but she doesn’t love you. She never could. You can deny it all you want, but the only person who will ever satisfy you is me.”
She flounced off, and Hades realized with startling clarity that he was in more trouble than he could ever have imagined.
“Oh, Persephone,” he muttered. “When are you coming home?”
Chapter 36
How long had she been here? It felt like Persephone had been back with her mother for months on end, although she knew it was only a few weeks. She wasn’t certain how she was going to manage an entire six months away from her home without Hades by her side.
Every day felt like it was a week long. She was bored out of her mind and couldn’t imagine how she’d done this every day for her entire life. Why hadn’t she realized how damned boring this place was?
Persephone woke up, talked to the nymphs, wandered the fields and poured some of her magic into them. But that was it. There was no one to talk with other than the vapid nymphs who weren’t Cyane. Her mother wasn’t interested in listening to her opinions, especially now that she’d chosen the Underworld as her home.
She wandered through the fields again, wheat touching her sides as she strode through the waves. Perhaps she’d speak with Cyane again today.
Persephone had made it a habit to walk by the river and tell her friend everything. All the details of the Underworld and her new life. She spoke of all the new and wondrous things she’d seen. The softness of Hades when he was with her. The kindness of the people there.
She told her about Minthe, and how angry that nymph made her. Persephone even told Cyane how much she missed hearing her voice, and that she hoped someday the oceanid would be returned to her true form.
Someday. She hoped.
“Persephone!” Demeter called out, appearing in the middle of the field and striding toward her. “Come here, please!”
At least her mother was calling her by the right name these days. She hadn’t expected Demeter to accept the change. It wasn’t the name she had given her daughter, and therefore, it was the incorrect one. But Demeter surprised her.
Maybe that meant her mother was growing.
Persephone could only hope.
She walked through the wheat fields to her mother’s side and prayed it was nothing bad. Demeter sometimes wanted her to do the things she’d done before. But this time, it already seemed different.
Demeter was smiling. No, grinning.
Was that a good thing? Or was that really, really bad?
She steeled herself before she stood before her mother. “What is it?”
“The mortals have invited us to their ceremony celebrating us.” Demeter waved a hand in the air. “I thought perhaps you’d be interested in seeing just how the mortals worship their goddesses. Considering your name is also in their prayers.”
She’d grown stronger by the day while she was here. Persephone thought that was just being in the sunlight so much and surrounded by so many plants, but maybe the mortals had heard she’d returned to their realm and that she could be summoned.
She weighed her options. Remain here, bored and lonely, but making an obvious point to her mother. Or, she could go with Demeter and see what the mortals were doing with their lives. And how they were worshipping the Queen of the Underworld.
Obviously, she was going to choose the latter.
“Fine,” she sighed. “Let’s go see how the mortals worship, then.”
Her mother clapped her hands in delight. “Perfect! Have you heard anything about the festival? You’ll be so excited to see what they do. It’s a perfect combination of what both you and I like.”
“No, I hadn’t heard about a festival at all.” That was far more than just worship. An entire festival celebrating her and Demeter? “Who is participating? The men?”
If Pirithous was so obsessed with her, then Persephone expected it was men involved in the festivities. Her mother had always had men interested in her to begin with. Though the harvest could represent motherhood, it was work completed by the hard labor of males.
“No! That’s the most exciting part. I’ve never had a festival dedicated entirely to women in my