were so adamant? My apologies, Persephone. I thought you knew.”
It was a good lie, and one that drained the blood from Persephone’s face. She even believed the words for a few moments before she realized that Minthe had made a mistake.
If she had been here while Hades was, then she really would have been asleep. But, according to her own words, she’d heard Hecate and Thanatos arguing with Persephone. Wouldn’t a lover of her husband have at least been trying to hide? Not feigning sleep and then waiting for the moment when Persephone would ask her a question?
No. She wasn’t this weak, and she wouldn’t fall for the lies of a jealous woman. Her husband was true, and he was kind, and he had promised her that their relationship would be nothing like the Olympians on the mountain.
She had to trust him. And she had no reason to trust this lying little weed in her husband’s bed.
Persephone sighed, reached forward, and ripped the covers away from Minthe’s lean body. “You’re lying to me.”
“I have no reason to lie,” Minthe hissed. She leaned forward and tried to grab the coverlets that Persephone had tugged away, leaving her nude and bare to her sight. “Hades and I have a history, you know that.”
“I do know that, but I also know my husband would never do what you’re suggesting he did. Which could only mean you are lying, although I don’t see what you get out of this ridiculous ruse.” Persephone threw the blankets away. “You’re going to tell me what your plan was.”
Minthe covered her nudity with her hands, shivering in the center of the bed. “There was no plan.”
“Wasn’t there?” Persephone could feel that dark power burning in her eyes. She could feel it tugging at her soul, trying to convince her to do something horrible. Something that would change the very fiber of who Minthe was as a person.
“No, there was no plan.” Minthe looked her directly in the eyes, but Persephone could see the lie. It was right there in the dark side of her soul, the edge that made her remember quite clearly why she enjoyed being the goddess of the Underworld so much.
Bad people deserved to be punished. And Minthe was not a good person.
“Were you going to seduce my husband?” she asked, her voice ringing with power.
Minthe lifted a hand to her throat and her eyes widened. The words came out, even though she obviously didn’t want them to. “Yes.”
“How were you going to do that?”
Minthe scrabbled at her mouth, trying to hold her jaw shut. Like that would stop Persephone’s power. “I was going to beg him to sleep with me. To accept the relationship we once had as something both of us need. And if he wouldn’t, then I would pretend to be you.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s stressed. I’m stressed. We should be stressed together.” Finally the magic dissolved, and Minthe added with an angry snap, “You’ll pay for using your power like that. It’s against the rules of the Underworld to force another to tell their sins.”
Persephone smiled, but it was not a happy expression. “So you know this was wrong.”
A muscle in Minthe’s jaw jumped as she ground her teeth. Her response was a hiss, “He was mine first, and he’s mine now.”
“No,” she replied. “He’s not.”
Persephone released that dark being out into the world and felt the magic rush through her form. She was stronger now, more powerful, but equally more deadly.
Her arm snapped out and her hand wrapped around Minthe’s throat. She held onto the nymph like she weighed nothing, dragging her from the room by her neck and out into the corridors beyond.
Vaguely, she could hear Minthe screaming. The sound drew many people from their rooms. They followed her to see what would happen between the angry Queen of the Underworld and the once lover of the king.
She dragged Minthe kicking and screaming to the center courtyard where she tossed the nymph onto the cobblestone. Though grass grew, Persephone wouldn’t use that against her. No, she had bigger plans for the little weed.
“You tried to steal my husband from me,” she snarled. Her words echoed through the courtyard and bounced off the stones. “You thought you could sneak into his bed and he would choose you? Over me?”
“I did!” Minthe shouted, her hands raised like claws. “And there’s nothing you can do about it! No matter how much you try to be our Queen, you will always just be the little