girl he brought home. The innocent, naïve, boring little girl who couldn’t entertain him if you tried. You are nothing. No one. And you can never understand him, what he’s done, or his desires.”
Persephone drew herself up. She let all the power disappear from her body until she was just herself. Strong. Capable. A queen even without the angered, black magic.
“I am worthy of him,” she replied. “But I am tired of you.”
All that power pulsed through her again and shot toward Minthe like an arrow. It embedded in the nymph’s flesh and she screamed in pain.
Persephone assumed it was pain at least. The nymph withered before her eyes, shrinking and shriveling into a jagged edged plant that was both lovely and smelled so sweet. But she knew if she tried to taste it, then it would overwhelm her with the chill of this damned weed’s heart.
Minthe’s scream echoed, then died down into utter silence as the entire court stared at what their goddess had wrought. Breathing heavily, she stared at the mint plant as well. She’d changed the nymph forever, and that guilt burned in her heart.
Burned, at least, until she remembered the words as though the nymph had screamed them again.
“You can never understand him, what he’s done, or his desires.”
Letting out a shriek of rage, she stomped on the mint plant until it was nothing more than a smear beneath her heel.
Chapter 41
Thanatos stepped into his office and closed the door quietly behind him. “My lord, we have an issue.”
Please, no more issues. He couldn’t handle anything else going wrong today when there were a thousand things for him to do. Sighing, he pinched the bridge of his nose and waved a hand in the air. “Out with it then. What happened now?”
Thanatos took a deep breath, opened his mouth, and the words fell out so fast they were almost impossible to understand. “Persephone caught Minthe naked in your bed and when she found out that Minthe was trying to seduce you again, she dragged her out into the courtyard, turned her into a plant, and then stomped on her.”
His jaw fell open. Surely he hadn’t heard that correctly.
Eyes wide, he met Thanatos’ gaze that was just as shocked. The other god didn’t move. How could he? He was the one who had just told the King of the Underworld that his wife had turned a previous lover into a plant.
“Was it a good plant, at least?” he asked.
“We think she created a new one. It smelled lovely and was very cooling.” Thanatos rubbed the back of his neck and let out a little chuckle. “There’s more growing where she… uh… met her demise. We’re not sure if those are Minthe, or if Persephone just let them grow because they’re new.”
New plants that she’d created out of the body of an ex-lover.
Hades tried to poke at the emotions running through his mind. He wasn’t all that upset that Minthe was gone, although he likely should have been. Death was something he bartered in with so many mortals and gods alike, he should have at least recognized it was a sad thing to lose a nymph like that.
But he wasn’t all that sad. In fact, there was just an overwhelming amount of relief that the issue had been taken care of. Yes, he could have sent Minthe away. Still, this was easier for him, in a way.
Hades needed to understand how Persephone was feeling about the whole thing, however. He’d imagine she was more than a little angry to find the nymph in his bed. And considering all the work they’d done to solidify their relationship, this might have just unraveled everything.
Damn it. All the work he’d done. Ruined by a foolish witch of a woman.
He rubbed his face again. “Why was Minthe in my bed?”
Thanatos shuffled his feet on the floor. “Well, apparently she thought if she showed up naked in your sheets that you would fall madly in love with her again. Something along those lines. That’s what we got out of her other nymph friend. The short one.”
He didn’t care what her friend had to say. That plan was ridiculous, but more deadly than she ever could have realized.
“Do I need to put a guard on my bedroom these days? No one should walk around my private quarters without permission!” Hades slapped his hand against the desk. “Do you believe I would have fallen for that stupidity?”