horse’s back by herself and landed on the ground with light feet. She immediately placed her hands on her hips and shook her head. “I don’t understand though. Why do they need to pay?”
“Because that was the decree of the gods. They know what we require of them, and when their loved ones do not prove themselves worthy, they are the ones who pay.” Hades released the reins, and the horse plodded off. “Some things you will be able to change here, Kore. But most you will not.”
But it didn’t settle well. This wasn’t right.
She’d wanted to become his wife because she had felt like she could do something. She could help people and change the way the gods punished humans.
Demeter had ensured Kore was around mortals her entire life. Of all the gods, she was certain she pitied them the most. They worshipped the very ground gods walked upon, sacrificed the lives of animals and people so that the gods would be happy.
And for what?
To be tossed to the Underworld without a coin pressed to their eye or under their tongue and then wander for all eternity?
She stared at the unlucky group with her heart in her throat. “If I give you coins, would you let them pass?”
Hades sighed. He reached up and removed his helm, revealing that beautiful but too perfect face. Just like his brother. Just like all the Olympians.
Another sigh, and she knew she wouldn’t like what he had to say. “The coins would not be enough. Payment must come from the mortal realm and their bodies wherever they are buried. Not from a goddess.”
Her voice stuck in her throat. When she finally responded, it sounded like a horrid croak. “But I have the gold. If it’s gold you want—”
“It’s not,” he interrupted.
Hades held out his hand for her to take. She stared at it with sudden apprehension and fear.
This wasn’t the Underworld she’d thought she would find.
This wasn’t the home she’d thought she would make.
She realized that she was the little girl her mother said she was. Innocent. Naive. And now she was to be a queen.
Chapter 14
Hades knew when she didn’t take his hand that she was regretting her decision. Or perhaps she was merely afraid of this cold, dark place.
Many goddesses had come here, hoping they would find something more than just the Underworld of legends. They thought he was hiding a realm of his own making here, one that surpassed Zeus’s wildest dreams.
But Hades wasn’t the one who had created the Underworld. He hadn’t built the walls of Tartarus, nor had he breathed life into the Elysian Fields. He was their caretaker and their king, but that was the only title he claimed here.
He let his hand fall back to his side and inclined his head to the beautiful goddess before him. “The Underworld is yours, wife.”
She stiffened at the word. “We haven’t had a wedding, yet.”
Yet another reminder that she was so very young. Too young? He hoped not.
Hades realized his thoughts were fanciful. Dreaming of marrying the prettiest goddess he’d ever seen and then taking her to the Underworld where she would assume the throne without question was... well. A fairytale.
This place was as monstrous as its king, and he needed to remember that. He already said the flowery words. He’d made a deal with her father and that meant she stayed here, whether she was regretting her choices or not.
He hoped she wasn’t regretting it. Though he had never enjoyed living in the Underworld, it wasn’t as terrible a punishment as most people might think. He could show her the Elysian Fields with their waving wheat and spirits of heroes. He could prove to her that Tartarus wasn’t a nightmarish realm, even though the Titans contained could be terrifying in their own way.
She just had to give him the chance to show her everything he wished she could see.
A spirit shambled toward them, empty hands outstretched. “Please, miss. A coin?”
“Goddess,” he corrected, palming Kore’s shoulder and swinging her away from the dead man. “Off with you, spirit. You’ll find no haven here.”
Considering the way she stiffened under his touch, it wasn’t the right response. He needed to remember she had a softer heart than most. The first thing she’d asked, after seeing all the Underworld sprawled out before her, was how to save these souls.
He was a fool.
Kore stared up at him with anger shaking through her limbs. Her brow was furrowed and her hands fisted at her sides.