They were mortal spirits. They had nothing to do with the gods once they died, and they lived a life of luxury if they were good. He couldn’t imagine why it would matter to her, a goddess, and a creature who would never come here after her death.
The death of a god was permanent. Lights out. They were immortal for a reason and not gifted a soul. Their immortality was their afterlife. So why did it matter to her what the mortals suffered?
He opened his mouth to explain his thought process, but she was already stalking away from him. Stomping through the black sand off in a direction of her own choosing. Away from him. Away from the spirits.
“Where are you going?” he called after her.
“Anywhere but here!”
Well, that wasn’t entirely possible. She didn’t know where the gates to the Underworld were, and she certainly wouldn’t find them on her own. And she was heading in the correct direction toward his home, so he supposed he wouldn’t force her to speak with him.
Hades trailed along behind her and wondered what kind of creature he’d married.
And they were married, even though they hadn’t had a mortal wedding. Did she think gods did?
He had to remember she hadn’t been raised on Olympus, where her mother should have taken her. She didn’t know that the gods weren’t ritualistic. He’d asked her father for her hand, and that meant they were married. Done.
Demeter had little say in the matter, thank all the heavens because she never would have let them marry. Zeus was the end all be all.
But if she wanted a ceremony, he supposed he could give it to her. Though, considering the anger radiating around her in waves, he wasn’t certain she’d want a ceremony with him any longer.
He narrowed his eyes as he watched the ground shimmer at her feet. Was she using magic?
She was an earth goddess, just like her mother. And that meant she should have been casting off plants in her anger. He could justify the strange sight by saying that the Underworld refused to grow any kind of plant, and that was why it looked strange around her.
The black stains on the ground suggested otherwise. In fact, it almost seemed like ink was spreading with each of her footprints. Leaching death and poison wherever she stepped.
Perhaps he should have watched this goddess for longer than he did. She apparently was far more powerful than he could ever have guessed, and in knowing that, he wondered just what she would do in the Underworld.
Without thinking, he pressed his fingers to his mouth and let out a whistle so high pitched no other mortal or god could hear it. But there was one creature in the Underworld who could.
Padding footsteps bounded through the sand. Cerberus charged toward them with his fangs bared and all three heads barking excitedly.
Of course his boy would be overjoyed for his master to be home. Cerberus always made a raucous when Hades returned. The dog didn’t know how to keep his mouth shut most of the time, or well, at least all three of them.
Unfortunately, he’d forgotten to warn Kore what to expect. Cerberus was already charging toward her like something out of the gates of Tartarus.
Some part of him had hoped she would drop to her knees and welcome the giant beast with open arms. She was an animal person, he’d seen how kind she was to the stray cats around the temples and how she fed the squirrels outside her bedroom window.
But that was not the reaction she gave. Kore shrieked and tossed her hands up. A shield appeared between her and Cerberus, shimmering with sparks of magic that might have harmed the beast if he was a normal dog.
Cerberus had been raised with magic his entire life. He knew when a god didn’t want him near, and he’d been trained well. Mortal spirits were fair game, but he stayed away from angry Olympian magic.
All four paws dug into the ground and he skidded to a stop just before the shield. Jaw snapping shut, Cerberus looked around her to meet Hades gaze with a question in all six of his eyes.
The gods didn’t like Cerberus. The monster knew some people wouldn’t like him because he was a big beast with three heads and sharp spines down his back. Not to mention the wagging tail that suspiciously looked like it could have been a snake in a previous