When his parents had died after a famine hit their crops. She was the one goddess who had offered him solace and help.
“She’s not a monster,” he snarled.
“Why do you believe that? Because she went back to her mother and the light?”
“Yes,” he replied, conviction in the word.
“No. She didn’t go back willingly, mortal. She wanted the darkness and the pomegranate.” The oracle paused and licked her lips. “She wanted him.”
Chapter 16
Kore stared up at the dark ceiling of her room. The shadows and mist never dissipated from this place. They always hung like a wet blanket over her lips and mouth.
She’d gotten used to it by now, after a few weeks down in the depths of the Underworld. But it still felt wrong. Like she was a plant over-watered and incapable of growing without the sun.
Foolish thoughts, really. She wasn’t any more trapped here than she had been in her own home just a few weeks ago.
Sometimes she wondered if her mother knew she was gone. Demeter would go weeks without talking to her daughter, and maybe this was one of those times. She might not notice Kore hadn’t come back with Artemis and Pallas.
Rolling onto her side, she cushioned her head in her hands and stared at the dark curtains surrounding her window. Black, like everything else in the Underworld. Ebony like the night or a deep navy that rivaled the dim light that glowed in the cloudy sky.
Hades had tried to visit her a few times. He always knocked respectfully on her door, cleared this throat and asked if she would let him in. Kore appreciated his kindness, but she wasn’t certain she wanted to see him just yet.
She had to figure things out in her own mind. She couldn’t stand being the sullen brat who didn’t like the choice she’d made. But this place was so...
She sat up, hair flying around her head in all directions, static electricity making it stand on end. The shadows lingered too close for comfort, but she didn’t remember feeling like this when they first arrived. There was blue light around the rivers.
Maybe there were more rays in all the other places of the Underworld and she just hadn’t explored enough.
Getting out of bed, she pulled a sheer himation over her thin robe. At least it wasn’t terribly cold here, like the rumors said.
She tried hard not to look at the door as she planned the escape from her room. Hades had been respectful so far, and she knew she was being unaccommodating considering they were now married. She knew what he must expect.
Marriage came with certain benefits to men. She should be sitting beside him on the throne. Warming his bed at night when he called upon her. Instead, she had locked herself in her room and refused to come out.
A small part of her, the evil side that burned entire wheat fields when she was angry, wanted to see what would happen. Would he fly off the handle if she withheld his god rights to her body? Would he prove himself to be like his siblings after all?
She tugged the himation tighter around her shoulder. So far, Hades had proven he was not like the other Olympians at all. And he had maintained a respectful distance, as he had when they first decided to marry.
Kore was unsure if she should be grateful or frustrated.
Either way, she needed more time to get used to this place and not... him. She couldn’t do two things at once, and he couldn’t expect her to do so either. At least, that’s what she told herself.
And that was the reason she stared around the room looking for another way to escape. Who knew if he had that dog waiting for her to open the door so he could run and tell his master she was free.
The only other option was the window. Kore leaned out and stared down four stories below at the walkway that led toward another river. She wasn’t certain which one it was, though she didn’t hear any wailing. Perhaps it was the Lethe, the river of forget. She could wash down her food with the waters and forget she’d ever come to this place.
Dramatics, her mother would have said. She needed to stop being such a child and focus on the task at hand.
Kore bit her lip. So far, she’d had no luck growing any plants in this room. But there was some light out there, though dim. Perhaps she