she wondered if she’d made her entire head bloom instead of just a single rose behind her ear.
Hades shook himself then asked, “What would you like to see first?”
The question was too immense to answer. She wanted to see the rivers, to get so close that her toes almost touched their raging waters. She wanted to see the fields where the heroes went and maybe speak with some heroes. Tartarus called to her as well, even though she knew a visit wasn’t allowed. She wanted to speak with her grandparents and know why they were so brutal. So animalistic.
She opened her mouth to let all the words spill out, then quickly realized she didn’t know how to verbalize them. “Everything?” she asked, the word tentative.
Was it too much to expect him to show her all the wonders of this place? He had to be a very busy man keeping control of everything here. Though he wasn’t the one gathering the souls, he was the one making sure they were all... well. Behaving.
He grinned, and his eyes glowed with pride. Hades held his arm out for her to rest her hand upon and said, “Let’s start with the soul’s journey, shall we? Then we’ll see the rest later on.”
She supposed that would have to suffice. He’d said the Underworld was bigger than the mortal realm. It would take a long time for her to see everything. Not just a single day.
Together, they glided through the halls of his castle and out onto the black sand beach. She felt like the Queen of the Underworld in this moment, and Kore realized it felt good. Better than she’d ever felt before.
The sand shifted beneath her feet, cushioning each movement as though it were actually guiding her to the place where she’d been just yesterday. Hades was strong underneath her hand, powerful and real when she hadn’t ever touched a man this long. There were muscles on his forearm that bunched beneath her fingertips whenever she moved them.
Muscles. She hadn’t ever thought a man’s body could be so tempting, and yet she wanted to stroke those muscles. Feel where they led, higher on his arms to his biceps and shoulders.
The gods were soft. That was the word she’d always thought to explain them, while the humans were hardened by years of labor. Though some gods looked muscular, most were only created that way because of their love for war. Not hard work.
Hades strode with her onto the dock and stared back at the souls behind them. “When they arrive in the Underworld, they all wait here. No matter who they are.”
She looked with him over the glowing blue souls that were so hopeful. A few of them bowed to the king and queen, though they appeared to do so in hopes it would provide them preferential treatment. None of them were trying to pray to Hades or Kore, although she doubted they even knew her name.
“What about the ones who are bad?” she asked.
He lifted a brow. “What of them?”
“Do they get to walk with those who were worthy in life?” Something deep inside her twisted at the thought. They didn’t deserve to stand beside the heroes or the humans who had taken the time to be good people in their lives.
The evil ones deserved to be punished. They deserved to feel the Underworld weighing down on their shoulders until they felt their wrong deeds upon them.
Power burned behind her eyes. She could punish them. She could force them to understand why they were wrong, if only she let her power out.
Hades shifted and Kore snapped out of the strange trance. Even though the darkness still pressed against her throat and lips, at least now it was a little easier to control. She looked up and met his dark gaze, and saw something that disturbingly looked like pity in his eyes.
He held his hand out for her to take and only spoke once she’d laced her fingers with his. “The weight of their souls is not black and white. Good people do horrible things, and evil people can ultimately show mercy. These shades of grey make it difficult to know who deserves to be punished.”
No, that wasn’t right. She knew what was right and wrong, and if someone was a terrible person in life, then they deserved to have a difficult afterlife. That was how it should work.
She shook her head in denial, “No. Shades of grey don’t exist in what is right or