said she should. Kore wasn’t a foolish little girl any longer.
Cerberus wiggled under her hand, so Kore lifted it and let him go. He snuck past Hermes with another unhappy growl before he sauntered off down the hall. It seemed the noble beast had decided the god wasn’t a threat. Kore could likely take that as a positive.
“See?” Hermes pointed in the direction Cerberus had left. “If he trusts me, then there’s no reason for you to be afraid. Come, let me show you the castle.”
He held out his arm for her to take, but she wasn’t going to take it. Kore looked him up and down before sighing. “Fine. But let me get changed first.”
She didn’t wait for his response. If he so desperately wanted to show her around, then she would allow it. But shutting the door in his face one more time was satisfying.
Kore took her time getting ready. The perfect peplos was a hard choice, after all. The fabric had to be right for this moment. Pink didn’t seem like it was her color anymore, but black was a little too harsh for wandering around the castle.
Finally, she settled on a midnight blue fabric decorated with stars. Hades himself had sent it up to her, and she felt beautiful in it. Or maybe that was because his eyes turned into fire when he looked at her wearing the peplos and himation he’d given her.
A shiver shook her shoulders and rocked her to the very core. Hades had been nothing but a perfect gentleman since she moved in. He’d given her time to enjoy living in the Underworld without the complications of their relationship, and she was grateful for it.
Now, she wanted him to kiss her again. She wanted to feel his lips on her own, and she didn’t know how to ask for it.
Maybe she’d figure that out today.
Stalling opening the door again would only work for so long, though. She shook herself, squeezed her fingers at her waist, and then strode back to Hermes. Kore ground her teeth when she saw him again. “What are you showing me, then?”
The grin on his face didn’t falter at her tone. He seemed completely unshakeable. “We’re going to walk the halls and I’m here to check in on you.”
“I don’t need to be checked in on.” At least, not yet. She was still stunned that she hadn’t felt homesick yet.
Kore hadn’t been away from her family... ever. Yet, there was so much here for her to see, to experience, to think about when she was falling asleep at night. She didn’t know if that would eventually change. Having a big dog sleeping in the bed with her had helped too.
She strode down the hall, not waiting for him to follow her. “I haven’t explored the castle very much yet. I expected it to be the same as any godly home.”
“It’s not,” Hermes replied, hurrying after her. “No Olympian would have a normal house. Other than your mother, of course, but she’s always had a soft spot for humanity. I think she’d be human if it didn’t mean giving up her immortality.”
Kore thought the same. Demeter most certainly loved the plain qualities of the mortals and the way their lives were so simplistic.
She shrugged. “What’s so different about it then?”
He hustled in front of her, walking backward so she had to look at the glowing smile on his face. “Well, you haven’t looked at all in the depths of the castle. There’s so many things here that someone like you would fall in love with, right under your nose. I’m not sure why Hades keeps taking you away from this dark place and into that afterlife of humans. It’s so dull.”
Dull? She wouldn’t say that at all. It was infinitely more interesting than the cold stone underneath her feet and the walls with their torches hung from chains. She could hear the wind whistling through the iron even when she tried to fall asleep.
She shrugged again, trying her best to not believe a word Hermes said. “I don’t know. Maybe he thought I would like the greenery of the afterlife better. I’m a plant goddess.”
“No, you’re not actually.” Hermes turned around with a sharp whistle, tucking his hands into the band around his chest. “But you haven’t figured that out yet, I suppose.”
“Excuse me?”
Those damned winged shoes pushed him forward much faster than her. She almost had to run to keep up with him. He refused to answer her