Pausing, Kore spun around and shouted, “Thank you!”
Coeus jerked underneath the chains, then looked at her with a censuring glance. “Olympian, your kind do not thank the Titans.”
Her cheeks burned bright red in embarrassment and she left without saying another word.
Coeus had been right. It was easy to find Rhea.
She wasn’t as large as a mountain, but she certainly was a bigger woman. Rhea was probably two men tall if she’d been standing. Her hair spilled around her shoulders in chestnut locks that might have been beautiful once. Now, each curl was frizzy and split at the ends. Her arms were still thick and corded with muscle, and her waist still rounded with health. She was seated with her legs crossed, chains laid across her shoulders like a metal scarf.
Though the Titan’s eyes were closed, Kore was certain Rhea knew she was here. Instead of saying a word or interrupting the Titan’s peace, Kore folded herself into a matching position before Rhea.
She waited until the Titan opened her eyes with a sigh.
“Olympian,” Rhea said. “Why are you here?”
She took a deep breath and tried to still the shake in her voice. “Grandmother, I need to talk with you about marriage.”
Rhea blinked a few times, staring at Kore like she’d lost her mind. And maybe she had. How many Olympians came all the way to Tartarus just to talk with a Titaness? Especially Rhea. After all, her husband had eaten the children they’d created together.
Kore could only hope Chronos wasn’t anywhere nearby.
She gulped and met Rhea’s surprised gaze with more confidence than she actually felt. She waited again for Rhea to say something. Anything.
Finally, Rhea asked, “Why would you come to me for that?”
Kore had a thousand answers. Her own madness, hope, desperation for family. But instead, she said, “I have no one else.”
And then all she could do was hold her breath and hope the Titan pitied her. She squeezed her fingers in her lap and hunched into herself, curling over her knees and waiting. At the very least, it felt good to be around family again.
Rhea’s eyes widened, then tears gathered in the corners. “You’re Demeter’s daughter, aren’t you?”
Kore nodded.
“I thought I recognized the feel of your magic. Of all my daughters, she was always my favorite.” Rhea leaned forward, the chains clanking with her movement. “Why would you want to know anything about marriage? I remember Demeter. She had no interest in binding herself to a man.”
“Because I married Hades!” Kore blurted the words, and then suddenly she couldn’t stop. “I thought I wanted to marry him because mother always told me I couldn’t. I liked the way he treated me, and the way he kissed me. Was that such a bad thing to want? But now I’m here, and I just feel lost. I don’t know how to ask my husband to kiss me again. My qualities as a queen aren’t up to par for any of his subjects. Mother turned me into a virginal nymph, and now even Hades’ past lovers speak of me in an ill tone to everyone else. And the worst part is that they’re right. I am just a child and I don’t know how to grow up.”
Kore clapped her hands over her mouth before more spilled out. She hadn’t meant to share the half of that with Rhea, and yet... there it was. All out on the table.
All her worries, her fears, and worse, her weaknesses.
Rhea’s face crumpled into something soft and warm. “Oh my dear girl, marriage is never easy. You didn’t know him very long before you married him, did you?”
“No,” she whispered. “I suppose I didn’t.”
“Then you’re both still learning each other, my dear.” Rhea shifted, stretching her neck as though the chains hurt. “Hades was always my favorite, you know. If you were with that fool Zeus, this would be an entirely different conversation. But Hades is a good boy. He always was.”
She almost chuckled at hearing someone call Hades a boy. Rhea likely viewed him as that, though. She was a lot older than him.
Kore nodded hesitantly. “I suppose so. But how do I talk with him about things like this? I need to know I have someone here. Someone who isn’t a nymph or a naiad... Or family.”
“My dear, you don’t have to work yourself up so much. Just talk to him. Tell him how you’re feeling, and if you want something...” Rhea’s eyes sparked with something like mischief. She gestured for Kore to