‘So if I had to guess – and before Hecate confirmed it guessing is all I was doing – I’d say something here is claiming you, the same way illusions did me. Like the domains chose the gods before Zeus assigned them.’
It would explain a lot: why I’ve felt so at home here, why the thought of Hell never scared me the way it seemed to horrify everyone else, why the land has yielded to me so readily.
‘You still hold sway over flowers. Zeus gave them to you,’ Hades continues. ‘But this power is primal, not something youhavebut something youare.’
I put my glass down and stand. ‘So let me just get this straight for one moment. I have some magical power, which you’ve known about for weeks, some power that would arguably give me a claim to part of this realmwithouthaving to marry you to get it, and you said nothing.’
‘I didn’t know what I knew,’ Hades says. ‘After the rift, I suspected something was happening, that you had some power unrelated to what Zeus gave you. But I didn’t know it was connected to this world. We still don’t know that for sure – we only have Hecate’s word for it. But … yes, I suspected you were more powerful than you believed.’
‘So you just married me anyway. And not because this power might make me a threat and if I’m your wife you can control that?’
‘Persephone.’ He reaches for my hand and I flinch away. Hurt cracks across his face.Good.‘Please, I can honestly saythat never crossed my mind. I had my suspicions about your power, yes, but we had more important, more urgent things to consider. I married you for you, to help you get away from your parents, to stop the control they have over your life.’
‘No,’ I say. ‘You’re too clever not to have considered it.’
‘Yes, I would have thought so too. But I really,trulydidn’t.’
I can’t believe this. Fates, I am such an idiot. For a moment I really believed we were doing this together, fooling everyone together, but, no, it was just me being fooled. And now I’m stuck. I’m married, somehow, despite fighting against this very thing for so long.
I’m so angry, so furiously angry that if I were my parents the ground would be shaking and lightning would be flying, and I long for some visible manifestation of my rage because my clenched jaw and curled fists don’t mean anything. And worse still, however angry I am, a bigger part of me is cracking. I’m one caught breath away from tears and I can’t stand it.
‘Even if I believed that our marriage had nothing to do with this, you still kept it from me.’ I hate the way my voice shakes.
‘I … I’m not the type to think out loud. You know that. I just wanted to work out what it was before I voiced anything. You were under enough pressure and stress –’
‘Well, which is it: you kept it from me because you didn’t know what power I held or because I was too fragile to handle another worry?’
He fumbles for words. ‘The former, I swear. Sorry, I don’t know why I said that. It’s not true.’
I shake my head, clutching the back of my chair just to stay standing.
I have power.
And, in marrying me, Hades has taken it for himself.
‘I’m sorry,’ he says quietly.
‘There we go,’ I hiss. ‘How long did it take to get there?’
‘I should have told you the moment I realized, but I just didn’t – still don’t – know exactly what we’re dealing with here.’
I glare at him, waiting for him to go on.
‘I’m sorry,’ he repeats.
‘No “but” this time?’
‘Persephone …’ He has nothing to add this time, it appears.
‘I’m going to bed. In my own room.’
‘But the court is back. They’ll –’
‘Well, if they ask, tell them you lied to me and I’m trying to work out how to forgive you.’
He goes to say something but stops himself and simply nods. He does really seem upset to have caused me such distress. But right now I don’t care. I rushed into a marriage to protect myself. Now it seems I might have been able to do that without one all along.
The next day there’s a note with my breakfast.
