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came with her name. He was tired of the lies.
Her eyes widened a moment, but she finally gave a sad and solemn nod.
Biting her lower lip, she looked up at him beneath her lashes. “Are you bound to the Underworld?”
He was unsure how much information he should give her, but it would hardly be anything more than what everyone else knew in the Underworld.
“Yes. When I died, she offered some seeds to me. Somehow, in this weird acid trip of a life I live now, that bound me to the Underworld.” He knew his face and tone were angry, aggressive. He wasn’t sure how not to be angry right now if he was honest.
Now that he was face to face with his past, he was questioning everything.
Should he have let himself move on to true death? Why did he take the seeds in the first place?
It seemed so clear in that moment.
He was forever bound to the world of death, full of some destructive power that could collapse entire buildings and would never be allowed the bliss of forgetting his past and his actions.
Stuck in his thoughts and heading down a dark rabbit hole, he didn’t notice Minthe moving closer until she took hold of his hands.
“I shouldn’t admit this, but I came here for you. I thought I saw you in the Underworld, jumping across the realm with Persephone. I knew I needed a moment to talk to you and this was it. I had to convince my brother to bring me.” She squeezed his hand in hers. His large and calloused to her small and smooth. “We were great together Devon, and this is our chance to do it right. Do it in a way that we hold no secrets from each other.”
He stared at their hands but didn’t truly see them.
Looking back up into her eyes, he wondered if he could allow himself to slip back into the role of her lover. To take back some semblance of control in his life.
As he squeezed her hands back, he watched her smile grow as hope lit her eyes once more.
***
Persephone shadow jumped to the riverbank of Cocytus, wondering why she would even care enough to check on Tristan after his childish behavior in the mortal realm. But alas, he was part of her domain and therefore her responsibility.
To an extent.
Her instinct was also telling her that something was off with the river near Tartarus and the boneyard, so it was a good excuse to check on the area since Cocytus ran alongside it.
She looked out at the boneyard, seeing nothing amiss, waiting for Tristan to sense her there and find her himself.
Usually when she stepped onto the shore, he would immediately come to her, but this time he stalled. Or perhaps he was busy licking his wounds in silence, not wanting to face her after he disgraced himself. She was grateful for the spare moments to look around without distraction.
“Goddess,” she heard his low baritone from behind her. She turned to face him and took in his changed appearance. In his domain of the river, he radiated charisma.
On the darker, lonelier nights down here by herself, he had appealed to her as a way to satiate the need that all creatures have.
She was not an idiot. She knew she felt nothing more for him than she promised. She had made that clear on every occasion that they spoke.
She finally put a stop to it when she noticed he was searching for more than sexual companionship.
“I am tired and would like to go to bed soon, Persephone. Can you just say what you need to
say so we can finish this?” He rubbed at his temples, such a mortal thing to do.
“I was simply checking to see if you were alright,” she inquired, her eyes narrowed as she watched him. He was not acting like himself. His normal swagger gone. But a dressing down in public could do that to a man’s ego, she supposed.
He put his hands out to the side as if to show her his unblemished self as he turned a full circle before looking back at her with an eyebrow raised.
“Hearty and whole. Anything else?” he asked, his tone brisk even for him.
She only nodded.
