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He heard the clicking of heels before she sat next to him.
His heart finally found a steady rate at the scent of her and the feel of her power as it wrapped around him. She must be able to do that without knowing because after his behavior he doubted she would intentionally do anything nice for him.
“I can leave if you want, I just wanted to make sure you were okay first,” Persephone explained as she sat next to him on the front steps of the castle. She stretched her legs out in front of her and smoothed her long dress over her thighs.
Devon pulled his face away from his hands and looked at her. Her expression held none of the
manipulation that Minthe’s had. As far as he could tell, Persephone was always up front with him.
They promised each other honesty in the beginning, and he was incredibly thankful for that now.
“I did not handle that well back there and I am sorry for it,” he began to explain, but she cut
him off.
“No need.” She didn’t look at him, but instead stared at the Asphodel fields laid out to the
right of them. The souls milling about in their daily routines.
“Hecate discovered someone had trained an amplifier on you tonight. I thought you should
know your powers going out of control like that was not your fault.”
Devon’s eyes narrowed. He was not exactly sure what all that entailed yet he still felt aggrieved
enough about what transpired to allow that vindication.
“I also think,” she started again, “we can agree your powers are tied to nature.”
He laughed. “What gave it away? The vines? The deadly flowers someone found later in the corner of the garden? Thankfully no one else was hurt… or killed.”
“Everyone who attended that evening is fine and resting. Hera made sure of it. They also have no idea any of that happened, thinking they had a wonderful evening and went home to bed. Do not place anymore blame at your own feet. It does nothing but trip you up should you decide to move forward.”
He leaned forward to place his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands together in front of him. The silence permeated the air again. His thoughts were racing. He wanted to let the mishap at the gala go. Let himself have some grace.
“Seeing Tristan and Minthe, it threw me off…” he started only for her to hold her hands up for
him to halt.
“I understand, Devon. You owe me no explanation.”
“No, stop,” he said, facing her fully. “I get some asshole found a way to amplify everything,
but those feelings were already there. I was overwhelmed by seeing people I thought were my
friends, that I trusted, only to find out they lied about everything. Then that Tristan guy comes in
and starts…” Devon stopped and hung his head.
“I don’t get any of it. The feeling, it was powerful, but it was something I must have felt before this.” He leaned his body back to where he balanced on his forearms as his head dropped back to look at the starless sky.
“I think at this point, I need to take a good deep look at how I feel so I am not surprised again. Tristan… his comments… I found myself feeling protective… and jealous,” he whispered the last of his sentence, as if saying the words too loud would cause the earth to crumble beneath him.
“While the power and God were there, pushing at me, I made a lot of those decisions and it confused me. I became angry at my lack of control and understanding. I am sorry I took that out on you.”
They stayed silent, not looking at each other, taking in the words that hung in the silence between them.
Finally, Persephone reached out and grasped his hand. He jolted a bit at her touch and, when he looked at her next, their faces were closer together.
