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His stomach suddenly felt endless. He rose from his chair, his anger coiled like a snake.
“What did you do, Aphrodite?” His voice shook as dread descended, cloaking his body. He felt as if he were trying to breath with no air.
“I only meant to gauge her affection for you. I—”
“What did you do?” he snarled.
“I told her about the bargain.”
“Fuck!”
Hades slammed his fists on his pristine table. This time, it shattered. Aphrodite’s eyes widened, but she stood her ground and did not flinch at his outburst.
“Why?” he demanded.“Is this revenge for Adonis?”
“It began that way,” she admitted, looking surprisingly devastated.
“And how did it end, Aphrodite?”
“I broke her heart.”
***
“Where is she?” Hades demanded as he teleported to the Underworld. He was not calm enough to sense her yet. He appeared in the middle of his palace, where his staff were meandering, oblivious to his agony, his fear, the potential end to the happiest he had ever been.
He had known this would be a possibility, but he had been grossly unprepared, because at the end of it all, he loved her.
“Persephone! Where is she?”
“Sh-She went for a walk, my lord,” a nymph said.
“She was following Cerberus,” another added.
“Toward Tartarus.”
Fuck.
He vanished and appeared on the outskirts of Tartarus. This part of his realm was vast and covered hundreds upon hundreds of acres.Why would she come here?he thought as he attempted to focus on finding her, rather than his racing heart and the dread boiling in the pit of his stomach.
He’d told her from the beginning he did not want her to know the path to Tartarus, that her curiosity would get the best of her. Had she heard Aphrodite’s words and sought to prove herself right about him? Perhaps she had come in hopes that she would find something to prove he was just as cruel and calculated as she thought.
Well, she would find it here.
It wasn’t long before he felt her—a faint pull at the edge of his senses.
She was in The Cavern, the oldest part of Tartarus. When he appeared there, he felt her presence strengthen and he knew where he’d find her.
In Tantalus’cave.
Disgust curled in Hades gut.
Tantalus was a king, a demi-god born of Zeus, and among the first generation of mortals to populate the Earth. Gifted with Zeus’particular brand of arrogance, he thought to test the gods by committing filicide. The wicked king killed his son, Pelops, ground him to a pulp and attempted to feed him to the Olympians. Hades remembered the smell of burnt flesh wafting through the Great Hall. The merriment had ended immediately, and their wrath had been swift. Hades had stood, pointed at Tantalus, and sent him straight to Tartarus, while the others attempted to assemble Pelops again.
That had not been the end of Tantalus’ punishment, either, as Zeus had cursed his legacy, the impact of which was still felt to this day.
Hades made his way into the darkness that blanketed the cave, where Tantalus had lived and suffered for an eternity. He saw Persephone race toward him, terror written across her beautiful face. She slammed into him, and he grabbed her shoulders to steady her.
“No! Please—” Her voice broke, full of fear and his emotions raged.
