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“I didn’t,” he gritted out.
“Just like you didn’t offer Orpheus another option. Would it have been relinquishing your control to offer him even a glimpse of his wife, safe and happy in the Underworld?”
He had not thought of that, and he did not have long to think on it in the moment, either, because Minthe spoke.
He had forgotten the nymph was still in the room.
“How dare you speak to Lord Hades—”
“Enough!” Hades cut her off and stood. Persephone followed.“We are done here.”
“Shall I show Persephone out?” Minthe asked.
“You may call herLady Persephone,” he snapped.“And no.Weare not finished.”
He registered her shock for only a moment before turning to face Persephone. She wasn’t looking at him, but watching Minthe leave. He drew her attention, his fingers touching her chin.
“It seems you have a lot of opinions on how I manage my realm.”
“You showed him no compassion,” she said, and her voice trembled.
Compassion? Did she not remember their time in the garden? When he had showed her the truth of the Underworld? Was it not compassionate to use his magic so that his souls may live a more peaceful existence?
“Worse, you mocked the love he had for his wife.”
“I questioned his love. I did not mock it.”
“Who are you to question love?”
“A god, Persephone.”
That man’s guilt was not for nothing.
Her eyes narrowed.“All of your power, and you do nothing with it but hurt.”
Hades flinched. He could not help it; her words were like knives.
“How can you be so passionate and not believe in love?”
He laughed bitterly and said,“Because passion doesn’t need love, darling.”
He had said the wrong thing. He knew it before the words left his mouth, but he was angry and her assumptions made him want to hurt her in the only way he could—with words, and it worked. Her eyes widened, and she took a step away as if she could not stand being so close.
“You are a ruthless god!”
She vanished, and he let her go. If she had not accused him of only hurting others, he might have tried to help her understand his side of things, he might have even told her of the guilt he perceived upon Orpheus’s soul, but he could not bring himself to do it.
Let her think the worst.
CHAPTER XIII – REDEMPTION
Hades stood before the desolate plot he had gifted Persephone.There had been no changes in the soil, still dry as bone, still no signs of life.
She had not been here in four days. She had not returned to visit Hecate or Asphodel or water her garden.
She had not returned tohim.
You are a ruthless god.
