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Hypnos snorted.
“Persephone, this is Hypnos, God of Sleep,” Hades said. “He is Thanatos’s brother. They are nothing alike.”
Hypnos’s mouth tightened, and he narrowed his eyes. “She would have figured that out on her own. You didn’t have to tell her.”
“I didn’t want her to have the false impression that you would be as kind.”
“I am not unkind,” Hypnos said. “But I do not do well in the presence of idiots. You are not an idiot, are you, Lady Persephone?”
Hades stiffened at the question.
“N-no,” she said hesitantly, obviously caught off guard by Hypnos’s blunt questioning.
Hades sighed, explaining, “I have asked Hypnos here so that he may help you sleep.”
“I am sure she’s gathered that,” Hypnos said.
“And you?” she asked him. “Did you tell him that you do not sleep?”
Hypnos laughed again. “The God of the Dead admitting that he needs help? That is a pipe dream.”
Hades glared at Hypnos but worked to bury his frustration as he turned his attention to Persephone.
“This is about you,” he said, then turned back to Hypnos. “She hasn’t been sleeping, and when she does,she wakes from nightmares. Sometimes covered in sweat, sometimes screaming.”
“It’s…nothing. They’re just nightmares.”
“And you’re just a glorified gardener,” Hypnos replied.
“Hypnos,” Hades warned.
“No wonder you live outside the Gates of the Underworld,” Persephone muttered.
The god’s brows rose and his lips quirked. “For your information, I live outside the gates because I am still a deity of the Upperworld, despite my sentence here.”
“Your sentence?”
“It is my punishment to live beneath the world for putting Zeus to sleep,” he said.
“Twice,” Hades said. He could feel Hypnos’s glare.
“Twice? You didn’t learn the first time?” Persephone asked.
“I learned, but it’s hard to ignore a request from the Queen of the Gods. Rejecting Hera means living a hellish life, and nobody wants that, right, Hades?”
Hades glared. It seemed the God of Sleep had heard about the labors Hera had assigned him. He had still never shared the details with Persephone, and he wasn’t sure he would. It did not seem necessary now, given that he had secured Hera’s support.
“Tell me of these nightmares,” said Hypnos. “I need details.”
“Why must you hear about them? I told you she was having trouble sleeping. Is that not enough to create a draught?”
“Enough, perhaps, but a draught will not solve the issue. I am older than you, my lord—a primordialdeity, remember? Let me do my job.” They glared at one another before Hypnos returned his attention to Persephone. “Well? How often do you have them?”
“Not every night,” she said.
“Is there a pattern? Do they come after a particularly stressful day?”
“I don’t think so. That is part of the reason I do not want to go to sleep. I’m not sure what I’ll find on the other side.”
