Persephone

Chapter XIX

I woke up in my bed, painfully bright light streaming through my window. I blinked, disoriented, and then the pain hit. It was as though someone had slammed a pick ax through my temple and the seven dwarves were singing “Hi-ho!” at the top of their lungs while tap dancing. I doubled over in agony, grasping my head with clawed hands. The green fabric from the dress was glaringly bright. I squeezed my eyes shut, unable to think.
“I’ll let Hades know you’re up,” Cassandra whispered from the papasan chair.
I winced at her voice but managed a tight nod.
Seconds later Hades burst into the room. I groaned at the noise and Cassandra smacked his shoulder, making a shushing gesture with her other hand.
“What’s wrong with me?”
Hades sat beside me and grabbed my hand. “Orpheus has gone public.”
I struggled to remember what an Orpheus was.
“Persephone.” His authoritative voice brought my eyes to his. “I need you to concentrate for a minute. Take a deep breath.” He breathed in deeply, watching to make sure I did the same. “Take all that pain in your head and push it to me.”
I stared at him.
“I think she needs you to clarify that,” Cassandra said helpfully.
He looked frustrated. “Look, I’m not the God of Poetry or Good Descriptions, okay? Just do it. I’ll explain what it means later.”
I closed my eyes. Without Hades as a distraction the pain in my head came back in waves that threatened to pull me under. I struggled to hold onto consciousness. I focused on my hand clasped in his. For all his calm demeanor, his tight grip told me he was worried.
I gathered energy in my hands, surprised when they grew warm. The pain in my head lessened as I imagined more filling my hands. For a moment, I held it there, feeling like a stretched out rubber band. Then I released it into Hades.
“That’s it,” he murmured, releasing me.
“What are you going to use it for?” Cassandra asked.
“A grove of trees near the palace.”
“That’s the best you could think of?”
“Well, gods, Cassandra, if you’ve got any better ideas I’d love to hear them.”
“My head feels better.” I opened my eyes. “What were you saying about Orpheus?”
“He went public.”
“Yeah, you said that,” Cassandra said. “I think she wants you to elaborate.”
“Cassandra!” Hades snapped. “You may leave us now.”
My eyes widened. It had not been a request. Cassandra blinked, stunned, and shot him a hurt look.
“Now, Cassandra,” Hades said through gritted teeth.
“As you wish, Your Highness.” Her dark hair flared behind her as she spun on her heel to leave the room.
Hades returned his attention to me. “Orpheus has told every major news outlet and his fans about his adventures in the Underworld. He spoke of you in particular.”
“Why?” Any other day I’d be flattered that Orpheus was talking about me, but judging by the look on Hades’ face it wasn’t a good thing. My throat went dry and I swallowed hard. Whatever Hades said next wasn’t going to be good.
“Apparently his wife didn’t make it. He looked at her as she was stepping out of the Underworld. She’s in a coma.”
My mouth dropped open. “That’s not fair!”
Hades shrugged. “No, but there’s nothing we can do about it. Her soul returned to her body, and she’s alive enough to where I can’t reach her.”
“That sucks.” I felt sick. He’d come through hell for her only to mess up at the last second. I closed my eyes. Poor Orpheus. He must feel so guilty.
“Yes. He seems to think you, your mother, or I can help. He’s been telling the world about us. He’s written his whole experience online, and has been interviewing all day trying to get our attention. Half the people think he’s crazy, but apparently some believe him. Or at least they’re all talking about us enough to constitute worship.”
“Really?”
“Great news for your mother and me. Orpheus most likely meant it as a favor, or tribute, so we would be more apt to help his wife. Unfortunately, it’s not good for you.”
“Why not?”
“You haven’t reached maturity. You’re little more than a gifted human at this point, and your body isn’t capable of handling worshipers.”
“Surely there were child gods.”
“Any you’ve ever heard of?”
I blinked, thinking back.
“That’s because we kept them from the public until they were able to handle worshipers. As far as the humans were concerned, they just appeared one day, full-grown.”
“Like my mom?”
“We’re different.”
“I thought you said as queen I would have my own worshipers.”
“That’s funneled through me. I give you enough so you can practice with your abilities, but not enough to hurt you.”
Something in his expression caught my attention. My head was starting to hurt again, but I shoved that aside. “What do you mean you give me enough?”
Hades sighed. “That’s not important right now.”
“I think it is.”
He sighed. “When Boreas attacked you and I breathed my essence into you—”
“The kiss?”
He nodded. “I gave you enough of myself so you could come here without harm. Since it’s supposed to be an exchange, I had to take something from you.”
Vague memories from last night surfaced. “But you needed my consent.”
His grip tightened on my hand. “And you weren’t being cooperative. More important, I didn’t want to take anything from you. What I needed to do to save you was bad enough.”
“I see.” It was silly to feel hurt. Even I didn’t think our impromptu marriage was an ideal situation, but hearing him say it was “bad enough” still stung.
He rolled his eyes. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it. Anyway, I took something I could control, that also ensured you wouldn’t be hurt. You gained powers, but they couldn’t burn through you.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“It’s bending the rules, but it works. I got the idea from Zeus. It’s how he and Hera were bound.” His mouth twisted in a bitter looking grin.
“What do gods usually exchange?”
“It depends. Some did whatever it took to become equals. Some exchanged practically nothing so they could retain their own powers. Others completely drained their spouse of all their powers…” His voice trailed off, and he looked away. “Like Zeus. That bastard took everything.”
I shifted, and he glanced down, looking surprised to see how tightly he was gripping my hand. “Sorry,” he said, releasing me.
I rubbed my hand. “So what did I give you just now? What did I take?”
“Whatever your body couldn’t handle. I didn’t take it, just channeled it through me. That wasn’t an exchange. Your power will continue to return to you until the level of worship dies down.”
“You were in my head?” I wasn’t sure if that part had happened.
He nodded.
“What was that?”
He scratched the back of his head looking embarrassed. “That could become permanent if we were ever to reach equilibrium. Otherwise it will only occur when we’re in contact with one another.”
I laughed. “So if I bump into you I’ll be able to read your mind?” Something in his face made me stop laughing. “What?”
Hades flushed. “Er…intimate contact. In this case a simple kiss was able to suffice.”
I raised an eyebrow. Intimate contact. I gave Hades a speculative look. My cheeks heated when he met my gaze. “Oh. Well…uh…” I changed the topic. “What would happen if you didn’t continue to channel my power?” I swallowed, remembering the agony of last night. “How bad can it get?”
“There aren’t words for what would happen to you.” He averted his eyes. “It would get bad. Really bad. You could kind of…unravel.”
“Unravel!”
“I won’t let that happen. Come to me when the symptoms start, and I’ll take care of it.”
I sighed, flopping back in bed. “Yet another thing I need to be rescued from.”
Hades frowned. “You could look at it that way, or you could see this as an opportunity to use your powers. I’m simply channeling them. They have to go somewhere.”
I looked up. “I could use them for anything I want?”
He chuckled. “Within reason.”
“Good. Let’s go after Boreas.”
He sighed. “You’re in no shape to go after Boreas.”
“I’m fine,” I insisted, swinging my legs off the bed and standing. Black spots swam in my vision and my knees buckled. Hades was beside me in a flash, helping me back onto the bed.
“Give yourself some time to recover. Take it easy today. Okay?”
I nodded. “Tomorrow—”
“Persephone!”
“What is with you?” I demanded. “First you snapped at Cassandra, and now me?”
“Cassandra overstepped.”
I drew my eyebrows together in confusion. “She’s Cassandra. It’s just what she does. You’re the one who’s acting strange.”
He let out a breath and his shoulders slumped. In that motion I saw all the tension he had been trying to hold at bay ease out of him. “Persephone, you could have died.” He didn’t meet my eyes. “That much power, so fast, before maturity…” He made a helpless gesture with his hands. “That could have burned straight through your soul. You could have been destroyed, and it caught me off guard. You’ve been out for a week, and to be honest, I wasn’t sure you would ever wake up.”
“You saved me,” I reminded him, reaching for his hand. He gripped my hand so hard I was afraid my fingers would break. “I’m okay, and I’m going to be okay, because of you.”
“I’ve been around since the beginning of time, and I’ve never been afraid until I met you.”
I didn’t know what to say so I shifted closer. We sat together on the bed holding hands, until I could no longer keep my eyes open.
“I don’t want to go to sleep again,” I muttered.
“You need to rest,” Hades reminded me. “You can’t afford to be at half strength.”
“Don’t leave.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
He wrapped an arm around me and launched into a story about the demigod Arcus, who killed the first werewolf and was reunited with his mother in the stars. I fought to stay awake, listening to his sonorous voice, but soon gave in to sleep, leaning against his shoulder.