“With fashion.”
Hades did not consider this fashion. He was asking to be dressed down, and those were clothes he did not own. Still, he knew Hermes would not appreciate that.
“Yes,” he hissed, trying to remain calm.
“Hmm. I may be able to pencil you in…though, I am always willing to do favors for my best friends.”
Hades glared, and Hermes raised his brows.
“Persephone is your best friend. This is for her.”
“But Persephone admits she’s my best friend,” Hermes said.
“Does it mean as much when I say it?”
“It’s like saying I love you,” Hermes explained. “I might know it, but it’s good to hear.”
There was a long pause, then Hades mumbled, “You’re my best friend.”
“What was that?” Hermes asked. “I couldn’t hear you.”
“You’re my best friend,” Hades repeated quickly.
“Ah, once more, with feeling.”
Hades glared and said deliberately, “You’re my best friend.”
Hermes preened. “I’ll have something for you by the evening.”
And he had held to his word, leaving a black shirt, pants, and a pair of riding boots for the evening. Once he was changed, Hades went to the library, where he waited for Persephone to return to the Underworld.
Luckily, he did not have to wait long, though when she spotted him, she halted, as if surprised.
“What are you wearing?” she asked at seeing his outfit, a smile curving her pretty lips.
“I have a surprise for you.”
“Those pants are definitely a surprise.”
The corner of Hades’s mouth lifted, despite not knowing how to take her reaction. Did she like these clothes? Perhaps he should have just worn his suit, though riding horseback would have been decidedly uncomfortable.
He decided not to ask and instead reached for her hand.
“Come.”
He led her outside, where Alastor and Aethon waited for them. Of his four sable-black horses, these two could not be more opposite. Aethon was impatient and dreaded being locked in the stables at night. Alastor was far more calm, and he preferred being alone. Despite this, Hades knew he was the best horse for Persephone due to his loyal and gentle nature.
“Oh, they’re beautiful,” Persephone said, and the horses liked her praise, snorting and bobbing their heads. Hades didn’t blame them—he felt the same beneath her approval.
“They say thank you,” he said with a laugh. “Would you like to ride?”
“Yes!” she said with more enthusiasm than he expected, but it made him happy. Then she hesitated. “But…I’ve never…”
“I’ll teach you,” he said quickly and once again took her hands, guiding her forward.
“This is Alastor.”
“Alastor,” she said and stroked his nose. Alastor lowered even more, urging her to scratch his head. Persephone giggled and obeyed. “You are magnificent.”
Aethon gave an envious bray.
“Careful,” Hades warned. “Aethon will be jealous.”
Persephone smirked and reached to pet Aethon too. “Oh, you are both magnificent.”
“Careful, I might get jealous,” Hades said, then took up Alastor’s reins.
“Put your foot in the stirrup,” he instructed Persephone. “Lift yourself up and swing your leg over, then sit down gently.”
She followed as he advised, and once she was seated, he continued.
“If you become afraid, sink your weight, lean back, and firm up your legs, but my steeds will listen if you speak. Tell them to stop, they will stop. Tell them to slow down, they will slow down.”
“You taught them?” she asked, holding the reins in one hand while petting Alastor’s mane.
He mounted Aethon and answered “Yes,” though it was not difficult. The four steeds were Divine, and they had been together for a long time. They knew Hades’s moods just as well as he knew theirs. He did not even need to speak. “Don’t worry. Alastor knows what he carries. He will take care of you.”
They started slow, wandering into the fields and gardens beyond the palace. Alastor and Aethon ambled side by side. Hades could not help watching Persephone as she rode, her hands wrapped gracefully around the reins, her hair catching beneath the light of his realm. She was beautiful and happy and beaming. It made his heart beat almost erratically.
“This is a wonderful surprise,” she said.
An excitement shivered through him as he answered, “This isn’t the end.”
They wandered through Hecate’s green meadow, where Alastor and Aethon only briefly became distracted by the goddess’s wild mushrooms before they were redirected, heading around the ominous mountains of Tartarus.
“How was your day?” It wasn’t a question Hades asked often, mostly because he didn’t want the same asked of him. He never had a good answer anyway, but it always presented more ways for him to omit the truth, and that only made him feel more guilty for the things he felt he had to hide— the truth of him and his life. Asking now was progress—a way to start anew and be more transparent.
“Good,” Persephone said and paused before adding, “Lexa’s been making coffee in the mornings. It isn’t how she used to do it, but I think it’s a sign she’s going to be okay.”
Hades said nothing, knowing there was still so much uncertainty around Lexa’s livelihood. Just getting her out of the hospital had been a feat. Now that she was home, she’d have to face the reality of routine, and sometimes that was harder than the confinement of a hospital.
Persephone did not ask him about his day, and he wondered if she saw the point, if she assumed he would not be honest.
They continued along, winding through landscapes that changed from mountainous to forested to fields of purple and pink flowers. Against the backdrop of the darkened mountains, which mostly housed prisoners of Tartarus, they looked aflame.
“How often do you…change the Underworld?” she asked.
“I wondered when you’d ask me that question.”
She raised a brow. “Well?”
“Whenever I feel like it,” he answered. Sometimes he changed it when a deity left just in case they thought they could find their way back. Mostly, though, he expanded his realm. He created new spaces within Asphodel for the souls, because as the world changed above, so did their needs below.
Elysium was another challenge and often evolved because each soul was there to heal. Outside of that, his world changed as he wished—and it would soon change as Persephone wished.
“Perhaps when my magic isn’t so terrifying, I will try.”
“Darling, there is nothing I’d like more.”
The field they had crossed narrowed to a path that cut between more forested mountains. They were just on the other side of Tartarus, close to Elysium. The same solitude that blanketed the air there also reached here, and Hades could feel it settle on his heart, a pleasing calm that he had not felt in a long while. They were near their destination, and when he heard the waterfall, Hades stopped to dismount, then came to Persephone’s side. As she threw her leg over, Hades gripped her waist and helped her slide off the horse. He kept his hands on her even after her feet were on the ground.
“You look beautiful today,” he said, staring down at her. “Have I told you?”
“Not yet,” she said, smiling and rocking onto the tips of her toes. “Tell me again.”
He answered by kissing her, hands tangling into her hair. During their ride, his body had grown warm, and now he was boiling, but as eager as he was to channel this heat, to release it into her, he pulled away and nuzzled her nose, whispering once more, “You’re beautiful, my darling.”
He led her through the tree line to a spot in the mountains where water ran off the rocks into a shallow and shimmering lake, and though the muted light of Hades’s sky cut through parts of the canopy above, they were mostly in shadow.