A Touch of Ruin (Hades & Persephone 2)

Her legs felt shaky and her chest ached in a way she never thought possible. It was like her shock had become a monster, and it was clawing its way out from the inside.

Then an awful sound escaped her mouth.

The two froze and turned in her direction. Hades pulled away from Leuce, and the nymph collapsed to the ground, unprepared for his sudden movement.

“Persephone—”

She barely heard him say her name over the roar in her ears. Her power churned inside her, boiling her blood, rushing to the surface of her skin.

She saw nothing but red.

She would destroy him. She would destroy her. She would destroy this world.

Persephone screamed her rage, and everything around her began to wilt. The trees rotted before her eyes, the leaves withered and fell, the grass yellowed and faded until all the earth around her was barren. She would strip Hades’ world of life like he had stripped her of happiness.

Leuce fled and Hades came toward her. At his approach, she felt the devastating blow of his betrayal all over again.

“Persephone!”

“Don’t say my name!”

Her voice sounded different, guttural.

Her power was hot in her hands, and she fed her anguish into it. The ground beneath her feet began to rumble

“Persephone, listen to me!”

She had listened to him. She had listened and believed him.

I love you—deeply, endlessly.

She wasn’t listening anymore.

He took a step toward her.

“Don’t!”

As she spoke, the earth between them split, and a massive cavern opened between them.

Hades’ eyes widened.

“Persephone, please!” he sounded desperate, but that was expected.

She was destroying his realm.

She screamed, her voice rang with fury and violence, and her magic was like fire against her skin. She didn’t know what she was doing, but she felt guided to bring her hands together, and the power that gathered there was immediate. It blasted Hades, sending him flying backward into the desolate landscape.

He landed on his feet and dropped his glamour. He was a manifestation of death—dark and menacing.

This is how he looked upon the battlefield, she thought, and for a moment, Persephone’s heart beat harder with the fear that he might overpower her.

Shadows peeled away from his form and raced toward her. He was trying to subdue her, and the thought sent a burst of raw anger through her. She screamed again, and her magic tore from her, freezing the shadows just as she’d frozen everyone at the Lyre.

A deafening silence followed, and she met his gaze before sending Hades’ shadows racing back toward him with a burst of her own magic.

Hades lifted his arm, and the shadows disintegrated into ash.

“Stop!” He commanded. “Persephone, this is madness.”