A Touch of Ruin (Hades & Persephone 2)

Persephone found the sapphire lounge and when she entered, a man sat opposite Hades. The mortal looked to be in his early twenties. Persephone used to wonder how people so young could end up across from the God of the Dead, but disease of any kind did not discriminate. Whatever he was here for made him defensive, because he turned in his chair to see who had interrupted his game and said, “If it’s him you want, you’ll have to wait your turn. Took me three years to get this appointment.”

Hades gaze melded to her. Despite his elegant appearance, he was predatory. He sat with his back straight, fingers clasped around a glass of whiskey. To the untrained eye, he probably looked relaxed, but Persephone knew by his expression that he was on edge. Probably because of her. She didn’t have to say anything for him to understand she was angry. Her glamour was failing, she could feel it melting away, revealing holes in her mortal facade.

“Leave, mortal,” she said. The command must have shaken the man because he wasted no time raced out of the suite. Persephone slammed the door.

“I’ll have to erase his memory. Your eyes are glowing,” he smirked. “Who angered you?”

“Can you not guess?” She asked.

Hades raised a brow.

“I just had the pleasure of meeting your lover.”

Hades didn’t react, and that made her angrier. She felt more of her glamour slipping away. She imagined how ridiculous she looked—a goddess who stood before one so ancient, unable to hold onto her magic.

“I see.”

Persephone’s voice shook as she spoke. “You have seconds to explain before I turn her into a weed.”

She knew Hades would have laughed if he believed she were any less serious.

“Her name is Leuce,” he answered. “She was my lover a long time ago.”

She hated that she was relieved that he hadn’t named someone else.

“What is a long time?”

He stared at her for a moment, and there was something behind his eyes—a living thing full of rage and ruin and strife.

“Centuries, Persephone.”

“Then why did she introduce herself to me as your lover today?”

“Because to her, I was her lover up until Sunday.”

Persephone’s fists clenched, and suddenly, vines erupted from the floor and covered the walls. Hades didn’t even flinch.

“And why is that?”

“Because she’s been a poplar tree for over two thousand years.”

Persephone’s brows rose. She hadn’t expected that.

“Why was she a poplar tree?”

Hades’ hands rested on the tabletop, and they curled into fists as he answered, “She betrayed me.”

“You turned her into a tree?” Persephone asked.

Sometimes she forgot the extent of Hades’ powers. He was one of the Three most powerful gods in existence, and while each of his brothers became king of a respective realm—Zeus the sky, Poseidon the sea and Hades the dead, they shared power over the earthly realm, which meant there was the potential that she and Hades shared powers.

Apparently, one was turning people into plants.

“Why?”

“I caught her fucking someone else. I was blind with anger. I turned her into a poplar tree.”

“She must not remember that, or she wouldn’t introduce herself as your lover.”