❛THEY WOULD TELL YOU OF A KING WHO STOLE ME HELPLESS FROM MY SUNSHINE GARDEN.❜
They won't tell you about the woman who came to him sublime, lily eyes and lily lips. A king does not ask permission from his prize, but she, oh she, she knelt, kissing m...
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THE HALL OF HADES, THE UNDERWORLD.
HADES
THE LAST TWENTY FOUR HOURS HAD LEFT HER FACE A PALE SHADE OF HEAVY FATIGUE.
That - that damned veil hanging in a curtain around her face... that damned, cursed thing made me want to rip it into shreds. Tear it into pieces. She should not have had to wear a veil. She should not have had to mourn. She should not have had to grieve for the loss of a child. She should not have had to shed a single tear in my protection.
And I failed her.
I failed her, oh - I did. I failed her miserably.
I failed her by dying. I failed her by not being there when she needed me. I failed her by reassuring her that she would always be protected - always be safe from the monsters in the woods.
When what I should have protected her from were the monsters in her family.
I was a terrible father. A terrible husband. A terrible King - a man who could not protect his home from monsters within, let alone monsters without.
I - I should have noticed. I should have warned someone. Should have done something when Rosamund looked at me with that fear in her eyes that day - fear that was never there before. Fear which only existed because she was hiding something. Being made to lie.
That key. That woman inside my home. That treacherous, lying piece of filth who took the guise of my friend to trick me. And like the fool I was, I had dropped the very thing that would tear my kingdom apart into her arms.
I had no business ruling. No business having a family, a home. Not when I was such a useless, useless piece of flesh that couldn't even save the woman he loved from this horrendous heartbreak.
"We don't have to do this right now, Perse," I spoke into her ear. She gulped, her grip on me painfully tight, a groan slipping from her as she tried to shift her weight. I put my arm around her shoulder, steadying her balance before she passed out, which she looked like she was about to any minute now.
"No. We must do it now. I must do it now."
The corners of her tearful eyes were windows gleaming with undusted cobwebs.
She shuffled her feet up the stairs, wincing painfully even as Hera and I helped her up. Behind us, Hecate and Cerberus nervously fluttered on their heels. Her lips shut, she drew in a shuddering breath as she finally sat down on her throne.
Zeus lingered in a corner, eyes set in an unreadable expression.
I should have listened to him that day in Olympus. Should have done what he asked of me. Send her back, Hades, he'd said. Send her back to Demeter before she decides to hurt you both. I should have sent her back. I could have saved her this pain. This loss. No matter how badly it broke me.
