Descent into Desire Read Free

think she’s actually more worried about you.”
    Hades had wanted to ask that question, but hadn’t dared to. “Persephone is very infatuated. No other man has ever been able to get near her. No real man at least. Just awkward, gauche mortal boys.”
    “Alala thinks Persephone is out to prove something. Or just rebel against her mother. I think you should consider that. And don’t be insulted for her when I say you’re probably too mature and complex for her.”
    Hades wanted to argue in her favor, but he knew how she appeared to most people. She could be immature and whiney and spiteful. He knew her better than any of them though. He’d talked to her about literature and movies and all kinds of ordinary things. She was smarter than she seemed and more thoughtful than any of them imagined. She was silly and sometimes flighty, but he loved it. She made him smile and laugh. She made him happy.
    He finally spoke. “We’re very different, but so are you and Alala. What such a sweet girl sees in you I can’t imagine.”
    Ares smiled. “I have no idea either. Okay, I see your point. I’m just passing along Alala’s concern because I think it’s justified.”
    “I agree. Tell her thank you and that she can contact Persephone whenever she wants to. She’s not a prisoner, and I’m sure she could use a friend.”
    “She mad at you? I hear you haven’t lived up to your sexy text messages.”
    “Word travels fast. I’m not sleeping with her until she takes me seriously.”
    Ares crossed his arms and gave him a skeptical look. “I think she takes you seriously. She just doesn’t know what she’s getting into or what to expect. But maybe I’m wrong.”
    “No, you’re right. She’s upset because she didn’t get what she thought she wanted. I hope someday she’ll truly want it.”
    Ares leaned against the railing and looked down into the garden. He spotted a couple ducking behind some bushes. “What is going on lately? If this were a cheesy romantic comedy, or a Shakespeare play, I’d say Aphrodite had a cold or something. Making people fall in love every time she sneezes.”
    Hades shook his head. “Yeah. There does seem to be something in the air, but it’s working out for most people.” He reached out to Persephone in his mind. She was asleep, but she stirred slightly and clutched her pillow. He withdrew his mind so he wouldn’t wake her. “I’m heading back. It’s getting pretty cold up here.”
    Ares looked up at the gathering clouds. “Demeter trying to make a point?”
    “The only way she knows how to.” He shook his head. “We’ll see. She’ll have to see reason soon.” He started to walk away.
    “Good luck with that,” Ares called after him.
    “Thanks.” He kept walking and mumbled to himself, “For all the good it may do me.” He walked down into the garden and pressed a stone on the wall. The wall opened a little, and he slipped inside. He followed the tunnel and arrived on the shore of the Acheron, at the point where it connected with the river Styx and the Underworld. Charon, the ferryman of the dead, sat on the shore with Cerberus, who was actually quite friendly for an enormous, three-headed, dragon-tailed black hound.
    “Excited to meet your new mistress, Cerb?” He patted the hound’s middle head, and the hound’s tail wagged as he stood up to follow him.
    The Underworld was the one place only few beings could enter without terrible consequences. Or being dead. Everyone except him and Zeus had to enter the old-fashioned way, walk to the river and be ferried across. Or be brought there by Thanatos, the god of death. Hades had granted Persephone special status by allowing her to enter his realm while still alive. She could also leave whenever she wanted. Only Zeus and the Olympian messengers Hermes and Iris could do this. Anyone else would be trapped until Hades brought them back across himself.
    “Getting a bit chilly out there,” Charon said.
    Hades got into the boat