“When did you plan the garden?” she asked.
“The night Lexa died,” he admitted. He’d thought of it the moment there was a possibility she might not make it, as morbid as it seemed, but he had always liked the idea of offering people peaceful spaces to mourn and remember.
Persephone was silent.
“What are you thinking?” Hades asked, suddenly anxious that he had somehow made her sad.
But then her eyes met his and she answered, “I am thinking about how much I love you.”
Hades smiled, drew her close, and whispered in her ear, “I love you too.”
When the music shifted to something more electronic, Hades took his leave so she could spend time with her friends. He snatched a glass of
whiskey from a tray as he retreated to the shadows, keeping her within sight, mistrusting of anyone but those closest to them.
He was not there long when he saw Ilias enter the ballroom, and he stiffened. The satyr was supposed to be at Nevernight, and for him to have come all this way—and in person—something had to be dreadfully wrong.
“Hades,” he said.
“Ilias,” he replied with a nod. “What is it?”
“Normally I wouldn’t give much weight to rumors, but this one you need to hear. The market’s saying the ophiotaurus has been…resurrected.”
Hades’s first reaction was shock. A sudden heaviness descended on his whole body. The ophiotaurus was a monster, part bull, part serpent. It was said that whoever slew the creature and burned its entrails would obtain the power to defeat the gods. During the Titanomachy, the creature was killed by the Titans, but before they could burn its entrails, they were captured by one of Zeus’s eagles, thwarting their plan.
If it was alive once more, it would likely be a target for Triad—for Theseus—and it was the perfect weapon to use to overthrow the gods.
And Hades knew exactly how it had come to be.
“Fucking Fates.”
He’d expected the murder of Briareus to haunt him, but not like this. He remembered their words to him.
“Do not fret, Good Counselor. ”
“Your bargain with Briareus…”
“Will only ruin your life. ”
Just when everything was within his grasp, he thought, the Fates did this.
He wondered at their decision to resurrect the ophiotaurus. Did they want the Olympian reign to end? Had they woven a future where the demigods ruled a new era? Or were they merely entertaining themselves? He would not be surprised if it were the latter, though their fun would end in bloodshed. Everyone would look for the ophiotaurus because everyone wanted the chance to kill divinity, even gods themselves.
“Sorry to ruin your evening,” Ilias said.
Hades focused on the satyr once more. “No, thank you, Ilias. We’ll begin searching tonight.”
The satyr nodded, and as he departed, Hades slipped his hand into his pocket, clutching Persephone’s ring as he searched for her on the floor, noting that she was gone, and he went in search of her. In the face of Ilias’s news, she was even more important. He had not fought so hard to have her, to love her, only to have her taken away.
He found her on the balcony overlooking New Athens.
“There you are,” he said and drew his arms around her, sealing her back to his chest. Her warmth was a comfort to his chaotic mind, and he took a deep breath, inhaling her scent once more. “What are you doing out here?”
“Breathing,” she said with a laugh, though he could feel how hot her skin was and knew she needed a break from the crowd.
He chuckled and they fell silent, content for the moment to stand in each other’s energy.
“I have something for you,” he said, kissing her hair.
Persephone turned in his arms, her hands pressing firmly to his chest.
“What is it?”
He studied her for a moment, like he did when he wanted to memorize her face. This time, he wanted to memorize this moment before everything changed. Then he shifted, reaching into his pocket for the box.
He knelt before her.
“Hades—”
“Just…let me do this. Please.”
She closed her mouth and smiled. Then he opened the box, revealing the ring he had Hephaestus forge so long ago. She brought her hands up to cover her mouth as her breath caught in her throat.
“Persephone,” he said. “I would have chosen you a thousand times over, the Fates be damned. Please…become my wife, rule beside me, let me love you forever.”
Her eyes glistened and she swallowed as she whispered her answer.