“They were unkind, yes, but I should have known. My mother warned me.” She looked down at her fingers and scrunched the fabric of her peplos. “Maybe I shouldn’t have come.”
He took another step forward, holding himself in check so he didn’t frighten her. He was so glad she had come, because otherwise he wouldn’t have met her. He wouldn’t have known a creature like her existed when his soul had all but given up on sunlight. “Don’t think like that. There are more reasons to come to Olympus than to meet the gods.”
A soft smile smoothed the fear in her features. “It is beautiful here.”
Hades made a face. Olympus had never been welcoming to him, but perhaps he was biased. And suddenly, he wanted her to see more than just a garden in Zeus’s temple.
He only wanted her to see the parts of Olympus he’d help build. The pieces of this revered place that were parts of his soul.
Maybe he just wanted to see someone beautiful find use in him again.
He pointed at the empty space beside her on the bench. “Do you mind?”
She shrugged.
He’d take that as an invitation. Hades might be the better of his siblings, but he wasn’t perfect. Even if she was uncomfortable, he’d prove to her how worthy he was of her attention. That she didn’t need to be afraid of him.
Not like the others. He’d never be like them.
So he sat and pointed out the details he knew of Olympus. “Those flowers don’t grow anywhere else other than in this particular garden.” The flower in particular had grown near her foot. The long, thick stem was supposed to symbolize Zeus’s reign for all eternity. The silver petals were supposed to look like the ichor of his blood.
He thought it was just a rather pleasant flower, not exactly an original design but pretty enough.
The nymph who was not a nymph reached forward and cupped the flower. “Is it? I didn’t think I’d seen it before.”
“Demeter made it for him.” Hades didn’t want to talk about Zeus and Demeter. How could he turn this conversation back to himself? How did other gods impress women? “The powers of all the gods are impressive.”
She smiled softly. Her expression was one of sadness more than it was pleasure or pride. “I wouldn’t know. I’ve only seen my mother’s magic.”
Now was his chance. Hades leaned forward with his hands cupped together. Blue light glowed between his fingers. “Well, there’s illusion and then there’s magic that changes the very fabric of the world. Do you mind?”
“Mind what?”
He looked at her dress. “May I?”
He didn’t know how to tell her that he wanted to give her a gift. The very gift she’d given him. He wanted her to feel... something. Hades didn’t have a name for the way his heart turned in his chest when she looked at him with those big, green eyes.
She took a deep breath, visibly hesitating. He could read her like a book and only relaxed when he saw that hesitation pushed aside by curiosity.
She nodded, and he reached out his hands, gently setting them on the fabric. He touched her knee, where he knew it wouldn’t frighten her. “Sometimes magic is about creating new life or plants. Sometimes, it’s just about making something more beautiful than it already is.”
His power flowed through his fingers. The cream colored cotton was close enough to a burial wrap, and he knew how to change those. Silver threads surged through the woven texture and soon stars decorated her peplos. They gleamed like silver coins.
Hades grinned. “There we are. That’s more fitting to your beauty.”
She looked down at the magic he’d wrought, then met his gaze with wide eyes. “Thank you. It’s beautiful.”
“Just like you.” Hades tried so hard to be a good man. But he couldn’t prevent his hand from reaching up and cupping her cheek.
She should have flinched away from him. After his siblings terrified her, she should have hated all the Olympians. Instead, this fearless woman leaned into his touch. Her skin was soft as velvet. Her breath fanned over his wrist like the soft touch of a feather.
“No one has ever called me beautiful before,” she whispered.
“Oh, you are. I can see the delicate bones beneath your skin and the glow of your power underneath. You are unlike anyone I’ve ever met before. A star encased in mortal flesh.”
She swallowed and his calloused palm rasped against her jaw. “Those are beautiful words. But they’re just words.”
“Don’t you know the story, nymph?” He leaned even closer so he could inhale her rose perfume. “When Zeus created mortals, nymphs and naiads, they looked very different. They had four arms and four legs, two faces. But they were powerful. So he split them in two, dooming them to spend the rest of their lives searching for their other half.”
The nymph drew closer and her starlight blinded him. Her lips were so close he could almost feel their plush touch. “Then it’s good I’m neither mortal nor nymph.”
Before he could ask her to clarify, she disappeared.
Literally. Disappeared from his arms, melting into rose petals that drifted onto the bench, then fluttered away in the breeze. He didn’t know any nymph who could do that.
Laughter bubbled up from a nearby shrubbery. A winged foot pushed out of the leaves and Hermes struggled to wrench himself from the thorns. “Well that went better than I could ever have hoped!”
Hades set his hands on the bench lest he wrap them around his brother’s throat. “Who was that?”
The goblet in Hermes’ hand tilted dangerously, nectar spilling out onto the ground and moss growing where it landed. “Demeter’s daughter. The child no one had seen... What was her name again? Kore? Something like that.”
“Not a name at all then,” he muttered. “She gave her daughter a title.”
“Yes, it’s rather sad.” Hermes started tilting to the right, barely keeping his balance. “You’re a daring one to kiss Demeter’s daughter, though. She’s going to kill you.”
“I didn’t kiss her.”
“You were damn well close! She’s going to lose her mind when she hears about it.” Hermes took another swig.
Hades couldn’t let Demeter hear a word about this interaction. Not just because she’d be angry, and she would be. But because he wanted to have this moment as his own secret. He wanted to hold it close to his heart for a while.
Something about that girl, Kore, tugged at his very soul.
He bared his teeth in a snarl. “You aren’t going to say a word about this to Demeter.”
Hermes grinned. “What’s in it for me?”
Oh, there would be no deal between them. Hades would make sure of that. He launched off the bench, caught his brother in a headlock, and pinned him to the ground until Hermes promised this would remain a secret between the two of them for all eternity.
Chapter 5
Somehow, Kore hid everything that happened from her mother. No other gods told Demeter anything had happened, Artemis certainly wasn’t about to, and they returned to their home without incident.
Kore still wasn’t sure how that had happened, but whatever luck was on her side, she would take it. How was it possible that her mother didn’t know?