Page 12 of On a Pale Horse
“Who the hell are you?” A voice came from behind him. He swung around, startled, to stare at a stunning woman in jeans, a Grateful Dead t-shirt, and bare feet. Her skin was a deep brown, her hair black and slicked up in a ponytail. She wore no makeup and stared at him like he didn’t belong there. That look spurred him forward. He held out his hand, but she stared at it with a raised eyebrow.
“I’m Hades.”
A few seconds passed, and she reached out and took his hand in her hers. “Persephone.”
He had never met her, but he could see now why Cloris might have fallen for her. She had a salt of the Earth feel to her, as if you could tell her anything in the world and she would listen and understand. She would listen and help.
She put her hands on her hips and surveyed him. “Well, Hades, what do you want?”
He expected to get here, but now that the moment to tell her exactly why he was there arrived, he had no idea what to say.I need help to seduce your ex-girlfrienddidn’t seem the way to start.
“It’s about Cloris.”
She tilted her head to the side, studying him closer now, as if suddenly he’d become interesting in new way. “What about her?”
The full weight of Persephone’s gaze was a little disconcerting. As if she could see through a man to the other side.
He resisted the urge to fidget. “She’s fine. I just need help.”
She remained and stared for the longest few seconds of his life. Finally, she motioned him to follow her down a hallway until his feet met the edge of a grass field inside the palace. Flowers bloomed and trees budded at the edges of the room. Nymphs did nymph things by a small stream in the distance.
Well. It wasn’t Hel’s doom and gloom dungeons. “I like what you’ve done with the place.”
She canted her neck and gave him a look he’d learned over his years with the Horseman was not to be acknowledged. She walked to the center of the room and sat down in the lush grass. She gestured for him to join her.
He sat cross legged, unbuttoning his suit jacket before fully settling in the grass.
Flowers sprouted around her knees and hands where she sat back, distributing her slight weight. “So, what’s up?”
He swallowed and observed her carefully. This could go badly for him. But he needed help, and as the only other person he knew who had some sort of love life with Cloris, Persephone was his only choice. He decided to be honest and start simply. “I love her.”
It wasn’t the entire story, but it was a start. And it seemed enough because she nodded softly, sat forward, and plucked a few blades of grass at her feet. “How long have you been in love with her?”
He considered it. There was no way to know for certain, as their relationship didn’t have the normal timeline, it might have had if they were both actually human. “I suppose about a hundred years ago I fell in love with her, but we had yet to progress past a mutual awareness of each other.”
He couldn’t explain everything without giving her all the details. Most of which he could barely think about, let alone share with a complete stranger.
“It would seem natural that the God of the Underworld and Death would fall in love. An interesting combination.”
He couldn’t stop himself. “How about the Goddess of Spring and Death? How does that work?”
The corner of her mouth lifted, and her eyes took on a far off quality. “Obviously, it didn’t work, or you would be here now.”
Fair point. She didn’t sound angry or upset. “Touché,” he said. Unable to think of anything else to offer.
She dribbled the shredded grass from her fingers and met his gaze straight on. “Why did you come here? What do you expect from me?”
He swallowed hard and met her brown eyes. “I need her to take the next step with me, but she doesn't think I’m ready.”
Her forehead creased, and her lips pursed. “When Cloris wants something, she has no problem taking it. Why would she think you weren’t ready?”
He warred with himself and decided, if it would secure Cloris for him then he would spill everything if she asked him. “Did you see the rooms in the dungeon? You know the black one?”
She flinched. So, she had definitely seen them then. Maybe he could convince her to grow vines or trees, anything to buckle the stone and rip them from the inside out.
He released a shuttered breath and forced himself to speak. “That was my room while she held me prisoner. I don’t even know for how long.”
It wasn’t pity that surfaced in her eyes this time. It was surprise, respect, and a little bit of interest. “I have to say, I’m surprised you survived that.”
