'How on earth have you survived?' I murmured to it as I crouched down, inspecting it closely.
'It's nothing to do with earth, I assure you,' said a slithery voice, and I leapt to my feet, my stomach lurching.
'Hades!' I heard Morpheus say, his voice filled with surprise. I turned to see him hurrying towards me, a smoky cloud forming before him. 'I'm sorry boss, I didn't know you would be here.' He was talking quickly, his smooth demeanor and confident grin gone.
'And why, exactly, are you here?' Hades voice made my skin crawl, as thought something cold was slithering all over me.
'Persephone was missing her plants. I thought this place might cheer her up.'
The smoky form was now humanoid, though void of features as always. Hades said nothing, and I looked for Hedone. She was nowhere to be seen.
'Since when have you befriended this human, Morpheus?' asked Hades eventually. Morpheus dropped his gaze to the dirty floor.
'I was just doing a favor for someone. I didn't think it would do any harm. I'm sorry, boss.'
'Leave,' Hades said. Morpheus turned and I hurried towards him, trying to skirt as far around Hades as I could. 'Not you, Persephone,' he said though, as I drew level with him. Fear and something unidentifiable skittered through me on hearing him say my name. Morpheus threw an apologetic glance at me over his shoulder, then disappeared through the open door. I gulped. 'I heard you had lunch with my little brother,' Hades said. Oh god. This could get awkward.
'Not through choice,' I replied, trying to keep the wobble from my voice. There was a pause.
'Did you enjoy it?' My eyebrows shot up in surprise. Not only was it not the question I was expecting, but the tone of his voice had changed. The iciness was gone, and he sounded almost nervous.
'It was nice to feel the breeze on my skin,' I admitted. 'But I dislike Zeus intensely. So no.'
To my astonishment, Hades chuckled.
'Good. I dislike him intensely too.'
'So I've heard,' I said cautiously.
'I...' Hades started, then tailed off. 'I never thought I would see you in this room again,' he said eventually, quietly. The slithering was gone from his voice completely, his tone now rich and deep. This was nothing like the way he had been with me at the end of our last conversation. What had changed? Suspicion filled me, and despite my efforts to ignore it, so did hope.
'It doesn't surprise me that I've been here before,' I told him. 'I feel something strong about this room. But I don't know if that's just happiness to see something growing.' Hades snorted.
'I wouldn't say growing. More like not dying. It takes all my power just to keep that one damn flower alive,' he said, and a smoky arm gestured at the orchid. 'The other plants are feeding off the residual magic left over I think.'
He was keeping the orchid alive? I definitely hadn't expected that.
'Well, it's beautiful,' I said carefully, stepping back towards the orchid. It was too. It was a slipper orchid, the shape of it round and sensual. It was a vivid purple, with yellow accents softening the petals.
'You planted it,' he replied, his words barely audible. Something pulled at my gut, and for a brief second I felt something so strong it took my breath away. It was a desperate, desperate desire to be somewhere, but I didn't know where.
But the feeling ebbed away fast, and was replaced with that same crushing sense of being trapped. Not physically trapped here in the underworld, but trapped somewhere deeper and infinitely more painful. I felt separated from my own emotions, and I knew I was being kept apart from something more important than anything else I knew. Was it him?
'Why did you send me away? What happened between us?' I asked quickly. 'It's killing me not knowing.' I looked pleadingly at where I knew his face was, flashes of silver cutting through the dark smoke.
'Nothing happened between us,' he answered, his voice sad. 'Circumstances beyond my control meant you had to leave.'
He didn't hate me. Relief and happiness crashed through me, at the same time as my rational brain screamed at me. Why do you care? You don't know this man, and he's made of fucking smoke and death! But rational thoughts were no good to me here. When I wasn't around Hades, the thought of ever being with him was intolerable. But once I was in his presence...
'Hades, I need to know what happened. Please, give me my memories back.'
'I can't. It is not safe.' Exasperation filled me, and I clenched my hands into fists. 'But, if it helps, I'll stop making your life harder,' he said gently. I raised my eyebrows. I didn't even know he could speak gently.
'How?'
'Well, for a start, I'm sorry I got angry with you before. Hecate kind of threw me through a loop. I wasn't ready to see you alone. I'm normally excellent at controlling my emotions, but you're...' I waited, my breath held. He shook his smoky head and carried on. 'You're the one thing my asshole brother knew would cause me pain.'
'Pain? I'm sorry,' I whispered. And I was, though I wasn't sure why.
'No, I'm sorry. You didn't choose any of this. It's my fault. And to say sorry, I'd like you to have this room.'
'Really?'
'Yes. Just until you lose the Trials and go home, that is. You must understand how important it is that you don't stay here.'
A flicker of indignation ignited in me, and I spoke before thinking the words through.
'If what you're saying is true, why don't you want me to be your wife again?' Saying the word wife out loud felt weird and I instantly regretted it.
'Persephone, please. I can't answer that.' His voice was strained, and I felt a little guilty about pushing him when he was clearly making an effort.
'Fine,' I muttered.
'Good. In the meantime, take care of that fucking flower for me so I don't have to.' My eyes flicked between the orchid and him and I couldn't help grinning at him.
'Why are you suddenly being nice to me?'
Hades blew out a sigh, the smoke around his face rippling.
'Seeing you here, in this room... It's impossible not to be. And if you are only to be here a short while longer, then you may as well enjoy it.'
'Thank you, Hades,' I said sincerely.
This time I saw more than a flash of silver. Hades solidified, and I swear, my knees actually went weak, like a I was in a slushy romance novel.
He was beyond beautiful. His eyes were swirling liquid silver, and the emotion pouring from them was written across the rest of his face. Jet black hair curled past his ears, and he had a thick covering of dark stubble spreading across his chiseled jaw. His lips were soft and full and parted slightly. My eyes darted down his body, taking in a black shirt stretched tight across massive shoulders, open at the neck and showing a smattering of curly chest hair, a heavy duty leather belt, and ripped navy jeans.
I don't know what I'd expected Hades to look like under the smoke, but my gods, it wasn't this.
'I'm sorry,' he said quietly, and I watched the words form on his lips, before his image vanished under black smoke again. 'I struggle to control myself around you.'
'Please,' I half-squeaked. 'Please, stay like that, instead of the smoke.'