…
“You’ll see….you’ll see,” Hades whispered.
Ugh. The pain was excruciating. I doubled over and hugged myself, rocking back and forth. I remembered the same agonizing ache from my dream… or, rather, my memory. He’d made me eat a pomegranate from the Underworld, the first time, as a means of keeping me there. Kissed them into my mouth himself. Six pomegranate seeds, which had resulted in six months of the year. I suspected that he was up to his usual trickery with this so-called breakfast in bed.
“Owww,” I managed to moan. “Hades, wha- what have you done!? Don’t fucking tell me- aagh, it hurts!”
He loomed over me, his expression bemused, and arched one eyebrow. His muscles rippled in the light. “I suspect that you are well aware of what I’ve done to you, Persephone…. Just as you were the first time. I’ve given you fruit from The Underworld, the food of The Dead. Now, you’re bound to me, and to our Kingdom… I couldn’t have you just deciding to go on with your mortal life, now, could I? Did you really think that there was an option where you would not return home with me?” He chuckled darkly and shook his head slowly, running a hand through his long raven hair. “As though that was even a question! Can you imagine!? Like I would… just… what? Let you go…? Really, baby. I’d have thought that you’d be cleverer than that….you used to be, anyway…”