Chapter 29 - Pawn In The Game

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Persephone woke from a nightmare; the first she had had since Hades had cleansed her in the sea. She was alone in the shadows, but something was watching her. It felt like that shadowed wraith from the Underworld, but worse -- far more deadly, far more malevolent. It whispered horrible truths to her and she shivered, crying out in the darkness. She woke with a small scream as something moved against her.

The game is just beginning, Queen, I am coming for him.

She pushed herself from the bed, running to the window gulping in the fresh morning air. It was just a dream, she assured herself, just a dream. It was only natural on her first night back on Earth. She turned suddenly and gasped. A single black rose had been placed on the ground by her bed.

She bent, lifting the rose to her face. The scent was bittersweet. Hades had been there. And he had taken her in the garden; she felt the evidence between her legs. Why could she barely remember it? Why had he left her without saying goodbye?

“Six months,” she whispered to herself. “I will ask him in six months.”

Hades sat on his throne, silent and still as he stared ahead of him. He stood suddenly, walking down a long hall that led to a pool of still water. At the edge lay a grave, a pomegranate tree bowed over a lonely tomb. Stone steps descended into the glassy mere and Hades walked down the stairs, into the cool waters of the lake. He moved through the water, towards the mountain that bordered one side and there located the stairs that led into a cavern within the stone. The heat was oppressive, and he could feel it pulsing through the massive iron doors that were carved into the rock. He lifted his hands, and the golden blade appeared; he studied the engravings on the sword and smiled. “The game has just begun.”

End