Hades brooded, and be couldn't stop staring at the sketch the lit tle spirit had given him.
"Do you like it?" Eurydice asked.
"How did you know?" Hades' voice sounded rough and foreign to his own ears. How long had it been since he had carried on a real conversation with anyone? He couldn't remember.
"I have been thinking a lot about her. I even started dreaming of her. Only, when I see her in my dreams, she does not look like she did when she was here. But how she looks - it's hard to describe - how she looks in my dreams feels right. So I drew her that way. When I showed Iapis, he told me that I should bring it to you."
"I hope I did not overstep myself, Lord," Iapis said.
Hades could not take his eyes from the sketch. "No, old friend, you did not overstep yourself. You were right to show me." He made himself take his eyes from the sketch and look at Eurydice.
"Thank you. May I keep it?"
"Of course, Lord. Anything I create is yours."
"No, little one," Hades said sadly. "Anything you create stil belongs to her."
"Wil she return to us?" Eurydice asked.
Hades looked back at the sketch of Carolina. Her mortal features were sweet and kind, her body ful and womanly. He felt a stirring within him just looking at the likeness of her, and he closed his eyes, blocking her picture from his mind. He had lacked the strength to trust her, and because of that she had almost lost her soul to Tartarus. But she had battled back from the abyss only to be betrayed and wounded by his rash, thoughtless words. He did not deserve the gift of her love.
"No," Hades said. "I do not believe she wil return to us." Eurydice made a smal , sad noise, and Hades opened his eyes to see Iapis taking the spirit into his arms.
"Hush, now," the daimon soothed. "Wherever she is, she has not forgotten you. She loved you."
"Please leave me," Hades rasped.
Iapis motioned for Eurydice to go, but he stayed in his Lord's chamber. His concern for the God gnawed at him. Hades did not pace back and forth in frustration. He did not work out his anger at the forge. He refused to eat and he rarely slept. He held court, passing judgment over the somber dead as if he belonged among their ranks and had been condemned to eternal y wander the banks of Cocytus, the River of Lamentation.
When Persephone tried to see the God, Iapis had felt a stirring of hope at Hades' display of anger. But it was shortlived. As soon as the Goddess of Spring left the Underworld, Hades had withdrawn within himself again. The God could not continue as he was, yet Iapis saw no respite ahead. Time seemed to fester the dark God's wound instead of al owing him to heal.
"Iapis, do you know what happens when one soul mate is separated from the other?" Hades asked suddenly. He was standing in front of the window that looked out on the area of his gardens that joined the Elysia forest and eventual y led to the River Lethe.
"Soul mates always find each other," Iapis said. "You know that already, Lord."
"But what happens if they cannot find each other because one of them has done something inexcusable?" Hades turned his head and looked blankly at Iapis.
"Can you not forgive her, Hades?"
Hades blinked and focused on the daimon's face. "Forgive her? Of course I have. She was only keeping her oath to Demeter. Carolina's sense of honor would not al ow her to betray her word, not even for love. It is myself that I cannot forgive."
"Yourself? How, Lord?"
"Carolina Francesca Santoro is a mortal woman with the courage of a goddess, and I hurt her for the most empty of reasons, to salve my own pride. I cannot forgive that in myself. How can I expect her to?"
"Perhaps it is much like the night you insulted her," Iapis said slowly. "You have only to ask, and then be wil ing to remain and hear the answer."
Hades shook his head and turned back to the window. "She bared her soul to me and I betrayed her. Now she is beyond my reach."
"But if you would agree to see Persephone - "
"No!" Hades snarled. "I wil not see a frivolous shel who mocks the soul that once resided within her body."
"Hades, you do not know that the Goddess mocks Carolina."
"Cerberus rejected her. Orion loathed her. The dead cal ed her a charlatan. That is knowledge enough for me," Hades said.
"She is a very young goddess," Iapis reminded him.
"She is not Carolina."
"No, she is not," the daimon said sadly.
"Leave me now, Iapis," Hades said.
"First let me draw a bath and set out fresh clothes for you." When Hades started to protest, Iapis blurted, "I cannot remember the last time you bathed or changed your clothing! You look worse than the newly dead."
Hades' powerful shoulders slumped. Without looking at the daimon he said, "If I bathe and change my clothing, wil you leave me in peace?"
"For a time, Lord."
Hades almost smiled. "Then so be it, my friend."
Hades settled back into the steaming water. The black marble pool was built into the floor of his bathing room. He rested against a wide ledge that had been carved from the side of the pool. A goblet of red wine and a silver platter fil ed with pomegranates and cheese had been left within reach of his hand. The few candles that were lit glowed softly through the rising steam like moonlight through mist. Hades drank deeply from the goblet of wine. He had no appetite and he ignored the food, but the wine left a satisfying wooziness in his head. Perhaps, for just one night, he would drink himself into oblivion. Then he might sleep without dreaming of her. In one gulp he upended the goblet and looked around for more. Iapis had left a pitcher close enough that he did not have to leave the soothing heat of the pool to refil his cup.
"That daimon thinks of everything," he muttered.
"Not quite everything."
Hades jerked at the sound of her voice, and dropped the goblet. It clanged as it bounced against the marble floor.
Persephone blew on the steam. It parted and suddenly she was visible to Hades. She lounged on the ledge opposite him, and though she was submerged in water up to her shoulders, her naked body was as fully exposed to him as his was to her. The Goddess's eyes rounded in surprise. Carolina was certainly no fool. She had had no idea the dour Lord of the Underworld was so delectable.
"Hel o, Hades. I do not believe you and I have been formal y introduced. I am Persephone, Goddess of Spring."
He averted his eyes from her and lurched from the pool, quickly wrapping himself in a robe. She could see his jaw clenching and when he spoke it sounded like he was forcing his words through gritted teeth.
"Leave my presence! I refused to see you."
"I know you did, but I have a problem, and you are the only god who can help me solve it, though Apol o is definitely more hospitable, and would be very wil ing to aid me in this particular venture." She ran her fingers playful y through the hot water. "But after talking to Lina, you appear to be my only recourse."
"Apol o!" Hades said fiercely. "What has he to do with Carolina?"
"Nothing, even though he wishes otherwise."
The rest of what she had said broke through his shock. "You have spoken to Carolina?"
"Yes, I have. Actual y, I just left her bakery," Persephone said smugly. Hades drew in a ragged breath. "She is wel ?"
"Her body is in excel ent shape and her business is thriving." Hades studied the drops of wine that had splattered from the goblet to the floor. "Good. I am pleased that she has - "
"I was not finished," Persephone interrupted. Flicking her fingers across the top of the pool, she rained water on him.
He glared at her. "Then finish."
"What I was going to say is that her body is good, her business is fine, but she is miserable."
"I... she..." Hades began and then stopped. He raked his hand through his damp hair.
"I - she - what?" Persephone prompted. "Lina told me that sometimes it was difficult to get you to relax, but if I was stubborn enough I could get you to talk."
Hades felt his face flush. Then his gaze sharpened on hers. "She wanted you to talk with me?
Why?"
"Oh, I do not believe she real y wanted me to talk to you. She just said it because she thinks that you're in love with me."
Hades snorted. "That is ridiculous."
"Thank you, kind God."
"I did not mean any offense," Hades said quickly.
"Oh, I know, I know," Persephone said.
She brushed her hair back from her face and one of her breasts broke free of the surface of the pool, its taut mauve nipple pointed directly at Hades. The God cleared his throat and turned his head, focusing on the platter of fruit and cheese.
"I think it would be easier to talk with you if you joined me in the other room." He pointed to a cabinet near him. "There are robes there in which you may cover yourself."
"Wait!" Persephone said before he could leave the room. "First there is something that Lina and I need to know."
Hades looked at her, careful to keep his eyes focused on her face.
"Just stay where you are, and believe that this is very important - to al three of us."
"What is it you need to know?" Hades asked.
"This," Persephone said. She stood up.
The hot water flushed her slick skin. The nipples of her breasts were puckered and looked as if they had just been caressed. Her body was long and lean and as exquisite as Hades remembered it. He stared at her as she stepped slowly and gracefully from the pool and walked with an enticing sway toward him. When she reached him she stopped. Lifting her arms she draped them around his shoulders. Then she pressed her naked body against him and pulled him down to meet her mouth. Hades' lips touched hers and his arms instinctively went around her. But there was nothing there. Oh, he could certainly feel the familiarity of her body, and her mouth was warm and soft, but she did not move him. It was as if he held a mal eable statue. Gently, but firmly, he pulled away from her.
Persephone stepped out of his arms.
"Then it truly is not this body that you desire."
"What I desire has not changed, nor wil it. I desire only one woman. It matters little what body she inhabits."
For a moment, Hades thought he saw sadness in the Goddess's eyes, but the look was fleeting and when she smiled, her air of youthful nonchalance was firmly in place.
"Wel , thank you for answering that question for us."
"You are most welcome." Hades took a robe from the cabinet and Persephone slipped into it. He retrieved the goblet from the floor and picked up the pitcher of wine.
"Now al we have to do is to find a way to make Lina believe it," Persephone said. They walked into Hades' bedchamber.
Persephone stared. "Hades, this is a beautiful room."
"Thank you," he said. "Make yourself comfortable while I find another goblet." Persephone walked to a velvet-swathed window. She pul ed aside the drape and gazed out on a fantastic view of tiered gardens fil ed with statuary, wel -tended greenery, and thousands upon thousands of white flowers, al of which were bathed in a soft, unusual light.
"Your wine," Hades said.
Persephone turned from the window. "Lina was right - it does look like a beautiful forgotten dream."
Her words made Hades' heart ache. "Why are you here, Persephone?" The Goddess tossed her hair back and smiled. "I have a proposition for you..."
"I stil do not understand what I can do! Carolina refused your proposition. You cannot force her into this exchange." Hades said as he paced across the floor in front of her. She raised one eyebrow at him. "I cannot?"
"You wil not force her." Hades' words were firm, but he felt his resolve wavering. Carolina could return! He could touch her and talk to her again. Surely he could convince her of his love. He shook himself. No! She had been through enough. He would not al ow her to be forced into something she did not believe she could bear.
"The two of you are mirrors of stubbornness. You refuse to force her; she refuses to go of her own wil ." Persephone sighed. "Then you must find a way to convince her to return without being forced."
"How?" Hades bit the word.
"I don't know that you can," Persephone said sadly. She walked to Hades and placed a hand on his arm. "If you need me, you can cal me through Mother's oracle." On impulse, she kissed his cheek. He patted her hand and gave her an endearingly paternal smile. "Forgive my rudeness to you. Old gods sometimes have cantankerous ways."
Persephone smiled back at the God who was so obviously deeply in love with Carolina. "You are forgiven," she said and disappeared.
The forge glowed with an otherworldly heat. Sweat flew from the God's body in time with the pounding of metal against metal. Hades was hardly aware of his surroundings. She stil loved him.
He had to find a way to repair the damage he had done so that she could al ow herself to trust him again. But how?
"You remind me of a foolish old spinster, Lord of the Dead." Hades whirled around to face the sarcastic voice, and squinted against the glaring light.
"Apol o! You and your garish sun are not needed here," Hades roared.
"Oh, yes, I tend to forget." Apol o passed his hand in front of his face and the brightness of his visage faded. "Better?"
"I do not recal inviting you within my realm."
"I simply had to come and glimpse what the other half of wasted love looks like." Hades swel ed with rage. "Do not presume - "
"And what I see here," the Sun God's voice broke through Hades' tirade, "is much less attractive than the mortal version."
"Of what mortal do you speak?" Hades demanded.
"Carolina, of course. Do you know that she actual y spurned me? She was honestly more interested in my mares than she was me." Apol o chuckled. "When I thought she was Persephone her actions confused me. When I found out she was a mortal clothed in the Goddess's body, I was astounded. And then to learn that she chose you over me? Truly amazing."
Hades narrowed his eyes at Apol o. "I do not think it so amazing." Apol o grinned. "You should. Mortal women find me irresistible."
"Carolina is more discerning than most mortal women."
"And more faithful, too. She has refused the suite of at least one man since returning to her world." Apol o looked at Hades appraisingly. "And though he is only a mortal, he is definitely younger than you."
"You have been watching her?" Hades growled.
"Is that not what I already said?"
"No!"
"I think perhaps your dreary lamentation for your lost love has affected your hearing. I distinctly remember saying - "
In two strides Hades reached Apol o. He grabbed the God by the throat and lifted him off his feet.
"Tel me how you can see her!" he snarled.
"Through Demeter's oracle," Apol o squeaked.
Hades dropped the God of Light and rushed from the forge. "Saddle Orion!" he bel owed. Inside the forge Apol o rubbed his throat and rearranged his rumpled robes. "Good deed accomplished. You owe me, Demeter," he muttered before disappearing.