RELEASE DATE: 15 July 2021
Hades searches the plague-cursed city for the mortal woman he loves. Sorrow feels different for an immortal, but still he mourns the woman whom, tomorrow, he loses.
He thinks to lose her to marriage.
He thinks wrong.
A hopeful spin on the classic Greek myth for everyone who believes in the power of true love.
Hades And Persephone
The cloying smell of hope clung to the stone of the corridor like frost. Cloves and anise. Frankincense and dathi. They choked the air but could not cover the smell of death.
The Lord of the Dying moved over the stones in silence, magic warping the world so it was every place and no place at once.
People rushed by, fluttering blue robes dancing like frightened butterflies as they battled the inevitable. The plague held sway over the city. More dreadful than any war or famine was a disease fueled by magic. A disease only the high priestess could control.
It was she that Hades sought.
The other souls would find their way to the Underworld alone. But the priestess, soon to be his brother’s bride, she would too soon pass from mortality into immortality and become a distant star out of his reach.
They had met long years ago when she was still a novice learning the litany of healing. A famine had crossed the continent and left the taste of ash in the air. The little healer had looked at him as she’d prayed over a small child and asked him to step away. She wanted the child to live.
He had taken an old soldier instead.
The child had lived to be a great scholar, beloved of the people.
The second time they met, war rode the land, making the rivers run with blood. The healer was older, blossoming into full womanhood, and this time she stood beside the bed of a tactician.
“Please, Lord of Death, leave him to defend the people. Let him save this city before he walks to your realm.”
He had taken an old woman instead.
The third time they met as the king lay dying, his children squabbling over their inheritance. She was beautiful then, crowned by power and wisdom, filled with a god-touched soul that shone brighter than the sun. With a word she could raise the dead, bring spring and life, and conquer death. That time she had not asked him for a life, but for an hour of his time. Long enough for the king to declare an heir and bless his children.
He had listened.
So many times since then their paths had crossed. She the beautiful healer who brought light into darkness, and him the final silence of every dream. In those stolen moments and quiet hours they’d spoken of things only an immortal and a divinely blessed mortal could know. Of sunsets and magic. Of joy and hope. Of his brothers who ruled the mortal realm.
She was chosen. Beloved.
Worshipped. Fearful.
She did not love his brother. She did not wish to join the gods. She did not wish to leave her post. But the divine decree had gone out.
She had bargained for time.
The plague was the price.