"Do you not like pomegranates, Persephone?" Hades frowned at her troubled expression. "I can have them taken away."
Lina glanced up to see the covey of servants peering at her with large, pale faces fil ed with concern.
Don't be paranoid, she told herself, it's just a sil y coincidence. "I love them. Everything looks absolutely perfect." She purposefully scooped up several of the drops of red fruit and popped them into her mouth. Flavor burst against her tongue and she sighed with delight. "They're wonderful!" She slurred through the sweet juice.
The servants let out a col ective breath of happiness.
"Al appears to be to my liking, too," Hades said sardonical y. Persephone seemed to have cast the same spel over his servants as she had over his horses. "You may leave the platters. If we need more, I wil cal for you."
The servants scurried back to the kitchen.
"Aren't you going to join us?" Lina asked Iapis, looking from him to Eurydice. Did the dead eat? She had no idea, but it seemed rude not to ask.
"No, Goddess," Iapis said.
"Iapis and I have much to discuss," Eurydice added eagerly. "We are going to get the drawing supplies."
Lina smiled at the girl, glad that she appeared to be so at ease.
"Go ahead. I'l see you tomorrow," Lina said around another mouthful of pomegranate seeds.
"Oh, but you must cal for me when you retire tonight so that I may help you ready yourself for bed!" The panicky edge had crept back into her voice.
"I'l be sure I do," Lina said quickly, not wanting to disappoint the child. Satisfied with her Goddess's reassurance, Eurydice was smiling happily as she curtsied to Persephone and Hades before fol owing Iapis from the room.
"She wil become more secure with time," Hades reassured her.
"I hope so. She's going to wear me out." Lina sighed.
"The dead require a great deal of care."
Lina nodded in agreement. "It's like the jewels - I had no idea until now." Hades smiled, charming and relaxed again. "Which is why I have had the food of the Underworld set before you. Refresh yourself, Persephone, so that the little spirit need not be concerned that her Goddess is wasting away here below the world of mortals."
"Ha!" Lina began heaping her plate full. "It's not likely that could happen, not surrounded by" - she gestured with the long silver spoon - "al of this."
"It pleases me that you appreciate the beauty of the Underworld," Hades said, helping himself to the olives.
"Who wouldn't?" she said between bites, and was instantly sorry when she saw his expression begin to change again. She thought suddenly that it was as if he placed a blank mask over his face so mat he could cloak his emotions at wil . She kept glancing nonchalantly at him, waiting for him to discard the mask and become approachable once more. For the next several minutes they ate in silence, until she noticed that the tension in his shoulders seemed to be easing and his features had begun to thaw. She took a sip of wine, considering. Yes, he definitely appeared more at ease with his fork full. Her lips twisted. He was a God, but he was stil male.
"Do you mind if I ask you some questions about the dead?" Lina asked. His eyes shifted from his plate to her and back to his plate again. He chewed and swal owed. "I do not mind," he final y said.
Lina hurried on. "It's just that I don't know simple things, and I don't want to say something that would embarrass Eurydice, or upset her again, like when I mentioned her drinking from that river, urn..." She floundered.
"Lethe," Hades provided.
"Right, Lethe. See, that's exactly what I mean. I don't know enough about the Underworld."
"Ask as many questions as you desire," he said.
"Okay, wel , the delicious food that we're eating makes me wonder if the dead can eat."
"No, the dead do not thirst and hunger as do the living, but their souls do retain the essence of their mortal life, so they carry with them into eternity their unique needs and desires. You have witnessed some of that with your little Eurydice. She carries with her fears and insecurities from the World of the Living, even though the things that troubled her there cannot touch her here," Hades replied, trying to hide his surprise at her question. Persephone was certainly not what he had expected. Unlike any other immortal he had ever known, she appeared to be honestly interested in his realm and the spirits of the dead.
"That makes sense." She frowned as she nibbled on a sugared white petal. "It's obvious that memories from her life are definitely bothering Eurydice. Poor kid. I wish there was something I could do."
"There is, Persephone, and you are already doing it. The little spirit needs to feel security and a sense of belonging. She would have eventual y found those things in Elysia, but you have brought them to her by giving her a place at your side. She feels comfortable now and useful, and much less apt to obsess about lost chances and what might have been." Hades smiled encouragement to the young Goddess. She had done wel by the little spirit. Too many immortals would have believed that noticing Eurydice's distress was beneath them. She was no longer among the living; therefore, she could no longer worship them. So the spirit was no longer of interest to them. Persephone's actions thus far told him that she did not adhere to that type of cavalier belief system. Hades watched Persephone ponder his words as she sipped her wine. The goddess was a mystery to him. She had the beauty of an immortal, but she seemed so different.
"That makes me feel better," Lina said, tel ing herself firmly that she was talking about Eurydice and not about the warmth of Hades' smile. She was quickly becoming fascinated with the dead -
and not just with their God. "Do they sleep, too?"
Hades' eyes crinkled at the edges in amused reaction to her unusual questions. He had never had a conversation like this before, and he was surprised to realize how much he enjoyed talking with the young Goddess about his realm.
"They do not sleep exactly as we do, or as do living mortals, but they require rest."
"Are your servants like Eurydice? I mean, did they choose to stay here with you rather than go on to Elysia?"
"Some did, but not out of love for me, as has your Eurydice. For most it is simply that they find comfort in holding fast to the echo of their mortal lives. Others are performing duties as a part of penance for past deeds."
Hades helped himself to the fruit of the Underworld while he awaited her next question. He could almost see her teeming thoughts. She had stopped eating and was twirling a strand of her long hair around one finger, an action that he found strangely endearing.
"So, Iapis must be one of the dead who stays because he loves you." This time Hades could not help laughing aloud. "Iapis is not one of the dead, Persephone, he is a daimon. But, yes, he has chosen to remain forever by my side."
Lina didn't know what stunned her most - hearing that Iapis was a demon and/or the effect Hades'
laughter had on her.
She reacted first to the least volatile of the two.
"Iapis is a demon?" she squeaked.
At the second burst of Hades' laughter the servant's door swung open and several startled heads peeked into the dining room then retreated quickly, but not before Lina registered their shocked expressions.
"I said he is a daimon, not a demon." Hades shook his head at the young Goddess.
"Oh, wel , of course," Lina sputtered while her mind screamed WHAT THE HELL IS A DAIMON?
Thankful y, her inner voice provided an answer. Daimon - a spirit of a lower divinity than the Olympian gods. They are guardians and semi-deities. They are immortal.
"Young Persephone, how sheltered you must be not to recognize Iapis as a daimon," he said, stil chuckling.
The damn man was laughing at her and looking at her with the same benevolent, fatherly expression he'd used on Eurydice. And he'd just cal ed her "young Persephone!" Like she was a sil y little girl! He had no idea he was dealing with a grown woman. One who definitely did not like being the butt of male jokes. Her irritation made her forget that he was God of the Underworld and she was visiting his realm. In that moment he was just another man who had pissed her off. Without stopping to consider the consequences, she narrowed her eyes at him and edged Persephone's soft voice with her own flint.
"I suppose in some ways I have been sheltered. I've been taught to believe that one's guests should not be used as a source of comedic fodder."
Hades sobered instantly as he recognized within her eyes the coldness of a goddess's wrath. He was a fool. He had al owed himself to relax around her and had stumbled into the snare of his own fantasies. Persephone was of Olympus - he must never forget that. He inclined his head in stiff acknowledgement of her reprimand. "I ask your forgiveness, Goddess. There is no excuse for my rudeness."
Without speaking further, he stood, bowed again, and walked from the room, leaving Lina to stare after him and curse sincerely and fluently in Italian.