Chapter 12
The Great Hal lived up to its name. Lina had thought the dining chamber and her bedroom extravagant, but they paled in comparison to Hades' throne room. The room was enormous, even when judged on the scale of the huge palace. Three colors dominated it - black, white and purple. The floor, wal s and cathedral ceiling were al made of the unblemished black of the exterior of the palace, as was the raised dais on which stood a massive throne-like chair, which seemed to have been carved from a single piece of an ethereal y white stone Lina did not recognize. On the dais next to the throne there was a tal , narrow table made of the same milky stone. On the table rested a silver helmet which looked oddly familiar to Lina. She stared at it and realized where she had seen it before. It was the same helmet that was emblazoned on the flag that hung over the palace and adorned the uniforms of the stablemen. It winked and sparkled in the candlelight with an otherworldly beauty. She forced her eyes from the helmet to the other color in the room, purple. It came from dozens of chandeliers and wal fixtures, al made of a pure sparkling stone Lina did recognize - amethyst.
Lina hesitated on the threshold of the room, intimidated by its austere grandeur. She felt suddenly smal and insignificant and very, very mortal.
"Is something the matter, Persephone?" Eurydice asked.
Lina took a deep breath. She was Goddess, she reminded herself. Yes, it was only temporary, but she was Goddess nonetheless.
"No, honey, nothing's wrong. I'm just admiring the room." She smiled at the little spirit.
"Ah, Hades comes," Iapis said.
Hades entered the Great Hal from a doorway on the opposite side of the room. His gilded sandals rang against the smooth marble floor, and as Lina watched him she felt her heartbeat increase with each of his steps. He was wearing the cape again. It swirled behind him, accentuating his body's long, powerful lines. His toga-like robes at first appeared black, but as the light from the chandeliers touched him, the material shone like a raven's wing with glints of purple and royal blue. His hair was loose and it fel in a thick black curtain around his shoulders. His chiseled jaw was set and his face was dark, his expression somber. He exuded raw, masculine power. Lina's stomach fizzed. She had to force herself not to twirl her hair nervously. Hades took the steps of the dais in one stride. He turned and was about to sit when he noticed the three figures standing just inside the entrance across the chamber. His eyes met Lina's and held.
"Persephone," he said, inclining his head slightly, not breaking their gaze. "I am honored to welcome Spring into my Great Hal ."
Lina swal owed, wishing her mouth wasn't so dry.
"Thank you, Hades," she said, pleased that her voice sounded strong and clear. "I appreciate your invitation."
"Please, join me," Hades said. Then, breaking the spel that had locked her eyes to his, he shifted his attention to the daimon. "Iapis, have a chair brought for the Goddess."
"Of course, my Lord," Iapis cal ed over his shoulder, and a flutter of activity ensued. Within moments spectral servants carried a delicately carved silver chair to join Hades on the dais. Lina walked into the room. She could feel the God's eyes on her, and she lifted her chin with pride. Eurydice had helped her dress, and Lina was especial y pleased that the violet silk she had chosen reflected the color of the amethyst chandeliers blazing over her head as wel as her eyes. But she knew the lovely material that draped her body was incidental. That morning as she had been dressing, she had been struck anew by Persephone's immortal beauty. Lina knew that no matter what turmoil was going on within her mind, she crossed the room with al the beauty and grace of a goddess.
When she reached the dais Hades hesitated, then with a sidelong glance at Iapis he met her as she took the first of the dais steps. He offered her his hand, just as he had when he had helped her into his chariot the previous day. When Lina placed her hand within his, the dark God lifted it slowly to his lips.
"I hope you slept wel last night, Goddess."
"Yes, thank you, I did," Lina said, trying to ignore the way her skin tingled at his touch.
"It pleases me to hear you say so," Hades said.
Lina smiled foolishly and nodded. Hades was different today - more powerful and more sure of himself. And there was something else about him, too, a magnetism that today he seemed to have focused on her. Standing so close to him she could feel the strength of his presence, and she found it a little intimidating, as wel as very, very sexy.
Admittedly, it had been a long time since she had been around such a tal , virile man. She snuck a look at him as he helped her up the steps and led her to her chair. Okay, so she had quite possibly never been around any man like him before. She watched the cape wrap enticingly around his body as he turned and sat beside her. He definitely looked the part of God of the Underworld.
"Eurydice, you need not remain behind. You may stay with your Goddess," Hades cal ed to the girl, who was stil standing in the doorway.
Ashamed that she had forgotten about the spirit, Lina whispered a quick thank-you to Hades as Eurydice scampered across the room and up the dais steps to take her place next to Lina's chair.
"Carry on as usual, Iapis," Hades said.
Iapis nodded to the God before disappearing from the room.
"Iapis is going to the front of the palace. There he wil announce that I wil hear petitions. It wil not be long before the first begin to arrive," he explained.
"Do you do this every day?" Lina asked.
"No," Hades shook his head.
"Oh," Lina said. "How often do you hear their petitions?"
"As often as I feel it necessary."
"Oh," she said again, feeling uncomfortable at the shortness of his answers. Hades watched Persephone brush nervously at her hair, and the little gesture of discomfort made him realize that he had fal en back into acting Like he was made of stone. Give the Goddess a chance. His friend's words rang in his memory. Hades cleared his throat and leaned close to Persephone.
"I can sense the needs of the dead. It is not that I can hear their feelings and desires; it is more like I become aware of their increasing restlessness. I can sense when they need me, and that is when I open the Great Hal to hear their petitions."
"That's an incredible gift - to be able to respond to the needs of mortal souls." Hades turned his head so that he could look into the Goddess's violet eyes. Their faces were very close, and he could smel the sweet, feminine scent that clung to her body.
"It does not repulse you that I am linked so strongly to the dead?"
"Of course not," she said. He suddenly looked so vulnerable that Lina had an overwhelming urge to brush her fingers down his face, to soothe the lines of worry that creased his handsome brow. Instead she reached out and took Eurydice's hand. She squeezed it and smiled up at the spirit, who grinned back at her. "Some of my best friends are dead."
Hades looked from the spirit to the Goddess and al at once hope blossomed within his chest with such bittersweet intensity that he made a show of cal ing for wine to cover his heart-wrenching response.
The servants instantly settled a smal table beside them and Hades was able to col ect himself as they poured golden liquid into two goblets.
Lina nodded her thanks, sipped, and her face broke into a beatific smile.
"Oh, it's ambrosia! This is so delicious. Thank you for thinking of it." Fascinated, Hades watched her. Why was she so different? She wasn't repulsed by the dead. She obviously cared a great deal about Eurydice; she even cal ed her "friend." And things that most immortals took for granted, like ambrosia and the opulence of the gods, Persephone delighted in, as if everything was new and interesting to her. She was a puzzle, an intriguing puzzle he was beginning to yearn to solve.
"If it pleases you so much, I wil have to remember to serve it often," Hades said. He raised his goblet to her.
Stomach fluttering, Lina tapped her goblet against his. The stilted, wooden Hades who had abruptly left their dinner last night appeared to have been banished. He had been replaced by a charming, powerful God. Her cheeks felt flushed and her body was incredibly warm. His dark, magnetic eyes were mesmerizing. Feeling a little lost, she forced her gaze from his and looked around the Great Hal , reminding herself to breathe.
The light from the chandeliers glinted off the silver helmet that sat on the table on the other side of Hades. It winked with an eerie glow that somehow made it hard to focus on. She felt the God's eyes on her and she looked back at him.
"The helmet is beautiful. I've never seen one like it," she said.
"Thank you. It was a gift from the Cyclops," Hades said, smiling in obvious pleasure at the compliment.
Cyclops? Wasn't mat the guy with one eye? Cyclops, a one-eyed monster who gifted Zeus with thunder and lightning, Poseidon with his trident, and Hades with the helmet -
Okay! Lina broke into her internal encyclopedic monologue. Whoever he was, she certainly didn't want to get into a discussion about mythological creatures with Hades. So she did what any calm, col ected, mature woman would do - she changed the subject. Quickly.
"Your throne is very unusual, too. I don't recognize the stone from which it is made."
"It is white chalcedony," he said.
"Does it have special properties, too?" Lina asked.
"Yes, it banishes fear, hysteria, depression and sadness. I thought it a good choice for this particular room."
"I agree with your choice."
Hades turned his head and leaned toward her again,
bringing their faces close together again. "Do you recognize the colored stone in this room?"
"It's amethyst."
"It is the same color as your eyes, Persephone," Eurydice said in a happy voice of discovery.
"Yes, I have noticed that, too," Hades said slowly without releasing Lina's gaze. His voice had deepened so that it was an audible caress, and Lina felt an answering flutter low in her stomach.
"The dead ask to speak to their God!" lapis' voice carried his words with formal authority across the Great Hal .
Hades' attention shifted reluctantly away from her, and Lina mental y shook herself. How in the hel was she supposed to think about business with Hades beside her oozing Sex God? She almost wished he'd turn back into Mr. Wooden and Withdrawn. Almost.
She could only hope that Persephone was having better luck staying focused back in Tulsa.
"The dead may enter." Hades' powerful voice commanded.
Lina saw that Iapis was holding the two-pronged silver spear Hades had carried the day before, and with a sound like a crack of thunder, he banged it against the marble floor. One of the shadows from just outside the arched entryway quivered, and then moved into the Great Hal . Lina watched intently as the spirit approached the dais. She was a middle-aged woman. Lina couldn't see any obvious wounds on her semitransparent form. She was, Lina thought, quite attractive. Her hair was piled in intricate braids atop her head, giving the il usion that she was wearing a crown. She was swathed in layer upon layer of draped fabric that fluttered wispily around her as she glided to a halt at the foot of the dais. She dropped into a deep curtsy, which she held until Hades spoke.
"Stheneboia, you may arise."
The woman straightened, but as soon as her eyes widened in recognition of Persephone, she fel back into another deep curtsy.
"I am honored by the presence of Demeter's daughter."
The spirit's breathy voice reminded Lina of a bad Marilyn Monroe impersonator. "Please rise," Lina said quickly, wondering why she felt such an instant dislike for the spirit. Stheneboia straightened again. Having paid proper respect to the Goddess, she ignored Persephone and focused her large, kohl-ringed eyes on Hades.
"I have come, Great God, to ask that I be al owed to drink of the River Lethe and be reborn to the mortal world."
Hades studied her carefully. When he spoke Lina noted that his voice was fil ed with the confidence and authority of a God, so much so that the fine hairs on her arms tingled and rose in response to his tangible power.
"It is an unusual request you make of me, Stheneboia. You know that the spirits of suicides are rarely al owed to drink of Lethe."
Lina felt a jolt of shock. The woman had kil ed herself? Why?
Stheneboia lowered her eyes demurely. "And you know, Great God, that I did not truly mean to die."
She said the title "Great God" like a verbal caress. Lina felt her jaw set. She was actual y flirting with Hades!