Goddess of Spring (43 page)

“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.

“Hello, Hades. I do not believe you and I have been formally 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 Apollo is definitely more hospitable, and would be very willing to aid me in this particular venture.” She ran her fingers playfully through the hot water. “But after talking to Lina, you appear to be my only recourse.”

“Apollo!” 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. Actually, I just left her bakery,” Persephone said smugly.

Hades drew in a ragged breath. “She is well?”

“Her body is in excellent 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 really 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 all 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 malleable 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 will 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.

“Well, 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 all 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 pulled aside the drape and gazed out on a fantastic view of tiered gardens filled with statuary, well-tended greenery, and thousands upon thousands of white flowers, all 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 still 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 will 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 allow 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 will.” 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 call 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 still loved him.

He had to find a way to repair the damage he had done so that she could allow 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.

“Apollo! You and your garish sun are not needed here,” Hades roared.

“Oh, yes, I tend to forget.” Apollo passed his hand in front of his face and the brightness of his visage faded. “Better?”

“I do not recall inviting you within my realm.”

“I simply had to come and glimpse what the other half of wasted love looks like.”

Hades swelled 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 actually spurned me? She was honestly more interested in my mares than she was me.” Apollo 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 Apollo. “I do not think it so amazing.”

Apollo 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.” Apollo 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 Apollo. He grabbed the god by the throat and lifted him off his feet.

“Tell me how you can see her!” he snarled.

“Through Demeter's oracle,” Apollo squeaked.

Hades dropped the God of Light and rushed from the forge. “Saddle Orion!” he bellowed.

Inside the forge Apollo rubbed his throat and rearranged his rumpled robes. “Good deed accomplished. You owe me, Demeter,” he muttered before disappearing.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

“IT'S February, but it feels like April.” Lina sighed happily. “I love it when Oklahoma weather does this,” she told Edith Anne, who trotted contentedly by her side.

Rollerblades had taken some getting used to. It wasn't that her body didn't know what to do, it was Lina's mind that kept repeating thoughts like
yes, that pavement is hard
and
slow down, we're going to fall and break something.
So, even after several months of practice, Lina still took it slow, stroking the wide cement walkway that ran along the Arkansas River with controlled, careful strides.

“On your left!” someone shouted behind her and Lina moved closer to the right side of the pavement.

“Thanks,” she yelled as a racing bike streaked past.

“No problem,” the rider called back.

“I really appreciate it when they do that,” she said to Edith Anne, who continued to keep pace with her in the grass that was just beginning to hint about future green off the side of the walkway.

Edith snorted.

“Well, you know it scares me when someone just busts past us without any warning. That big yellow-bike guy almost knocked me over last week.” Lina reached down and flipped Edith's ear. The bulldog huffed at her and licked her hand. “I guess I should pay better attention, especially when it's quiet like it is this evening, but sometimes it's just so beautiful . . .”

Lina smiled. Evening was her favorite time of the day to rollerblade. Oklahoma sunsets were glorious, and sometimes, just as the sun was falling beneath the Arkansas River, the light would glint off the water, mixing pink and orange with blue and gray—and she would be reminded of the magic of Elysia. It didn't make her sad. Time had helped her with that. She liked the remembrance, in little doses. It helped to keep the emptiness at bay.

Edith Anne stopped to sniff at a particularly interesting clump of weeds.

“Hey, keep up with me! If you get mud or thistles on you, expect to get a bath when we get home.”

Edith snorted a couple of times at the weeds before galloping after Lina. Lina slowed to let her catch up. She thought she heard the clop of a horse's hooves in the distance.
Interesting,
she thought,
the weather must be nice enough for the riverside stable to have opened early.
Horseback rides along the river were big business during good weather, but the business didn't usually open until April. She wondered how she'd missed the notice in the paper. Usually she liked to post things like that in the bakery. She made a mental note to check on it the next day.

The bulldog by her side again, Lina picked up her pace. She had already gone four miles, and her breath was still coming easily. Her legs felt strong. Lina was glad she had added rollerblading as a regular part of her weekly routine. Not only did it keep her body in shape, it helped her think.

And she'd had a lot to think about since Persephone's visit.

Merda!
She'd been tempted by the goddess's offer. How could she not have been? To return to the Underworld as its queen . . . she would like nothing more. No, Lina corrected herself. What she would like more was what was keeping her from taking Persephone up on her offer. She'd wrestled with it over and over in her mind during the long winter months. She'd even wished she could call her grandmother and ask her advice—without her grandmother thinking she needed to be committed.

Sometimes she thought that maybe Demeter had been right and she had just made a mistake. Then all she had to do was to remember how Hades had turned away from her when she had revealed herself to him.
“Leave my realm”
had been his response to seeing the real Carolina.

Time had helped to heal her, but remembering his words still caused her soul to ache.