He walked off, and Persephone watched him until he disappeared. No wonder mortals begged Hades to return their loved ones. The threat of death took more than one life. The thought brought tears to her eyes. How was she supposed to rule a kingdom that caused so much pain? That brought suffering to the living?

“He doesn’t know, does he?” Sybil asked.

Persephone shook her head. He still thought he was losing Lexa today.

“No one needs to know,” she said. “Let them think it was a miracle.”

The two took a seat and waited. Jaison eventually came back with a steaming cup of coffee and sat beside her. They didn’t speak, which was fine with her. She was lost in thought, unable to focus on any one thing. The longer the silence stretched the more her anxiety grew.

At some point, Lexa’s family began to arrive. Soon, they were led to a larger room where Lexa had been moved. Lexa’s parents were nearest to her, then Jaison, several aunts and uncles and friends from her hometown of Ionia. Each person in the room approached her and said their goodbyes, touching her, holding her hand or kissing her face.

When it was Persephone’s turn, she scooped up Lexa’s hand, and pressed a kiss to her cold skin.

“Please, please wake up,” she prayed to no one but Apollo’s magic and to Persephone’s

surprise, Lexa squeezed her hand. She looked up and met Jaison’s gaze, but she could tell by his expression that he had seen what happened.

“She squeezed my hand.” Persephone’s voice was high-pitched, unfamiliar to her ears, but she was experiencing a rush of adrenaline.

“What?” Jaison looked down at Lexa and clasped her other hand.

“Lexa, Lexa, babe. If you can hear me, squeeze my hand!”

There was a flurry of activity after that. Everyone but Lexa’s parents were ushered out of the room and the doctors were called in to check her vitals. Sometime later, Lexa’s father came to the waiting room to let everyone know that her body had healed enough in the last twelve hours to support life-sustaining activity.

“It’s a miracle,” he said, eyes watery. “A miracle.”

Persephone’s eyes watered, too, and her body trembled. Her sacrifice had been worth it! Lexa was back.

“You did it,” Sybil whispered, and the two hugged. It was then she noticed Jaison standing apart from them. She approached, hesitant.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Jaison said, he sniffed, wiping his eyes. After a moment, he embraced her, his breath releasing in a harsh gasp. “Thank you, Persephone.”

His expression of gratitude seemed misplaced given what Persephone had done, so instead of speaking, she remained quiet, hugging him tighter.