The wounds on her back healed. Her memory of the whip’s caress seemed to diminish in her mind, though she could not bring herself to forgive Hades for the insult. True to her word, Hades did not seek her bed. Persephone sometimes dreamed of what might have transpired if Hades had succumbed to her monstrous impulses that morning by the willow tree. Those dreams would leave her waking in a sweat, her mouth dry, her body racked with longing.

Hades granted her dominion over a patch of land that encompassed the site of her punishment and the pavilion below it. Persephone had the remains of the willow tree cut down to the stump, and she planted around it—fruit trees, poplars, and a pair of new willows to either side of the pavilion.

She spent as much time in her grove as she could but never tasted the sweet fruits of her work. Any food or drink that passed her lips continued to be imported from the overworld.

Persephone never lost hope that she would one day leave this place, though her stay was not entirely unpleasant. She renewed her acquaintance with her grandfather, Kronos, and though he remained in Tartarus, Hades permitted his living standards to be much improved. Whether that was from compassion or belief in his professed change of heart, Persephone could not tell.

Persephone threw down her knucklebones in disgust. “Again! Come now, surely you cannot be playing fair.”

Kronos chuckled and wrapped his arm around her pile of drachmae, sweeping it to his side. “The bones never lie, my dear.”

He looked much healthier these days, with his frame filled out and his musculature back to fighting order. His beard and hair had been trimmed, and he could almost be considered handsome once more. He sat with her at an actual table, no longer tormented, though a thick manacle encircled one of his ankles, binding him to his cell.

“Another round?” he asked.

Persephone shook her head. “Perdix said the new baths ought to be fit for use today. I intend to pay them a visit.”

Kronos scowled. “Too much heat causes deficiencies of phlegm,” he said. “Why go to all the trouble when it ruins the constitution?”

“What can I say? It’s much too cold here, Grandfather; I need my little luxuries.” Persephone stood up and leaned over, kissing him on the cheeks, once on either side. “And seeing as you’ve robbed me blind again, I could do with a soak to drown my sorrows.”

Kronos scoffed. Coins clinked as he tucked them away in a pouch. “Do send my regards. Tell her to visit some time.”

“Yes, Grandfather,” Persephone said, though they both knew Hades would do no such thing.