“I have caught you, Persephone, and I intend to keep you. It will be easier for you to accept that.” Hades smiled, her eyes dark as the depths of Tartarus. “But your struggle is just as sweet as your eventual surrender will be.”

Persephone grabbed the sheet and pulled it over her breasts. She moved back until the bed frame dug into her shoulder blades, as far away from Hades as she could manage.

The bed was made from olive wood and the joints from oak dowel. They all sang to her, discordantly, but she was too mindful of Hades’ command to let herself fall prey to the enticement.

Instead of pursuing, Hades rose and walked to the window. She pulled down the shutters until only the tiniest sliver of light fell upon the floor. Persephone had not realized how much she’d grown used to the light until she was plunged into darkness. She heard the small clicks of fibulae being unclasped and a rustle of fabric. Hades’ footsteps came next, slow and deliberate.

The bed creaked as Hades sat down beside her. Even though Persephone was aware of her presence, she still jumped when Hades’ hand fell upon her shoulder.

“No need for this,” Hades said, tugging the sheet from Persephone’s fingers. She pressed her nose into the curve of Persephone’s neck and inhaled.

A goddess wiser than Persephone might have been able to imagine that Hades was someone else: not her abductor, but a secret lover, one she could only meet in darkness. Such fantasies might have brought her comfort, but Persephone could not rely upon pretense. The scent of asphodels clung around Hades, distinguishing her even without the benefit of sight.

The rustle of fabric must have been Hades disrobing, for when Persephone moved her hand she accidentally grazed Hades’ naked thigh. She drew back as if burned and squeezed her hands in her lap, uncomfortably aware of the heat that radiated from Hades’ skin.

Hades buried her hand in Persephone’s hair, tilted her face up and kissed her. In contrast with the angular, muscular frame of her body, her lips were uncommonly soft. After a moment, Persephone found herself returning the kiss.

She stopped as soon as she realized what she’d done, but Hades did not mock her for it. Instead, she picked up Persephone and laid her flat on the bed, crouching with her knee in between Persephone’s thighs, pushing them apart.

She must have made some sound of distress, for Hades paused. “Can you keep your hands by your sides?” Hades asked. “Even when it hurts?”