This wasn’t right, not even for a degenerate. Women were only meant to use these when their husbands were at war, or during the Dionysia. Any other usage was... decadent.

She had no idea how Hades could derive pleasure from such an act, but it was clear that she was pleased, nonetheless. She spoke softly, with filthy words of encouragement that Persephone had never heard, not even at the bustling ports of Attica.

Against the onslaught of all this sensation, her body was helpless to resist. She tried to stifle her cries as she peaked, pressing her face into the pillow, but it seemed a hopeless endeavor.

Hades’ hands wandered possessively over her hips as Persephone shuddered beneath her. She thrust a few more times, lazily, as Persephone shivered in the aftermath, but then mercifully pulled out. She loosened a buckle and discarded the toy, then crawled behind Persephone and unwrapped the bindings pinning her arms. She pressed her naked body against Persephone’s back and wrapped an arm around her, beneath Persephone’s breasts.

Persephone hiccupped and bile filled her throat. She swallowed it down before it could overwhelm her. Her heartbeat was still too rapid, her breath coming in wet sobs. She lay on her side with her knees clamped shut and her thighs slick but cooling unpleasantly, longing for the cocooning embrace of Gaia’s earth.

“Hush, my little jewel,” Hades said. “All is well.”

All was certainly not well, but she didn’t feel like arguing. She pushed back at Hades, trying to disentangle herself.

“Are you cold?” Hades found the sheet and swept it over them both.

Persephone wasn’t cold, but she wrapped the sheet around herself to form a barrier against Hades’ skin. She reached above and pressed her palm flat against the carved scrolls of the bed head, imagining the dark whorls of olive wood shifting beneath her fingers. Surely now...

Hades clucked her tongue and gently took Persephone’s hand, replacing it by her side on top of the sheet. “Now, now. You are still in my company, after all.”

Persephone didn’t know how she was to sleep without sinking down into the dark spaces where bulbs went to winter, but she tried nonetheless, knowing that any kind of sedation would be better than having to sleep with Hades and be aware of it at the same time. She buried her cheek into the pillow, trying to block out all outside noise, and concentrated on the sound of her heartbeat.

“Have you forgotten something, little one?”

Persephone froze, rigid with terror. What was it now? What could Hades possibly do to her, after all that she’d taken?

Hades kissed the back of her neck. “Good night, sweet Persephone.”

“Good night,” Persephone croaked, her voice hoarse.