It had only been a few minutes, but already she hated his voice, as greasy as an oiled pankratiast. She would kill him before she had to listen to that for more than a day.

Persephone leaned her forehead against her arm, closing her eyes to stave off a rising tide of nausea. “Hades will not let you go.”

At that, Pirithous laughed, sending a chill down Persephone’s spine at the blasphemy. “Hades is the weakest of the ruling gods. She is no match for her brothers, nor her brother’s sons.”

“Because she is a goddess and not a god?”

“Of course,” Pirithous said. The lid of the box creaked, as if he was shifting his weight. “Kronos should have had three sons, not two. Hades defies her feminine nature by insisting to rule without a king by her side. The underworld will always be the weakest domain because of it.”

Persephone touched the chain around her neck, which she had tried so hard to remove. The warm metal cut into her fingertips. “Hades did not choose a king. She chose me.”

Pirithous laughed again. She hated him more and more with each passing moment. “She chose well, I’ll grant her that. But a female could never hold you, sweet Persephone. You were destined for greater things.”

A depression in the road made the wagon dip for an instant, and Persephone banged her head on the side of the box. She groaned, reaching up and finding her forehead wet. “You consider yourself greater than Hades?”

“As a husband, yes. At least I meet the minimum requirements.”

“You reach above your station.”

“I am a king.”

“I will grind your bones to dust!” Persephone yelled, slamming her fists against the lid.

Pirithous laughed.

She had never asked a plant to kill for her before, but when they reached the overworld, her powers would return in full. Pirithous had no hope of holding her; this entire venture had been doomed before its beginning.

Her leg started to cramp, sending shooting pains up her spine. She flexed her foot as best she could.

She had been so stupid to assume they were Demeter’s, simply because they had offered her freedom. She was too quick to jump for the nearest branch, not seeing the dangers beneath, waiting for her to fall.

Persephone heard shouting. The wagon moved from left to right, as if Theseus were driving it in a zigzag pattern. The movement flung Persephone around, and she cried out.

For a dizzying moment, she felt herself tossed in free fall, but then the box struck solid ground, and she was thrown against one side. She heard amphora shattering around her.

Her ears rang, and she tasted ichor. She must have bitten her tongue. At least everything had stopped moving, though she had lost track of which part of the box was up or down.