“Once you eat it, you can’t return.”

The words were soft, musical. Parvani raised her eyes to Hades’s. She couldn’t make out all her features through the veil, but she thought her eyes might be gray, the same churning coldness of the river she’d traveled to get here.

Keeping their gazes locked, Parvani fed herself the mango. Its nectar filled her mouth like a kiss.

Hades lowered her head in recognition. She took the mango and the knife from her hands and cut off a bite, which she ate soundlessly.

And then it was done.

Parvani was now a bride entire, with nectar heavy on her tongue and her mother’s blessing turned cold.

Hades’s palace was surrounded by asphodel.

The white stone building was built into the side of what looked to be a mountain, and for a moment, Parvani forgot that they were supposed to be beneath the earth. There was a sky here, dark and gray, with winking lights that could have been stars or jewels.

The valley was mostly barren, not verdant like the valley beyond her city’s walls. Except for the asphodel; they swayed in a light breeze, their white palms open, tinged with purple.

Parvani followed Hades inside, through more columns and down long hallways, past crumbling statues missing heads and arms, over veined marble floors. Her shivering grew worse. Her mouth and fingers were sticky with mango juice.

Hades walked through an archway, and Parvani saw a large bedchamber beyond. The bed was a wide and foreign thing, draped in black and scarlet silks.

Hades bent her head and silently walked back out. Parvani stood there a moment, uncertain, but when it was clear Hades wasn’t coming back, she finally let her shoulders sag.

She twisted her bangles off, lifted her veil, and carefully removed her bridal jewelry. She was wondering how she would get out of her clothes when the shadows in the corners of the room moved toward her. Fear clutched her throat, but these shadows had the same gentle caresses as the ones in the cave, so she forced herself to relax and let them assist.

Out of her heavy dress and jewelry, she could breathe. A white nightgown was laid out on the bed, and she slipped it on before turning to a large, silver-wreathed mirror on the wall.

She paused. The vermilion mark was still on her forehead, the last vestige she had of the world of the living.

She took a moment to memorize herself like this, still caught between one world and the next. Then she moved to the water basin and washed the mark off.