The changes did not cease. Everything she touched seemed to garner more life. Hades was patient with his new wife, to both understand her newfound abilities and to adjust himself to having a queen rule alongside him.
He slowly gave her tasks to test her.
One morning over breakfast, she spoke at length of missing both her childhood home and meeting new customers. Hades smirked. He had slowly been considering a proposition for his new companion. He reached his hand out over the table and tried to soften his features to be soothing.
Seeing this, Persephone, placed her warm hand in his cold ones. Her lips now held a rosebud sheen of health.
“I’m very proud of how well you have adapted to this change in situation. I’m not sorry for inflicting this upon you, but it was incorrect.”
“Hades, it’s—”
“I don’t want to talk about that right now. I have other responsibilities before we address the opinions of others. Currently, I want you to tell me whether this shop is acceptable to you.”
“I love it. Days are languorous, one feeds into the next. I love meeting new souls every day. Their stories are so lovely to hear. It’s like our own little world here.”
“Since you have adjusted fully, I have decided to give you more administration in the running. Maybe have Maximillian oversee. He’s been itching to return to more—” Max reached his head up and stole a slice of bacon from his master’s plate. Hades started to scratch his head and he leaned into the touch, purring deeply.
Max opened his eyes. “Let’s phrase it. Return to my nocturnal activities. My queen, I am a humble servant of yours always, but I am ill-suited for the natural occupation of yours.” Max wiggled out of Hades’ embrace and levitated all the silverware off the table.
Hades excused himself, citing some skirmish in the borderlands to resolve, and that he would be back in time for dinner. Persephone and Max tidied up together before heading out to the flower shop.
Persephone checked the dirt inside the flower pots and saw the dirt inside was really dry and coarse. She wondered where the soil was coming from and made a mental note of it to check with Hades about the shipments. She remembered the ground outside was grassy. It was strangely one of the only places that had greenery.
She took a spade from beside the door and an empty urn. She found a barren area of land and started digging. As she dug, she felt the sprouts of grass curling through her fingers. It was like receiving a warm hug from the land. The land here was so strangely quiet.
There was a loud grinding sound that piqued her senses. The sound grew louder and louder. Persephone turned in the direction of the sound and saw a giant monster doberman with three heads bounding towards her. His eyes were bloodshot rabid as slobber rolled out of his mouth. There was something struggling in his mouth,
Persephone ran towards the hound and punched the top of his mouth to give the creature inside room to wiggle out. The hound whined loudly and darted away from her in the opposite direction.
The was a small quivering creature on the ground, covered in drool. Persephone rushed towards it immediately, finding it was still alive. She used a handkerchief to clean the being off. There was a rock with a face carved in that was supported by a shadow wisp body. The limbs were ghastly thin like a malnourished child.
“I’ve woken up in the arms of an angel.” The sockets in the rock moved to look up at Persephone. The mouth curled up into a cute smile. “I’m here now.” His head rolled in her arm to upright itself. Spittle dripped off of his body onto the coarse grass.
“Who are you? What are you? I’ve never seen anything like you before.”
“I? I have a name they call me in the Mines of the Asphodel Fields. It is of the rock of which I am hewn, Roxas.”
“Roxas.” Persephone felt a strange numbness where Roxas had been touching her. There was a chill that was spreading through her arm. She smiled warmly at the little rock creature.
He was wringing his hands and standing, looking at the ground.
“Now that you’re free, is there anything else I can do for you?”
Roxas raked the dirt in the bucket Persephone had collected with his hands. “Is this the flower shop?”
“Yes, I’m the new management.”
“You? Maybe you’d know then of the fabled cloud of return.”
“I’ve barely been here a week so I’m not as familiar with inventory as I would like to be. What is it and why do you need it?”
“Oh, well I’m not the most moral man here as I am a rock man so I was sent to Asphodel Meadows because I left my wife for another woman. The other woman actually isn’t here yet so I’m quite lonesome. I don’t like mining. I hate mining rocks I don’t understand.”
“Oh my. I’ve never met a rock person before. You’re very cute.”
The rock’s face indented inward to where his cheeks should have been and Persephone slowly understood that this was his way of blushing. She started to laugh and he uttered a bone chilling cackle that startled her.
Max came bounding out of the shop to see what the commotion was all about. He snarled loudly before headbutting the creature into the river. Persephone was so shocked she froze.
“No! What are you doing? Are you crazy?”
Max bundled her into his arms and bounded into the shop. The bell on the door jangled loudly as he shut it, flipping the sign to ‘closed’ before hurling her on to the backroom couch. Persephone righted herself in a flurry. She felt hot with anger.
Max was busy trying to find something. The backroom was stocked with rickety shelves stacked with bottles with faded scraps of parchment. Max checked the labels before flinging them over his shoulder. His forked tail caught them before replacing it back on the shelf, also readjusting what he had disturbed in his frenzy. Finally, the werecat sniffled the air and dove behind the shelving. A cloud of dust gathered as Max emerged triumphant with a tattered cardboard box.
But as he was doing this, he dropped into a deep bow. The box was levitated into a white outstretched hand. The lord of the underworld stepped out of the shadows.
“Leave us.”
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