A Touch of Chaos (48 page)
Authors: Scarlett St. Clair
When the door was closed, Persephone looked down at Hades.
Outside, she heard Hecate yell, “One!”
“I am trying to decide how long it would take to make you come,” Persephone said.
Hades laughed. “I think it depends on whether Hecate decides to actually count to ten,” said Hades.
“Nine!”
“And there is your answer,” Hades said.
Persephone scrambled off him and summoned a robe while Hades sat up in bed, dragging a sheet over his erection, and when that didn't work, he grabbed a pillow.
“Ten!”
Hecate threw open the doors.
“You skipped, like, seven numbers!” Hermes complained.
Hecate entered the room like a storm, her expression determined, though Persephone was used to this version of the Goddess of Witchcraft, especially when she was involved in organizing something. She took pride in the work and wanted everything to go smoothly.
Now that she was dressed, Persephone went to her. “I am so glad to see you, Hecate,” she whispered as her arms slid around her waist.
The goddess held her close and spoke against her hair. “And I you, my dear.”
Persephone pulled away, but Hecate held her hand.
“Come. We must get you ready for tonight!”
Persephone looked over her shoulder at Hades. “Remember, you made a promise,” she called as Hecate dragged her out of the room and down the hall to the queen's suite.
Inside, the lampades waited near the mirrored vanity. Persephone smiled at the silvery nymphs who had come to be an integral part of her glamorous routine.
“I am so glad to see you,” said Persephone. “It has been too long.”
“Lucky for you,” said Hecate. “You will need them for quite a few things this month.”
Persephone wondered which things, but mostly she was curious about tonight. She did not think it was time for the ascension ball, though it was fast approaching.
She sat down, though it took her some time to face herself in the mirror. When she finally lifted her head and met her gaze, she did not see what she had expected.
She'd thought she would see a stranger, a shell of the person she had been in her previous life.
Instead, she saw strength.
She saw pride.
She saw a woman who was
queen
.
She let her gaze rise to Hecate, who watched her in the reflection.
“Now you see yourself clearly,” the goddess said.
The lampades worked, smoothing her hair into perfect waves, which complimented the simple but glamorous makeup they had chosenâwinged eyeliner and a bold red lip. The look made even more sense once Hecate dressed her. The goddess had chosen a black gown with a narrow waist, a flared skirt, and a high slit.
Hades will like that
, Persephone thought.
The bodice was almost a corset, and while the fabric over her ribs was sheer, the fabric over her breasts was velvet and embellished with shimmering black beads.
It was just simple enough, and Persephone loved it.
“It is beautiful, Hecate,” she said, meeting her gaze in the mirror. “But what's the occasion?”
The goddess smiled. “You will know soon enough.”
“You can't blame me for trying,” Persephone said.
There was a pause, and once again, in that quiet, darkness seeped in, and Persephone spoke.
“I saw you die,” she said. “I will never forget it. Cronos
broke
you.” She could not look at Hecate, but she could feel her gaze. “I love Hades. I will not live without him,” she said. “But I cannot live without you either, Hecate.”
“Oh, my dear,” she said, her voice thick with tears. “You will never have to.”
When Persephone looked up, she saw that Hecate's eyes were watering, but the tears never fell. Instead, she drew Persephone into a hug, and when she pulled away, she touched her chin.
“I do not have children of my own,” Hecate said. “But you, I consider a daughter.”
This time, Persephone burst into tears, and suddenly, the lampades were fluttering around her, fanning her
face and touching up her makeup. Before they could risk any more heart-to-hearts, there was a knock at the door.
“It looks like it's time,” Hecate said.
As soon as Persephone stepped outside the room, she was met with cheers. She halted, startled by the sudden sound but also the appearance of so many souls. They lined both sides of the hallway, creating a path for her to follow.
“Oh, Hecate,” Persephone whispered. Her hand came to rest over her racing heart.
“This is only the start,” said the goddess, and she offered her arm.
Persephone took it, and together they walked down the path of souls as it curved into the foyer, past the library and dining room. The journey took a while because she paused to hold hands and pull others in for hugs. Everyone was here, crammed into the palaceâeven the children, who raced to her and wrapped their arms around her legs.
It wasn't until she saw Yuri that she really began to cry, and she wondered why she had bothered with makeup at all. The young soul approached and threw her arms around Persephone's neck, and while they hugged, she caught sight of Lexa and then Apollo. With each friend, each embrace, she felt like her heart was going to burst from happiness.
“Apollo,” she whispered, holding him tight, her head resting against his hard chest. He had no heartbeat, but he was warm.
“You look beautiful, Seph,” he said.
“I miss you,” she said.
He chuckled. “You won't for long.”
She pulled away. “Don't say that.”
He shrugged. “Call it self-awareness,” he said. “I'm a needy motherfucker.”
She laughed, and Apollo smiled, then he turned his head, nodding in the direction of the throne room.
Persephone looked, and it felt like her heart had stopped and all the air had been sucked from her lungs.
Through the open doors, she could see Hades on the dais before his throne, his eyes burning brightly, the deep sapphire blue of his Divine form. His hair was down, falling thickly past his shoulders, and his horns were on display, making him look even larger. Beside him stood Hermes, who was dressed in a gold himation, the fabric moving almost like water. He was also in his Divine form, his white wings spread wide.
Cerberus, Typhon, and Orthrus waited too, no longer in their monstrous form. They sat stoically on Hades's right, though Persephone could see Orthrus's body wiggling. It was taking everything in his power to remain where he was.
“Hecate,” Persephone asked. “What is this?”
“Your coronation,” the goddess said. “You are Queen of the Underworld, but you have not been crowned.”
Persephone's lips parted in surprise, and she met Hades's gaze again.
Hecate tugged on her arm, guiding her forward. Yuri, Lexa, and Apollo followed behind her. She looked at Hecate, confused.
“They're your handmaidens,” said the goddess. “It's tradition.”
Persephone felt like she was in a daze as she made her way into the packed throne room, her eyes never
leaving Hades's. She had never felt so nervous. It was like marrying Hades all over again, except that this time, she was basically marrying his entire realm.
Hecate led her right to the bottom of the steps.
“Your Highness,” she said, nodding to Hades. Then she turned to Persephone. “I love you, my dear.”
Persephone's mouth quivered. “I love you too,” she whispered.
The goddess smiled before leaving her side, making her way up the steps to stand on the other side of her ivory throne.
Persephone's gaze slid to Hades.
“My darling,” he said, his voice quiet but warm.
“My love,” she replied.
“Sephy,” said Hermes.
Hades glared at the god, but Persephone laughed.
“Bestie,” she said.
Hermes grinned. “See, Hades, we're besties.”
“Curse, Hermes!” Hecate snapped.
“Fine,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest, pouting.
There was a beat of silence as Persephone's attention returned to Hades, though it had never truly left. She was always aware of him, even when she wasn't looking at him. She could feel him, an anchor to this world.
“Darling,” he tried again. “I have chosen you as my wife and queen. Do you acceptâ”
“Yes,” she said.
Everyone laughed, including Hades, his eyes glinting. “Ever eager.”
She felt the rasp of his voice in the bottom of her
stomach. There was a pause, and this time when he spoke, she did not interrupt.
“Do you accept responsibility for the people of this realm and all who will pass through its gates?”
“I do,” she said.
She had, but then they all already knew that. They had watched her fight for them, and she would do so over and over again.
“And you promise to uphold the laws of my court?”
Persephone lifted her head, her answer a little more hesitant. “Yes?”
Hades chuckled. “Fair enough.”
Hermes approached Hades and handed him a crown. It was made up of black spires, identical to the one Hades wore now. With it in hand, he approached. He was already tall, but now he was elevated by the steps, which forced her to tilt her head back to hold his gaze.
“Then it is my pleasure, my greatest honor, to offer you this crown as a symbol of your dedication and love for my people and this realm.”
She lowered her head, staring at Hades's chest as he placed the crown upon her head. She was surprised by how heavy it was, but it also felt as familiar as the weight of her horns.
Hades offered his hand and helped her up the steps, kissing her deeply before they sat on their thrones.
Only then did the dogs move. All three shot forward, crowding Persephone, desperate for pets and head scratches. She was all too happy to oblige, but then Hades whistled sharply, and the three sat immediately.
“Oh, Hades,” she said. “They are fine.”
“With the way they act, you would think they never get any attention.”
She arched a brow. “If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were talking about yourself.”
Hermes snorted.
Then Hecate spoke, her voice resonating in the crowded room. “All hail our King and Queen. May they reign forever.”
The crowd cheered, and Persephone looked at Hades.
“Forever,” she said.
“Forever will never be enough,” he said. “Not when I have lived half my life without you.”
She considered commenting that he might say otherwise when he had lived half his life with her, but she knew he would disagree.
“Perhaps I can make you forget you were ever alone,” she said.
“I accept,” he said.
“Did you take that as a challenge?”
“No,” he said and grinned. “A promise.”
Discover more
Scarlett St. Clair
!
When I started
A Touch of Chaos
, I don't think I had any idea how complicated this book would become. I knew it would be difficult. I was closing out a series that ended up being far bigger than I ever imagined, spanning seven books. Since 2019, this cast of characters just grew and grew, and I felt the pressure of bringing it to the perfect conclusion.
For a long time, I would tell people, I know two things about this book: I must get Hades out of the labyrinth, and there has to be another Titanomachy, but I knew nothing else. I kept thinking I was going to need more
things
to make it a grand conclusion, when in reality, the book is literally those two things, and it is enoughâmore than enough.
It is the perfect conclusion to this series, and I am so proud of this book, so grateful for how it came together, and none of it would have happened without my readers.
Thank you all so much for your dedication to Hades
and Persephone. You have challenged me in ways you will never know and made me a better author. This seriesâthis
book
âwould be nothing without your encouragement, without your demand to see Hades's side of this entire world. It would be nothing without your love, and I will love
you
endlessly for it.
Now, as you are likely used to, I'm going to go into a lot of what inspired
Chaos
. I always appreciate those of you who stick around to read this entire thing, because the research aspect of my books is one of my favorite things, and this one has a lot.
As mentioned before, I always knew I'd have to have a second Titanomachy. I spoke about this at the end of
A Touch of Malice
and the way the gods tend to repeat cyclesâthe primordials were overthrown by the Titans (technically, it's Cronos overthrowing his father, Uranus), and then the Titans were overthrown by the Olympians, each one beginning with castration, which we saw in
Malice
when Hecate decides to punish Zeus.
I like this as a start to Zeus's downfall because it also marks a change in how the cycle repeats. Instead of having a god who is vying for the throne perform the procedure, it is Hecate. It is likely one of the reasons Zeus doesn't think twice about it marking the end of his reign and also because he has managed to avoid any prophecy predicting his downfall, which is another cycle that repeats throughout myth.
When Zeus learned his first wife, Metis, would bear two children, one of whom would overthrow him, he tricked her into turning into a fly and swallowed her. Zeus decided to marry Thetis, a nymph and goddess of water, to Peleus once it was predicted that she would
have a son greater than his father (this was the case whether she bore a son to him or Poseidon).
I started to feel like at some point, this prophecy was gunning for the King of the Gods, and there would come a time when he would not be able to avoid it, which meant that the fate that befell his father and his grandfather would come for him and inevitably lead to another Titanomachy.
Most of what we know about the battle between the Titans and the Olympians comes from
Theogony
, a work by Hesiod that is essentially a creation myth and includes basically the beginning and end of the Titanomachy. Because the actual ten-year battle between the Titans and the Olympians is not described in detail, I drew inspiration from another ten-year battle, the Trojan War.
During the Trojan War, Zeus was mostly neutral, believing that the battle would help depopulate the earth. He takes a similar stance throughout this series, preferring not to intervene even when the other gods call him to do so. Hera was invested, especially because she felt slighted by the Trojans, but Zeus forbade the gods from intervening, so Hera decided to seduce him with the help of Hypnos, which freed the gods to disobey his orders.
Hera enacts the same plan in
Chaos
, and the only exception is that when he is finally asleep, she orders that Zeus is to be hung in the sky, which she sees as revenge for when he had done the same to her after she attempted to overthrow him previously.
Another element I added to
Chaos
was the funeral games for Adonis, which were common across many
cultures. These were a particular reference to the games held for Patroclus during the Trojan War. At the start, there is usually chariot racing, but since I already had a scene in
Malice
with a chariot race, I decided to reference this by having the gods arrive to the event on chariots.
The raid of the temples and killing of the priests and priestesses is a reference to when Achilles raided a city and captured a priestess of Apollo, who begged the god to free her. Apollo retaliated against Achilles and his men by shooting a plague arrow into animals, men, women, and children. In
Chaos
, I have Artemis shoot the first arrow to start the first battle after the priestesses are killed.
There are a few references to the Labors of Heracles in the labyrinth. They include the slaying of the Nemean lion, the Erymanthian boar, and the Cretan bull. Of the three, the Cretan bull was actually killed by Theseus in myth. I felt like including these challenges in the labyrinth connected nicely to
A Game of Retribution
, and their appearance further entwined Hera's involvement with Theseus. Hera hated Heracles and drove him mad, causing him to murder his wife and children, which eventually led to the labors.
There are details about the Nemean lion from myth, like its sword-like claws and its rancid breath. The way Hades kills the lion is also how the lion was killed by Heracles. Heracles also skinned the lion using its own sharp claws.
Hermes appearing as a baby in the labyrinth is just a reference to a few myths that include baby Hermes (like one where he steals Apollo's cattle).
The entire saga of the Golden Fleece was a reference to the challenges Jason faced while retrieving the fleece.
When the Argonauts arrived on Ares's island, they were chased by birds with arrow-like feathers. They are said to be similar to the Stymphalian birds, but I preferred to make them a smaller version of that since I also used them earlier in the book during the labyrinth scene. Additionally, the Argonauts chased them away with noise by beating on their shields with their weapons, so I thought having Hermes scream would be both relevant and hilarious.
The one element I did not use from Jason and the Argonauts is the fire-breathing bulls of Hephaestus. I mention this because the Cretan bull in the labyrinth is wearing bronze armor. This is a reference to Hephaestus's bronze bulls, but they are not the same.
When Hades was in the labyrinth, Theseus challenged him to rebuild the labyrinth walls. This is a reference to
The Aeneid
. When Aeneas flees Troy to found Rome, he stops in Carthage and helps build the walls around the city that Rome will later destroy.
Galanthis was a servant or friend (given the myth) of Alcmene, Heracles's mother. She is basically how Heracles was able to be born despite Hera's wishes, and because of this, she was punished by being turned into a cat or a weasel. In
Chaos
, I made her into a eudaimon, which is just a guiding spirit much like Charon. Eudaimons are good spirits and are said to sometimes be deified heroes. There isn't really any specific explanation of what they
looked like, but some were depicted as serpents, so I felt like it was valid that one might took like a cat.
Hermes tells Hades and Persephone that Ares owes him a favor from ancient times. Hermes is referencing a time when he saved Ares from being trapped in a bronze jar by two giants.
There are many more, but I think I'll stop there.
For those of you who are sad that this saga is over, I am a firm believer that all good things come to an end, but don't worry. I'll be back with Aphrodite and Hephaestus.
Much love,
Scarlett