Of Mothers, Marriage, and Pomegranates

“I hate that this is being forced on you,” her husband’s voice was low as he spoke, and the usual baritone tremor of it had been replaced by a tone similar to earth being gently patted into place. “I knew she’d be furious, but I never dreamed she’d go this far.” His thumb ghosted over her knuckles, reminding her of silken shrouds.

“I never imagined he’d side with my mother,” she whispered back. “We knew she’d be furious, but to deny the..." her sentence was trapped in her throat, unable to bypass the boulder that had manifested there.

“She knew only guilt would ever make you give in,” he said. His lips were cool as they brushed against her temple, and the temperature surprised her. At home, they’d always felt so much warmer.

The heavy doors before them parted, as a thunderous bellow commanded them in with a single word of “enter!”

“Hurry, he doesn’t like to be kept waiting,” her husband whispered, and she nodded. With their hands clasped, they entered the cavernous room.

In the center of the room was a massive table surrounded by nine chairs and three towering thrones. She ignored the woman seated in one chair, because her gaze was glued on the man in the largest of the three thrones. He was the highest of kings, the sealer of her fate. She refused to break eye contact.

“Brother,” her husband said in a low voice. It held a dangerous tremor of a barely contained earthquake. She could feel how much he was holding back.

"Brother,” The High King’s bass was thunder incarnate when it rumbled across her skin. “Please, sit,” he said. He unrolled a scroll of parchment, using a diamond inkpot to weight it open. The inkpot contained a single peacock quill.

She refused to break away from the High King’s gaze, even while her husband pulled out the chair between the High King’s throne and his own. The irises staring her down flashed purple and white and blue. Ozone coated her tongue, and at the taste, she sat. Once her hands were out of view, she pulled the red napkin from the folds of her gown. This was her escape, her last resort, thought of as they readied for this counsel. She’d made her decision, and that included keeping her husband ignorant of her devices.

“Kore, look at me, ” The woman finally spoke, but she ignored her. She couldn’t stomach looking at her mother’s face.

“Silence, you already pleaded your case,” The High King growled, and the air reverberated with his authority. “I have made my decision.”

She knew better than to speak, because the High King had made it clear during his visit to their palace that her desires were of no concern to him. Her mother had made her opinion of her desires clear when she’d decreed that she wouldn’t complete her duties until she was returned. The guilt had begun to consume her and her husband, even before the High King came to mediate.

Now, her fate hung before her, and the only being who cared for her wants, desires, and dreams was going to be ripped from her. So, quietly, she unfolded the napkin with one hand on her lap. The other she used to clutch her husband’s fingers on the tabletop.

The High King was reading his declaration, but his words held no meaning. All she could comprehend were the tiny, tangy, juicy rubies she was scooping into her palm. She felt her lips curl into a smile, as she finally met her mother’s gaze. The victory there was infuriating, and it only hardened her resolve. She raised her palm up, letting her own triumph burst free in a manic laugh.

“No!” Her mother shouted.

“Stop!” Her husband cried as he turned, eyes wide in horror. She dropped six seeds onto her tongue before her husband could seize her wrist. Even as she swallowed them whole, she couldn't stop giggling “Persephone, what have you done?” Her husband asked, fear and hope filling his voice in equal measure.

“Silence!” The High King shouted and slammed his fist down. Lightning crackled in the air. She turned her gaze to him, defiant, reveling in the victory of taking back her own fate. “I see why my brother chose you as his queen. Your cunning is as astounding as your beauty,” he said, this time calm and collected. He held out his hand, and she passed him the napkin. The High King continued on with a chuckled, “pomegranate seeds, and from Hades’ own orchard I’m assuming.” He splayed the napkin wide to show the others their assumptions had been correct.

“Yes,” Persephone, Goddess of Spring and Queen of the Underworld, licked the remaining juice from her lips while she relaxed back into the chair she was occupying. Only then did she see the peacock feathers carved into the armrests. She smirked at the irony of her actions. It was only fitting that she’d defended her love in the throne of marriage itself.

“Was this Hades’ idea?”

“No, Zeus, it was all mine,” she hummed, licking the remaining juice from her thumb. She smirked victoriously, un-phased by her mother’s sob of fury.

If there was one thing Hades had taught her in the five months of their secret courtship, in planning the staging of her kidnapping, and in the six months months she’d already ruled by his side, it was that only she could decide her destiny. Nobody could make her forget that now.

“I can't nullify the marriage now, as you have bound yourself to the Underworld,” Zeus said. Persephone took Hades’ hand, ignoring her mother’s protests. “But in this act," he crumpled the napkin as he continued, "you defied my order to return to Demeter. You must be punished.” She felt her victory begin to die in her chest. “How many seeds did you eat, Queen Persephone?”

“Six,” she said. Persephone swallowed hard, looking up at her beloved. She could not tell if it was fear or adoration in his olive gaze.

“As King of the Gods, I sentence you to spend three months of the year with Demeter, performing your duties as Goddess of Spring, and three months on Olympus as handmaiden to myself and Queen Hera. During this time, you may not set foot in the Underworld.”

“I understand,” Persephone said. She didn’t let her smile falter, even as Zeus signed her fate with sharp finality. For the first time since she’d begged Hades to steal her away, she saw realization dawning on her mother’s features. Demeter could never lock her away from the world again.