Descent into Desire by Marie Medina

Thoughts like that keep distracting me lately.”
    “So my daughter is your…what? Mid-eternity crisis?”
    Hades sat down at the giant kitchen table. “No. Why don’t you ask me the only question that matters?”
    Demeter slowly turned the gas burners off, and then equally slowly moved the skillet and the pot on the front burners to the back burners. She wiped her hands on her apron, and then she took it off before sitting across from him. “Is my daughter still a virgin?”
    “Yes.”
    “Have you touched her at all?”
    He knew better than to hesitate. “Yes.”
    “Will she marry you?”
    He couldn’t believe how calmly she asked. “Demeter, I don’t know. If I knew, I’d either have left her alone or already married her.”
    Tears were forming in Demeter’s eyes again. “How can she be happy down there? She needs life. She can’t live in a dead world.”
    “My world is a place for the dead, but it is far from dead. It’s a beautiful place, Demeter. Would you like to see it?”
    He stood up without letting her answer. He filled a bowl with water and set it before her. He touched the rim, and Persephone appeared in the bowl. She was in the rose garden. She touched a pink rosebush, and the blossoms turned yellow. She stepped back and looked around. Then she picked up a spade and started digging in a flowerbed next to it. She wore jeans and a plain blue t-shirt and no shoes. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she was humming.
    Demeter leaned forward and stared. “How can all that exist down there? There’s no sun.”
    “There is light. Each day is half light and half dark, just as it is here.”
    Demeter watched her daughter for a few more moments. She sat back and crossed her arms again. “Take it away.”
    He did so, and then waited for her to say something else.
    She sighed and softly said, “Go away. I want to think.”
    “When shall I return?”
    “I’ll let you know. Get out.” She stood quickly and left the room.
    Her few moments of softening obviously hadn’t been enough to outweigh her anger, but he hadn’t expected that to happen anyway. He looked down at the bowl and saw Persephone again. She had a smudge of dirt on her cheek, and he wanted to wipe it away. He touched the rim and the image rippled away. He poured the water out and headed outside.
    A cold wind whipped across his face. The heart of the storm seemed to have spread out from over Mount Olympus. The snow was coming down more furiously than it had been when he arrived. He didn’t like what that implied.
    * * * *
    Hera pulled the book out of Zeus’ hands. “Guess what?”
    He turned to her and smiled, his arm going around her waist. “What?” he asked as he leaned in to kiss her neck.
    She let him, for a moment, but then she pulled away. “Later. I have news.”
    “Indeed?”
    “Hephaestus is in love!”
    Zeus narrowed his eyes. “With whom?”
    “No idea!”
    “And you let him leave without telling you? I find that hard to believe.”
    “He wants to marry her!”
    “It’s been contagious lately.”
    Hera laughed. “Oh, they all see how happy we are every couple of decades.”
    He laughed too and pulled his wife closer. “So, what did he want?”
    “He wants our permission to marry someone without telling us who first. If she says yes, we just show up!”
    “And you gave your permission?”
    “Yes. If he wants to marry her, she’s a good choice. He’s not like Ares. He doesn’t need to be beat over the head to notice a good woman.”
    “So why won’t he tell you? That sounds like trouble.”
    “When has Hephaestus ever caused us trouble?”
    “I agree, but for now I reserve the right to be smug if something goes awry.”
    “Whatever. He says he’s afraid she’ll say no.”
    “Why is he afraid of that? What makes him think she might?”
    Hera thought for a moment. Maybe she should have questioned him more, but she’d been so bowled over by his news.
    “Hera?”
    “Well, I got the impression