When Persephone Stopped Waiting

After Eren went upstairs, the hall fell quiet.

Hades came toward me, his voice softer than before.

“Do not be angry. I did not forget your birthday. I prepared a gift for you long ago.”

He paused, then said, “I found the pomegranate brooch you cared about most.”

That brooch had disappeared when I gave birth to Eren. Back then, I had been half-conscious, my divinity nearly drained, while Hades held my hand and promised he would find it for me one day.

He had found it.

Then he had fastened it on Nympha.

I pressed my lips together and said nothing.

Perhaps Hades guessed that I had already seen the post, because his expression tightened.

“She is only borrowing it for a few days,” he said. “She will return it.”

I nodded.

After tomorrow, whether she returned it or not would no longer matter.

Seeing that I did not question him, Hades seemed relieved. He reached for my hand.

“Nympha will wear it only until the curse ends,” he said. “I knew you would understand.”

I was already used to it.

Used to him giving away my things, my time, my place in this family, and then expecting me to call it mercy.

“Let her wear it,” I said, drawing my hand back. My voice was calm because I had already stopped caring.

Hades looked startled. A trace of guilt passed through his eyes.

“She will return it,” he repeated. “Until then, choose anything from my vault. I will have Hephaestus craft something finer for you.”

I did not answer.

Instead, I took the marriage dissolution agreement from beneath the untouched birthday feast and placed it before him.

“None of that matters now, Hades. Sign this.”

He took it and was about to open it when a servant rushed into the hall and bowed.

“My lord, Nympha collapsed on the road from the gardens. She has been taken back to the healing temple.”

Hades’s face changed at once.

“I am coming.”

He took the stylus from the table, signed his name across the agreement without reading a word, and handed it back to me.

Then he turned to leave.

“Hades,” I called after him. “Aren’t you going to see what you signed?”

He did not even look back.

“I will read it when I return. Nympha is alone there, and she must be frightened.”

As always, he left me with the same careless instruction.

“Sleep first. Do not wait for me.”

Then he walked out through the obsidian doors.

He had always been like this. One word about Nympha was enough to call him away.

I looked down at his name on the marriage dissolution agreement and smiled.

Yes, Hades.

This time, I would not wait.