Chapter 227: Chapter 71
"You are really greedy," Hecate sighed, walking away.
Hades remained still for a few moments, before following after her.
Hecate did not slow her at all, her steps quiet but measured, each one pressed into the dark soil of the asphodel fields as though she were walking away not from him, but from the turmoil of her own thoughts.
Hades followed behind her without question, his eyes never leaving her slender form, his patience infinite yet his heart weighed down by the fragility of the moment.
He felt, if he made a wrong choice, or said the wrong thing, Hecate would vanish from his life.
Hecate’s voice rose again, calm yet trembling ever so slightly, betraying the crack in her usual composure. "Tell me, Hades... am I really not enough for you?"
The question pierced through the air, heavier than any threat she had ever spoken, heavier than any demand of loyalty.
Hades’ steps slowed for a moment before he caught up to her side, his gaze fixed on her profile as she finally glanced toward him.
His reply was steady, unwavering, almost tender. "You are more than enough. You are more than I could have ever dreamed of, Hecate."
Her lips curved in the faintest, bitterest smile, but her eyes narrowed with restrained emotion. "Then why, Hades? Why can you not give up Hera and Aphrodite for me, if I am already more than enough for you? Why cling to them when I am here, offering myself to you whole?"
The words rang out like a demand, and yet there was pain in them, an ache she could not hide no matter how sharp her tone.
Hades did not flinch. He looked forward, walking with the same pace, his tone calm, his words deliberate.
"Because without them, I am incomplete. Without them, I would not be the Hades you see now. I would not be the man you walk beside. I would only be the shell of a king, lost to his duties, blind to his own heart. I am who I am because of all three of you, not just one."
Hecate’s hands clenched at her sides, her golden eyes glowing faintly beneath the dim veil of the Underworld’s light.
"I can fix you," she said, her voice low, steady, but trembling with defiance. "I can keep you from becoming that cold and broken shell. I do not need Hera or Aphrodite to do it."
Hades’ lips curved faintly, not in mockery, but in that soft, tired smile of a man who already knew the truth of himself.
His voice was quiet, but each word was firm, as though carved into stone. "If that were true, Hecate... then Hera and Aphrodite would never have been here in the first place. I would never have allowed them close, never let them stay. But I did. And they did. And now, I cannot—will not—deny that."
Her steps faltered, and she stopped before the edge of a river that cut through the fields, its dark waters flowing slowly, their surface reflecting the pale, silver-blue glow of the Underworld’s eternal light.
Hecate stood with her back to him, her shoulders taut, her head lowered slightly.
The stillness stretched between them, the air heavy with words unspoken, as if the river itself was listening to her silence, waiting for her next move.
A moment later, Hecate faced Hades, her eyes steady and unwavering, her voice carrying the weight of both grievance and sorrow as she asked, "Tell me, Hades, what would you do if I decide to leave you?"
Her words lingered in the air like a curse, heavy and deliberate, meant to pierce through the certainty he always carried.
Hades looked at her, and though his gaze was calm, the depth of it revealed the storm within.
"I am a very greedy man," he admitted, his voice low but unshaken, every syllable carrying a truth that even he could not deny. "If you believe leaving me would be better for you, then I will not stop you. But if you leave despite knowing it will hurt you, then I will not permit it. I will force you to stay. For in the whole of existence, Hecate, no one is stronger than I am. If you hide, I will find you. If you run, I will pursue you. There is no place beyond my reach."
Hecate’s lips curved into a wry smile, one that held both resignation and an odd flicker of fondness, for she knew well enough that Hades spoke only the truth.
"You would truly do it," she whispered, her tone carrying no doubt. "You would strip the world apart just to drag me back into your arms."
Hades inclined his head ever so slightly, his silence confirming her words more loudly than speech could.
Hecate’s expression hardened, her jaw tightening as her heart swelled with both longing and fury.
"But tell me," she asked, her voice rising, "why must there be others? Why must Hera and Aphrodite exist between us? Why can you not be satisfied with me alone? Why can’t there just be the two of us?"
She could not understand...no, she does not want to understand. She knew the importance of those two to Hades and knew very well he cannot leave them.
Yet, she felt angry.
Why must she give everything to him, while she have to share with others?
She is a goddess. Proud and powerful. Yet she can’t even have the man she loves for herself?
Hades exhaled slowly, his voice steady but weighted.
"Because they are important to me," he said, the words spoken with a finality that made her chest tighten.
The answer only ignited her anger further.
She took a sharp step forward, her eyes blazing, her body trembling with emotion as she glared at him.
"There you go again with that word!" she cried out, her voice breaking under the force of her emotions. "Important. Important. Do you even understand how it feels for me? To give you all of myself, to offer everything I am, only to have to share your affection with others? Can you not see how it tears me apart?"
Hades remained silent, his gaze fixed upon her, his face impassive though within him emotions churned violently.
He did not interrupt her, he did not defend himself, he merely allowed her fury to spill out, as if her words were fire meant to scorch him, and he would endure them in silence.
Hecate’s breath came unevenly as she pressed on, her voice sharp and cutting.
"Fine then," she spat, her tone bitter. "I agree. But I will do so on one condition. If you are to keep your Hera and your Aphrodite, then I will keep other men for myself as well."
At that, Hades’ eyes narrowed instantly, his gaze hardening into something sharp and merciless, a cold glint flickering in his irises like the gleam of a blade in the dark.
For a moment, the whole universe seems to lose their color.
His silence was heavier than thunder, the air around him pressing down like a storm about to break.
Hecate, however, did not falter.
She pressed on, her tone biting, mocking even, though her heart trembled within her chest.
"What is it? Are you angry?" she challenged, her eyes flashing as she stepped closer. "Do you wish to scream at me, Hades? Do you wish to unleash your wrath upon me? Hah! So you may claim other women, but I cannot claim other men? Tell me, just how shameless can you be?"
"Hecate..." Hades finally spoke, his voice low, strained, as if he sought to temper the storm within him, to calm her, to explain himself.
But before he could say more, she cut him off sharply.
"Don’t give me that!" she snapped, her voice fierce, filled with a mix of anguish and fury.
She pressed a slender finger against his chest, her eyes blazing as she stabbed him with her accusation. "You are a hypocrite, Hades. You want Hera, you want Aphrodite, and you want me too. Very well. I will agree. But you must accept that I will also take others. That I will have men who will look at me as I deserve to be looked at. Who will give me what you cannot."
The silence that followed was crushing, the tension thick enough to suffocate.
Hades’ gaze bore into her, his purple eyes filled with a thousand unspoken words, and though he did not immediately respond, the weight of his presence alone was answer enough.
Although he looked calm, only he knew the storm brewing inside him.