Seeds: Volume Two (35 page)

     When he pressed his moistened fingers to her lips, she started kissing and licking them, and sucked the seed in between her teeth. She swallowed, and continued to suck his fingers.

     He withdrew his fingers and wet his lips with the pomegranate again, giving her another seed he had been holding carefully with his lips as he dropped it into her mouth. He plucked out one seed and then another to feed her by hand, her nimble tongue flicking out to taste the juice as she swallowed seeds. The darkly splendid juices refreshed her and sweetened her lips as she partook of the treat.

     He sat back, setting the fruit aside and looking down at her as she lay there loosely curled up, her hair a lovely, tangled mess around her peaceful countenance.

     “Sleep well, my love,” a voice whispered into her ear as the seeds slid down her chest and into her stomach, rooting themselves into her destiny.

     She was lulled into sleep, the flavor of pomegranates lingering on her lips along with its juice. Hades smiled down at her tenderly, stroking the side of her face before he sat back, eating more of the seeds, content in the unbreakable bond that had just been forged between them. Her loins were still warm from the passion they shared, and her body was slumped in the exhaustion of an orgasmic afterglow. Hades admired the dark tint that the juice left on her lips and fingers.

o0o

     Amidst the barren fields, Persephone heard an anguished wail. She spun around, seeing her mother standing tall, reaching truly Titanic proportions as she glared down at all the desolation before her, sickle in one hand, her other hand – the one that was usually holding wheat – empty. The earth trembled with Demeter's grief and wrath. Above her head, the heavens churned, bringing about bitter cold wind that lashed at the thin shift that Persephone wore.

     “
Mama!” she called out, but Demeter seemed to not hear her.

     “
For so long as my child remains in the Land of the Dead, the Earth itself will also be dead!” Demeter's voice boomed through the air, sounding much like thunder. Then she saw flashes of other gods, pleading with her mother, beseeching her to let go of her wrath, only Mother turned them all away. The world became darker and colder and still Demeter raged on...

o0o

     The Queen of the Underworld gave out a soft gasp as her eyes snapped open for a moment, registering her surroundings before she closed them again. As she stirred and slowly oriented herself, she felt a warm and muscular form against her own, an arm draped across her back. There was a vague soreness between her legs, and she rolled onto her back, opening her eyes as she stared up at the ceiling. Memories of the night before filtered into her mind. Hades had taken her, and oh gods, how incredible it had been! When he had put himself into her, it had felt just... right. It had been just the two of them – everything else had faded away, leaving them in their own private universe – and they had come together in an infinite series of glorious moments.

     And then as she had been floating along on the haze of the afterglow, he had given her wonderful sweetness. Lips against hers, and cool kernels that she had welcomed with both hunger and thirst, savoring its flavor and juice. Hades had whispered such loving words, and she had welcomed him...

     She blinked as she struggled to sit up. When she propped herself up on an arm, she saw the husk of a pomegranate, a few seeds left in the cream-colored husk, standing out against the ruby-hued comforter. As she licked her lips, she tasted the dried-up juice that had left a thin and sweet but slightly sticky film.

     The dream flashed before her eyes, and she looked down at the stain on her fingers.
Seeds
. She now remembered the feel of them sliding past her tongue, down her throat...

     “Persephone...” she heard him say. Her hands trembled as she looked up at him.

o0o

END OF BOOK TWO

     The conclusion to this exciting tale can be read in the third and final volume of Seeds.

Notes

o0o

     The exact details of the Tantalus, Sisyphus, and Danaid myths were modified by me, but not overly so, since I tried to keep the main elements of each tale. You can look them up on Wikipedia or other sources if you wish to read the full tales of each, but I made a few interesting connections between several little-known facts.

     Princess Danae – the imprisoned maiden in the tower that was featured briefly near the beginning of this story – was the descendant of the fiftieth Danaid, Hypermenstra – 'blameless one' –  since she eventually came to love the man she was given to after he respected her wish to remain a virgin on their wedding night. The couple created a new dynasty. Danae's name is no coincidence, and the dynasty that Hypermenstra gave birth to was the Danaian dynasty. The great heroes Perseus and Hercules were descendants of Danae, so one cannot help but wonder what would have happened if Hypermenstra's husband had chosen to take her by force, ensuring that all fifty bridegrooms died like King Danaus wanted. Greek history would have been very different, then!

     Tantalus was the forebear of House Atreus, his descendants committing many sinful and depraved acts. Some of Tantalus' descendants performed dishonorable deeds which included incest, cannibalism, and murder, earning them curses which would be carried through their bloodline, and as the generations went on, curse after curse was added. The descendants of this house included Menelaus and Agamemnon, though these curses ended when Orestes redeemed himself after praying to Apollo and Athena and doing as they told him.

o0o

     I imagined Nyx to be more exotic-looking than the members of her extended family, almost like an Indian woman. Of course, she would still have Greek facial features, but I imagine the Goddess of the Night to have dark, dusky skin. I just couldn't imagine her with pale skin, though I have seen beautiful artworks that depict her as such and I do think she can look nice either way.

     As for Hekate, I imagined her as a more cheery character than she is often depicted in mythology, at least to her friends and loved ones. Mythology makes her such a fearful character, and some versions even make her older than the Olympians. Being associated with witchcraft inevitably brought her negative connotations with the rise of Christianity, so I wanted to make her personal character unique.

     In Rome, she was known as Trivia – literally 'three roads' – due to her being the guardian of the crossroads. In medieval times, 'trivia' came to mean the three ways (trivium) in education – grammar, rhetoric and logic – think of our own current-day three R's. This was more of a primary school education, with the higher-education quadrivium being arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy, back then considered more challenging than trivium. Trivia came to mean what we know it as today in the 1960's, at Columbia University as part of a game, where people challenged one another with such 'trivial' questions. It was further popularized by the game shows that were becoming popular in this era. And of course, now we have 'Trivial Pursuit' and Tri-Bond.

     I hope you feel smarter for having learned trivia about Trivia!

About the Author

     M.M. Kin has been interested in history and mythology since she was young and has been an avid reader for as long as she can remember. Her other interests include hiking, kayaking, and world domination. 'Seeds' is her first book, and she is currently at work on more books.