They all sat in silence as the meal continued. Marilyn figured it was for the best. Melinoe seemed to just want to pick at her and her relationship with Cyrus. It seemed odd to her that gods seemed so concerned with relationships. From every story she remembered, they didn’t seem so involved in healthy relationships themselves. Even Melinoe was a bastard, born to Pluto’s brother.
She couldn’t quite understand why they thought Cyrus and her were anything serious. She certainly didn’t look at it that way. She doubted he did either.
Maybe it was their low opinion of her and all “humans”. She also found that amusing. She still wasn’t even sure if she was human. She could look like one, but she could just as easily be a monkey or a bear.
She took the last bite of her dessert, a simple chocolate mousse topped with freshly whipped cream. It was quite delicious and unlike anything she expected to eat in the house of Hades. Of course, up until a few hours ago she never even considered the house of Hades as anything that existed.
She looked to Cyrus. He stared at the dessert in front of him. She could see the gleam of sweat on his forehead. For the first time, she realized how terrified he was. She told him how the trial would go—how he hoped to talk his way free—but this was the first time she really could tell how worried he was that he would fail.
That terrified her in return.
“You should finish your mousse,” Persephone said to her son. “Your trial will start whether you eat it or not. Why not go to your fate with a full belly?”
Cyrus pushed it away. “I don’t think I’m hungry anymore, mother. I thank you for your hospitality but I would rather get on with it.”
“So be it. Let the trial begin.” Persephone’s words seemed to echo through the room. Marilyn could feel their weight. Melinoe simply smiled at them.
Cyrus reached out and took her hand under the table. She gave it a light squeeze, all the comfort she knowed how to bring him right now. She wasn’t the kind of person that formed deep emotional bonds. She didn’t know how to soothe his pain—not with her clothes on at least.
The room seemed to shift around her. She rubbed her eyes with her free hand. But it didn’t change what she saw. The room truly was shifting and changing around them.
The table slowly split and receded towards the wall. The back of the room seemed to rise up as Persephone and Melinoe’s seats slowly shifted back and upwards.
Within a minute, the change was complete. Persephone sat high above the room. She loomed in a high bench, clearly one of the judges before them. Melinoe sat in another seat to her side. It was lower, something of a witness stand next to the judge.
They both sat yards away from her. Cyrus still gripped her hand, but they were now looked down upon by the gods that held them captive.
Marilyn could feel the tension in the air. She knew it was only beginning.
“Are you ready to stand your trial, Cyrus?”
“Ready as I will ever be,” Cyrus said to his mother.
“And does the human—does Marilyn understand what is at stake for her?”
Cyrus turned to her. She nodded. He turned back to his mother and said, “Yes, though I argue she is not involved in this.”
“She has no choice in the matter. We will determine where she stands and she will face judgment with you.”
Marilyn rested her hand on Cyrus’s arm. “It’s okay. I understand what this means.”
“You could die here.”
“I know you’ve done nothing wrong. I know you didn’t make this. And I know we don’t have a choice.”
Persephone leaned forward. “A wise woman, for a human.” She turned as her husband walked onto the raised platform.
“Your father is here. Let the trial begin.”
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