Chapter sixteen

A proud Deity’s mistake shall bring death to this realm… It could not be, Persephone thought. The old woman’s words could not be coming into fulfillment already. But still, Persephone could not get the thought out of her head. It took only one wrong turn for the spawn of the god of war to bring the three realms to its knees. Another wrong turn would be catastrophic. She looked into Maveth’s case again. She imagined the mother must have heard what fate awaited her daughter and attempted to put a stop to it. However, it must have cost her own life. The way Persephone saw it, If the girl was to found out what happened to her mother, She would flip and another Simon would be born. That indeed would mean death for the realm. However, tampering with the prophecy would mean adverse effects on the part of Denys wielding the trident. Why would Zeus want her to this? The second realm already had so much to worry about.

“Are you alright?” Came a small voice.

Persephone spun, shocked to discover she was not alone. Standing at the door was Poseidon, A reflection of her thoughts. She knew he was not there, The apparition was not real but it helped.

“I am about to make a deadly choice Poseidon, It… could put the kingdom at risk. I… don’t know what else to do.”

“You do know Persephone,” Poseidon answered. “You just don’t want to make the wrong choice for yourself and the kingdom.”

Persephone leaned back to the book in her hands. It was hard being regent. All her immortal life, She had never had to make so many sacrifices but this was the biggest sacrifice of all. If she returned Talia to the first realm, Her worshipers would know her word could be defied, She was at great risk of creating another abominable monster and, If she bent the rules, She could break the prophecy.

“What do you think I should do?” Persephone asked the apparition.

“I cannot make that choice for you.”

Persephone pondered on his words. Choice. If the old god had revealed that much to her. He knew she was going to try to change something the moment things did not work. Heaven did help those who helped themselves. Irrespective of what the prophesy told, One thing Persephone knew was she was going save her ego and the kingdom. She immediately turned to thank the apparition but it was gone. A wayward tear escaped her eyes but deep down, She believed she had made the right choice.

“Bring me the Fae prisoner!” She ordered.

***
“Talia Trueborn?” A sombre voice demanded.
Talia looked up to the dark figure, unsure of how to answer. She nodded instead. The cell doors immediately cranked open and the dark figure walked in. A bit used to dark nature of the cell, Talia could make out the features of the figure and realized it was a guard. For a moment there, She believed it was a hooded man.
The man retrieved a pair of handcuffs and clamped it over her hands before stating his business. “The Queen demands your presence.”

For a moment, Talia heaved in relief. The prince had kept his promise. But during an afterthought, She had to ask herself if that was true. She was still cuffed and very much treated as a prisoner. Plus, She was very sure the prince would have been the one to come in place of the guard. Wow! Now that she listened to herself, she realized she had gone mad. As they weaved their way through the prison maze, Talia kept her cool up till she was at the chamber doors of the goddess she had come to fear. The guard stopped by the door, looked back at Talia with scorn before speaking.

“My Queen, The girl is here.”

“Let her in.”

As per his Queen’s request, The guard roughly grabbed Talia and shoved her inside the private chamber. Talia swallowed as she came face to face with Queen Persephone. Persephone wheeled backward at the presence of the girl. A menacing smile puckered the goddess’ lips when she laid eyes on the girl.

“Sit with me.” Persephone offered, dropping on a stool located in the middle of the room.

Talia was surprised. She expected to see the goddess all fire and brimstone if indeed she was going to be set free with a miracle of some kind. The false hospitality of Persephone made her backtrack, unsure of what to do or even say. Her instincts told her to play along so she slowly walked up to a stool opposite Persephone and sat.

“Why did you want to see me exactly?” she asked.

“Well, Zeus wants you alive so some reason so I am weighing how this is going to work,” Persephone replied, everything but dishonest.

Talia felt she should be joyous by the news but it only made her nervous. Zeus wanted her alive, Why? Everything she knew was being questioned. She needed answers but everything she seemed to end up with was more questions in place of old ones. One could never truly understand the inner workings of a god.

“Why does he want me alive?” Talia dared to ask, suspicion creeping up her mind.

“It does not matter to me and I do not think it should to you. The point is you have found favor in his eyes.” The goddess returned, deadly serious.

As she grabbed an old book on the table, Talia summed up what Persephone was saying. It was indeed better she did not question things. Rather, She should be happy. A small smile crept up Talia’s face as she imagined seeing her mother again, The mere thought of it brought tears to her eyes.

“So when do I go?” Talia asked.

The queen stiffed a laugh. “Leave? No. All Zeus wanted was for me to keep you alive. You will not be leaving the second realm.”
Talia was horrified.

“However,” Persephone continued. “Whether you leave here or not is entirely up to you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I have a preposition.” She answered. “Do it and I promise you will see your mother again.”

“What exactly do you want me to do?” Talia did her best to put on a brave voice but known to her, she was afraid.

“I want you to strike out your name from this book,” Persephone said, pushing the open book in her wake.

Talia stared into the book. Some parts of it were covered in paper. The part that wasn’t covered in the paper had her name and next to it was the status alive. Talia’s mind suddenly went ablaze. The book of life! This was another stunt by Persephone. The missing piece of the puzzle came together. Zeus wanted her alive and Persephone wanted to keep her pride. To do that, Talia had to erase her name from the book of the living.