The Rape of Persephone by Monica Brillhart

Author:Monica Brillhart
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ferryman Press
Published: 2022-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

THE WHITE BULL

7

Standing in judgment, a man will bleed from the eyes.

Upon seeing Hades for the first time that day, Minos struggles not to react. The eyes of Hades are webbed with veins, which turn the whites to red. Looking at them makes his burn and water in sympathy.

Minos understands the pain. The long-term consequences.

Five years after kneeling before the throne of Hades, Minos still has difficulty viewing things from afar. Faces are peach blurs until he draws close enough to discern features.

“Majesty,” he says with tiptoeing concern, “are you well?”

Hades’s eyes blaze like those of his victims. “Well enough.”

Judge Aeacus takes cautious steps toward his former pupil. The tortoise-like folds in his neck stretch as he cranes for a better look. “By the gods, what happened to you?”

Once, Aeacus had asked Minos the same question—when Minos himself stood in judgment.

“Ah, the revered King Minos, bereft of title and dignity. What happened to you?”

It was as useless as asking a child to confess to breaking a pot when you saw him do it; for the Unseen dug into his guilt and knew the truth within an instant.

At first, a prickling sensation—no cause for alarm. Soon commenced a blistering discomfort of an unwanted particle in the eye. Discomfort evolved into painful burning. He blinked tears that rolled into his mustache and trickled to his lip. Tears tasted of iron. Eyesight went from crisp to murky red.

Minos had knelt flayed before the infamous Unseen and his two judges.

Aeacus. And Rhadamanthus, who gaped at him as if he were an imitation of his brother and not his brother at all.

Hades had spoken softly. “There is remorse in you. For what are you remorseful? For your allegiance to me and my brothers during the war? For turning against the titan kings?”

“No, Majesty. I do not regret this allegiance.”

During years spent in service to Hades, Minos has witnessed strange things. In his lifetime, among the presence of nobles and kings, he has never encountered a king who deserves posthumous deification more. It took time to grow accustomed to what they call “insight.” In mortal form, Hades wields more godlike powers than Minos can fathom.

Somehow, Hades knew Minos regretted more than getting caught.

“Your remorse spans the course of years.”

“Yes, Majesty.”

“Poseidon rewarded you for the use of your fleet in the war. Start there.”

How had he known? Head pounding, blinking in rapid succession, Minos struggled to think. There was no way to strategize for words that might spare him. No way to pad to the truth.

“Poseidon sent me a gift.”

“He sent you a white bull.”

Knees aching against marble, Minos shuddered.

“Yes, Majesty. A rare albino a year old. He commanded that I sacrifice it to the gods as a gesture of gratitude for granting us victory over the titans.”

“Did you?”

“Majesty. I regret I did not.”

“Why?”

“It was rare. A striking creature. I sacrificed a bull, but not the one given to me by Poseidon, High King of the Cyclades.”

“This is your first repentance.”

“Yes. I hid it away with a sense of pride in ownership.

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