Seeds: Volume Two by M.M. Kin Read Free Book Online Page B

She wasn't bleeding from... there , was she? Hesitantly, she turned toward the mirror and approached it, barely conscious of her shallow breathing.
         With her other hand she reached down, careful to not touch anything until she reached her most private part. Tentatively, she slipped her finger between the soft folds of flesh down there, discovering slickness that didn't come from arousal.
         No no no. She felt as if she might faint. Why was this happening to her? Was it something Hades had done to her? Had Tartarus somehow triggered it? The punishments in Tartarus were gruesome. She had found it horrifying but fascinating.
         Those who enjoyed inflicting pain upon others in life were rewarded with torture for eternity. Some were chained while various abuses were inflicted upon them – whippings, stabbings, needles, fires, hot oil – while others were allowed to run around in a confined space, but this provided no reprieve because there was always a shade to punish them, driving them on with nail-studded whips. The flesh would tear and fall apart. The souls were tossed into the firepits to regenerate their flesh, and the pain would be inflicted anew. A few of the inmates of Tartarus even had their bodies removed, leaving them nothing more than heads stuck on poles, screaming and wailing, denied their bodies until the shades decided to toss them back in the firepits, which might be the next day or several centuries hence.
    Had seeing all that blood inflicted some kind of... internal injury?
         The very idea seemed silly, but she couldn't think of any other trigger. How could she bleeding in the first place? She was a goddess, and should be immune to lasting injury. She hated not... knowing. After the time she spent in the library, she had been exposed to ideas she had never contemplated, making her realize how naive and sheltered she had been. It was one thing to be unaware of other lands, or old stories of the gods. But this was her own body! How could she not know what was happening within her flesh, within the most intimate part of her body!
         Her first thought was to panic and go to Hades for help. But she stopped herself, thinking about what might happen. She knew she would feel embarrassed to say she was bleeding down there and had no idea why, and besides, she was angry with him over the evening supper. A brush on her arm caused her to gasp and shudder, and she looked over her shoulder, seeing Cloe. She blushed even though she knew that her servant was merely a shade, with no mind or personality of its own.
         The shade floated there, waiting for a command. Apparently it had sensed her distress, but this was a situation it had never encountered, and it was waiting for her directive. That gave Persephone something to think about, and she took a deep breath. First she had to take care of the mess. She gave the shade the command to bring her some absorbent cloth.
         The shade disappeared and Persephone picked up her bloodstained underwear, going to the fountain in the corner of her chamber and dipping it in the water. The clear liquid turned red for a moment, but the movement of the water thinned out the crimson as she scrubbed and wrung it out. Though the blood had been washed away, a stain remained on the silk. This didn't surprise her, because her cousin had gotten into a fight with a neighbor boy once, and he had been punched in the nose. Blood had dripped down on his tunic, and Ptheia had not been able to wash it all away despite vigorous scrubbing, so the garment had been relegated for use in the field. After several weeks, the rust-colored patches were barely distinguishable amongst the dirt and grass stains.
         She wrung out the undergarment, feeling sad that such fine white silk was now forever ruined by this stain, unless Cloe could get rid of it somehow. It wouldn't hurt to ask, right? The servant appeared as she was wringing it dry, and she handed it to