Receiver of Many by Rachel Alexander
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
“Kore!” Demeter squinted in the noon sun and called out again, “Kore?” “Over here, Mother!” Kore stood amidst the sheaves of barley to wave Demeter over, then crouched again and poked her finger into the
Merciful One, please have mercy on me! Mercy! Mercy!” The man let out a wail of grief, his voice ringing through the granite halls as golden-winged Alekto dragged him bodily. Aidoneus sat, exhausted. He rarely sent a soul to Tartarus, and disliked doing so. But it was a necessity. He pinched the bridge of his nose
bowed curtly to Zeus. A field of barley rose around her and she disappeared into the thick of the blades, her final words on the matter echoing back through the ether. “I have spoken.” Aidoneus rose and looked around the room, insulted and embarrassed. The others stood stock-still. So this was how it was to be— no one would speak up for the oldest and most sacred pact of the Olympians. He wondered why that surprised him. Hades turned on his heel, and a soft rumble emanated from the throne. “Aidoneus…” He looked back up at Zeus. “You must make Demeter comply.”
A vise gripped Demeter’s heart. It couldn’t be. Aeons had passed— enough time for him to have let go of the matter, or to have forgotten altogether. No one had seen him outside his realm since the end of the war…
looked to the right, then the left. She smiled and leaned down. “I don’t see her here to disapprove. Come on! You can change it back when she gets here. We won’t tell.” Kore fidgeted for a moment. “I’m— I can’t do that to her. I’ve already put her through enough
eyes narrowed, her voice iron. “I forsake them. Just as you abandoned your child, I forsake mine.” “You cannot,” he growled, thunder rolling again across the sky. “Stop me, then,” Demeter replied, icily. The wind howled fiercely, turning cold, stripping more leaves from the trees, their dried edges cutting past them. “Return my daughter from the Pit, from the hands of that monster, and I will tend the earth.
from ever seeing her mother again. Persephone had just proven herself his willing captive. He watched her face fade from bliss and tenderness to fear and shame as she turned away from him, her eyes
from Menoetes, your big black three-headed puppy gave her quite a scare.” “I keep her in the palace to protect her.” “Like Demeter did?” Aidoneus glared at him. Thanatos stood firm. “Put some trust in her, Aidon.” “How?”
Speak,” he commanded, startling her. Minthe knelt at her father’s feet, her eyes cast to the floor, and placed a hand on his right foot in submission and supplication. “Milord, I am Minthe, y-your daughter b-by—” “I know who birthed you. Her tree stands in a copse of poplars to the north.” “M-milord,” she began
scraped against the cold floor. He kissed her tenderly and moaned soft praises that contrasted sharply with each painful thrust. A last tear fell into the tangle of her hair and she closed her eyes, nearly unconscious, the wine mercifully pulling her away from her aching body. Lost… lost… lost…
the obol and looked to Persephone’s extended hand holding out her own coin. “You…” he said with a voice like gravel as he waved her hand away, “You ride for free, my queen.” Aidoneus gaped at him before composing himself
said, fishing out two gold obolos. He picked up Persephone’s hand and folded her fingers around one of the obols. “And aeons later, I can’t for the life of me figure out what he does with all those coins.”
forward and held her at the small of her back. Aidon just watched her, his heart racing. This was not the screaming girl he’d dragged into his chariot from the field of Nysa. His wife was a darkly magnificent creature, stepping through the ring of fire she created with him at her side. Persephone—
his Queen.
hers as he formed their rhythm, his breath coming out in hard pants against her neck with each sharp thrust. She answered with punctuated cries, which changed to a long low moan as he took her faster, gliding through her.
through and pinned him to the rocks with my sword still in his throat, then opened a gateway underneath him to Tartarus.” “You could do that?” “All of us could do it, for a time. The cosmos was in chaos
saw Demeter run away into the ether with his favorite weapon. She led him straight to me.” “What did you do?” “What could I have done? I woke up to Demeter flying at me through the ether with the deadliest Titan on her heels. ‘Aidon, forgive me! Save my daughter!’ she screamed. I pulled the three of us from the ether into Chthonia, where I had allies. Hecate and Nyx gathered up Demeter
Is this why you cannot fully open your heart to me, Aidon thought, because you think I’ll be like him? He massaged her palm and wrist in his hand. “She was trying to win him back with an act of bravery. Demeter was already carrying
She gasped and turned her head toward his voice. “Come back to bed, sweet one… I want to make love to you while it’s light outside.” Persephone faced
raising his voice to her level. He tried to calm himself and regain his composure. “But it doesn’t work like—” “You pricked me with it last night, didn’t you?! To make me fall in love with you!” Her eyes widened in panic once the words left her mouth. Persephone froze. “Oh?” Aidoneus said quietly. He hadn’t even entertained the idea of pricking her with the arrow. After Eros had loosed his bow, he’d kept
The Phlegethon will part for us, and only us,” Aidon said. “They call me Praxidike down there. What do they call you?” He was silent for a moment, his breathing measured, before he spoke again. “I have many names in Asphodel and in the world above. But in Tartarus, I’m only known as The Unseen One.” The Unseen One. Hades.
you. “Are you mad?!” Not so loud, Praxidike. Please trust me, my queen; they saw you
But it was too late. The Unseen One had been seen.
know more than we. If you will pardon your humble servant saying so, your mother and father, their siblings and yours, are fools for thinking that Zeus controls the greatest lot and calls himself the God of Gods. For the only god of gods is ananke, the will of the Fates, and ananke has brought those who truly rule the cosmos here— to what the frail deathless ones above amusingly call the Underworld.” “K-Kottos, I thank
around his torso, legs and arms weren’t there, or that he somehow meant for them to bind him, and could shrug the irons off at any moment. “And what a fantastic mess Demeter is making. My poor sweet mother, Gaia. You Olympians are proving to be poor stewards of creation. It’s a wonder you’ve lasted this long.” “I am no longer an Olympian,” Persephone said calmly, “and my mother will end this soon enough.” He smirked. “Of course you’re not. My apologies. But that doesn’t exempt you or your husband from your shared fate. And your choice
her shadow. You are the firstborn of your generation, my queen. Your husband, firstborn of his. Charon the ferryman of the souls, is the firstborn of Nyx who herself was the eldest child of Chaos. My brothers and I were the first children birthed by Gaia and Ouranos. One won
now. The voices of Tartarus I can ignore with concentration. But other than removing the rings, I’ve found no way to stop myself from listening to his voice. And sometimes,” he said, opening his eyes to her once more, “he listens back.”
we can make this last…” “Please…” she slurred. Aidon, I love you… She shivered against him, aching for more, and he obliged her. Aidon grabbed the cheeks of her rear, spreading her along her seam while he plunged into her. When her
feminine shakes and sobs filled him with masculine triumph at the idea of pushing his wife to such heights of frenzied ecstasy. His reverie didn’t last long. She leaned to the side and snaked her tongue
either of you. You drew the lot, but she was born for this. Do you really think, Olympian, that I would have chosen my divine role willingly? I would have much rather been the God of Love— or better yet, the God of Fucking— instead of the God of Death. But here I am; and she will arrive. And you, you are now The Host. The Receiver of Many. Not just of the souls of the dead, but of one day our fated Queen.” Aidoneus looked at the ground, mulling over what
one was from Asphodel. I can feel it. I’m ready. I know, Hades answered the shade. Does that mean it is time for me to leave? I am sorry, he said grimly. No one is being born right now. But that will change, I promise. Have patience.
millennia since he had added anything to his home this way. This was the piece that completed it— the last thing he would need to create to make this place whole and ready for her: Persephone’s throne. Aidoneus pulled at his beard. Hephaestus might have done a better job. But the Blacksmith didn’t know his queen the way he did, he thought with a knowing smile. He rubbed his exposed arm. Gooseflesh prickled his skin. It was cold business reaching
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