My Kingdom, My Wife, and the Darkness

Part 5

 As I strode into the revelling halls, Alecto upon my shoulder, all the glorious inhabitants stopped to stare in my direction. The Muses stopped playing and the perpetually festive mood turned stony. They had probably all heard of my vanishing, and it was a rare sight to see me here anyways. I mounted the white steps and entered into the main hall where I saw the faces of those I had known so well. There was my brother in all his glory, his wife at his elbow and his robes stupendous in the bright light. My other brother sat in a chair not far from him, broad-shouldered. There was Hermes, staring at me intently while clutching his staff. There my mother-in-law, always with her glares of hate. There were all the others, suspicious of my presence. And there, next to her mother's chair, in her singular unique splendor, stood my wife. She smiled widely at me and I smiled back.

"My Lady" I said, offering an arm. She crossed from her mother's chair to join me. As her hand laid to rest upon my arm I felt rejuvenated. No matter what was to come, we would get though it.

"Where have you been?" she asked lightly.

"I truly could not tell you." I replied. And at that moment, it didn't matter all that much.

"So you're back." my brother boomed.

"For good this time, I think." I replied and smiled up into his stormy face. He wasn't happy with it, but he'd live. Someday, I would find out why he wanted me to disappear in the first place.

"Are you here to ask something of me?" he said. 'Are you here to challenge me for what I did?' he meant, but did not say. 'Are you here to get revenge?' 'Are you here to try and expose me?'

"No." I said simply, "I am here to get my wife. That is all."

We turned and left with the eyes of all my brethren on our backs. The jar was proof, the ghost king was proof. I could have challenged my brother and perhaps there was a chance to remove the power he had. But none of the others wanted me around, and I had my wife and my realm back which was what truly matters.

"What are we going to do now?" my wife asked and Alecto leaned in to hear. There was so much to do: we needed to reorganize the souls, find Charon, pull the truth out of the ghost king, and find the escaped dead. But some things had to be done first.

"We're going to replant the garden," I said.