Defying the Gods by Helen Atreya

Persephone and Hades - Book One

Persephone is the beautiful and beloved goddess of spring and rebirth. Flowers blossom around her wherever she walks. But even the gods have problems, and hers is a big one. She is being wooed, not at all brilliantly, by two of the gods of Olympus; neither of whom she has any desire to marry. But her mother, the rash and powerful Demeter, goddess of summer and the harvest, is insisting she make a choice of husbands and get on with it.

Still unwilling but becoming resigned to her fate, Persephone is about to relent and do what her mother wants when Hades, god of the underworld, rides into her life. He is shockingly handsome, like all the gods, but aloof, powerful, and much more attractive to her than the good looking but shallow and sex-obsessed suitors who are vying for her hand and dowry. The simple fact of Hades’ presence on Mount Olympus reminds her that there is much more to the life of an immortal being than duty and sacrifice.

But her mother pushes the wedding date forward, so Persephone hatches a daring plan to avoid an arranged marriage. She escapes to the underworld; Hades’ dark realm known only to the dead, in the hope that she might hide there, perhaps indefinitely. Hades, knowing nothing of the plan or Persephone's predicament, greets her coldly when she dares to pass through the gates of his domain.

Though she is trespassing, she must somehow convince the cold, implacable, and yet passionate Hades to give her sanctuary. Fortunately, he is not completely immune to her charm, nor to the fact that she is a very naughty goddess indeed, and before too long he has put her across his knee, and perhaps given her a place in his fiery heart.