A Touch of Ruin

Persephone screams at the sight of Hades with Leuce and feels the need to attack. As she screams, “everything around her beg[ins] to wilt. The trees rot[] before her eyes, the leaves wither[] and f[a]ll, the grass yellow[s] and fade[s] until all the earth around her [i]s barren” (372). Hades pleads with her to stop, but she is set on destroying his realm. She fights his magic with her own, drawing life from the Upperworld. Hecate appears, helps Hades subdue her, and then takes an exhausted Persephone to her cottage. She informs Persephone that she ventured into the Forest of Despair and saw an illusion. Hecate is concerned that if they learn how powerful Persephone is, the other Olympians might see her as a threat.

Hades comes to confirm that what Persephone saw wasn’t real, and they make love. Leuce admits that she led Persephone to the Forest of Despair with the drugged wine on the order of Demeter, who brought Leuce back to life.

Persephone and Hades, in their divine form, sit on thrones and wait for Demeter, who has been summoned by Hermes.