A Touch of Darkness

“And as Persephone had gotten older, she had come to realize that what her mother said was true. None of the gods who were married actually loved each other and instead spent most of their time cheating and then seeking revenge for the betrayal.”

Early in the novel, the author establishes love as an unattainable thing for the gods and goddesses of this world. Stereotyping all gods and describing their worst behaviors trains Persephone to believe that love is impossible among the divine pantheon. This makes her more likely to distrust gods and foreshadows Hades’s bet with Aphrodite, which laying the foundation for the eventual rift between Hades and Persephone. 

“Persephone might be the daughter of Demeter and the Goddess of Spring, but she couldn’t grow a damn thing.”

This moment establishes one of the central conflicts in the novel: Persephone’s lack of magical ability. This lack allows her to live among mortals but also causes her to battle self-confidence issues and struggle to find her place in the world.

“Who was this man, and how could she possibly feel this way about a stranger? She needed to break this connection that had created such a suffocating energy between them.”

Persephone first catches sight of Hades in his nightclub but fails to recognize him. Their instant connection from across the bar proves their mutual attraction and sets up an internal conflict within Persephone as she grapples with her moral code. Although the novel does not reveal this until much later, this scene also establishes that their meeting was predestined. In many ways, Persephone was born to be Hades’s partner.