It showed you your mate.
Your true love.
The notion saddened Cate. Love was something she had truly given up on. After years of watching wars and battles over it, after watching civilizations crumble in the wake of it, she’d garnered that love was not the splendid thing humans thought it was.
It was a dangerous weapon, and in the hands of the wrong—where it often ended up—it was rather deadly.
She’d watched Hades and Persephone fall so madly in love that they nearly discarded everything. She’d watched him obsess, pine, and fight against his feelings, only to give in. When she’d seen him in the middle of the night, stealing Persephone from her home, she’d assumed the worst; that he’d gone mad and stepped out of line. She had not quite understood at the time what had transpired, and when Demeter came to her for help, she’d obliged, if only for the fact she could talk some sense into her friend. When she’d discovered Persephone had left of her own accord, given up everything to be with Hades; ignorant to the turmoil and repercussions of that decision... Cate understood in that moment love was not a bright and beautiful thing.
It was a blinding, all-consuming thing that seduced you with its illusions of grandeur.
And in the end she’d left, too.
After being the be-all and end-all of Hades’ entire existence, she’dforgottenhim. Her memory of him had been completely erased, and she’d forged a new life, leaving her true love to wither in the darkness without the blink of an eye.
It had taken Hades ages to piece himself back together.
Hades had told her that life was to be lived in the moment. She’d never truly understood his sentiment, being one who serviced the dead and all, but at this moment she finally felt as if she understood what he meant.
That the joys of life were as rare and fleeting as a blue moon. They came and went in a flash, and if you were not careful, you’d miss them.
Cate found herself in the presence of glowing golden eyes, and when her lips crashed against Gunner’s, she gave into the temptation.
Because if all they had was this moment, she did not want to waste it.