Persephone gently pushed Hades away and stepped back, his hands reluctantly sliding from her flesh. She turned and walked toward the gate behind her. Still on his knees, he stared enthralled at the coxinant twists of her retreating buttocks. His callipygian captor paused and looked back at him and gave one word. "Follow."
Hades scrambled to his feet and was fast on her heels, even as she retreated into a long, unlit tunnel. He followed her into darkness so thick he couldn't see his own hands, but he was not afraid. Persephone clearly knew these caves well, and he faithfully followed the clear tinkling sound of the pair of bells tied to her thigh.
Hades had lost track of time before they emerged into a larger chamber, an amphitheater centered around a raised dias covered in fabric and pillows, lit by the embers of several ornate braziers. The room could have accommodated hundreds, but there were only six figures lounging near the middle altar. Each had a unique style of dress, the way their hair was adorned, the shades of their skin and shapes of their figure, but each was unmistakably Ephaemeryl, like Persephone. Wide-eyed and slack-jawed, his eyes darted from one to another; he never would have believed that he could experience the emotions provoked in him by Persephone ever again, and here he was feeling them anew, each one of the captors bringing about a different, intense feeling throbbing from his heart to odd corners of his body. Everyone was watching Hades, some of them stone-faced, most of them smirking in amusement, chatting with each other in the strange tongue of the Ephaemeryl, their soft, lilting falsetto reverberating through the chamber, shaking the foundations of Hades' mind. They were observing him as if he were some fascinating oddity.
One of the women, short and stocky with milky skin and gold hair, stood up and addressed Persephone in their inscrutable language. They chatted back and forth, and Hades could only assume that this person was doubtful about something... maybe him? Was his quality in question?
The shorter one shrugged and said something that sounded like a question. Persephone turned to look at Hades.
"Hades." At the sound of his name, Hades' hungry, wandering eyes locked into Persephone's gaze. "Kneel."
Sparks sprinkled down from the nearby braziers, his knees hit the ground so hard. A wave of airy laughter swept over the audience, and the short gold-haired creature waved her hand, saying something that sounded appeased.