MELONIE:
I receive my spy's report with a sneer. Utterly unsatisfactory. The man proves to be infuriatingly dense, clinging to some ridiculous notion of honor when a life of decadent pleasure awaits him with me. Little does he realize, I can love him better than that simpering Amazonian princess. She is practically infantile in her naiveté, a pale imitation of the woman Caith truly needs. Only I possess the experience, the fire, to truly satisfy him. The thought of those two together is frankly, insulting.
"Hello, my little bundle of torment," my mother, Persephone, drawls as she saunters into my chambers, her eyes gleaming with amusement.
"What do you want?" I snap, my tone sharper than a newly honed dagger.
"You seem to be in a particularly foul mood today. What, pray tell, is bothering you?" She knows perfectly well, of course. Mother always does.
"Caith is."
"What has he done now?" she sighs, her voice laced with weary resignation. Dealing with me is, admittedly, a tiresome affair.
"He's getting married tomorrow to some Amazonian bitch." I spit the word out like venom.
"I thought your father's curse was supposed to draw him irresistibly to you. What happened to that particular bit of dark magic?" She arches a perfectly sculpted brow, clearly enjoying my discomfiture.
"I don't know! He seems so confident it would work! But it isn't. I have to talk him out of this nonsense before it's too late." My fingers clench into fists, the nails digging into my palms.
"Is that truly necessary?" Persephone muses, her gaze calculating. "He makes this decision willingly, after all. Perhaps a more... subtle approach would be more effective. All you have to do now is to sabotage it." Her eyes gleam with a wicked glint.
"Sabotage? Sabotage!" I echo, the word dripping with delicious malice. The idea, quite frankly, is genius.
"I know of a gorgon who can help you with that," Persephone offers, her voice smooth as silk.
"Ooh! You mean Aunt Medusa?" I exclaim, my eyes widening with wicked anticipation.
"No, Stheno, Medusa's sister. She's got a more...refined touch when it comes to subtle mayhem." Persephone waves a dismissive hand.
"Hmm. How about an Erinyes instead?" I suggest, a slow smile spreading across my face.
"Oh! Better, dear," Mother purrs, her approval radiating like a dark sun. "A Fury is precisely the sort of...unpleasantness this situation requires."
"Precisely! So I visit Alecto tonight and seal the deal, and then boom goes the wedding." My laughter rings out, sharp and brittle. "Trust me, we have to be there to watch it all end in tears. Caith returns to me, of course. And that insipid Amazon Princess, Arielle? She'll simply die." The words are spoken with a chillingly casual indifference, the promise of death hanging in the air like a venomous mist.
"Bad girl, Melonie," Persephone murmurs, a hint of pride lacing her tone. Honestly, she finds my wickedness quite endearing.
We launch into our usual witchy cackle, the sound echoing through the chambers like the screech of harpies, celebrating our deliciously evil plan and, of course, the imminent demise of the husband-thief. It's rather cathartic, really.
"Just wait until you see this, Arielle Henessia Khavena!" I hiss, my voice dripping with venomous glee. "Tomorrow, your perfect little world crumbles to ash, and you finally learn what it means to cross Melonie, daughter of Hades."
I can practically taste the exquisite sweetness of revenge. Arielle will be humiliated, Caith will be mine, and Persephone? Well, Mother will get to enjoy a front-row seat to the entire glorious disaster.
I grin, already envisioning the chaos and heartbreak to come. Oh, tomorrow is going to be delicious.