The Princess did not even bother to glance at him, her arms still wrapped around Korinna’s waist. “I am in love.”
Korinna offered Leon a completely inappropriate smile, and he looked like his head might explode.
Then finally, from the crowd that was still wrapped in dancing, drinking, and completely oblivious to the potential horror going on just next to them, Nikeros appeared. He had leaves in his hair and a bruise was forming on his temple, but before she could ask what had happened to him, the look on his face told her there were more pressing things to worry about.
Anteros and Potheros were on his heels, looking annoyed and concerned in kind. That was three Erotes, staring at Princess Phille embracing Korinna and being very unhappy about it, and that was three too many.
“Phille.” Prince Leon reached out to her, and she chopped through the air with her hand, smacking him away. He recoiled, his eyes watering, and with that, ran off into the jungle.
“We should definitely go get him.” No one moved at Korinna’s suggestion.
“No one else matters now, darling.” Phille eased Korinna’s hair from her face. “No one but you.”
“What is the meaning of this?” Hera’s voice was unmistakable, and even the princess was rocked out of her trance. The goddess stood with her hands on her hips, her brow creased with the anger of a thousand peafowl, which is quite a lot of little beaks to have mad at you.
No one spoke until Anteros nudged Nikeros’s shoulder, and the Erote stuttered, “There’s been a little mistake.”
“Oh no,” she snarled, “I know the work of Athena and Apollo when I see it!” Even though she obviously did not, none of the Erotes corrected her. From an empty hand, Hera produced a mass of blue, green, and teal feathers which she threw into the air. They multiplied, filling up the sky, blinding them, then fell away. Without having felt like they moved at all, Korinna found herself still wrapped in the princess’s arms and surrounded by the others, but instead of standing in the basin with the rest of the partygoers, she was atop a massive, flat rock.
Korinna spun around to see the ocean spreading out in every direction at the bottom of a very long drop over the edge. They were still on the island, just at its very peak. Up here, the wind whipped at their clothes, and Hera’s voice carried across it, screaming the names of the gods. The sky had not lightened yet with the sun, but it had gone violet, streaked with greens and blues reflected up from the newly thrashing sea on the bottoms of heavy, threatening clouds. The queen of the gods was clearly a little upset.
With a flash of hot, white light, both Apollo and Athena appeared. The god looked at least a bit guilty, but Athena was staunchly glaring at her queen. “Yes, Your Majesty, what on Gaia is wrong?”
Hera huffed and pointed to the suitors, still gathered around Korinna.
Athena’s eyes narrowed in a different way, and an owl screeched from her shoulder. “What is the meaning of this?”
“Oh, don’t act like you don’t know.” Hera was spitting in her anger. “Trying to butt in on my time. How dare the two of you.”
“I can assure you this is purely coincidental.” Athena’s voice was ever tepid.
“Oh, is it purely coincidental?” The queen of the gods put on a mocking tone. “Is it?”
Apollo cleared his throat. “You know, the fates do work in mysterious ways.”
Korinna squeaked in the back of her throat at this. Out of everyone, the gods were supposed to at least know what was going on!
In a puff of pink and lilac blossoms, a new form appeared amongst them. She matched the statue Korinna had seen at Aphrodite’s palace only not nearly as tall and at least seventy percent more beautiful (though she was smart enough to have said one hundred if asked). Even when she scowled and snorted, Aphrodite was striking, her breast heaving with annoyance and hips cocked. The gods immediately began to complain to her about broken rules that may or may not have existed.
“You three are really wrecking a good time,” she told them as if it were an answer to all their problems, but the wind only whipped harder as the assembled gods’ voices escalated.
They sky lit up as other glowing forms showed up, mostly to observe, it seemed, and be appealed to by the main objectors. Some found it amusing, others joined in, the storm swirling overhead ever growing.
As they continued to bicker, the suitors, Erotes, and the princess sort of settled in. It was likely none of them had ever witnessed a meltdown of such godly proportions, and it would have been comical had it not seemed so dire, but on the whole it was entirely fascinating. With every vile word or catty name, the sky lit up and rumbled in kind, the wind plucked at their chitons, the air itself sizzling with animosity. As much as they may have wanted to run, the mortals could not tear themselves away for both captivation and for lack of a way off the rock.
Then there was a bolt of lightning that streaked across the sky, and Zeus appeared in all his glory in the center of them. The gods fell silent, and even the wind quieted in his presence.
Zeus turned to Hera, his face grave, and then he smiled. “Babe! What’s going on?”
“Don’t you babe me!” Hera exploded, and so did the weather. The rest of the gods began yelling once more only now the king and queen seemed to be having it out about mortals-know-what on top of everything else.
Overwhelmed, Korinna looked away, even as the others were locked onto the scene, and was lucky enough to notice, beyond the gods and at the edge of the peak they stood atop, there was another figure in the shadows. Hunched over and forlorn, it could only be Prince Leon, unaware—or at least disinterested in—the nonsense breaking all around him. Maybe she could fix this, she thought, and she grabbed the princess’s hands, removing them from her waist. “Phille, what happened to you?”
“I’ve been taken by you!” The princess tried to grab her once again, but Korinna held her at bay.
“What about the prince?” She pointed across the tumultuous rock, but Phille would not even glance in his direction. Korinna felt around in her pocket and pulled out the sketch she’d done, holding it up in front of her own face. “What about Leon?”
When Phille didn’t again lunge for her, Korinna dared peek out from behind the drawing. A distant bolt of lightning lit up her face, and instead of wide, crazed eyes, she was staring at the image intently. Slowly, she reached up to take the parchment even as the wind threatened to rip it away from both of them, and she held it up to her face.
“You’re meant to marry him tomorrow morning,” Korinna told her above the sounds of the gathering storm. Phille was frozen, stuck staring down at the drawing, but at least she wasn’t trying to canoodle her anymore.
Korinna nodded, then turned to Nikeros. The Erote’s eyes widened. “Come on,” she said, grabbing his wrist and dragging him around the gods’ squabble to go to the prince.
“Your, uh, Majesty?” Korinna shouted over the wind and thunder at him as he sat at the edge of the rock, staring out at the sea.
The prince glanced over his shoulder. He’d been crying, and she was probably the last person he wanted to see. His eyes passed over her forlornly then landed on Nikeros. “Nik?”
“Hey, Leo.” The Erote gave him a little wave. “Rough day, huh buddy?”
“You could say that.” He glared at Korinna, and lightning flashed from out over the sea.
She swallowed. “Listen, I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t think Phille actually stopped loving you.”
“That’s not what she said.”
“She was enchanted or something!” Korinna threw her arms out. “There’s been a lot of that going around.”
Nikeros cleared his throat. “It was actually my…brother’s fault.”
“What?” Both Korinna and Leon gawked at him.
“Anteros, I mean. I kinda got drunk, and one thing led to another, and Phille kinda got shot with one of his arrows.”
“That absolute moron!” Korinna was aghast.
Leon stood from his sp
ot at the edge of the cliff, turning his back to the sea so he could fully look on the two. “You mean this is all just a misunderstanding?” The winds whipped around them, and he had to raise his voice against the sound of crashing thunder.
Nikeros nodded, and Korinna tried to encourage the prince. “Yes! If you come over there, we can settle things, I’m sure of it.”
Leon looked passed the gods and the suitors and the Erotes and to his wife-to-be. He took a breath, and then he took a step.
Lightning crashed down from the sky, striking the ground between them. The earth cracked, splintering rocks and dirt up into their faces, and the cliff trembled. In the brightness of the lightning, everyone was blinded, and then in an instant, the darkness came back. When their eyes adjusted, they could finally see: the ledge was gone, and so was Prince Leon.
Somewhere far off they heard a plunk into the ocean followed by a long, somewhat forlorn, but mostly just bummed out, “Duuuuuuuuuude.”
CHAPTER XXVII
The Princess’s shriek cut through shocked silence. She tore past them, running at the jagged ledge. Korinna caught her before she made it to the end, and the girl spun back around, immediately burying her face into her chest, wracked with sobs.
“Oh, dear,” Aphrodite’s calm and clear voice held a grave tone as she floated closer to them, peering down into the vengeful black waters far below.
“Was that…” A goddess with golden hair and a bow strapped to her back took a step toward them. “Was that the Dorinthian prince?”
Korinna and Nikeros gave her a look that said yes.
Wait a minute, I thought you said since this was a comedy no one was going to die!
I did say that, didn’t I? Well, listen, things have changed, and—
I cannot believe you’d just kill Prince Leon off like that!
Hey, I thought you wanted more Chaos?
No! Fix it!
“Nice, Zeus,” Hera’s voice finally broke the discomfort of the other gods who’d been staring at the cracks in the stone below, the cloud formations in the sky above, and basically anywhere that wasn’t the sobbing princess.
Zeus threw his hands up and lightning shot up into the air from his palms. “It was an accident!”
At the cliff’s edge, a glowing, bearded figure emerged, in his arms, a limp, drenched body. Korinna tightened her grip on the princess so she would not see. Nikeros stood beside her, his expression vacant. Poseidon sighed over the boy. “You guys, this is totally gonna harsh the vibe down there.” Leon was placed down in the midst of the gods who took turns forcing themselves to peer at him. Korinna was glad for the darkness of a cloudy night sky.
Athena lingered over him longest. “This does not bode well for the truce.”
“No, it certainly does not,” the familiar voice of Ares piped up, though he sounded a little less bummed out about it.
Hera sneered under her breath, “Well, if our glorious king wasn’t so reckless with his bolts—”
“How is this my fault?” Zeus seemed genuinely puzzled, pounding his chest, his voice booming out at the others. The gods cast curious glances at one another, and when they did not immediately jump to his defense, Zeus threw his arm out at Korinna. “This is clearly on that mortal.”
Korinna’s heart dropped into her feet, and then just kept going right into the core of Gaia. The eyes of eleven Olympians turned on her, and every story she’d ever heard slapped her in the face with a fate crueler than death. They had been working on this for years, Rhodea had said, and though Korinna couldn’t grasp that years meant very little to an immortal, it didn’t really matter as gods were far more concerned with right now. And now, in one quick bolt, everything was ruined, and somehow—somehow—it came down to her.
The discomfort and uncertainty began to drip away from the Olympians’ faces, replaced with agreement and even fury. They were turning and, gods, was it ever happening fast!
“Oh, no, no, no.” Korinna pushed Phille into Aphrodite’s waiting arms where the princess sobbed silently. “I, uh, respectfully disagree.”
“Yeah.” Poseidon curled a lip. “Like, this is totally her fault. I mean, it’s always one mortal or another screwing everything up anyway.”
“What?” Korinna’s mind was barely able to connect with her mouth, and she stammered, “I don’t—I can’t even—how?” She looked to Nikeros, but his eyes were still transfixed on Leon’s body.
“Only concerned with one thing.” The goddess with the bow crossed her arms. “Figures.”
Korinna felt like she might explode at the idiocy of the gods murmuring to one another about how stupid and careless mortals were. None of them would ever accept blame for this, not that even if one of them did it would solve the issue. Leon was dead, after all, and there was nothing that would—Korinna gasped, “Okay!” She held up her hands and stole their attention. “Okay. So maybe in some really roundabout, crazy, tragic, fatalistic way, this is all my fault.”
The gods were squinting at her. It was ominous. Nikeros took a step closer, apparently woken from his trance. “What are you doing?”
“What’s done is done,”—she clapped her hands—“But this mortal has no power here, unlike you—you’re gods! You can fix this!” Glowing faces cast sidelong glances at one another, but they said nothing. And nothing was significantly better than accusation. “You’ve got him right here, so just, ya know, bring him back!”
“Oh, yeah.” Apollo’s voice brightened, “Why don’t we just do that?”
Korinna grinned. “Yes! Sun hasn’t come up yet, we’ve got time before the wedding. You guys can totally save the day!”
Zeus cocked his head. There was suspicion in his eyes, but the desire to triumph seemed to win out. “All right, Olympians, what do we got?”
Hermes stepped forward from the others and poked at Leon’s lax form with the end of his staff. “I can put this back together. Maybe even better than before.”
“Great!” Korinna clapped. “See, wasn’t that easy?”
Hermes hummed, “But his soul would still be missing.”
“Soul?” Zeus scratched his head. “Who’s in charge of that?”
A collective groan raised up from the gods. Athena sighed, “That would be Hades, Your Highness.”
“Shit.”
Korinna looked from one Olympian to another. She did not know all of the gods on sight, but she thought, surely, she could pick out the god of the Underworld, and none of their aesthetics really screamed death.
“Did no one invite Hades?” A goddess with long, loose robes scolded.
Zeus threw up his hands. “He’s just no fun!”
“He’s your brother!” Hera shot back.
“Yeah,” Zeus wined, “but he’s also a killjoy!”
“Well, that’s his job!”
“He doesn’t even like parties, Hera, he would have had an awful time.” Thunder rumbled in the violet sky.
“And I keep telling you to let him make the choice to come or not!” His wife shrieked back.
Zeus’s eyes flashed and a bolt of lightning crashed overhead. “Okay, well, I didn’t, and he’s not here! Now what?”
As the roar in the sky died away, Aphrodite’s sing-song voice piped up, “Well, I guess someone’s just going to have to go down there and talk to him.” She was looking pointedly at Zeus.
The king of the gods groaned, “But I don’t wanna.”
Athena passed her spear nervously from one hand to the other. “I doubt any of us do.”
Slowly, eleven sets of Olympian eyes turned back onto Korinna for the second time that night.
CHAPTER XXVIII
Korinna could not fucking believe it. “I can’t fucking believe this.”
She sat in Hermes’s cart with Nikeros at her side, but this time the back was filled with Andreas, Calix, Erepho, and Princess Phille. The princess’s tears had dried when she heard Prince Leon could be brought back, determination crawling over her face. She insisted on coming, and then
, of course, so did the suitors—they didn’t want any more canoodling with their intended. While the arrow that had struck Phille was a simple lusty infatuation, never meant to last, the others were still entrenched in puppy love for Korinna and couldn’t be swayed. Too exhausted to argue, she agreed they could tag along, and admittedly hoped they could help: they were going to the Underworld after all.
They hadn’t spoken since the cart had taken off into the night sky from the island. Hermes was sitting up a bit stiffer with his eyes cast out before them. Typically he allowed the rams to lead the way, but now he commanded them to follow his direction. His snake was even curled up tighter on the bench beside him.
Nikeros was cradling his head in his hands. Korinna wanted to be upset with him: he had disappeared when the suitors cornered her, and had said nothing when the gods singled her out, but then there was that whole brother dying right in front of him thing. She put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry about Leon.”
He blinked slowly down at his sandals and groaned.
“I can’t believe Anteros,” she hissed, needing to place her anger somewhere, “What an idiot!”
“Huh?” Nikeros squinted over at her.
“Shooting Phille like that. What was he thinking?”
“Oh, right.” He rubbed his temples and slouched backward into the seat. “That’s what happened. Yeah, he’s such a jerk.”
Korinna watched his head bob languidly as the cart dipped. “Are you already hungover? How much did you drink?”
“I don’t know,” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes, “But I also fell out of a tree.”
“Are you going to be okay?” Korinna was surprised at the sincerity in her own voice considering how cranky she felt.
He looked at her, his forehead knit, then he nodded. “Yes. I have to be; we’re going to Hades.”
As the cart began to descend, Korinna felt her stomach go with it. Hades. Both the god and the place struck fear into even the other Olympians. Korinna could barely believe where she was headed. After all, the whole point of this journey was to avoid dying, and yet here she was on her way to death’s door, literally.
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