Broken God

by Andrews,Nazarea

  The house doesn’t feel like that, anymore.

  It feels like a mountain top fortress, where the gods whiled away eternity and each of us had a place.

  We never did do well, living on top of each other.

  Now, we still are, but we’re spreading out. It takes twice as long to reach the living room, now, and in that time, my cousins and siblings meet.

  I glance at her. “Trust me?”

  Iris’s lips quirk into a smile. “Honestly?”

  I laugh at that, and it’s while I’m still laughing that I pull her into the godshall.

  She sucks in a sharp breath and I squeeze her hand, but don’t look away from the sight before me.

  Turning your back on Zeus and his brothers is something only an idiot would do and I quit being an idiot a few centuries ago.

  “You bring a mortal with you, son,” Zeus drawls, lazy and indolent from his seat between his brothers. Poseidon is glaring kind of aimlessly at the world in general and Hades is watching Iris, his gaze neutral.

  Both of them are waiting for Zeus to make a move, and he is waiting for an explanation. I look at Iris, and her lip quirks up in a half- smile.

  She nods and I smile at her.

  “This is Iris. My Oracle.”

  There is a beat, of silence. While the words echo ominous and repeating in the room.

  And then they explode, all of them, into furious noise.

  Del Spoke. And I went, quietly, insane.

  That mattered. It wasn’t a big, flashy thing. It wasn’t an explosion of power and me screaming at the heavens, the sun falling from the sky and Olympus falling.

  It was a slow slide. Losing bits of time. Wandering aimless. Laughing at the inappropriate things that only I could see. Clinging to my sister when she hunted and humming haunting melodies while she visited, and muttering nonsense.

  She noticed first.

  Del kept me close to her, hid me away in the Temple, and sent the other maidens away. I was a secluded god, a broken god, a mad god. And she was mine, in every sense. It took two years for her to shed her power enough that she could smuggle me away from Delphi. I still remember that night, even though I was in the grip of madness. Her power was waning, returning to me, and I was doing nothing to stop it, almost reveling in the rush of it.

  After hundreds of years without my Sight, it was coming back, and stripping away bits of who I was, and it was a fair trade.

  If I could See, then an Oracle couldn’t.

  And I could stop the vision. I could circumvent prophecy.

  So it slides back to me, and I let it, and Del took care of me.

  Artemis found us, in our little house on the windy mountains overlooking the Aegean. Neither of us were willing to leave the sea behind. She came with her hounds and a boy she was training to hunt who was more than half in love with her, and her eyes, always so cold and hard, soften just a little.

  “This is where you’re hiding,” she murmurs, and it’s warm. Almost loving.

  “Artie,” I grin, and fumble to my feet, swaying as the world spins dizzy futures, threads and threads of silver and shining gold. My eyes cross. “Gods, you’re shiny.”

  Her eyes fly wide at that, and she shoots Del a panicked look.

  “He chose to take it back,” she says, her voice very calm. Like she isn’t yanking the rug out from under my sister.

  Like she isn’t enraging a goddess.

  “Why?”

  “To protect you, Artie,” I murmur. I glance at Del and she watches me with clear, lucid eyes. Somehow, sometime along the way, the balance had shifted and now she was the sane one in this relationship.

  And still here. Still mine. Still Del.

  She gives me that soft smile that reminds me how long she dealt with this. How long she was the crazy person in this relationship. And it helps. I grin at her and then turn to my sister.

  “I saw what would happen to Olympus. How we would fall.”

  “She Spoke for you?” Artemis snarls, her pretty face twisting with fury. “Are you insane, Del?”

  “Not anymore,” she answers blandly and I giggle at that.

  “You destroyed him,” Artemis snaps.

  “I served my god, Artemis. That is my job. Not to serve you or anyone else. It’s only ever been to serve Apollo. He asked for something, and I gave it, against my own wishes. If you have a problem with it, take it up with your brother.”

  Artemis huffs. “I will.”

  Del’s gaze goes flinty. “Be careful with him, goddess. He isn’t the brother you remember.” She’s a badass, my Del.

  Artemis waits as Del kisses my hair and then retreats, headed to our small garden. I like the garden. It gets plenty of sun and grows delicious vegetables.

  I giggle. The sun might have a little help.

  Artemis sits next to me and I let my head roll a little, to find the spot on her shoulder that feels like mine, and home.

  My sister has always felt like home. Everything else may change and the years may drag on forever. But Artemis is home and always will be.

  “Because if I did, I could find out how the family will fall. We are, you know. You know we are.”

  She nods. Because yes. She does. We all know that the pantheon is falling.

  “And this? Taking your power back? How does that protect us?”

  “I need an Oracle, for it to come to pass. If I don’t have an Oracle…”

  “You’ll go mad,” she interjects and I grin at her.

  “I’ll be able to circumvent prophecy.”

  She stares at me, and I smile at her, mad and wild and hopeful. I need her to understand. She doesn’t have to like it. She just needs to understand.

  Finally, she sighs. “The family will just love this.”

  Chapter 21.

  It’s not a small thing, to meet a god. In hindsight, Iris handled it surprisingly well. She was on the cusp of madness when she did, already tipping toward insane. But still. Gotta give the girl props for not freaking out or bolting.

  And then, to meet Artemis. She didn’t blink and met my twin with respect and if not on equal footing, damn close to it.

  She’s amazing. It’s something I know, and something I am absurdly proud of because it’s not like I made her amazing. She was before she met me, and she will be when I finally bud out of her life.

  But as she stands in the storm that is my family, her head high and her eyes curious, it hits me.

  This girl that I claimed, that is mine, is fucking amazing.

  “You made an Oracle?” Persephone snarls and Hades catches my aunt’s hand, tugs her back.

  “They love each other very much, don’t they?” Iris says, watching them.

  “Don’t pick at the family, love,” I murmur, and a smile twists her lips.

  “Because you don’t like it?”

  “Because they don’t. And they can kill you.”

  She shrugs, a careless thing that makes me swallow my laugh. “You’d never permit it.”

  “Do you think he can stop us?” Ares almost purrs.

  She twists to look at the War Lord, and a smile curves her lips. “You are very prickly, aren’t you?” she muses, almost to herself, and leans into his space. Ares throws me a glare, almost a ‘control you’re human’ and I shrug at him.

  “Strong though. The wars have been good to you, I think,” she muses softly, and her gaze wanders over the family. Psyche and Cupid, Aphrodite, and Heph. She snags, for a moment, on Athena, and a smile curves her lips wide. “My brother would like you,” is all she offers though, before she moves on.

  “You haven’t made an Oracle in two thousand years, Apollo,” Zeus says.

  “And now, now that gods are dying and we are all gathered, you chose now to make one.” Poseidon spits, and I swing to face him. “I didn’t choose this.”

  Still, still, still silence.

  And then a laugh, high and slightly cracked. “Oh, that didn’t help at all, did it? Gods, you are all scared as fuck.�
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  “Delphi,” I murmur, and even though it is not her name, and I have never used it for her, Iris quiets, and curls into my side.

  “Is she—is she the one your Oracle spoke of?”

  “Yes,” I say, softly, and Hades sighs, a noise that echoes through the room.

  “I thought you were avoiding this. That you were fighting the prophecy. Isn’t that why you spent the last two thousand years mad as a hatter?”

  I give Dionysius a dry look and he grins at me from behind oversized sunglasses. A joint hangs from his lips. The man is a walking fucking stereotype, and I’ve never bought it. There’s depth there, that the depravity and hedonistic life hides.

  “You are very empty,” Iris says, and my grip on her hand tightens, past the point of painful, but it’s too late. She inhales a shuddering breath, and then, “Lonely and empty and desperate to fill it. Dark, dark despair, oh it cuts, it’s cold and nothing touches it. There’s a light coming. You don’t think it will. Not anymore. Waiting. You’ve been waiting so long. It’s coming. The wait is almost over.” She shudders, “Whiskey sweet honey strong opposites and broken, broken, broken.” She laughs, and blinks. Gives Dion a smile that’s bright and happy. “Oh, sugar. You have no idea what you have coming for you. I almost feel bad for you.”

  He makes a noise that’s a little strangled and I snag Artie’s eye. She moves smoothly, tugging Iris away from me and out of the hall.

  Gods, she’s Speaking prophecy in the middle of the Hall of Gods, and I’m supposed to calm these nervous bastards down?

  “What the actual fuck?” Zeus manages to demand, his voice sharp and furious, and I shrug.

  I’ve been crazy long enough I can maybe get away with this. “She’s new, Father. Still learning decorum and shit.”

  “She’s wild and unpredictable and the last Oracle you had did enough damage to last a lifetime.”

  “Zeus,” Hades interjects.

  “She isn’t hurting anyone,” I protest.

  “How long, Apollo?”

  The voice is sticky sweet, little girl curious and dangerous.

  Aphrodite is dangerous. She always has been. I eye her briefly.

  “How long have you had a new Del and when the fuck did you go back to Delphi?”

  There it is. The tiny slip that tells me just how close to the edge my sister is riding.

  Too close.

  We are all too close. There is still a killer on the loose and my cousin is lying in a room in this fucking house, recovering from an attack that none of us can explain or pin blame on.

  Much as I want to be pissed that they are so angry, I can’t be.

  Del predicted, two thousand years ago, that my Oracle would be the harbinger of our downfall. And now she’s here and gods are dying.

  Prophecy coming true.

  Iris Spoke to Dion, and I wonder how long he will have to wait before the girl who will fill that black hole in him appears.

  Not long, if I’m right. If Del’s prophecy is right.

  In all the centuries Del has served, and in all the long years I was lost in insanity, Del has never been wrong. The visions may not be what any of us want, but she Speaks truth.

  “We don’t live in Delphi. Not anymore than you live in Olympus.”

  I wonder if the apartment that has become her haven and mine is new Delphi. It doesn’t feel like it. Not the way new Olympus feels like our old mountaintop home.

  Aphrodite’s teeth click shut and she glares at me.

  “She’s dangerous,” Poseidon snaps.

  “She doesn’t change the future, Uncle. She merely speaks what she sees. With her at my side or not, the future is set. You can blame the triplets for that.”

  There’s a hum of noise, then I shrug. “Uncle.”

  Poseidon bristles and I smile, tight and sharp. Let my power slip just a little. “Not you, Poseidon.”

  Hades is expressionless when he nods. “Let the girl rest. When he wakes, she can Speak to him.”

  I give him a tiny bow, a sign of respect I wouldn’t afford any of the other gods—not even Zeus, and then retreat. My family is very petty. And arguing with them over my Oracle will solve nothing. I will tend to my Oracle.

  Artemis follows me from the Hall of Gods, and catches my arm. “Is she capable of this?”

  I shrug her off. “She has to be, doesn’t she?”

  Artemis frowns at me, and she bites her lip, but there isn’t anything to say.

  And Iris needs me more than she does. Maybe she always has. Maybe we have always been headed here. Her eyes narrow at me.

  “I’m not letting you go, brother,” she snaps. “Whatever the pantheon decides regarding your girl. I’ve never left your side.”

  “And you’ve never left Olympus.” I answer, my voice flat.

  “I was with you before Delphi, and before you were mad, before Olympus and before we took our first breath. I will always be with you.”

  I stare at her and she comes a step closer, her eyes boring into mine, and I nod, finally, acknowledging her words. A tiny, relieved smile curls up her lips and she goes on tiptoes to kiss my cheek before she steps away. “Go, then.”

  Iris is shaking, these tiny tremors I usually associate to when we’re in bed and she’s riding me.

  This is different. This is her, shaking apart. I pull her close, press my lips to her hair. “Shh, sweetheart. You did wonderful. You were perfect.”

  “They hate me.”

  “They are scared. And even if they do, you’re mine.” I frame her head and tilt her back, my thumbs pressing softly against her throat. “What does that mean, Iris?”

  “It means you won’t let anything hurt me,” she whispers and I nod.

  “Trust me?”

  “I shouldn’t,” she answers, and I grin. “But I do,” she adds, and that is when I kiss her. Pull her close and cover her lips with my own and I know. I know my family is only a room away, I can hear them fighting, but it doesn’t matter because my girl is in my arms. The girl who isn’t Del, who will never be Del, but who is mine and precious, and who, against all odds and reason, trusts me.

  I kiss her until her body goes butter soft and sweet against me, until her hands are digging into my sides, clutching and pulling me closer, until her lips part on a whimper and she sighs into my mouth when I press the advantage and kiss her deeper, licking into her mouth and stealing all of the little noises she makes, claiming them and her. I told her that I didn’t love her.

  And when I said, it was true.

  But love, like so many things, is a slow slide. And I am startled, as I stand in new Olympus, with her hands on my waist and her tongue twisting around mine, to realize.

  I do.

  I love her, to the point of madness.

  Chapter 22.

  It’s late, when Hermes wakes.

  Hades comes for us, which pulls a startled hiccup from Iris. She eyes the god nervously while trying to look like she isn’t terrified.

  He smiles. “Don’t look so scared, sweetheart. I’m not here to drag you to hell.”

  “Mmm, but that is in your job description,” she says without thinking, and drops her cards on my bed. I smoother my smile when her jaw drops open and her eyes go wide. “Dude, I am so sorry. I have no idea why I said that.”

  “Because you are very honest, Iris. It’s a good quality to have. One that I won’t discourage, especially not in this house.”

  He glances at me, a quick question and I tense but nod once.

  Only then does he take her hand.

  Strange, the respect he pays to both of us.

  Strange and vaguely concerning.

  “Why are you not worried about me?” she asks, and I pause, looking at Iris. She’s watching Hades, her eyes curious and patient. Like he is a puzzle and she can’t solve it but if she waits long enough, he’ll tell her all his secrets.

  Hades stares at her for a long moment and then. “Do you know I’ve spent a thousand years alone? I live half of my
time in Hades, alone. My wife returns to her mother. And I stay with the dead. It’s never going to change. I thought, once, that it would. Just like I thought the twins would find some peace together. But they won’t, and I won’t. We sit and say that we are powerful and gods. But at the end of the day, I’m not anything but tired and lonely. I know that we are dying.” He flashes a weak smile and shrugs. “I’m just past caring.”

  “Well that is…disturbing,” Iris says, slowly and Hades laughs.

  “Come. Let’s get you to meet the family charmer.”

  “Hey!” I yelp, and Iris grins over at me, grabbing my hand and tugging me along behind her.

  Hermes is propped up on the bed, and looking bored and irritated.

  Never a good look on my cousin. He grins as I enter. “Where the hell have you been?” he demands.

  I nod at Iris and my cousin goes very still, his face blank.

  “I went to get my Oracle.”

  “Why?” he asks, and his voice is tight.

  Strange.

  Hades pauses, a half step in front of us. “Because she can See who did this.”

  “I don’t want that witch near me,” Hermes spits, and Iris freezes, a tiny gasp escaping.

  “Hermes,” Hades snaps, his voice whip sharp and angry.

  “Interesting,” Iris murmurs, and my uncle half turns. Hermes is still glaring at her, ignoring me completely and she drifts a half step forward before I pull her to a stop.

  “Lies and lies. Tricky web you weave, Thief.”

  “Stay the fuck out of my head, witch,” he snarls, and I jerk her back as he lunges, his power weak but strong enough that I feel the wind shriek as he hurtles past.

  “Oh,” She gasps, and I press a hand to her back.

  “Apollo,” Hades snarls.

  My hand comes away wet.

  Wet.

  Why is my hand wet?

  Iris whimpers, her head craning back, and I look at my hand.

  It’s bloody red, and her white dress is turning wet and sticky and scarlet.

  He hurt her. Del is in my arms and bleeding out.

  I don’t think.

  That’s important, a thing I realize later. I don’t think.

  My power, dormant for so many hundreds of years, screams free. It’s not the parlor tricks that I’ve done before. That I used to block Hades’ rage and cow Poseidon.