I glanced at those around me, all of them unnaturally still, staring at me, some at Harvey, wondering, no doubt, why in the hells I cared about any of this. Divorcement decrees on Olympus weren’t big news. In fact, they happened with some frequency. Most every god in here had probably slept with each other at some point in time. That was why the blood of their offspring was so tainted. This was incest party central. And then after a few thousand millennia, they’d get back together and pop out more unnatural monsters they called babies, like Pasiphaë’s son minotaur—hairy beast, that child was, rather sweet, though he did tend toward drooling.
Dionysus, as flushed and red cheeked as always, tipped his glass of wine at me before winking and taking a large glug. I snorted.
Maybe I’d judged the glittering throng too harshly. I was finding myself quite entertained by some of them. There was a different air about the gods this time, and I was having a heck of a time reconciling who I remembered them being with who I was seeing now. Maybe Hades had the right of it after all. They weren’t all entirely bad. Talk about having one’s mind blown. I’d not expected to come here and find myself liking any of them.
Though I didn’t like them all. Hera was bandaging up her hand with the hem of her now torn skirt. I’d actually expected her fingers to grow back quicker. Oops. I smirked.
“And if we don’t?” Zeus’s voice was a terrible tremble that caused the floor at our feet to quake.
I shrugged. “Well, pervert, then I’d ask how much you really like ruling. You see, my beautiful lover has bidden me not to end you all. Why? I’m sure I don’t know. In fact, he even sent the sharksucking remora along with me”—I jerked my thumb over my shoulder at Nim—“to keep me honest, I suppose.”
“Mother,” she sighed.
“The truth is,” I said, ignoring her censure, “I really want nothing more than an excuse to end you all. I grow tired of most of you.”
I looked at Bitch and winked.
She looked flustered and not quite sure whether I’d complimented or insulted her personally. She was free to take it however she wished.
Themis pointed at her mouth. I’d actually forgotten about Blindy. “Oh, sorry, bat.” I grinned and unstoppered her mouth with a finger snap.
She took a deep breath, rolling her jaw from side to side before finally speaking.
“I recognize,” she said, voice sounding a little hoarse, “that you wish a trial. ’Tis why you’ve sought me out.”
“You’re still smart, I see. Why, yes. Yes, indeed, I do.”
“And what has my poor son to do with this?” Hera asked, face still bleached bone white. I was sort of hoping it would really, really hurt for days.
Did that make me a bad person?
Probably.
Did I care?
Nope.
“Poor son?” I chuckled. “I seem to recall you tossing him off of Olympus for being—”
“Answer the question,” she hissed, still gripping tight to her forearm. And then she did that disgusting neck-roll thing, and I felt my breakfast start to come up.
I had to breathe through my mouth a few times to push it back down before I could answer. That was really quite disturbing. “Just because you want to pretend to love him now doesn’t mean any of us would ever actually believe it.”
She thrust her chin out. “You brought a child here,” she said softly, stupidly.
Zeus and all the others ran toward Hera, all of them sensing my fury, trying to protect their queen.
My body began to shift, tremble, and turn into killing waters.
And I would have killed her. Stripped the flesh off her form over and over and over again for a thousand years, just to assuage my need for vengeance before finally tearing her stupid head from her grotesque neck and feeding it to my Bruce.
But Nimue was there. My dear, sweet girl was there, and she was hugging me tight, pressing her very human body to my very inhuman form and whispering, “I love you, Mother, and you are better than this. I know you are. So let it go. For me. Let it go.”
I glared heatedly at Hera, hating her more than I could have ever imagined hating anyone, ever.
With trembling hands, I rested my palms on Nim’s shoulders and drew from her incredible strength, her peace. My children, whether they knew it or not, were my sole reason for battling the monster who now lived and breathed inside of my dual-natured soul.
Gently, I kissed her forehead before tenderly setting her aside.
She hugged her arms to her body and stared at me, trust gleaming in her eyes.
Hera was perfectly still and also staring at me with a look in her eyes that told me she finally understood she’d gone too far.
But she was far too proud to ever say so.
“Threaten my children again,” I said softly, “ and I will make you suffer in ways you’ve never known before.”
The air quickened with the threat of that terrible curse I’d placed upon her head, and she quivered, just slightly. But I doubted the queen of the glittering throng had ever been spoken to thusly.
I was a monster, a god killer. And as much as my sisters and I rarely got on, all I would need was to call upon them, and they’d be here in seconds. And the pathetic Olympians would be no more. Even the Titans would be on my side. We did not need the Olympians, but they very much needed us.
Zeus shoved Hera behind him again. His movements were none too gentle. “Never again, Calyssa. You have my word. Now, let us settle this dispute. Why have you come this day?”
I glared at the spot over his shoulder where the cow bitch cowered for several more seconds, before finally cutting my eyes to his, all humor gone from me now.
“This sack”—I kicked at a still prone and comatose Harvey with my pretty toe—“has handed my friend a notice of divorcement.”
Zeus nodded. “Indeed.”
I shrugged. “I say no.”
I could hear the murmurings in the crowd. This was unheard of. I was not of the glittering throng. I had no say so in their affairs, blahblaty blahbity blah.
He cleared his throat. “Calyssa, it was a private affair—”
“I think what you mean to say is it was as wrong as hell and you’d better fix this before I fix you.”
His hand crept down to his nethers, and I grinned.
He shook his head. “That’s not how this works—”
“Do I look like I’m the type who gives two shits what you think?”
Dionysus snickered, and Zeus’s jaw clamped tightly shut.
He would pay for that slight to Zeus’s fragile male ego later. Not that he cared, I was sure. Dionysus was far too deep in his cups as usual to recognize the danger he was currently in. And though I found myself amused by the drunken god, he was not my concern. I was here for Dite only.
Zeus’s spine stiffened. “Not especially.”
“So I object. Which means trial,” I stated patiently, like one would to a dumb ape or a child that was not of my blood. My children were incredibly smart. The rest… stupid. Just like Zeus.
“I’m sure Hephaestus told you that—”
“Yes, Henrietta told me. So what? Trial. Now.”
Dionysus was chortling so hard at this point. “Henrietta. Primordial gods above, did she really just call him—”
“Dionysus, shut the hells up, won’t you?” Ares’s deep vibrato rocked through the room.
I looked over at the handsome brooding male wearing his perpetual suit of gleaming black armor. He had his mask off, for once, and there was a gleam in his dark eyes that I couldn’t quite decipher. But it wasn’t exactly fury.
I’d expected more rage from him, considering he was the god of war and I’d literally ripped his mommy’s fingers off. But surprisingly, he didn’t seem in the least bit bothered by that.
I guessed Mommy Dearest wasn’t winning at life so much. Ares was a major god with the powers to back it up. If any of them here could make me break out in a trickle of sweat, it would have been him. I was s
urprised that he’d not spoken up sooner.
“This is a most unusual request, Calyssa,” Zeus said, drawing my eyes back to him.
I thinned my eyes at Zeus. “Are you denying me?”
“No, of course not.” He was quick to correct. “But…”
And I could just see the wheels in his head turning. Zeus was a strategist and was trying his damnedest to outmaneuver me. Not that it would work.
I planted my hands on my hips, waiting him out.
“To do this, we’d need at least one of us to agree,” he said with an affable grin.
Buggering bastard. I grinned back, never letting them sense the anger starting to churn up in me. “Is that so?”
“Only fair,” Zeus said, sounding as though he hated to be the bearer of bad news. Bloody wanker. Turning, he listed off the names of the major and minor gods one by one, and one by one they each responded with a nay. And I could just see the pervert’s head growing bigger and bigger.
Even my bat girl Themy said no. It was clear Blindy did not remember our awesome friendship from before, a hitch I’d have to rectify once I fixed Dite’s problem first.
I didn’t blame them, though. I didn’t have to live with the sadist that was their self-appointed potentate. They were naught but weak children by comparison. I hadn’t expected any of them to agree.
Until, of course, Zeus in all his arrogant glory turned toward his oldest and most obedient child.
I licked my bottom lip, inhaling deeply. Oh victory, how sweet it was.
I felt Nimue looking at me, worry pinching her brows. I could have told her not to worry. But she’d find out for herself soon enough.
Hades had spilled all the beans to me last night. If Dite truly was with child, there could only be one who had made her so. And Ares seemed very interested in today’s proceedings. I tapped one long fingernail against my bicep and waited.
“Ares, my son,” Zeus began, gesturing grandly toward his tall and handsome progeny, “what say you?”
Without skipping a beat, Ares replied, “Aye.”
For a second, there was nothing but dead silence. The entire assembly looked stunned.
Then the room suddenly erupted in shouts, gasps, and shocked cries. But Ares looked at none of them. Instead, his eyes landed on mine, and there was an emotion in them, something as unfathomable as the depths of his dark soul, that caused my head to cock to the side in curiosity. Ares knew something. And I suddenly wished I could read a god’s thoughts, because I desperately wanted to know what that something was. Was it more than what Hades’s book had revealed? Judging by the dark gleam in his eyes, I’d say it very well could be, and I felt a thrill of nerves shoot all the way through my body.
Maybe I shouldn’t have pushed for this trial. What would the Olympians learn of Dite’s past? Not that it was my Dite’s past, but I knew her heart. She might appear cold and calculating to the rest of them, but Dite was squishy and soft on the inside, and I couldn’t bear the thought of any of them mocking her.
But it was far too late to back down now. My stomach quivered with a nest of nerves.
The silent conversation between us lasted mere seconds but had felt like an eternity before Ares then shoved his helmet onto his dark head, turned on his heel, and was gone.
The collective shock still rolling through the room warmed the cockles of my icy heart. At least I’d shaken things up, even if maybe I’d also unwittingly unleashed future problems for my sweet Dites. But one problem at a time. I would fix this. Somehow.
“This is impossible,” Apollo whined in his nasally petulant tone and pointed at me. “She cannot just come in here and—”
“Apollo, shut up!” Zeus snapped, and the golden beauty did just that.
I snickered. Dionysus guffawed so hard he stumbled and fell back on his ass, taking a group of three down with him. I didn’t see who they were, because it honestly didn’t matter.
My eyes were on Zeus alone.
“Themis,” I said with deadly intent, “tomorrow morning, you will mediate the trial. When the cock crows thrice, we will be here. See that that sack of bones”—I jerked my chin toward Horatio—“remains locked up, preferably in dragon-blood-dipped chains until my return.”
“Ye-Yes, mistress,” she said, still looking as stunned as the rest of them. Ares would be saved from Zeus’s wrath, but I did not doubt that tonight the realms of Earth would pay for the king’s son perceived treachery.
The hate that emanated in waves off of Zeus felt like tickling fingers upon my skin. “Sleep well, God of Losers. I shall return on the morrow.”
“You would expose her to the ridicule of her peers. And that shame, Calyssa, will be yours alone to bear.” His words were a clear threat and one of the few that could have actually caused me harm. I winced.
And because I did not at all like what he’d said, mostly because I thought perhaps he might be right, I snapped my fingers.
Zeus dropped to his knees, grabbing at his genitals, panic etched clearly on his handsome face.
“Your frank and beans aren’t there,” I said with a smirk.
“What have you done!” he roared, his face blanching as snow white as his wife’s had just minutes earlier. But I was too exhausted and worried to gloat any longer.
“Ta-ta.” I finger waved, grabbed Nimue’s elbow, and whisked us away from there, back toward the safety of my lover’s warm, wonderful arms. I wasn’t sure I’d done right after all. I grabbed my stomach, wishing in a small, secret part of myself that I’d not done this. What did Ares know? What would be exposed now?
I felt sick. I looked at Nim, and she looked just as bad as I felt. I thinned my lips, all the fire quite gone from me now.
“Before you chastise me for what I did,” I whispered, voice trembling and hating myself for the weakness, “you should know, dear Nim, that I—”
“Mother, I only wished you’d never give them back to him,” she said with a wink. “I think I honestly might hate him.”
And the pain that had been crawling through my belly just seconds ago was gone. Just gone. Because I still had the love of my daughter, and her strength was now mine. The pain turned to laughter. And I laughed and hugged her tight and laughed ever harder. “Then welcome to the club, dear. You think Papa will be proud of me? I managed not to kill any of them, a trial in patience for certain.”
She looked at me with warm affection and kindness. “I am very proud of you. You were incredible.”
I glowed, literally glowed a fiery bronze as I hugged my girl tight, perfectly content with the world once more.
“You plan to ever give them back to him?” Nim asked softly, and I could hear the giggle in her words.
I wrinkled my nose. “Eventually. Maybe. If I feel like it.”
She laughed, and I could finally breathe again.
Dite would survive whatever was unearthed, and some way, somehow, my friend would learn to smile again. I knew it deep in my soul. But I also knew the journey to getting there would likely be painful to all.
And unfortunately, that could not be helped. But I would be there for her, no matter what. I would always be there for her. Just as she’d once been there for me.
Chapter 37
Aphrodite
I felt Calyssa’s return like a mighty wave shoving at my back. I turned on my butt and watched her walk toward us. Her pretty face was severe and clearly troubled. Hades and I had been watching ghostly lovers reunite at the entrance to the Elysian fields.
He’d held my hand for hours, saying nothing, only being there for me. This was a magical, glorious place. So few people understood or even cared to want to understand the beauty in the Underworld.
There were magical lightning bugs filling up the navy sky with their beautiful little glowing butts sparking off in intermittent bursts, and flowers that were unknown to the topside world and glowed in shades of iridescent mother of pearl, swaying softly in the honeysuckle-scented breeze. There was a moon that glowed only down he
re, softly lit and a very pale shade of mint green, and added a macabre beauty to everything. In short, there was love down here, and it eased my troubled heart to simply just be present.
And for the first time in months, I felt a very little bit better.
Hades released my hand, saying nothing as he stood and walked off to meet his eternal bride. He wrapped her up in his strong arms and held her tight as they gently whispered to one another as only longtime lovers could.
I turned back around, giving them their privacy. I’d promised myself when I returned to the Underworld that I would not intrude on their personal lives. And even if that meant that I was lonelier than normal at times, it was a promise I aimed to keep.
I wrapped my hand around my soft, curvy belly, feeling the pitch and roll within. I’d known for many weeks now that something was very desperately wrong with me. And I’d known exactly what it was, even though I couldn’t fathom the how of it. But I felt the life that quickened within me, and not just one, either, but many, enough to know there could be absolutely no doubt as to my pregnancy.
It was once I’d felt the life that I’d made the decision to return to Hades and Caly. Whether they’d wanted me around or not had been immaterial. They were now the only family I had left, and I couldn’t be alone, not anymore, because it was no longer just me in this. The ghost children, as I now thought of them, had given me a new sense of purpose. Of being. And the light that had very nearly been extinguished in me was coming back, slowly but surely. Because I now had a focus, something to fight for. I didn’t know how any of this was possible. I only knew that it was.
And that scared the ever-loving hell out of me. Maybe the children belonged to Hephy. We’d been trying in the other time. Maybe it had stuck and they’d been carried over with me into this new twisted world. But if that were the case, wouldn’t I have been further along?
I closed my eyes, and the image that always formed whenever I did so came back with haunting clarity. The hatred burning in Hephy’s eyes, how he’d looked at me, so viciously, cruelly. But because I’d known him so well, I’d recognized that deep down it wasn’t hate that’d made him so mean, but pain.
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