“For fucks sake. It looks like an eighties porn video exploded in here.”
Hephaestus just rolled his eyes.
“My father probably thinks this is impressive. We should get some sleep. We’re going to have to figure out the best way to take out Zeus in the morning.”
It was a tight fit, but everyone eventually found a place to sleep. The heart-shaped bed was big enough for my monsters and me, and the couch pulled out to a bed. There were golden chaises everywhere for people to sleep on.
It wasn’t his turn, but everyone gave Hephaestus big spoon tonight. He was snuggled into my back, and I had my arms wrapped around Pavlina. I was content but nervous. I closed my eyes and was trying to get some sleep when our bedroom door opened.
A beautiful, tall woman with flowing red hair strolled in. Fuck! I still had a knife strapped to my ankle, and so did everyone else. Hephaestus bolted to a sitting position and glared at her while we all reached for our weapons.
“What do you want, Hera?” Hephaestus said.
Oh, shit. I’d heard all about how mean Hera was. But, if she knew we were here, why did she come alone? Why didn’t she bring Zeus and more Olympians if she knew we were here?
Chapter 15
Hephaestus
W
hat the fuck was my mother doing here, and how did she even know about this room? How did she know I was here? Furthermore, why was she here alone? She didn’t even have a demigod guard with her. My little Hellspawn and all the monsters in bed with me had their knives out and were pointing them at her. The witches had magic crackling at their hands. Barbatos was a swirling red cloud. Solron just looked bored.
Hera just held up her hands.
“Relax. I didn’t come to fight, and Zeus doesn’t know you’re here.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. I didn’t trust her just yet. We were pretty close right up until I stood up for her, Zeus flung me through several realms, and gave me a permanent limp. After that, I was pretty much dead to her.
“How do you know we are here?”
My mother frowned and wrinkled her nose.
“I hate these tacky rooms. I’ve always known about them. I have cameras all over this palace now. I know about your weapon, and I know Zeus is freaking out. I’ve been watching both of you. I knew you were still here, even if he wouldn’t entertain the notion. I knew you didn’t have the weapon on you, but you’d try to get it here. I’ve always known you were sneaking off to the Horae, and they’d do anything you asked.”
“I didn’t think you cared.”
Hera just gave me this sad look and shook her head.
“I’ve always cared. I just had to pretend like I didn’t because of Zeus. He was so upset when you stood up to him. After he threw you out of Olympus, he beat me and kept accusing me of loving you more than him. I didn’t want him to hurt you again, so I kept my distance. It was bad enough he permanently injured you. If I took your side over his, he would have trapped you in the Pits of Tartarus. You know your father. He has this desperate need for everyone to love him, and he’s insanely jealous, even of his own children.”
I glared at my mother, but there was truth in her words. We were always close until that fateful day, and then it was like I was dead to her. Unlike everyone else in Olympus, she never made fun of my limp. She never said a single thing about it. She just acted like I didn’t exist anymore, and that fucking hurt. It hurt worse than regrowing my entire leg.
But she was wrong about one thing. Zeus wouldn’t have just hurt me if she stood up for me when people made fun of me. He would have hurt her too. Zeus had no problem hurting women. He wasn’t just a rapist. He struck women all the time, and Hera was one of his favorite targets.
Still, I didn’t trust her. Not with that weapon in play.
“You still haven’t said what you want, Hera. I know you probably have just as much a reason to want Zeus dead as anyone, but why should I trust you with my weapon?”
She held out her hands like she was pleading with me.
“Because I don’t want to stay here. I’ve long wanted to go to Earth and live with the humans. I want to run my own business far away from Olympian nonsense. I saw how they treated you after you got your limp. I disagree with how humans are treated here. Zeus won’t let any of us leave. The only reason he let Aphrodite go is that she causes so much trouble sleeping with married men, and their wives were complaining to him too much.
“I’m not the only one who feels this way. I want to leave entirely, but Hermes, Apollo, Tyche, and several others wish to change. They don’t like what we’ve become. They want to give all of the humans here the option to go back to Earth instead of serving us, and if they don’t, improve their conditions.
“Zeus won’t stand for that, and he has several others on his side. Others agree with his stance but would happily kill him so they could take over if they knew about your weapon. The only reason civil war hasn’t broken out in Olympus is that the only way it would ever end was if we moved the battle to the Underworld so we could trap people in the Pits of Tartarus. Neither side is willing to risk it. Your weapon changes everything.”
Wasn’t that what we wanted? What had Hades planned for? I held no love for most of these people, but they weren’t all bad. Some names Hera dropped had been friendly with me before I was injured, then avoided me after that. They never outright said anything to my face, but they wouldn’t be near me like I had some disease. My limp lost me so much. None of my friends in Olympus would be seen with me anymore except the Horae.
Had it been fear of Zeus this entire time? Were the ones who weren’t nasty to me, but couldn’t even meet my eyes doing that because they didn’t want Zeus doing the exact same thing to them? No one ever stood up to him because he was violent and had a horrible temper. I knew that when I tried to stop him from hurting my mother, and I paid the price.
River pointed her knife at Hera. River would have tried to beat the shit out of anyone here who so much as gave me the stink eye about my limp. I loved her for that, but she was going to get hurt if she tried.
“I learned about you in my Greek mythology class. Didn’t you make it a point to torture Zeus’s victims and children? What about what you did you Hercules?”
Hera glared at River. My mother hated having that thrown in her face. Zeus had been torturing Hera about her treatment of Hercules when I stepped in to cut her down from the device he’d strung her up from to stop him when he threw me through several realms. I wasn’t going to say anything about that, but my mother was.
“Maybe things are different for you since I see you in bed with my son and several other creatures. You’re snuggling a little too close with all of them for that to be just about the fact that there’s one bed in the room. They share you, but would you be angry if they repeatedly went out and raped women?”
River let out a little growl at the idea, but she wasn’t backing down.
“I’d settle that with them, not their victims or offspring.”
Hera just tossed her long, red hair over her shoulder.
“That’s because none of those creatures rule an entire realm, and I know my son is not violent. He would step in if anyone in your bed were. I couldn’t take on Zeus on my own. I hoped if I became a harpy about his indiscretions, he’d stop hurting women. Newsflash, he didn’t. He still does it. Hercules and I have made our peace, and he’s now married to my daughter here in Olympus. I just had tea with him earlier today.