Demos had told me all about Hestia when we were alone. No one brought her up at all when we met allies and started plotting. Demos didn’t even bring up wanting to kill her when Pavlina and Tryphon wanted their revenge. We hadn’t had alone time for us to really talk about why he didn’t ask. I needed to get him alone because he seemed enraged when he saw her again, but they seemed to make peace with each other.
I needed to get Tryphon and Pavlina alone. Athena and Poseidon were dead. Did they get the closure they wanted? For that matter, how was Hephaestus? The man who maimed him and the man who tormented him were dead. Hephaestus wasn’t a bloodthirsty Olympian. He was so kind and gentle. If he could have avoided all this, he would have. Was he okay?
We didn’t have time to talk about anything. We couldn’t be alone just yet. Hestia healed all of us, but there was still unrest. I realized what Zeus’s law about not having children had done to their entire race. There were enough of them here to kill all of us that weren’t Olympians, but as an entire race of people who had enslaved humans here, their numbers were flat out dire. They’d created more monsters in the Underworld than there were Olympians here in Olympus. If the humans here had the means to kill them, they could have easily overthrown them.
The Olympians were going to have to get on board and get okay with this fast. They would have to change things with the humans because while Zeus had forbidden the Olympians to have children, the humans didn’t have the same rule. The Olympians wanted them to have as many children as possible because it meant they had more to exploit.
The humans here didn’t know about Hephaestus’s weapon yet, but they’d better have some good fucking options that were better than what they had now when they found out. I was half human. I grew up thinking I was only human. Humans could only be beaten down for so long before they rose.
If Zeus had servants just to wipe his ass for him, then it was only a matter of time before they discovered the carnage we left behind in his war room. Gossip was universal, no matter which realm you were in. The humans were going to come for them, and they’d better be ready to grovel and give promises of better things. They’d looked down on them for so long, they hadn’t even considered they might be in danger from them. They were still worried about Olympians, monsters, demons, and witches with those weapons, but enough humans could kill them too.
At least Hera had the sense to realize that. I overheard her whisper to Dionysus that she was going back inside to free Zeus’s servants and give them the option to go back to Earth. I hoped she got in there before they found all those dead bodies we left because I got the feeling she really wanted to make things better for humans here before she left for good.
Dionysus was still trying to calm all these Olympians. It seemed like they were coming over to his side, but some of them weren’t on board with letting the humans go or letting new people in. I guess wiping your own ass is too complicated for some of these people. Could they not see how awful they were to humans?
They got their answer when an army of human servants frog marched Hera out the front door. She didn’t fight, and she didn’t kill any of them. Totally called it. They found the bloody scene we left behind, and Hera didn’t even have time to speak to them.
I saw magic crackling at every single hand at the Olympians we were trying to get through to. Hera just held up her hand.
“Don’t harm them. They have every right to be angry with us after how we’ve treated them. Every single one of you should have expected this unless you treat your servants well,” Hera said. She turned to the men holding her arms. “I don’t wish to harm you. I’ve tried to make things as easy for you as I could with Zeus as my husband. Things have been awful here. I know it, and some of us need to make some major changes. There are those of us who would see you free. You can go back to Earth if you would like.”
One of the males scoffed.
“What would we do there? Olympus and serving you is all we have ever known.”
“You can stay if you want, and things will be better,” Dionysus said, stepping forward. “You’ll only be servants if you want to, but you’ll be paid this time. We intend to open the gates and let people in. There will be new businesses and universities built. You can study or work anywhere. I hope everyone will be on board for using our magic to create you better lodgings. I did for the humans that work for me, and several of us have. It doesn’t have to be this way anymore.”
“I don’t want to stay here,” someone shouted. “I don’t care what might wait on Earth. I don’t want to stay here and watch all of you pretend like you didn’t mistreat us.”
I’d lay odds that was Zeus’s ass wiper.
People agreed they wanted to leave, but the vibe I was getting from them was that they didn’t think it was going to happen. I trusted them because Hephaestus did, but these humans had been around them their entire lives and had no reason to.
Hera finally spoke.
“I intend to go to Earth once we settle here things. I plan to start a business. I was planning on settling in London. I can either send you anywhere you want to go right this minute, or you can come with me to London. You won’t be servants, but you’ll need jobs and lodging. I can get you set up in flats and either offer you employment with me or help you find a job. I want to make this as easy for you as possible. I lived in the same house as you, and I know how you were treated.”
One of the men holding her arm appeared to be a leader among them.
“I believe her. Hera was kind to us when he wasn’t around. She did more for herself than he ever did. Make your decision. Stay or go. I have too many terrible memories here. I want to leave.”
Every single one of Zeus’s servants wanted to leave. Some wanted to go right that minute and some wanted to wait and leave with Hera. The Olympians watching weren’t stupid and shut their fucking mouths while the details were being worked out. I could tell they didn’t like what was doing down, and if they had to do this with their servants, it would leave a nasty taste in their mouths.
I also knew it wasn’t going to go down like this for many Olympians. Hera made it a point to be kind to the humans here and did as much for herself as she could get away with having Zeus for a husband. This was going to be a cluster fuck for some of these Olympians, and they knew it.
“Come to my place!” Dionysus said. “We’ll have a feast to kick off this new society. We’ll mourn our dead. We’ll make plans on how to best approach this with the humans and how we want to play things when we open the gates. There are realms we could make alliances and trade with.”
Olympians were so weird. Their mood totally changed when Dionysus mentioned having a party. Then again, I’d read all about his parties when he was pretending to be the God of Wine and Fertility. At least I wasn’t worried about getting killed by an Olympian anymore.
Now, I was worried about surviving a party thrown by Dionysus himself.
Chapter 28
River
A
fter we killed several of their people, having a party was just so fucked up to me until we arrived back at Dionysus’s place, and I realized why. Hermes and Eros had been plotting and didn’t keep us in the loop. Were we just there to kill everyone for them? They could have told us what they were doing. We all would have been okay with this.