*COMPLETED*
(Book #2 in the DAWN series)
#19 in Fantasy
Aurora Venerelli, the new goddess-to-be in Olympus, has overcome quite a few difficulties on the rocky-road to deity-ship; with an assassination attempt on her life, betrayal around every corn...
"If we do this," I said with a hushed voice; "We need to pretend we don't know anything, to anyone- including Hypnos and Alexus."
Thanatos nodded; "Alright, ready?"
I nodded and grabbed his hand in mine; "No, but that doesn't matter anymore."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The great hall was filled with all the primary gods, but the rest of the secondary gods, demi-gods and creatures were kept outside, until Hera would allow them to enter.
The queen of the gods stood at the throne; her head in her hands and her shoulders shaking. Artemis and Apollo stood next to her, trying to comfort her as they rubbed her back. Athena stood to the side, her eyes cast down and her usual upright posture slumped.
Grief hung like a putrid stench in the air.
Thanatos and I hastily walked over to where Hera stood. She wiped her tears away and looked up into my eyes with sudden surprise. I felt strange all of a sudden; I was a stranger in their midst.
"Oh, of course..." Her voice was numb, but she didn't look to surprised by Death showing up to her doorstep; "Thanatos, he's on the balcony. They are waiting for you."
Thanatos nodded and gritted his teeth as his eyes caught Hermes making his way up the stairs to give Hera a cup of wine. I pressed his hand and he quickly walked towards the balcony, forcefully pushing down his natural instinct to pounce. Poseidon, Hades and Ares lifted their heads as he stepped out and closed the doors behind him.
No one wanted to hear them investigate the corpse.
Athena spoke up; "Thank you for coming, Aurora."
I nodded my head and turned to Hera, the old woman could barely hold the wine glass and she had no energy to lift it to her lips; "I am deeply sorry for your loss, my queen."
She shook her head and waved her hand to everyone; "I want to be alone," She turned her head to her sister, Demeter; "Take me to the gardens."
Demeter nodded and swung her arm over her sister. They walked slowly towards the large doors on the other end while we watched on with misery. The queen looked withered and much older than the last time I'd seen her.
I looked around the room for any sign of Persephone, but she was missing.
Suddenly, a hand clasped my shoulder; "Oh, dear, you look shaken! How are you feeling? Do you need a cup of wine too? You're so pale!"
I tried to ignore the urge to shove Hermes' hand from my shoulder and instead smiled tightly; "I'm alright, thank you."
"Just shout if you need anything, dearie! This is all so awful! I can't even believe it."
"Hmm..." I tried to keep the sarcasm from my voice; "Tragic."
"Aurora," I looked up to find Athena. Her face was pale and her eyes red; "Does Thanatos know who is behind all of this?"
