Tempting the Fates

Chapter 48

"You really have been the most helpful piece of my plan." Hermes hung an arm across Persephone's shoulders. "So easily persuaded."

I choked back the pain that rose in my chest. I had trusted him, and he'd betrayed me. "Why? I just don't understand."

"Why do anything? Love." He kissed Persephone again, and I rolled my eyes. He pulled away and shrugged. "And power, of course."

"Of course." I shook my head. "Tell me, how do psychopaths meet these days?"

Hermes glared at me, his patience expended.

Persephone cut in. "I spent some time in Olympus when I was Queen. Duties, you know."

"Oh, I've heard all about your duties. Especially the sleeping around and getting pregnant bits." I scrunched my nose up in sarcasm. "Pretty queenly of you."

Her smile dropped into a tight line. "I wasn't whoring myself out, you bitch. Hermes and I met on many occasions in the Underworld, but we had privacy in Olympus. Things just blossomed between us there."

"Things seem to have blossomed with a few people, from what I hear." I wanted to piss her off as much as she'd done to me. "Zeus had nothing but pleasant memories of you on your back."

"Zeus was a monster!" she raged. "He lured me in with promises and jewels, but he wanted only my body, like a trophy. I haven't wanted him for decades. When I got the courage to break things off between us last year, he didn't take it well. He handed me over to Ares and had me imprisoned in that room without my magic."

"If he can't have you, nobody can, I presume?"

She nodded, pain flickering across her face. "But Hermes loves me, the way I always needed to be loved. He scouted information in Olympus about where I'd been taken. He knew Zeus was behind it, but my location was a mystery. When he'd exhausted all his resources, he formulated a plan to rescue me."

So Hermes had been the mastermind all along. No wonder he'd guided me along... he didn't want me straying from his plan.

"I assume that plan centered around me?"

Hermes let go of Persephone and moved to Hades, who was staring at me with a blank expression. I wished so much that he could break through the love spell and come back to me. But he looked weak, and I wasn't sure he had the strength to do anything. He looked a lot like Zeus had when I'd left him in Olympus.

"Not at first," Hermes mused. "I had intended to break open Tartarus and watch the Titans spill Zeus' blood. Once he'd fallen, whatever power he had over my beloved would have broken. But hiding in the shadows of the ruined world, even with my love beside me, didn't feel... adequate."

He turned his attention to Hades and kicked him hard in the stomach. Hades groaned, lurching forward in pain. My body started to shake, my powers screaming to be freed, but I held my ground. If I hurt anyone, Hades' life was over.

He continued, gratified with the pain he'd caused. "I decided it was time for a change. Hades has been looking down upon us all from his safeguard for far too long. The Underworld is a haven. Even Zeus is not allowed to visit here, and would not be able to enact revenge upon us. About six months ago I remembered that meeting with your mother and how Hades had discovered your blank tapestry. At the very least, you'd be a good distraction for the man who still pined over the woman I loved. But I was hopeful that with some time in the Underworld, you would come into some powers. I prayed you would be the weapon who could defeat Zeus and free Persephone. So I... encouraged Hades to take you as his wife in her absence. I fed him stories of spies in the palace, so he wouldn't garner any allies. It didn't take long before he was so enamored by you that I could have walked through this palace with a sign that read 'Bad Guy' and he wouldn't have noticed."