Something that I've come to realize about the Gods was that news spreads fast.
Like a wildfire, coursing and clinging to dry foliage and broken tree branches, enveloping everything up in inky, black smoke. Everything was on fire. In flames, in a hundred of scattered embers, like stars falling to the ground.
And somehow, I was the one who struck the match.
"I heard some of the other Gods talking about how you're getting the Olympians to turn against each other." Phobus was currently entertaining me by participating in a modified game of poker. He was beating me, the chips of the game--which were substituted with Ares's fancy iron rings--sat stacked on his side of the table. I groaned, rubbing my face.
I glanced at my cards, before looking up at him. Today just wasn't going well. "Are you sure you're not cheating?" I eye him suspiciously and he laughs, shaking his head. "I fold."
He takes the rest of my rings and I set my cards down, face up. I had a pair of sixes. "You're pretty bad at this game." He drops his cards for me to see.
I nearly shriek. "You had nothing--This is the eighth time in a row!" I get to my feet, pressing my hands against the sides of my head in agony. "I am never playing this game with you again--"
Someone knocks on my door. We both look up and Phobus beckons me toward the seat that I was in. He disappears from his chair, reappearing in front of the door. I sit down on the cushion, crossing my legs. Phobus turns the knob, pulling the door open with a tilt of his head. "Sir." Ares steps in, nodding to him. I see him glance at me, for a beat longer than usual.
"Mia, someone wants to see you." I get up, blinking absentmindedly. I see him fight back a laugh when his eyes flit over to the table, declaring my utter loss to the entire world. I sniff indignantly, walking over to him.
"I'll see you later Phobus." He smiles and nods, giving me a passive wave, before disappearing. Ares pats down my hair, almost instinctively, ruffled through my frustrations of defeat. I hunch down, ducking away from his hands. I hear him chuckle, before leading me out.
"Come on." I hold onto his sleeve, just as he leads me through the hallways that I have grown accustomed to. "Love, are you afraid of Hera?" I feel my heart plummet in my chest, but I shake my head quickly.
Zeus and Hera. The two figureheads of the world of Gods.
Of fucking course, I would be afraid.
"Why? Is she who we're going to see?" The hallway takes a sharp turn and I see a long path of marble, accented with large arches on both sides. Bright light filtered from both sides onto the tiles. Against each pillar were carvings of lilies, feathers, and peacocks. They were intricate and precise with details far too small for the naked eyes to see. The air was coated with a sweet floral scent and I peer around me.
I duck forward, letting go of Ares to stare down an archway.
It was a garden, a beautiful one at that. This entire archway, on both sides, displayed a gorgeous expanse of lush, green grass, colorful flowers, and stone statues of lions and more peacocks. There seemed to be a natural shine about the place, almost as if it were radiating with sunlight and beauty.
"Hera asked for you to join her for tea." I turned to look at Ares. "She'll ask you some questions, like she always does. Answer how you'd like, doll. Don't feel pressured to do anything you don't want to." He didn't look worried. That at least made me feel a bit calmer. And I think I know what he's trying to tell me. Hera most likely heard the rumors. I'm certain this tea meeting would be awfully close to a discussion about what doom I will eventually bring.
"Do we need more allies?" I ask Ares. Despite being holed up in Olympus, it was pretty obvious to guess what the Gods were thinking. Poseidon and Zeus have gathered supporters. Those who trusted the Oracle and her sayings.
If they weren't looking for a Civil War amongst the Gods before, they were clearly making a statement now. Just with Hera calling on me...
I don't think that I'll be able to water Oliver on schedule anymore.
"Even if we did, sweetheart, nothing that you say would change Hera's mind once it's made up." He gave me a small nudge toward the right side of the arches, toward an empty clearing. "Call me when you're done." I nodded, before sucking in a breath.
I advance slowly, uncertainly, toward the stretch of grass. The second I crossed a nearly transparent line on the grass, a figure and a tea table appeared before me. My eyes widened, taking in the area that suddenly changed. That was... magic. "That took you a while."
Whoa.
Hera's voice, coming from one of the seats, shakes me out of the fit of wonder. I see her, sitting regally with a sense of luxury surrounding her. The table had two cups of tea, a tea pot in the center, ornament items scattered around in a strange array. She's gorgeous.
Today, she's dressed in a orange dress, with the same shade accenting her under-eyelids. I felt shockingly intimidated in an outfit that Eros had picked out for me when he was... Well, yeah, you know what I mean. "Hi." I chirp out, awkward in all sense.
I walk over to the opposite seat and she gestures to it. I sit. "No one on the outside can hear us. Same goes the other way around, so don't be shy." I squirm slightly, shifting my weight forward. She watches me with cold scrutiny, not as touchy as last time. In fact, Hera didn't seem to want to come near me at all.
Something about this felt different from the times that I met other Gods. This space that she was giving me... It made me feel like she sees me different. Stronger. Like I wasn't something to poke at and treat like a child.
I think she might take me seriously.
"Is there something you wanted to talk about?" My voice comes out clipped, almost like staccato notes that I, myself, can't decipher. She takes a sip from the cup before her.
My palms are sweaty.
"I see that you've lost your jumpiness from the first time I met you." She regards me from the rim of her tea cup and I feel small. Come on, Mia. You're the villain in this story, there's no reason for you to be afraid.
You're supposed to be cynical and cunning. I give her a faltering smile. "I don't think that being jumpy helps you when you're in a situation like this." She lets out a laugh, a light airy sound that sounds like the jingling of bells. Her sets her cup down onto the table.
I feel a thrum inside of me, like the coursing of electricity. I sneak a glance at my hands, relieved that the lightnings bolts weren't running rampant against my skin. I breathe slowly, trying to slow my heart rate down.
Stay in control.
"So, I heard that you and my husband and his brother are in a... tangle." I let out a short laugh at her words and she arches a brow at me. I stop immediately. "Tell me, Mia," My name feels strange in her voice. "What are you going to do?"
I swallow hard. What am I going to do? "I don't think I should share my plans with people that aren't on my side." I take a sip from the tea, calmly deflecting the question. It was bitter. Harshly bitter, bitter enough to make me swallow quickly so it wouldn't be in my mouth for any longer. Hera smiles.
"Mia Williams, can you tell me who the King of Gods is?" Her words chill me to the bones.
"Zeus?"
"And the Queen?"
"You are." She smiles daintily. "Doesn't feel like it, does it?" Her eyes flash up to my own, narrowed. My palms are sweaty and I wipe them against my pants. "I'm the prophecy girl, with nothing but one God's favor. At the end of the day, I am still just a girl." I gaze down at my hands, expecting her to lash out at me. Her voice shocks me, solemn and dark.
"And, at the end of the day, I am still just the wife of a king." She takes a sip from her cup, before tossing it into the grass. It doesn't shatter, doesn't crack, just lands impossibly lightly on the ground. "Girl," I look up at her quickly.
"Yes?"
"You are going against men who are convinced that they are right. There is nothing more stubborn and ignorant than that." Hera's lips quirk into a smile as she rises to her feet. She looks like a queen. Her shoulders are high and her chin up. She holds her hand out to me to take.
I do, touching her soft skin. Scars along my fingers make me slightly envious of her unmarred ones, looking up to her eyes. "My husband seems to have forgotten about how powerful women are." She helps me to my feet. "And it seems as if he has also forgotten about the most powerful woman in history."
My heart stops in my chest. Hera smiles down at me.
"Our mother, Rhea."
- - -
"And-And she knows that I also came from Rhea, because she's like, a boss, a--a girl boss!--and she's so amazing and just," I take a huge breath in, grinning widely. "How is someone so cool?"
"Are you still talking to Oliver?" I jump up, spinning around quickly. Ares is at the door, pulling off his watch.
"N-No." I nudge the cactus pot completely behind me, laughing nervously. Talking to plants wasn't weird, right? "Where'd you go?" His silver eyes lay on me for a brief moment and he moves close to me.
"I was just feeding my d--"
My excitement cuts him off. "You have a dog?" He pauses, before nodding slowly.
"Something like that." I gaped, sliding down on the cushion before me. A dog, how lucky. He surveys my look for a brief moment before relenting. "I'll bring you next time. He's... big." I nod eagerly.
I glanced at the clock. "When do you think Eros is going to wake up?" Ares rubs the back of his neck, chuckling slightly.
"He's probably with Dionysus, those two might be causing some trouble down in the Time Pools. There's no way that they won't." Dionysus, the God of Wine. I glance up at him.
I never realized that he was gone. Wasn't he also an Olympian?
Ares sets his watch down on his desk. "He died a few centuries ago." My mouth drops open. A few centuries ago!? "He... had a pet monkey. Said it was his best friend." I raise my eyebrows at him, wondering if he was playing a prank on me. "In the Time Pools, we get to re-live memories that happened while we were alive as much as we want to. I guess he's still sad about his monkey dying." I nodded, slowly, letting it sink in. "He had the monkey for a week."
I press my lips together, trying not to laugh. Ares sighed, running a hand through his hair almost irritated. "It isn't even dead. He was drunk and put it in it's carrier so that it wouldn't run off. Drunk Dionysus must've thought that it disappeared forever." I burst out laughing, pulling my shirt up to muffle my laughter. "Persephone still has it in an enclosure. It's immortal."
- - -
heyyy :) thanks so much for reading!
anyways, lets talk about the chapter!
hera girlboss confirmed
hera, my queen, my liege, my majesty, thank you for spouting fax.
notice how long dionysus has been gone? centuries... thats an entire human's lifespan... for a monkey. BYE.
dude look at them bonding ahaha, hold onto ur sunshine, its aboutta go stormy.
Also, not me looking through Tiktok and seeing my book cover in a vid—IF YOU HAVE ME IN A TIKTOK, PLEASE LMK TYSM OMG
please remember to vote and comment! who knows, i might just respond ehehe! i remember all of your usernames and woooo, you guys are the best!