Chapter 4 Nyssa #2
Using the staff of his golden trident — more affectionately labelled dick stick in my mind — Poseidon pulled himself up, though remained standing where he was. Aros made to move, but I held my hand up, halting him.
“Leave it,” I ordered. “Leave him to me.”
My smirk dropped into something darker. Shadows dripped from my hands, pooling around my feet. With half a thought, I shaped them into slithering ropes, wrapping around the ankles of the sea god.
A sharp tug had him yanked into the air by his feet, suspended directly before me.
Unfortunately, Poseidon was also wearing a chiton.
Even more unfortunately: I was now in a staring contest with the tiny, flaccid, one-eyed snake bobbing miserably between his legs as he thrashed in the air.
But perhaps the most unfortunate thing of all was that Themis chose that precise moment to enter the chamber.
The Titaness stopped cold at the sight before her.
The skirts of her peplos swayed around her sandaled toes as she halted abruptly, her light grey eyes wide and locked onto Poseidon’s disappointing appendage.
Themis’ upper lip arched into a grimace as we exchanged a look of shared distaste, her feet forcing her closer even as her stomach rebelled.
At least, I assumed she was equally as nauseated by the still-wiggling inch-worm. How could she not be?
“By the Fates!” she swore. “Poseidon, you embarrass yourself.”
The god in question froze in mid-air, his micro-cock mercifully stilling, as the sniggers of gods filled the chamber.
“Themis? What are you doing here?” he sputtered.
“Witnessing the greatest quandary of my existence,” she sighed. “How in Tartarus have you managed to sire so many children with that… thing?”
I snorted.
“I pity the women you’ve lain with,” she jabbed again.
Aphrodite cackled, thoroughly delighted.
“Are you sure they really are your children?” Themis asked. “Only the Furies know how many of those women had to seek proper gratification elsewhere after you were done.”
Aros howled.
“I’d wager you only lasted as many seconds as your cock is inches long.”
Caelus unleashed a torrential laugh.
“Two?” she queried with a lifted brow. “Although, perhaps that’s being generous.”
Poseidon thrashed once more, bellowing his wordless fury, setting his inch-worm jostling again.
“Set me down! I demand justice for this disgraceful display of power!” he roared.
With a smirk, I did as he asked. My shadow ropes dissipated in an instant, dropping Poseidon on his obtuse head, much to the amusement of all present. He launched to his feet with a shout, immediately springing towards me with fists clenched and spittle flying from his open mouth.
I did not move.
Caelus and Aros both stepped forward to intercept him, each securing an arm. His face was level with my chest but his eyes shot daggers at mine. Struggling to free himself, he howled a battle cry — and still, I did not move.
Poseidon did not scare me.
If his brother, Zeus, never caused me to tremble, then pitiful pin-dick Poseidon was fighting a losing battle.
“What luck it is that Justice is in the room with us,” I said, voice low and unyielding.
Themis stepped closer, her long brown locks glistening softly in the morning light as she moved.
“I, Themis, Titaness of justice, have been called forth, and so do decree: justice has indeed been dispensed today. Our queen has dutifully exposed you for the wretch that you are.”
Poseidon’s hate-filled gaze latched onto her instead.
“You hate her because she killed your son and heir.”
His eyes narrowed.
“This alone would have warranted punishment. But,” her voice thundered across the room. “Both of you were already allied with Hera, and she had already employed your son to murder Nyssa. Am I wrong?”
Poseidon said nothing, but a tiny voice chimed in: “Truth.”
Aletheia approached slowly, never once looking away from the god of the seas. Cautiously, she reached forward.
“Do not touch me, witchling,” he seethed.
“Even you are not depraved enough to willingly harm a child,” I admonished. “Go ahead, Aletheia.”
She pressed a hand to Poseidon’s forearm, Caelus ensuring he could not wrench it away.
The girl looked up at Themis, who smiled encouragingly at her, before facing me. “Ask,” she said, resolute.
I grinned. “I don’t suppose I need to, but who will you side with in the war to come, Poseidon?”
He bared his sharpened teeth in a snarl. “It won’t be you, Queen of Ruin.”
I opened my mouth to seal his fate when he continued.
“But it won’t be Kronos either. My father is no more deserving of my loyalties than you.” He spat.
“So, you intend to remain impartial? Or rather, you intend to have the freedom to attack both sides at will?”
He remained silent.
“Aros. Lock him away.”
“You’ll be needing a set of these,” Hephaestus cut in, holding out a second pair of bronze cuffs — identical to the ones he’d snapped around Ares’ wrists. Aros nodded his thanks, cinching them around Poseidon’s arms, cutting off any access to his oceanic powers.
Nobody spoke until the marble doors closed behind them.
“I’d say you’ve made an enemy there, but he was one before you were ever born,” Themis offered cryptically. “In any case, balance is required. You shall need to replace him, lest the seas fall prey to Kronos as well.”
“Who would you suggest?” Caelus asked. “We have no further allies among Poseidon’s children, excepting Haras — but no god nor mortal would willingly follow a cyclops into battle.”
“You’d be surprised,” she huffed an airy laugh. “Nereus would be a good option.”
“Old Man Nereus?!” Hermes scoffed. “You’d sooner find a fish in a desert than have any luck with that old bastard.”
“Leave that to me,” Aphrodite declared softly. Her face was drawn, rosy lips pinching and her eyes had a far-off look about them. Curiosity quirked my brows as she continued with a grimace. “We have history.”
Something smells fishy, Velira rumbled through my mind, chortling at her own joke and startling the Olympians in her general vicinity.
Smirking, I turned back to Themis.
“Thank you for your timely arrival.” I dipped my head in a show of respect to the being who was millennia older than the oldest gods in this room. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”
She smiled warmly. “We shall not meet again, my young queen.”
“Oh?” I frowned, wondering if I’d somehow offended her.
Themis laughed. “Fate occasionally whispers to me. You have quite the road ahead of you — you all do,” she said to the room. “But ours are not destined to intersect again. Before I go, I feel compelled to warn you.”
“Warn her? Of what?” Caelus interjected, the bite of his fear piercing my sternum.
“Yours is the sword that shall tip the scales, Nyssa. You may live by it — die by it — but it is your hand that shall either re-balance the realms… or destroy them.”
“Thank you, but I’ve heard that song before,” I replied drily.
Themis pursed her lips, considering. In the end, though, she simply nodded and ushered Aletheia out.
“Come, child. Let’s go home.”
“Wait.” I jolted towards them before they could disappear for good. “I still owe you a favour, Aletheia.”
The girl grinned. “Hold onto it for me. I might need something more than a pegasus one day.”
Themis burst out laughing.
“A pegasus?” I echoed, squinting.
“She’s been obsessed with them ever since reading about Adamantios, the pegasus tamed and ridden by the demi-god Bellerophon,” Themis explained between giggles.
“Ah, yes,” Athena chimed in wistfully. “I was always fond of that boy.”
Aletheia’s jaw dropped open. “It was you who helped him! You gave him a golden bridle so he could tame Adamantios” — she jabbed an imaginary sword into the air — “and slay the chimera!”
A huff of laughter escaped the goddess of wisdom. “That’s right, I did.”
“Maybe one day I could go on a quest to defeat some beast!”
“I’ve no doubt there is a wealth of greatness in your future.” Athena smiled.
Aletheia whirled back to me. “As much as I reeeeeally want a pegasus, I have a feeling I’m going to want something much more when I’m older.”
“Who knows? Maybe you’ll want a pegasus then, too.” I winked and her eyes widened with barely restrained excitement.
“Thanks for that,” Themis laughed. “She’s not going to talk about anything else for weeks.”
“There are worse things to obsess over,” I said, my smile softening.
“Indeed there are.”