9. Where Pillow Talk Is Shared （And The Empress Finds Herself Enchanted… And It’s Her Turn To Provide Satisfaction…）
WHERE PILLOW TALK IS SHARED (AND THE EMPRESS FINDS HERSELF ENCHANTED… AND IT’S HER TURN TO PROVIDE SATISFACTION…)
“So you own Zeus’s company now.”
Naked, eating grapes out of a big bowl while reclining on a completely destroyed bed, Hera watched Nemesis walk into the bedroom carrying two glasses of orange juice, the ice cubes clinking cheerfully.
“Why? Do you want it? You can have it.”
Hera shrugged, but the little tug in her chest did not allow her to make it nonchalant. Instead, it came out jerky, and Nemesis gave her a long look.
“No. I have my own holdings. I meant what I said about you having my two percent.”
Nemesis nodded and took a sip of her juice. Hera did not reach for hers.
“I guess. I don’t know. The company is valued at billions…”
Nemesis laughed, but it wasn’t an easy, joyful laughter.
“Are you asking me if I had the money or if Zeus will find out this was some kind of fraud and come take back what’s no longer his? You wound me, Your Majesty.”
Hera half expected her lover to get up and leave her alone on the bed. Zeus would have. He’d also sulk for days on end at the perceived slight.
“I see your mind working, Hera. It’s not a slight to think I don’t have billions of dollars, Your Majesty. Because I don’t.” Nemesis took another sip, her eyes twinkling. “They all gave me their shares.”
Hera dropped the grape she was holding. Nemesis picked it up and popped it into her own mouth.
“Artemis, Athena, Aphrodite…”
“Yeah, all the As. And Demeter. I might’ve even finessed that fool Poseidon out of a few percent of his shares. Just because. Through a few proxies, I made a barter offer. He was never any good at business. It just made me feel good that I acquired a percentage of everyone’s shares.”
Something in Hera’s chest cracked. She flinched, touching her sternum. She must’ve imagined the sound of it. But she wanted to know one thing before she drew the final conclusion.
“You went to some extraordinary lengths, Revenge. Was it for the plan? Or because showing me the unity of the Gods was something you knew would please me?”
Nemesis’s smile was warm. Uncomplicated. Hera blinked just to make sure she was not imagining it.
“You already know I’ll execute the plan. As for how I execute it? The answer is the latter. I don’t need another reason.”
“Surely it cannot be that simple.” Hera leaned in and took a sip from Nemesis’s glass, the ice blue following her every move, heating up again. Hera felt the delicious tension rising in her belly.
Oh, this is fun… So much fun…
Why was she only experiencing it now? At her zenith? Why had this been kept from her for all her years? All her ages?
She knew her smile was probably bittersweet, because Nemesis’s expression changed to concern, the sharp features softening, the eyes growing wary. Yet the voice was mellow as Nemesis spoke.
“It is that simple. You were stunned in that boardroom. Stunned and amazed by the fact that all those gods and goddesses came together to spite Zeus for you. Yes, I made it happen, but it wasn’t very hard.
They were very willing to help. Help you.
And I wanted you to see it. So why does it have to be anything else? ”
Hera looked away for a second, regret making it hard to breathe.
“It has never been easy. Love is a battlefield.”
The moment the word left her lips, she wished to catch it back, like a bird, like a stone.
But Nemesis surprised her again, not latching onto the meaning, Hera was not ready to give in to whatever was happening between them.
“Okay, there, Pat Benatar.” She set the glass down and flopped down next to Hera, making the broken headboard creak ominously.
“I don’t know much about this love business, not my domain, as you know, but I’m pretty sure both Aphrodite and Erato have written books about it, and while some of the Muse’s prose is wordy and angsty, it’s not all that complicated.
Girl meets girl. Girl falls for girl. Both girls make mistakes.
Girls have the best sex this side of mortality or immortality.
Girls either break up or don’t, if they are smart, and the author does not revert to clichés. And then…”
Hera watched Nemesis’s mouth move, even as she felt the words ricochet off her conscience.
“And then?”
Nemesis lifted a hand and tucked a lock of Hera’s hair behind her ear.
“And then they live happily ever after. And if they are immortal, they live happily ever forever.”
Hera felt tears threaten, but she did not turn away. Some things were not meant to be hidden.
“You read too much romance.”
“Pot, kettle. I saw several of Erato’s books on your shelves, Hera.”
“The bears enjoy them.”
Nemesis tugged gently, teasingly on the lock of hair she was playing with.
“Oh, yes, ever the careful and concerned employer. You’d think they’d enjoy achillean prose more than sapphic, given who they are.”
Hera bit her lip to hide her smile. Nemesis wiggled her fingers at her side, and Hera lost the battle with joy. She was way too ticklish not to give in.
“To be honest, I have no idea what they read. Fine, fine, no need to involve violence. The Muse has decent stories. I just hope she never ever confesses to getting inspired by my sister, because that will be the last book of hers I will ever pick up!”
Nemesis gave her one last tickle and then crossed her arms over her naked chest, and Hera wondered why in the world they were talking about her sister. Why were they talking at all?
“You don’t think that her next one and probably every single one after will totally be inspired by Demeter? At least by their love story.”
Hera threw her hands in the air.
“Do not put ideas in that woman’s head. I am certain authors can just write books without having to self-insert their lives into them.
Surely the Muse of Smut has ideas that do not involve my sister.
Surely, the Muse knows how to separate fiction from reality.
I for damn certain do not wish to believe that I am reading things that she has personally tested or experienced—”
Hera stopped mid-sentence, rewinding what she had just said and watched Nemesis’s smirk bloom.
“Oh, Hades, this is Erato we are talking about!”
Nemesis nodded. “Yep, this is Erato, so her entire catalog is likely her own debauchery.”
Hera threw herself down on the shredded pillows and shook her head.
“Revenge, never again. I shall never buy a single book by that asshat. Why did you even tell me this? Now I can’t unsee any of it.”
“Oh, have you read some of them several times to know them by heart? To have visualized some of the action? Is that what you’re saying?”
Nemesis’s mouth was too damn close and too damn self-satisfied for Hera to ignore. And so she didn’t. She reached for the mahogany locks, pulling hard, turning their bodies till she was on top, leaning over the now openly smirking Nemesis.
“What am I going to do with you, Vengeance?” She ran her hands up and down the long torso, muscles rippling under her fingertips.
“I have hope that you will think of something.” Nemesis’s breath hitched slightly as Hera’s fingers pinched her nipples and proceeded lower.
Hera narrowed her eyes, then returned her fingers to the sensitive peaks that furled tightly under her ministrations. The blue eyes were stormy, dark with blown pupils, watching her with heat and want.
She kissed her way down the smooth planes of the abdomen, feeling the powerful muscles move under her mouth. It gave her a thrill to make this woman clutch the sheets and bear, in silence, all Hera did to her.
Still, she wanted more. She wanted to hear. And to taste. And to see. Hera pushed the sheet out of her way and smiled.
“You’re so wet.”
Nemesis mumbled unintelligibly. Hera looked up to see the normally pale cheeks take on a decidedly pink hue. It was… adorable. Touching. It was everything. Hera leaned in and licked, keeping her eyes on the face looking down on her.
Another lick made her hum against the sensitive skin.
“You taste so good.”
The sound of breath hitching, of a suppressed moan spurred her on. Hera didn’t mind. She loved a challenge.
She spread the trembling flesh and tasted again, at the very core. She could get addicted to this. To make one of the most powerful beings go weak, go needy, go desperate.
And Nemesis was desperate, lifting her pelvis closer to Hera’s mouth. What a rush this was. Fingers wound themselves into her hair, pushing her head gently but insistently, and Hera smiled again.
“Greedy, greedy Revenge.”
The fingers tightened, and Hera decided that words were perhaps unnecessary.
She could undo Nemesis with another use of her mouth.
She took the pulsing clit between her lips and sucked all the while allowing her tongue to flick back and forth over the very tip.
Nemesis’s moans and whimpers were the only sounds coming from the bedroom for the longest time. Hera was very proud of herself.