13. Where The Plan Finally Comes Together （And The Empress Realizes Too Late That She Had The Power All Along…） #3
“As your Empress, this is my last command. Vengeance is mine.” Hera infused her voice with as much power as she could muster, the candles around her flickering in and out.
In the ensuing silence, the ballroom ceiling suddenly opened up with warm rain.
Demeter… Sister…
Hera felt the rain soak her gown. It was a pleasant respite, if this was to be the last thing she ever felt. She’d be content. But she wanted Nemesis. She wanted her Revenge, not her revenge. She wanted her woman so much, just one last time.
“Vengeance is mine, and mine alone.”
Next to her, Zeus suddenly clutched his chest. Hera did not spare him a glance.
The Fates’ smiles were feral. Sabine Goddard bit her lip.
For a second, Hera wondered if the Cupid had used her arrow on Zeus after all.
It didn’t matter. The thunder shaking the ballroom was her answer.
He dropped to his knees, face ashen, watching her reach for the Goddess of Vengeance.
And then she heard it, not thunderous, not loud at all. The tiny sound of his heart breaking. Not with a bang, with a whimper.
It all made sense. In a perverse sort of way.
Hera wanted to gloat. She had been the one to break his heart.
All the adultery, all the cruelty, all the fights and dismissals.
He had spurned her and humiliated her again and again.
Yet, after all the misspent eternity, and it was her for him after all.
And what sweet retribution that he was never the one for her.
Watching the ice-blue eyes in the distance grow hotter, Hera smiled.
Aphrodite’s arms dropped, and suddenly everything and everyone was in motion around her, as the Fates walked in step, slowly and patiently, as time itself, towards her. The gods and goddesses fell over their own feet and gowns and tuxedos to get out of the way.
Somewhere in the distance, Demeter screamed, “Hera!” And the rain fell harder, almost drowning them all, even as the Fates remained undeterred by the downpour.
“You made a bargain with us, Your Majesty. A soul for a victory. Your soul for his broken heart. And so it shall be. Behold the King of Olympus lies ruined at your feet.”
“No!” Nemesis’s voice rang above the chaos of the storm.
Hera felt the floor tilt under her feet as she watched the spindle in the hands of the Spinner stop, the thread within the fingertips of the Allotter being stretched tautly.
She saw the years pass in front of her eyes.
Wasted. So much emptiness. So many rooms filled with spite, hatred, and silences that caused her nothing but wounded pride. She had let a man ruin her eternity.
The lights dimmed. In the distance, she could feel more than see a figure running towards her. Cold hands reached for her. Cold hands, ice-blue eyes. And a Queen of Hearts, torn and mangled in those long fingers.
Hera had collected the set. Hera had achieved the impossible. And Hera knew that none of this mattered. Only Nemesis did.
Yes, the one who had made her last days, weeks and months feel alive. The one who had made her live. The one who would ultimately have helped her die.
Hera felt her mouth stretch into a painful smile.
“It’s not your fault.” Her fingertips caressed the sharp jaw, the chiseled cheekbones, the long lashes trembling with tears. “Don’t cry. It’s not your fault. I knew what I was doing.”
“No, no, you didn’t. How could you? How could you when you lived your entire life centering this asshole man, and now you’re dying, still for him.”
Hera blinked. The bears wailed close by. She could hear Zeus’s shouts. She ignored those. She clawed at the edges of her consciousness to try to look at Nemesis. Nemesis, who was holding her, head bent over her, shoulders shaking with sobs.
“Vengeance never cries,” Hera whispered. “And for what it’s worth, I regret this. My Vengeance. I regret this so much.”
Nemesis lifted her eyes, gripping Hera’s shoulders painfully now.
“You do?”
“Yes. I wasted my life on things that never mattered. I wanted something that was never worthy of the sacrifices I had made. I played a role that suited someone else. And all this time, looking back, there was only a short period of my life when I felt alive. It was with you. You made me feel alive. Even now. Even in death.”
Nemesis’s body trembled; Hera could see the tears streaming down that beloved face.
“You can let me go, Nemesis. Your greatest act of vengeance has been accomplished. I’ve loved. I’ve loved you so much. You have my heart. All of it. You will always have my heart.”
The Fates gasped. The building shook, and the Inflexible pushed the handles of the shears. Hera saw the golden thread of her life, cut in two, fall to the floor.
Demeter’s rain fell gently over the ballroom, the candles burned out.
Hera watched her life leave her body and held onto the last thing afforded to her.
Eyes that cried for her. Hands, suddenly hot, that burned for her.
And a heart that was always so steady, beat out of rhythm, just for her.
As far as final memories went, Hera thought hers were unmatchable.