Chapter 12 #2
As those went, Erato knew that she had only one chance to nail it.
She climbed the weirdly built stage where Melpomene was in the middle of a tragic monologue.
Well, Erato would have to make up to her for the interruption, but desperate times and all that.
More flowers. At this rate, she might as well buy the flower shop next to her apartment, instead of just paying for the bouquets.
Erato grabbed the mic. The static nearly deafened everyone. At least she now had their attention.
“Ah…”
“What is this?”
“Who is this?”
“What is she doing here?”
The chorus of questions grew louder. Was she making a mistake? Demeter’s eyes finally met hers and something behind them, something that had been taking Erato’s breath away since Vegas, and maybe millennia ago, told her to soldier on.
“Get off the stage, Muse!”
Poseidon clambered after her, only to grab some curtain and fall on his ass, dragging the entire set with him.
Melpomene wailed. Abby threw her hand over her mouth.
Whether in shock or mirth, Erato couldn’t tell.
Zeus tried to free Poseidon from the knots of the curtain, only to swaddle him further.
Somewhere to their left, Hera’s laughter rang clear.
Hades was trying to get to her brothers and Cerberus, thinking it was a game, nipped at the tangled heels of the God of the Seas.
In the cacophony of sounds and pandemonium, Demeter stood tall and now alone, watching Erato expectantly.
Yeah, back to the grand gesture. Erato tapped the microphone again.
“Dear Olympians…”
The abovementioned pandemonium continued. She tried again, to no avail. Demeter started to turn away. Erato, heart in her throat, threw caution and the gods’ eardrums to the wind and whistled. Silence reigned as most everyone on Calton Hill was temporarily incapacitated.
“Well, that did the trick.” Erato’s smile was met by hundreds of boos. It didn’t matter, Demeter was still half turned and Erato had to make her stay. Stay with her. Love her. Marry her.
“My name is Erato. And I am the Muse of Smut.” The boos quieted and the silence that reigned had a curious feel to it.
Erato powered on. “Erotica. Sex. You name it. If it’s done naked and panting, that’s my domain.
And you know? I am proud of it. I can write like no other here.
And I sure as hell—no offence, Hades—can fuck like no other amongst you all. ”
Mouths collectively dropped open. Poseidon was asking nobody in particular if that was a proven fact. Behind Erato, a choir of bears sang out, “You better fucking believe it, Mermaid Boy!” Erato smiled. Maybe Hera wasn’t all bad since the backup singers were certainly her doing.
“So, yeah, I am Erato, and I am proud of what I am and what I do. Because while you all engage in sex, or try to, since I am fairly certain some of y’all’s appendages fell of centuries ago from lack of use?—”
“We are looking at you, Mermaid Boy!” The bears sang in perfect unison, while Poseidon, still in his curtain cocoon, tried in vain to crawl away.
Erato didn’t take her eyes off Demeter.
“You all do it. And yet, since the beginning of time, you’ve shamed me. For sex, for enjoying it. For loving it. And you’ve made me lesser. You’ve made me dirty. You don’t say my name in polite company, as if what I do is sin itself. Well, no more. I love sex. And I am sex. Deal with it.”
Erato stood a bit taller, just as murmurs started to take over the crowd. Aphrodite joined Sabine on the sidelines and both of them looked at her with, dare she say, pride.
“You can no longer make me ashamed and I refuse to be belittled by you all. And I refuse to hide myself or my feelings.”
The bears sang a perfect “Oooooh yeeeeeaaaah” behind her.
“Demeter, Goddess of Harvest, the most important deity on Earth, will you forgive me for allowing my wobble in self-confidence to not see how much you mean to me? Will you forgive me for being less than you deserved? Will you overlook that I should’ve told you every single moment of every day since Vegas that you are everything to me?
And will you take me, the Muse of Erotic Poetry and so many other things, to be your wife? ”
Zeus—in the process of lifting Poseidon to his feet—dropped him again and bellowed.
“What? Nonsense. She is damn indispensable, and she deserves so much better. You’re of no consequence.”
Erato just smiled.
“She does deserve better. Better than any of you.” Erato swallowed around the lump in her throat, her protectiveness getting the better of her.
“You say she is indispensable, yet you treat her like she is your employee. You make her job so difficult, the obstacles you throw at her insurmountable. And still you demand she do more, fix more of your fuck ups.”
Demeter’s eyes were unreadable and Erato felt like the one chance was slipping from her grip.
“No, nobody is worthy of her. Nobody. And yet here I am, begging.” Erato met the amber gaze head on for the first time since climbing the stage.
“When they clamor for your attention and your skill, for what you can do for them… I am here to tell you that my life is for you. I’ll give you my every day.
I’ll spend all of them worshiping you. Cherishing you.
” Erato got on one knee. The bears behind her intoned a solemn note.
Artemis and Apollo were wiping away tears.
Hermes was writing down every word. The whole scene would no doubt be all over the gossip pages in a Greek minute.
Zeus looked like he was about to summon thunder.
Poseidon was turning green, though he always had that tinge to him.
“I was wallowing too deep in my own insecurity to see your perfection. Because you are that. Perfect. I’d know.
” Sabine and Aphrodite laughed, and most of the muses and nymphs joined in on the inside joke.
Poseidon was decidedly verdant now. Erato gave no fucks, because the corners of Demeter’s mouth twitched and she bit her lip. Erato pressed on.
“Return to me. And I will work every day to earn your forgiveness.”
“Every night too!” The bear chorus sang loudly. Poseidon fainted. Zeus had that iridescent quality to him now. A quality he only mustered before unleashing a hurricane on some unsuspecting mortals. Erato braced herself.
And then the scent of petrichor overtook everyone, and the skies opened up, wide ribbons of rain falling freely. The air took on a magical feel that could only mean one thing. Demeter stepped forward and laid a hand on Zeus. The sparks around him immediately drowned under her touch.
Erato’s knee was numb. Her white shirt clung to her skin. None of that was important. All she could do was look at the woman in front of her and drink her in. And then she realized that no matter what happened next, she had to say one more thing and then she’d let the Fates decide.
“I love you. And I am yours. Only yours.”
Well, two more things. But math didn’t matter because Demeter lost her battle with the smile, which bloomed freely on her lips, and the rain turned warm, falling gently now.
Behind her, cheers and shouts of “It’s a Beltane miracle! Spring! Spring!” rang loudly and Erato scooped her wet hair out of her eyes to see the trees and the bushes around Calton Hill fully covered in blossoms.
Somewhere nearby, a voice that sounded remarkably like Hera proclaimed “fucking finally!” before the Goddess of Matrimony suddenly started clapping.
Once, twice, and then the entire crowd was shouting and applauding and lifting Demeter up on their shoulders.
It was Erato’s turn to smile, to laugh. Demeter deserved everything, all this love and adulation.
More of it, in fact. If she was allowed, Erato would spend the next several eternities, showing her exactly how much.
“That is quite a commitment, Muse.” She hadn’t realized the crowd had deposited Demeter on the stage, and now the Goddess—her Goddess—was looking at her as if Erato might bolt at any moment. No, she’d made that mistake once.
“I’ll give you everything and more. For as long as you’ll have me.”
Demeter laughed and stepped closer, her dress drenched and her hair clinging to her forehead. She’d never looked more beautiful. Erato realized that she needed to say that. She needed to say so many more things.
“You are everything that is gorgeous and pure. You are?—”
She was interrupted by a kiss. The rain pelted down, warm and steady, and Erato felt complete.
“You talk too much, Muse.”
“Yes, she does!” The bears, in different stages of undress, sang on.
“Why are they taking their clothes off?” Demeter wondered, even as it was Erato’s turn to kiss her.
“I stopped trying to make sense of them. You will need to ask your sister.”
Demeter traced Erato’s jaw with a tender fingertip before tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and kissing her again.
“I’d rather ask you to repeat what you said earlier. The part about having you.”
Erato’s heart lifted. She could swear it had left her rib cage and was now levitating above the ground. So this was what happiness felt like.
“Will you have me? As your lover? As your muse?”
Demeter smiled and linked their hands.
“I will have you as my wife.”
Erato looked down at their hands only to see a golden thread bind them, so familiar, so precious. She looked over to where Hera stood, aloof, eyes narrowed. Erato mouthed, “I won’t fuck it up.”
Before the bears could sing again, Hera replied, “see that you don’t” and disappeared.
Rain kept falling all around them and Erato lifted Demeter off her feet, twirling her over and over. The crowd erupted in applause.
“Is this what life will be with you?”
“Happiness? Yes. Spectacle? Maybe. But you deserve the center stage, my love.” Erato said, finally putting her future wife back down.
Demeter laughed and the fires of Beltane burned brighter, illuminating the flowers of a spring long overdue.