Chapter 29 Hera
Hera
The less said about the trip back to the city, the better.
Riding on an off-road vehicle was an adventure as a child and an excuse for freedom in my early teens.
It’s significantly less comfortable as an adult.
I cling to the harness holding me securely in my seat as Hermes hurtles through the night at speeds that mean a mistake will likely be fatal.
Of course, even allegedly recovering from a poisoning, she doesn’t make mistakes. She’s Hermes.
She fucking shot me…but then she rescued us.
I don’t know what to think. I don’t know what to feel. Our circumstances have swung from vaguely hopeful to full despair to nebulous in a way I can’t quantify. Perseus loves me. He wants a future with me, even if our titles aren’t in play.
Unfortunately, the barriers between us and that possible future are high and thorny. Circe. My mother. Possibly the entire population of Olympus, or at least enough of it to be the majority. How can we possibly survive?
First, we have to survive Hades. He’s not going to be happy to see us. Just yesterday, he explicitly told me that I’m not welcome in the lower city. He has no reason to offer us refuge, especially when we are bringing this level of bad news.
There’s nowhere else to go, though. We could abandon the city but…I can’t walk away from my family. Perseus sure as fuck isn’t going to walk away from his.
As soon as that thought strikes me, I grab his hand. “Helen?”
His expression is grim as the wind whips his hair back from his forehead. “She went back to the city, so she should be safe enough for now. Even if Demeter fabricated some reason to call her back, she wouldn’t come tonight. I’ll call her as soon as I get to a phone.”
If she returns to the countryside to make her report, she’ll be taken, just like we were. The thought makes me sick. I like Helen. She might be a Kasios, but she has fought for everything she has. It’s admirable. “Hermes!” I call. “Do you have a phone?”
“Couldn’t risk it,” she calls back. “Not until we’re safely back in the city.”
I glare at the back of her head. That’s not how phone taps work, at least not to my knowledge, but it’s possible there’s tech I’m not aware of. It’s happened before. Even so…I don’t trust Hermes. I doubt I ever will.
I’m actually surprised when the lights of Olympus appear in front of us, backlit by the rising sun.
Hermes doesn’t bother to stop at the city limits.
She just drives us right in, cruising through the eerily empty streets to the Juniper Bridge.
She pulls to a stop in the middle of the street and unbuckles herself.
“Might as well walk from here. We can’t get through without Hades’s permission. ”
“Not even you?”
She glances over her shoulder at me. “Not this time.”
It’s only in the growing light of the early morning that I realize how tired she looks. Or maybe sick. I frown. “What’s wrong with you? Is it still the poison?”
“Nothing so mundane. I’m suffering from a broken heart.” She says it blithely but doesn’t quite manage to pull off an unbothered tone.
For the first time, I wonder who Circe was to Hermes.
At one point, I thought they were working together, but I was clearly wrong.
Even so, there’s history there. The way she spoke about what the last Zeus did…
There was too much in her tone. It’s personal, not a theoretical tragedy that happened to someone else.
Perseus takes my hand as I climb out of the back seat and we turn as one to face the bridge. “Now what?” I ask.
“Just a moment. She should be here any…” She visibly brightens. “There you are.”
Atalanta walks around the corner of a nearby building and crosses to us with long strides. She’s wearing her customary cargo pants and fitted long-sleeved shirt with heavy boots. Her face is a mask of concern. “Where were you? I couldn’t get ahold of you, and when I went to the house—”
“Long story, no time.” Hermes doesn’t glance at us, but there’s new tension in her spine. She’s hiding something. The fact that she’s not doing it well is more a testament to how off she is right now, like an instrument slightly out of tune. “I need your phone. The spare.”
Atalanta hesitates. She clearly wants to question Hermes more fully but finally fishes a phone out of her pocket and passes it over.
Hermes turns to us. “Call Helen after you talk to Hades. You’ll only get one shot at this.
By now, Circe knows you’re gone, and she’ll send her hunters after you.
If you don’t manage to convince Hades to let you into the lower city, you’ll die. ”
I notice what she’s very carefully not saying. Perseus does, too. He says, “You’re not coming with us.”
“Even if I were welcome there, I can’t do what’s necessary if I’m hiding behind a barrier destined to fall.
It won’t protect you forever, but it will slow Circe down enough for you to have a chance to come up with a plan.
I highly suggest you stop fucking around and actually make one.
I won’t be able to haul your asses out of the fire next time.
” She turns back to Atalanta. “Let’s go. ”
Atalanta nods and looks over her head at me. “Good luck. You’re going to need it.” She turns and they walk away together, leaving us and the off-roader behind.
“I don’t understand her,” Perseus mutters. “Working to the same end goal, except for a singular difference, doesn’t exactly exempt her from being on Circe’s side.”
Once again I’m struck by the realization that there’s history there—potent history. “She helped us this time, so it doesn’t really matter what her goals are, does it?”
He makes a face like he wants to argue but finally shrugs. “Do you want to call Hades or should I? We can’t stay out in the open for long.”
Considering the last time I was on the River Styx I ended up getting shot, I’m inclined to agree. I look down at the phone. “Did you mean it? You’d actually walk away from the title?”
“Callisto.” He presses his fingertips to my chin, lifting my face to his.
For once, my husband is not a mask of ice, giving away nothing.
His eyes are warm and worried and filled with so much love it takes my breath away.
“I don’t know if Hermes’s plan is the right one, but I almost lost you yesterday.
If Circe has her way, I will lose you.” He caresses my cheek with his thumb.
“I don’t know who I am if I’m not Zeus. That much is true.
But I’d like to survive this, to have a chance to find out—with you, if you’re willing. ”
A few days ago, I would have laughed in his face. It’s stunning how quickly things have changed between us. My lungs feel too big for my chest. I lean in to his touch. “I’m willing. More than willing.”
His lips curve a little. “Even if it means giving up your quest to kill me?”
“Especially then.” I’ve never been so thankful for failure as I am in this moment. I inhale slowly. “You should be the one to call Hades. Be honest. No posturing. No bullshit. Tell him what you intend and what Circe plans.”
He presses a light kiss to my forehead. “Okay.” He takes the phone, pauses to tug me closer to one of the bridge’s large pillars, takes a deep breath, and dials. A pause. “Hades, it’s…Perseus. I need you to listen to me until I finish. We don’t have time to fuck around.”
***
Twenty minutes later, Hades himself arrives to escort us across the bridge and into the lower city. His expression is forbidding and intense, his dark gaze scanning our surroundings as he ushers us into the waiting SUV.
None of us speak during the short drive to his residence, or the even shorter trip up to his study, where Persephone, Eurydice, and the rest of his inner circle wait. My sisters come to me in a rush, pulling me into a tight hug. “We were so worried,” Eurydice says.
“Psyche isn’t answering the phone. Neither are Eros or Mother.” Persephone takes my shoulders and surveys me. “It’s bad, isn’t it?”
“Worse than bad,” I whisper. I’m so exhausted I’m in danger of weeping. More than that, there’s relief to be back with at least some of my family, to be able to share the burden of holding down the future for us. “I’m sorry about yesterday.”
“I know.” Persephone hugs me again, her round stomach pressing to mine. “Now, bring us up to speed.”
Perseus and I sit on the couch and he reclaims my hand as he repeats everything he told Hades over the phone, pausing for me to provide input where I need to. In the end, it takes little time at all to lay out Circe’s plan, our mother’s treason, Hermes’s alternative.
Through it all, Hades is a vault. He only sighs once we’ve finished. “I suppose it’s too much to hope that you’re lying.”
“They’re not,” Charon says from his spot in the corner. He holds up his phone. “I just got a text from my contact in the camp. They’re mobilizing to return to the city, with Circe and Demeter at their head.”
“Fuck.” Hades pinches the bridge of his nose. “Call the rest of the Thirteen. All of them except Demeter. Extend an offer of sanctuary, conditional on their following the laws of the lower city.” He glances at Persephone. “I’m sorry, little siren, but if your mother—”
“No, I understand,” she cuts in, looking sick. “We can’t trust her. Not with our people.”
“You mean to offer sanctuary?” Perseus frowns. “But you hate the Thirteen.”
“Yes, I do.” Hades leans back in his chair. “But apparently Hermes and I have something in common. I can’t stand by and allow them to be murdered after a farce of a trial. I may understand Circe’s anger, but being harmed doesn’t excuse intentionally harming others.”
I’m so tired that I feel physically ill, but I can’t help asking, “What about Hermes’s intention to dismantle the Thirteen and allow the population to vote?”
He shrugs. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
It makes sense to worry about later, but I have to wonder if part of his nonchalance is because he knows his people love him and would vote for him in a heartbeat.
No matter what has happened in the upper city over the years, Hades has always ensured his people were taken care of.
He’s a true leader, and if we survive this, he’ll remain so until the day he steps down.
Maybe he’d even welcome this change if it came without a threat, because it means his children will have a choice in their futures.
Perseus releases my hand to wrap his arm around me. I hadn’t realized I was weaving a bit until he bolsters me. “What do you need from me?”
“Nothing at the moment.” Hades’s gaze also falls on me, something almost sympathetic in the depths. “Eurydice will show you to a pair of the guest rooms.”
“We only need one.”
Hades narrows his eyes. “There’s no need to pretend with me, Zeus. I know better than most what your marriage is.”
“What it was,” I say slowly. “Not anymore. We only need one room.”
My brother-in-law doesn’t look convinced. It’s my sister who says, “Are you sure, Cal?”
“Yes.”
She and her husband exchange a look. “So be it. Eurydice?”
My baby sister has grown so much in the last year. She’s strong and steady as she rises and motions us to the door. “This way.”
She leads us up a set of stairs to a luxuriously appointed en suite. I want nothing more than to collapse facedown, but my sister shoots Perseus a look. “We need a moment.” It’s not a request.
He nods. “I’ll get the shower going.”
She barely waits for him to disappear into the bathroom before turning to me. “You don’t have to stay with him.”
“I know.” I can’t help pressing my hand to my stomach, to the faint curve there. “A lot has changed with us. I…love him.”
Eurydice’s eyes go wide. “What?”
“I know.” Despite everything that’s happened, I let out a laugh. “Shocked the fuck out of me, too.”
“As soon as you get some sleep, rest assured that we are catching up on everything that’s happened.” She pulls me into a quick hug. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
Then she’s gone, closing the door softly behind her. As much as I want sleep, Perseus is right—a shower will help tremendously. I find him leaning against the counter, waiting for me. He looks up as I walk into the bathroom. “How are you? Really?”
My chest tries to close and my eyes burn. “I can’t even process what just happened, how my mother…” I swallow hard. “And Psyche is still with her.”
“Circe has no reason to hurt Psyche—or Eros, for that matter. Neither holds a title and threatening Psyche would be guaranteed to turn your mother against her.” He holds out a hand. “Come here.”
I let him hold me, let him strip me slowly out of my clothes, let him tug me into the shower that’s my preferred temperature, let him guide me so my stitches are well away from the spray of water.
I stare up at him as he washes my hair, his face a mask of concentration. “I really do love you, you know.”
He smiles slowly, so warm that I can’t help leaning in to him, wanting to soak the heat right into my soul. “I love you, too, Wife. No matter what the future holds, that won’t change.”
“What happens now?” I whisper.
“Now, we finish our shower and get as much sleep as we can.” His smile fades, replaced by steely determination. “Tomorrow, the battle for Olympus truly begins.”