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Hermes snorted. "You should be so lucky. Here, watch." He passed Bellona the phone and pressed play on the video. She recognized Hades and Persephone's lounge room in their villa in Elysium.
Bellona raised a brow. "How did you get your phone to work in the Underworld?"
"Me, god of messages." Hermes pointed to his chest. "Just watch!"
The camera panned to two chubby babies standing awkwardly and hanging onto the edge of a couch. They had grown so big since Bellona had last seen them, and it had only been a month ago. Hermes's arms appeared.
"Melinoë, come to Uncle Hermes and help him win a bet," he crooned at the fair-haired girl. She burbled, her knees doing a bounce. "That's it, walk to Uncle Hermes."
"Don't do it, kid. It's a trap," Dionysus piped in. "Baby Zaggy, come to Big Zaggy and show Uncle Hermes he's still a loser."
Bellona giggled, despite herself, at their antics.
"Come on, Mel, my baby girl. You can do it. If you come to me, I'll give you cookies!" Hermes said, clapping his hands. Melinoë seemed to be considering. "Yeah, that's right. I'll give you cookies."
"I'll give you cookies and a kitten. Yes, you want a little kitten?" Dionysus countered.
"Don't listen to him. I'll give you cookies and a kitten and cocaine and anything else you want, starting with a C."
Dionysus elbowed Hermes. "You start with a C."
"How about both of you stop offering my children illicit bribes?" Hades's voice echoed from somewhere in the background.
"Okay, no kittens, but everything else is on the table," Hermes whispered.
"Come on, Zagreus, you got this buddy. Oh, oh, he's doing it!" Dionysus crowed as Zagreus took an uneasy step. Not to be outdone by her brother, Melinoë followed, and the whole video became a chaotic mass of shouting and cheering.
Both babies wobbled on and managed to stay upright as they went towards their uncles…and kept walking past them over to Cerberus sleeping on his bed. Zagreus sat on his butt between the dog's legs, and Melinoë climbed onto his back and lay down. Cerberus didn't even wake up.
"I think that's a tie?" Hermes said, and Hades and Dionysus laughed.
Bellona passed the phone back to Hermes. "Fates help those children with uncles like you two meant to be the responsible adults."
29
Rafael woke to the sound of crashing waves and a warm, gentle breeze blowing through the curtains. He sat up, his head feeling like someone had grabbed him by the ears and shaken the hell out of him. He touched the fresh scar on his chest. He remembered the docks and gunfire.
How long have you been asleep? Rafael could move his arms and legs, so it couldn't have been the months that would've been needed to heal. He stumbled into the bathroom and washed his face. Someone had left a new toothbrush and toiletries out for him, so he scrubbed the strangely sweet taste out of his mouth. He stared at the scar and the rest of his reflection. He looked like he'd been on a holiday for a month with no tiredness to his face or paleness to his features that he should have had from a gunshot wound.
"Find Bellona," he told his reflection. She would have answers. A shower, food, and everything else could wait. He walked out in only the soft pajama boxers someone had dressed him. Wherever they were was warmer than it had been in Rome. The house was smaller than he expected, with a comfortable lounge room and kitchen area.
The front of the house was glass doors and opened straight out onto a beach. Bright blue water and sunshine greeted him as he stepped outside into the light. Further down the sand, someone had built a shaded platform with a wide, cushioned lounge in the center of it. Bellona was reclining on it in a white bikini and reading a book.
Rafael walked across the hot sand and stepped onto the platform. "Hello, beautiful. Where are we?"
Bellona tossed the book aside and had him pinned on his back on the sunbed in a blink. "You're awake! Oh, fucking Fates, finally you're awake," she said, climbing all over him and kissing his face.
Rafael laughed softly. "I want this kind of greeting from now on. Bellona, what happened?"
"You got shot," she said and kissed the mass of scar tissue on his chest. "That was four days ago."
"Four days." Rafael brushed the hair behind her ears. "Tell me everything. The last thing I remember was the docks in Italy."
Bellona updated him on the fight with Rita, getting taken to Styx, and Selene and Circe healing him.
"I got Hermes to bring us here two days ago. This is one of Dionysus's places in Turkey. I thought we both would need a private beach for a few weeks while you recovered from being shot, and I recovered from the shock of almost losing you," she said, her voice cracking.
Rafael leaned up and hugged her. "I'm sorry for worrying you so much."
