11
Hera
“And that’s when I found out I was pregnant.” Even when laying so much of myself bare, I don’t tell Psyche about my intentionally reaching out to Circe. I hesitate, considering the best way to approach this. Psyche has a much stronger moral compass than I do and she cares about people almost as deeply as Eurydice does. She had a chance to leave Olympus behind and chose to stay. I need to pick my words carefully to get her on my side, to ensure we can come together and figure out how to convince our mother, Hades, and our sisters to escape while we can.
“Psyche!”
I startle so badly I almost fall out of my chair, but Psyche doesn’t so much as flinch. She glances to the door as her husband, Eros, shoves into the tent. “Psyche, we have a problem. There’s something—” He stops short when he catches sight of me. For someone who used to be a fixer for his mother, the woman who was Aphrodite two title changes ago, he looks far more rattled than I’ve ever seen him. This is a man with more than a few bodies to hisname. What could possibly be on the phone that he’s clutching so tightly to causethatlook on his face?
“Oh. Callisto. You’re here.”
I’m not one to jump to conclusions, but it’s hardly half a step to get to the realization that this concerns me. I hold out my hand. “Give it here.”
Naturally, he ignores me and moves to my sister. The look he gives me is almost sympathetic as he hands the phone to her. “It was posted on MuseWatch a few minutes ago.”
Watching the color drain from my sister’s pretty face is an experience I would like to extract myself from. “What is it?” I demand.
Psyche takes a deep breath. “Were you with your husband before you came out here?”
Heat flares beneath my skin, quickly followed by a dread so deep it threatens to swallow me whole. I lunge across the space between us and snatch the phone out of her hands.
A video of me…and Zeus. “Fuck.”
Even without sound, I know the beats of our breathing by heart, the soft, sharp words exchanged that drove us both into a frenzy and made us forget ourselves. It’s horrible seeing the shared intimacy now, even after I intentionally closed my eyes to recreate the familiar darkness in the moment, retreating from the vulnerability my husband draws forth from me every time he touches me, kisses me.
And now that vulnerability is out in the open for all of Olympus to see.
My thoughts drain out, replaced by furious static. Who did this? Was it a trap that Zeus set up? But no, that doesn’t make any sense. He didn’t know where I was going, and this video undermineshim as well; not as much as me, but he can’t affordanyscandal or weakness in our current climate. The only person who knew where I was, who would be willing to undermine me so cruelly…is Circe.
That bitch. I’m going to fucking kill her.
I don’t realize I’ve said the words aloud until Psyche and Eros exchange a look. My sister clears her throat. “There’s not much recourse for this, but—”
“I’ll take care of it.” Even as I tell myself not to, I scroll down to the bottom of the so-called article and read the first few comments. They’re exactly as lurid and tasteless as one would expect. Strangers, seeing me in a moment of vulnerability that I would never show to the world. What little respect I have garnered as Hera is gone now. This video makes sure of that. Now I’m just another spouse of Zeus to be objectified.
I can’t let this distract me, but how am I supposed to do anything else? I’m not particularly prudish, but there’s a wild difference between consensually engaging in acts in front of an audience the way Persephone and Hades do andthis. It paints what was already a charged interaction in an even uglier light.
Did I really tell my husband to call me by my actual name? What the fuck was I thinking? The only small grace in this entire clusterfuck is the video being without sound. At least all of Olympus can’t hear how pathetically I mewl for him to fuck me. Small mercies, because they canseehow pathetic I look when I’m coming on Zeus’s cock.
I haven’t had a chance to talk to my mother, to present my still-forming plan that will save our family, but I can barely reason past the racing thoughts. I’m in no shape to go round and roundwith her and lay out an argument that she can’t reject. I don’t evenhavean argument she can’t reject. All I have is fear and rage.
I toss the phone to Eros and stand. “I’m trying to meet with Persephone tomorrow, but I’ll be back the next day. Keep my sister and mother safe until then. Do you understand me? Because if you don’t, I’m going to skin you alive.”
Eros raises his brows. “You already know that I’d die before I’d let anyone touch Psyche. Your mother is a different beast altogether. If you want Demeter to consent to protection, take it up with her.”
I can’t face her right now. If Eros has seen the video, then it’s only a matter of time before she does, too. My mother, who never sets a foot out of place as far as the public is concerned. My mother, who’s almost universally beloved by the civilians in Olympus. She’s going to be so fucking disappointed in me.
She may have had her dalliances here and there, but she’s always been the very picture of discretion. No one even knows that she and Poseidon had a prolonged affair up until relatively recently. For me to misstep like this, to allow this video to be taken, let alone distributed, is a failure. She won’t see it as anything else, no matter what sympathies she might feel for my plight. She’ll want to know how I plan on combating the dip in public perception. She’ll want me to have a scheme already in place, and I can barely concentrate enough to put one foot in front of the other.
If I tell her I couldn’t give a shit about public perception as long as my family is safe from Circe’s coming purge, she’ll see it as a weakness. She’ll think I don’t believe we can win. And she’ll be right. Wecan’twin. We have yet to be victorious in a single fucking battle against Circe and her people.
But nobody wants to talk about that.
“Callisto, don’t go back to the city tonight.” Psyche starts to move toward me but stops when I shake my head sharply. She looks so worried that my heart aches, but I don’t have the words to comfort her right now. She glances again at Eros. “We have plenty of beds. Just stay here until you can calm down. I can’t begin to imagine what you’re feeling right now, so I won’t patronize you and say I do. If Eros knew you were here, he wouldn’t have allowed you to find out like this.”
I glance at my brother-in-law, at his carefully blank expression. “I know.” He might be a murderer, but he would never do something to upset his wife—and upsetting me upsets Psyche.
She presses her lips together and lifts her hands before letting them fall back to her sides. “It’s not a good idea to drive when you’re so out of sorts. It’s not safe.”
