‘Demeter, I’m handling it. Calm down,’ Father says dismissively.
‘What of the suitors, hmm?’ she tries. I don’t blame her – from what I’ve seen it’s the angle that gets the best results when she speaks to my father. ‘Word has already spread that she is missing. Everyone knows.’
‘I know.’ Father rubs his temples. ‘It’s been pandemonium on Olympus. “Kore”? I should have never named her “little girl”. Had I the powers of prophecy I would have thought “chaos bringer” more appropriate.’
Hades snorts beside me. ‘You’re telling me.’
I elbow him in the side. ‘Excuse you.’
Mother is less impressed. ‘Ares has already retracted his offer!’
‘You and I both know that if Ares cared about virginity he would not be with Aphrodite.’
‘As a mistress, not as a wife! It’s different now. You can thank your own wife for making marriage so … difficult,’ Mother snaps.
Zeus laughs. ‘Well, Hera was no virgin when I married her either.’
Hades and I stare, shocked that even the king of the gods would go so far.
Mother glares at him with such ferocity I’m surprised he does not combust. ‘And whose fault was that?’ she seethes.
‘Demeter,’ he growls in warning.
‘Oh, I’m sorry.’ She’s shaking with such fury I’m sure somewhere crops are withering away under the heat of her anger. ‘It must be horrible to be called a rapist when you rape someone.’
‘How dare –’
‘I don’t care!’ Mother shrieks. She flings her hands above her head and I’m swarmed by guilt. She is the goddess of sacred law and look at her, unravelling by the second.
‘I should never –’ I start but Hades cuts me off.
‘No,’ he says. ‘We are not doing this again. Entering a marriage you didn’t want is not better than this.’
I’m not so sure. I love my mother. How can I watch as I cause her this much anguish? She does not even know it is me causing it – she thinks I was taken.
She tries a different tack. ‘What does it say about the king of the gods that someone can seize his daughter? Someone can take her and do whatever they please with her? Hurt her? Steal her away from a marriageyouordered? What will it say about you when she returns and no one will take her?’
‘It will say nothing.’ He stands from his throne and lightning crackles around him. ‘Because she is little more than nothing. I have a dozen daughters, Demeter. Yours is special only in her continued insolence. I’ve seen her traipsing across that island, practically asking for something like this to happen. The only slight here is that fair payment was not made. I will find who did this and I will demand recompense. The gods may whisper but I assure you any damage to my reputation will be swiftly repaired when I haul whoever has taken her before the court and have them beg for my mercy. Which I’ll eventually giveand all will believe I am a powerful yet generous king. I’ll marry Kore off to whoever’s left. Someone will be interested – even ruined, she’s my blood. That will saveherhonour. Which means the only reputation taking lasting damage is yours,’ he sneers at my stony-faced mother, who withdraws into herself with every word. ‘Find another way to claw your dignity back because finding your daughter isn’t it.’
Hades waves the water away.
‘This isn’t healthy,’ he says.
I’m staring at where my father’s face just was. Despite Hades’ cloak, I’m suddenly icy cold and shaking. I never considered that my father simply might not care all that much. I didn’t think he had the ability to hurt me but his indifference is worse than his anger, worse than a lifetime of being put in my place. It’s like, for once and for all, any threat I might have offered has been vanquished and he has washed his hands of me. And my mother, my poor mother, having to hear him say all that …
‘Listen to me,’ Hades insists. ‘Zeus is a horrible, horrible person. That isn’t new information to anyone, but it’s not healthy for you to listen to continued proof of it.’
I turn to face him and my hands curl at my sides. ‘You think I don’t know that?’ I demand, baring my teeth but floundering for words to follow. ‘I know it’s damaging but I’m hardly taking it in. I’m just trying to predict their next move.’
‘Are you?’ he demands. ‘Because every day you watch this nonsense you become … less you.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘You become less annoying, for example.’
‘Go screw your–’
‘I’m serious!’ he shouts over me. I scowl, realizing he is truly angry, truly arguing the topic. ‘Every single second you spend watching your parents talk, you close off more of yourself. I like that you come annoy me when I’m reading, and that you think you’re far funnier than you are, and that you fill the house with flowers without asking. I like all of that.’
