‘My liege,’ Helios stutters, pointing at a speck in the sky.
As that speck nears, I realize that, of course, while all this was happening, Hades and I were announcing our engagement to the court.
And here comes Hermes, delightfully well timed – as I’m sure he knew.
Hermes flies upright, and the wings that have sprouted from his sandals gently lower him to the surface of the cloud where they stand.
‘Now is not the time –’ Zeus starts but Mother, at least, understands what his presence means.
‘Is she there?’ Mother demands. ‘Hades?’
Hermes nods, a sharp, short movement which is as contained as the smile that doesn’t touch his lips but glistens in his eyes.
‘Oh, thank the Fates,’ Mother says, her pragmatism vanishing. ‘Is … She’s … That is to say …’
‘Hades,’ Zeus spits, ‘will –’
‘Even your lightning cannot strike down there,’ Hermes cuts him off before we have to drink another cup.
‘Perhaps not, but my sword can,’ Zeus snarls.
‘Is that a euphemism?’ Hermes quips. ‘Helios, go and busy yourself elsewhere.’
Helios doesn’t have to be told twice, even as Zeus rounds on his messenger.
‘You have no right to dismiss my subjects.’
‘Trust me, Father, you will want a more private audience for this.’
Mother gasps. ‘Is she okay? What’s he done to her?’
Hermes snickers. ‘Oh, she is quite all right. I’m not entirely sure you were honest with us, Demeter; beautiful though she undoubtedly is, bashful and demure is not quite what I got from her.’
‘What?’ Mother breathes and, for the first time in all this, a more familiar kind of concern touches my mother’s eyes. ‘What has she done?’
‘She asked me to tell you that she is happy,’ he says.
‘Is that all?’ Mother snarls. ‘He could have forced her to say that.’
Hermes smiles. ‘Not quite.’
His smile rapidly disappears as Zeus grabs the collar of his robe and lifts him from his feet. His sandals flap their wingsand his panicked look of strangulation disappears in seconds. The wariness lingers.
‘Enough of this,’ Zeus snarls. ‘What do you know of Kore?’
‘Well, for one, she goes by Persephone now,’ Hermes says.
Zeus drops him and after a second Hermes lands softly back on the surface.
Hades and I burst into laughter at the expressions on my parents’ faces. The bewilderment, the anger and, finally, the suspicion.
‘Chaos bringer?’ Zeus mutters. ‘Isn’t that what I –’
‘Is that truly what matters to you?’ Mother cuts him off.
Zeus considers it and a new wave of rage crashes over him. ‘Hades thinks he can kidnap my daughter, keep her prisoner andrenameher?’
‘Your father really does have a very low opinion of me, and of your agency,’ Hades says.
