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‘Do not call me that,’ grunted Minerva.

‘You didn’t used to mind, before we fell out. You still haven’t apologized. How long has it been now? A thousand years?’

‘You think I should apologize to you? Come on, Bella – you know you are not always to be trusted,’ said Minerva.

‘Says who?’

‘Well, everyone. You are a mercenary who will fight for the highest bidder. I wasn’t so sure you wouldn’t go running to Mars at your earliest convenience.’

‘Venus has consorted with Mars too,’ she objected.

‘Venus has since seen the light,’ said Minerva.

‘It is true,’ affirmed Venus. ‘I am converted to the other side.’

‘I am on no side but my own,’ said Bellona, ‘but I can be persuaded to join any fight if there is an opportunity to refine my specific set of skills.’

She stood up, stretching her limbs like an athlete.

‘I do not care for causes, only the game of war, but if you’re planning on killing father, I want to join in. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? You’ve realized that you can’t win without me?’

‘I wouldn’t go that far,’ grumbled Minerva, though she had admitted as much. ‘You would be an asset, though – you and your chaotic vengeance friends.’

‘Which ones?’

‘Discordia and Invidia.’

‘Discordia’s allegiance changes with the wind, and Invidia will only fight if she has been personally wronged. They have no loyalty to women. Besides, they are imprisoned in the underworld by Jupiter, unable to leave.’

‘Let me handle that,’ said Minerva. ‘I have spies in the underworld court of Proserpina. I am trying to reach out to her, but I cannot travel to the underworld directly without attracting suspicion from Father. You, on the other hand…’

‘I could easily travel to the underworld and call upon all the Inferi goddesses to wage war against Jupiter… but perhaps I am now the true goddess of wisdom, for you are not thinking big enough, sister.’

‘Go on,’ sighed Minerva.

‘Mars will get in the way of your goal. His ego is bigger than Jupiter’s, and he has long overshadowed all of us warrior goddesses. We tire of him commanding us. Now he too seeks to rule over all of us. Blah blah blah.’ She mimicked talking voices with her hands, like puppets. ‘Mars has been vying to overthrow his father since he came into being. Now, with us goddesses on the revolt, he finally sees an opportunity to rise to power. Which means Mars and Jupiter will drag out their dick-measuring contest for aeons, and we all will be forced to witness it.’

‘I sense you have a plan?’

‘I shall wait for him to make his move against his father. When his armies are distracted, I will overthrow him and take his place as the patron of war, to guide every soldier of Rome, but you must do something for me in return,’ said Bellona.

Minerva already knew that Bellona’s terms would be unreasonable.

‘I’m listening.’

‘I want to be a proper goddess again. I want to be in the Forum. I want my statue restored to the Pantheon.’ She bared her teeth, stamping one foot as she brandished her bloodstained sword. ‘I want. My own. Temple.’

‘We haven’t forgotten why it was removed in the first place,’ said Diana.

‘So, I killed a few thousand mortals,’ said Bellona, her eyes wide as she gesticulated erratically. ‘Who hasn’t? How many men has Father killed? How many mortal women has he impregnated?’

‘Father is not a good example,’ said Minerva.

‘Jupiter is afraid of me, like all men are afraid of me,’ Bellona said, ‘and they rightly should be.’

‘We are supposed to be better than them,’ said Venus.

‘We must be better than them, just to be respected less? All of the others are there, good and bad, but I am singled out as mad? It is because I am a woman. Mars is more of a tyrant than me, but he gets to be a heroic warrior with his own planet, while I am mocked and feared, just like Medusa and Cassandra and all the other monsters that men have buried their secrets in.’