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"Do you remember when I gave you the crown on our wedding day?" Poseidon asks. "It was fashioned from seashells and mermaid magic." He brushes a loose strand of hair from my face.
"I remember." Looking up at my god, I relish what, for so long, I was missing. My husbands. "I can't believe she's a siren. Here I am, just a regular old goddess and my daughters are shifters."
"Pretty amazing isn't it?" Zeus asks. His fingers find mine and they lace together. "It's pretty spectacular that when four gods came together with the Goddess of Fertility we made them. I mean, Lark is a force to be reckoned with."
"And Tennyson can move between the spirit land and the land of the living. No goddess can do that. Hell, I can't even go to Styx."
"It's spectacular that when we came together, we created such a life force," Ares says. "I mean, I knew I was pretty damn strong but this is a whole other level."
We all laugh, and Hades moves behind me, running his hand over my back. "Do you want to make more babies?" he asks, brushing my hair from the base of my neck, planting kisses on my skin.
I sigh, sinking against him. "I don't think I want more babies. I think I want to help my daughters raise theirs. I want to get back the land, tend to the fields, the farmers. I want to use my gifts in a different capacity."
"Does it make you sad,” Hades asks, his voice barely a whisper, "that you didn't get more children?"
I shake my head. "I don't think sad is the word."
"What is the word?" Ares asks. His eyes meet mine and I know he's asking from the truest, deepest part of himself.
"I don't think I can be sad over what I don't have. Today, in that house, there were three generations gathered. Somehow, despite everything we've all been through, we were all there healthy and whole. And that makes me think that no, I'm not sad. I'm grateful."
"I'm grateful too," Zeus says, his finger lifting my chin, his eyes meeting mine. "I'm grateful that you found it in your heart to forgive us."
"I do forgive you," I say, my voice catching. "All of you."
"I give you my heart," Ares tells me.
"And I give you my mind," Poseidon adds.
"I give you my strength," Zeus tells me.
Finally, Hades says, "And I give you my soul."
My heart is overflowing, tears fall down my cheeks. "And I give you my forever."
The gods pull me to the floor; my clothes are pushed off and tossed aside. My hands roam over their still-taut bodies, memorizing their muscles, relishing their absolute strength.
They are my four, beautiful, chiseled gods. As their bodies move against my own, as their fingers run up my thighs and over my skin, cupping my breasts and kissing my face, I know that our family is going to be okay.
More than okay.
Abundant.
Before I was the Goddess of Fertility, I was the Goddess of the Harvest.
Now I will sow the seeds my family needs.
Devotion. Faith. Honor.
Hades kisses me, sending shivers down my body. And Poseidon kisses my breasts, my nipples hardening under his warm breath. It's been so, so long since I've been touched.
Zeus runs his hands down my thighs and Ares pushes my knees apart. I close my eyes as my body opens to them as we begin to make love.
And I realize, with a start, that maybe this is the first, real time we are making love. Last time, I had a mission, a plan. So, did they. Our eyes were hungry, and we led with our hearts. But now, as we begin again, I know it is more than that. A different kind of love.
Now, this is true love. We know there are no guarantees. We've literally been through hell and back, yet here we are, choosing one another.
Over and over again.
As my body moves against my lovers, I look up into the sky. Bright stars shimmer down, too numerous to count.
Just like the blessings in my life.
AFTER
Remedy delivers her babies with screams that fill the forest.
I'm by her side. Gaia is there too.
Her mates howl at the moon as they welcome their new pack members into the world.
She says she wasn't prepared but is any woman?
For any of this?
Life and love and birth and death.
Maybe alone, it would be impossible.
