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“I have asked Persephone to marry me,” Hades said.
“The whole world is aware,” said Hera, placing her hand on Zeus’s shoulder. “And if they were not before, Demeter’s storm will remind them.”
Hades narrowed his eyes, uncertain of her intentions.
“Are you saying you do not approve, Hera?” he asked, the words slipping from between his teeth—a threat, barely veiled by his anger.
“It is not for me to approve,” she replied. “That is the job of my husband.”
Her words disgusted him, mostly because he knew she resented them. Everyone knew that Hera’s role as the Goddess of Marriage had been essentially overshadowed by Zeus’s approval. In the aftermath of her last attempt to overthrow him, he ceased to trust any unions she might approve of.
This was all a game.
Zeus reached for Hera’s hand, covering it with his own. Hades could only stare. He was used to his brother’s boisterous laugh, his booming voice, his unbearable ribbing, and yet Zeus remained unnervingly quiet.
Hades was not used to this subdued god, but he recognized him. He was the version of his brother that might have done great things. The one who had rescued him and Poseidon from the belly of their father, the one who had secured alliances and defeated the Titans.
“You once wished me happiness,” Hades said.
“I did,” Zeus said. “But as I recall it, you also never told me who it was that had gained your affection.”
“Thatneverbothered you,” Hades countered. “You know what the Fates have said.”
“The Fates have given you a lover, not a wife,” Zeus replied.
Hades’s hands fisted, and he hated the truth of those words.
“Now, my dear, do not be so hard on Hades,” Hera said and bent so her head was near his. Hades wondered if she could only stand to be beside him now because he was a eunuch. “He is very much in love with the daughter of Demeter.”
Hades seethed.
Zeus looked at his wife. Their noses brushed but their lips did not touch.
“Will you deny me?” Hades asked.
“I am saying that if you are to marry, it will be because I have given you that gift.”
“So you want to make this about power?”
He knew in some measure that would be the case. It was why Zeus consulted his oracle before arranging marriages, but Hades had never thought it would look likethis.
“It is always about power,” said Zeus. “Your first mistake was thinking it never was.”
Hades returned to the Underworld in a foul mood—even fouler when he found Hermes in his bedroom with Persephone. He was holding up two short dresses, neither possessing enough fabric to cover her completely.
“You should wear this. Hades won’t like it, but you’ll blend in,” the god was saying.
“What’s going on?” Hades asked.
Persephone whirled, eyes wide, but when she saw him, she frowned.
“Are you okay?” She took a step forward and then halted. “What happened with Zeus?”
“Nothing,” he snapped. “What’s happening here?”
“I…um…Hermes was…”
“Sephy has to go to a sex club,” said Hermes.
