The Goddess Test Boxed Set: Goddess Interrupted\The Goddess Inheritance\The Goddess Legacy (82 page)

I bit the inside of my cheek. Zeus had no way of knowing the
nature of my relationship with Hades, and I was more than happy to allow his
imagination to run wild.

“Is this your endgame?” said Zeus. “Marry Hades and become his
queen?”

“I will never be anyone's queen again,” I said. “I am a queen
in my own right, and neither you nor anyone else on this damn council can take
that from me.”

“But that is what you want, isn't it?” said Zeus. “To be
Hades's wife.”

I narrowed my eyes. “I am your wife whether I like it or not. I
will not let you out of that contract no matter how you try to entice me.”

“So be it, my queen,” he said, and he bowed his head mockingly.
But as he straightened, his mask slipped, and for a moment I saw his weariness.
“If you come back, I will allow the children to marry whomever they want.”

“You will allow them to marry whomever they want regardless of
what I do or don't do,” I said. “Marriage isn't your domain.”

“As you have so clearly displayed. Very well. If you wish to
start this war—”

“I haven't started anything,” I snapped. “You're the one who
did this. You're the one who destroyed our marriage, who broke your promises,
who did everything you possibly could to make me miserable. This might be a game
to you, but I will not allow you to ruin their lives, as well.”

I turned on my heel and stormed toward the portal. Before I
could reach it, however, Zeus said in a quiet voice that carried, “You win,
Hera. Ares and Hephaestus will not marry anyone they do not love.”

Taking a deep breath, I refused to acknowledge him. Just
another move in our endless war. A way to twist and turn me until I was
unrecognizable even to myself.

“But you do not get to say what my daughters can and cannot do.
They are mine, and if our marriage is nothing to you, then your role as their
stepmother means nothing, either. You will bless the marriages I choose for
them, or I will hold you accountable for treason against the council, and you
will be stripped of your title and domain.”

“Fine,” I snarled. “Do whatever you want with your
bastards.”

“Oh, I will,” he murmured. “That's one promise I assure you I
will keep.”

* * *

Five days later, Hades knocked on the door to my
chambers in the Underworld. Despite what Zeus may have thought, I hadn't so much
as kissed Hades, nor had I tried. Some relationships took time, and because I
would never be able to marry him, I couldn't pressure him into something he may
not have been ready for. But I would be there for him, always. That was one
thing Zeus couldn't take from me.

“Come in,” I called. I sat in front of a mirror, decorating my
hair with diamonds. It never ceased to amaze me how many jewels were scattered
carelessly around the Underworld, as if Hades couldn't be bothered to pick them
up. On the surface, they would have been worth a fortune to any mortal; yet it
was just another example of how Hades's values were different. How he didn't
care for the material or the conventional. He cared about the forgotten. About
people like me.

Hades slipped inside the bedroom. “Hera? Oh. I am not
interrupting, am I?”

“No, of course not,” I said. “Come help me, would you,
please?”

Obediently he moved behind me, and his careful fingers took
over for me, placing the jewels amidst the length of my braid. For a long
moment, he didn't speak.

“Is everything all right?” I said, watching him in the mirror.
He didn't raise his eyes to meet mine. Instead he paused and pursed his
lips.

“I have something I must tell you,” he said quietly. “And I
fear you will not like it.”

My insides grew hollow, and the joy that usually filled me when
I was with him drained away. “What is it?”

More silence. He took his time finishing my hair, and at last,
when he gently set the braid back over my shoulder, he said, “I am
betrothed.”

My body turned to ice. For a moment I ceased to exist, and he
finally looked at me. Not even the piercing stare of his silver eyes could
revive me.

Married. He was getting married.

“I have been considering it for a while now. I'm depending far
too much on your generosity and guidance, and it isn't fair of me to continue to
do so. You have a life on the surface. Your sons, if nothing else, and I cannot
endure the guilt of keeping you here.”

He thought I didn't like it down here? He thought I stayed out
of obligation? “Hades, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I'm happy down here.
With you.”

He shook his head. “That is the trick of this place—it makes
you feel as if you are happier than you really are. Down here, you are hiding
from your life, and I cannot allow it to continue. You need to return to
Olympus. You need to return to our family.”

I stood so quickly that my stool flew backward, nearly hitting
his knees. “I don't
need
to do anything I don't want
to do, and I do not want to leave.”

“Hera—”

“No, you listen to me,” I snapped. I'd never spoken to him like
this in our entire existence, but I couldn't stop myself, not anymore. “I love
you. I love you more than I've ever loved anyone. Being with you—being down here
with you, ruling at your side, it makes me happy. It gives me purpose. You can't
take that away from me.”

His expression softened. “Hera, I am not taking anything away
from you. We will always be friends, and you are welcome down here at any time.
I simply can no longer burden you—”

“You haven't burdened me.” My eyes stung with tears. “Please.
Let me stay. Don't marry her, whoever she is—”

“Persephone,” he said softly, and I froze once more.

Persephone. Demeter's daughter. So this was what Zeus had
meant. This was his game. He knew how I felt about Hades, and this was his final
move. To take him from me completely. To leave me with no one at all.

Desperation flooded me, and every nerve in my eternal body
burned. Without thinking, I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his, pouring
every ounce of passion and love and dedication I felt into that kiss. I couldn't
lose him.

For one beautiful moment, Hades set his hand on my cheek,
though he didn't kiss me back. I couldn't expect him to, not before he was
ready. But he would be someday, and when that day came—

“Hera,” he whispered, his lips brushing against mine. “You mean
a great deal to me, but Persephone and I have both chosen this. When she comes
of age, we will marry.”

“But you don't even know her.”

“I do,” he said softly. “I go up to Olympus often to visit. We
may not have the companionship you and I share, but you are my brother's wife,
and if I allowed us to happen—”

“What, you'd make him angry?” I wiped my eyes. “You'd cause the
council to crack? It's already cracked, Hades. We've already crumbled.”

Hades shook his head and reached for me again. I stepped away
before he could touch me, and he dropped his hand to his side. “The council has
not crumbled, Hera. You have. And I cannot allow us to happen, because it would
mean losing you completely. Loyalty, fidelity—those are the things that make you
who you are. I will gladly accept the first in friendship and offer it to you
unconditionally in return. But I will not allow you to push aside the second,
not when it would mean you are no longer you.”

I cried openly now. “What does it mean to be me when I have no
one? Nobody loves me—”

“I love you,” he said quietly.

“Not the way I want you to.” My voice was thick, and I had to
blink several times to force my vision back into focus. “No one does. I'm alone.
And I thought—I thought you understood that. I thought you saw me.”

“I do, Hera. I do, and that is why I cannot allow you to break
your vows no matter what my bastard of a brother does to you. You're too good
for it. You're too good for all of us. We're the ones who don't deserve
you.”

“Yet I'm the one who's alone.” I allowed a single, miserable
sob to escape my chest, taking my heart with it. “I can't bless it.”

“I know,” he said gently. “I would never ask you to.”

His kindness only made the ache inside me grow. I'd lost him
now, too, no matter how strongly he insisted he would always be there. Once
again, he'd broken his promise, just like Zeus.

But now that I knew I couldn't have him, there was one thing I
did want. “Please,” I whispered, “promise me one thing.”

“Anything.”

At last I took his hand and squeezed it, trying to memorize the
way it felt in mine. “I'm going to make sure Zeus can no longer hurt anyone. Not
me, not his children, not humanity, anyone. And I want your support.”

Wariness flashed across his face, but he'd already promised me
anything, and he nodded. “Of course. Whatever it takes.”

I sniffed and wiped my cheeks once more. He pulled me into a
hug, and I buried my face in his shoulder for the last time. Whether or not I
was invited to the Underworld as his guest, it would never be the same, not with
Demeter's daughter watching our every move. Not when he could never return the
love I felt for him, not without doing to Persephone what Zeus had done to me.
“Thank you,” I said softly. “I love you.”

“As I love you, forever and always,” he murmured. “Never forget
that.”

I nodded. Nothing in the world could ever take those words away
from me, not even my own broken heart.

* * *

I needed seven votes. Seven votes to overthrow Zeus's
rule, seven votes for me to step up and take his place.

As of the moment I returned to Olympus, I only had three.
Hades, Ares and Hephaestus were loyal to me, and there was a chance I would be
able to lure my sisters to my side. But Poseidon was firmly in Zeus's camp,
which meant I would have to sway one of the children.

I approached my sisters first. I hadn't seen Hestia in a very
long time, and though we both sobbed through our reunion, I didn't feel guilty
for leaving her behind. She'd never had any trouble finding company, and having
vowed chastity, marriage and children would never get in the way of her
relationships with our siblings. She was happy—maybe happier than all of us. And
the ugly, twisted part of me that Zeus had created hated her for it.

Demeter sat in the corner as Hestia and I greeted each other,
and once we'd finished, she cleared her throat. “As thrilled as I am that you
have returned to us, Hera, why did you ask for both of us to be here?”

I gave her a withering look, but I couldn't afford anything
more. “Zeus has control of the council,” I said. I didn't need to attend
meetings to know that. “And I suspect your voices are no longer heard.”

“Here to campaign?” said Hestia with amusement, but I leveled
my gaze at her, and her smile faded.

“I am Zeus's equal. His domain is mine as well, and we both
have the capacity to rule. After everything Zeus has done to our family, I want
to make it right. I want to give you back your voices. Your power. The respect
you deserve.”

My sisters watched me closely, their expressions giving nothing
away. If I couldn't convince them, I would have no choice.

“Hestia, you want to keep peace within the family, yes?” I
said, and she nodded. “The only way to do that is to restore the original
council. Perhaps we can keep the others on as…advisors, but we must reclaim our
rightful place as rulers.”

“But Zeus—”

“Zeus will have no say, not if we have the most votes,” I
said.

Demeter furrowed her brow. “You're suggesting a coup?”

“I am suggesting we restore order, sensibility and respect.
Nothing more. A coup would mean a war, and none of us wants that.”

“But in order to avoid it, we must give you power,” said
Demeter.

“No,” I said with more patience than she deserved. “In order to
avoid it, we must
redistribute
power among the six
of us, equally, as it has always been. If we are successful, Hades has agreed to
return to the council as a full-time member.”

“Hades supports this?” she said, her surprise in every
syllable.

“Hades supports fairness and unity. Hestia? What do you
think?”

Hestia crossed her arms over her full figure. She too had
aged—had Poseidon, as well? Were Hades and I the only ones who remained
youthful? “If what you're saying is true, then I would be supportive of
reverting to the way the council was intended to run. Equally among the six of
us.”

“Thank you,” I said, and I squeezed her hand. “Demeter?”

I could see the hesitation in her eyes, the uncertainty on her
face, the doubt in the way she hunched her shoulders—she was going to say no.
Why? Out of loyalty to Zeus?

Swallowing my pride, I knelt on the floor before her, taking
her hands exactly as my dear husband had the day she'd revealed her pregnancy.
“Demeter. Sister,” I murmured, and her gaze locked on mine. “Let us be whole
again. Not just you and I, but all of us. We won't cast Zeus out—simply restore
order. Simply fulfill our duties to humanity, the same ones we fought the Titans
for.”

Still her indecision remained. It was a pity I couldn't use my
abilities on my siblings, at least not without them knowing—but I didn't want to
force her hand. I wanted her to choose me because she thought it was the right
decision.

“I'll bless their marriage,” I said quietly. My last bargaining
chip, though offering it made a knife twist in my gut. “Be our ally, and
Persephone and Hades will be happy.”