Page 27 of Learn My Lesson
2 Meg is one of my favorite characters of all time. She’s so damned jaded, and yet she wants to hope for more.
HADES
Things are going according to plan.
I should be delighted beyond measure. Victory. Revenge. It all lies just over the horizon. This is the moment I’ve wanted ever since that bastard in Olympus declared my sentence all those years ago. Exile. A punishment I may have admired if it weren’t leveled against me. Worse than the sweet oblivion of death. The moment you stop breathing, your heart ceases to beat…that’s the moment you’re beyond pain. Exile means to live with the agony of knowing you can never go home, that the people who you cared about the most continue to live on without you.
To know how replaceable you truly are.
If that were Zeus’s only sin, I might have been willing to let it go. Not easily, but I know better than to waste time and resources chasing an old grudge. But no, exile wasn’t enough for Zeus. He had to take everything from me.
I aim to return the favor.
I unbutton my suit jacket and sit behind my desk. The last few hours have left me tired, but certain business is best conducted before dawn. This call is one of them. I pick up the phone and dial from memory. Some knowledge never leaves us. It rings for several long moments before a man answers. “It better be good to be calling me at this hour.”
That tone reaches through time and space. For a moment, I’m that foolish twenty-year-old man-child who believes I’m immortal and that nothing bad could ever happen to me because I have power. I didn’t know what power was then, not in any meaningful way. “Hello, Zeus.”
The man who once proclaimed we were close enough to be brothers, even if no blood connected us, inhales sharply. That little sound pleases me greatly. I’ve managed to surprise him, which is a coup all its own. He finally says, “Hades. Have to say, you’re the last person I expected to hear from. Surprised to find you’re still alive.”
I suspected that the scattering of attempts on my life over the years could be traced back to him. Now I know for sure. Anger rises in a steady beat, but I throttle it back. Rage has no place in this conversation, not when one misstep means defeat. “I think we both know nothing as mundane as a hired hit is enough to remove me.”
“Maybe not you, but others aren’t so lucky.” Zeus laughs, the sound bright and happy. He’s always been able to do that, to fill a room with his joy—and to flip it off like a switch.?1 “Why call me now? Surely you’ve not gone senile enough to think I’ll let you back into Olympus.”
I would burn that city to ash before I set foot in it again voluntarily. “Hardly.” I keep my tone light. So light. “I found something you’ve misplaced.”
“What’s that?” Caution now, as if he finally realizes that I’m still a danger to him.
I let the moment spin out for several beats, enjoying this. “I’ve hired a new employee. Someone I think you may know.”
“Hades,” he warns.
I ignore it. “He’s rather beautiful. Blond. Strong. Piercing blue eyes that remind me of someone…” I chuckle.
“Hercules.” Now all joy is gone from Zeus, leaving only the danger beneath. “What’s to say I didn’t exile him just like I did with you?”
“Come now. It doesn’t matter if you did. He may not be your heir, but he’s your son. A traitorous son is still a son. You never release the things you own, Zeus. Not permanently. I suspect this was all to teach him a less, prompting him to come crawling home to Daddy.” I smile. “He’s rather self-righteous, isn’t he? All he needs is a shining set of armor to go with his hero complex. Truly, you should thank me for snatching him off the street.”
“That boy is no longer mine, but I’ll kill him myself before I allow him to be used against me.” There it is. The fury that made Zeus the force to be reckoned with. Once upon a time, I admired and feared the man in equal measure. No longer.
In my part of Carver City, I am the monster others fear. I am the spider in the web I intend to draw my enemy to. Hercules is nothing more than bait. “You can try. You can fail. He’s mine now, Zeus. Maybe using him until there’s nothing left will be enough to begin to atone for your sins.” I hang up before he can respond. The phone immediately rings, but I ignore it. Let him stew in his rage the same way I have for decades.
Exile. For nothing more than stepping into the role that was meant for me from birth. There is meant to be a balance in Olympus. Thirteen titles to rule the city, to oversee the population’s needs and ensure no one goes without. When I was young and just as foolish as Hercules is now, I thought that balance would persevere despite Zeus’s thirst for power. It never occurred to me that he’d smile to my face while planning to cut my heart from my chest.
I sit back in my chair and attempt to shrug off the weight of the past. He won’t be able to stop from striking back at me over this. I’ll be ready when he does.
In the meantime, I’ll fulfill my threat of breaking Hercules apart piece by piece. The man may not exhibit the sins of his father, but no one grows up in that gilded hell Olympus without being tainted beyond words. Even if he fought against it at one time, he’s not strong enough to hold out indefinitely. I can’t guarantee that, even with Hercules’s history, he won’t return to Olympus when Zeus calls. Meg would be hurt beyond measure.
No, it’s time to start binding him to us in every way. Until he’s happy on his knees. Until he never considers his other options. If I relish the challenge? Well, I’m only human.
The next step begins today.
1 Zeus is one of those guys who’s fucking terrifying because he’s charismatic. I picture him as kind of a Jeff Daniels by way of Godless.
HERCULES
Last night feels like a fever dream. I might believe it to be exactly that if not for the faint ache along my back where Hades flogged me. I’m not bruised, but there are light marks on my skin. I stare at them a long time, conflicted. I wanted them last night. I want them now. It’s not the craving for this lifestyle that makes me doubt myself, though.?1
It’s the craving for him.
