Page 33 of The Call of Monsters
“There are a lot of us here that don’t think like that, and we hate how humans are treated here. We do as much for ourselves as we can, and any servants we have are treated kindly and well. The humans here that haven’t been assigned a house to serve are slaves. They live in huts they’ve built, and they eat what they can scavenge. We’ve tried to get Zeus to change that, and he refuses. They are cattle to him.”
Hephaestus looked at Hera.
“I’ve been stealing from the kitchen. Zeus wouldn’t give leftovers to servants unless you bugged him about it.”
Hera rolled her eyes.
“There was a lot of nagging and agreeing to let him bed me before he admitted feeding the servants more than stale bread would prevent them from dying on him. I just wanted them fed, but I had to spin it in a Zeus way that they could serve him better if they weren’t starving all the time.”
Zeus wassucha shit. And Hera got a few brownie points from me for going to extremes to get these people food. I was still deciding about Dionysus. What he said made sense, and I saw him in a different light, but what was he going to say about the blood oath? Hephaestus got right down to business.
“I get you want change, and I want Olympus to change too. Before I lay any of my weapons in your hands, I have terms.”
So did I. How about a fucking apology for how they treated Hephaestus? He was technically here saving their asses from Zeus and his tyranny. Who was defective now? They’d still be at this stalemate dealing with Zeus’s shit if it weren’t for Hephaestus’s brilliance.
“Do you want to be the one that kills Zeus?” Dionysus asked. “The only reason most of us avoided you after he hurt you was because we didn’t want to risk his wrath. The outright nasty ones are part of the problem and the ones we either want to kill or imprison.”
That was the shittiest apology I’d ever heard in my entire life, and I once listened to a yellow lab try to apologize for fear peeing on my shoe when he wasn’t used to me yet. The lab also ended up pooping on my floor before I calmed him down, and he profusely apologized for that too because it mortified him.
“I’ve long stopped caring what Olympians think about my limp. There were plenty of opportunities to show me kindness when Zeus wasn’t around, and none of you took it. We have a job to do, and I don’t care who gets to kill Zeus as long as the job gets done. I’m only turning my weapon over to your side if it’s agreed that they are returned to me to be destroyed.”
What Dionysus said next was going to change everything. I think we were all leaning forwards a little waiting. Were we going to have to kill both of them in this room because they tried to take them by force? I realized he was smarter than they had ever taught me.
“Hephaestus, I totally understand why you don’t want that weapon out in the world, but people are going to find out about it once Olympians die. I know you don’t want us to keep one because you wouldn’t feel safe. I know you might intend to destroy all of them when this is over. But think about this from our side.
“You’ll still know how to make them. You have monsters with you, so I’m guessing you’ve aligned yourself with Hades and the Underworld. Hades controls the Titans and a lot of monsters. We know he wasn’t happy getting banished there. We’d totally allow him back if he wanted, but he’s a king of this own realm now.
“We don’t want kings and queens anymore. We don’t want power and all our decisions in the hand of one person. We want a council to vote on things for the betterment of all. If Hades wants to come home, he can’t be king. Most of us agree with what Hades was trying to say before they banished him, but we don’t want him as our king.
“We also don’t want him bringing an army of monsters with those weapons to insert himself as one either. You also know how to make the weapon, and you have plenty of reasons to hate us. You might feel safe if we don’t have that weapon at all, butwewouldn’t feel safe knowing you can make more, and Hades could bring an army of monsters here.”
I think that offended every single person in the room that wasn’t an Olympian. I know Hephaestus told them not to, but my monsters were vehemently defending Hades. Hades kidnapped me to serve a purpose, but I knew he wouldn’t come here with an army of monsters to make himself king. It just wasn’t his style. My father interjected.
“Hello. May I speak? I’ve been planning most of this with Hades. I was with him when we plotted to get rid of Demeter. Hades has an alliance with my realm, but we wouldn’t help him slaughter you to make himself king. Several of the people in this room wanted to wipe you all out because of what you did when you were off pretending to be gods, but it was Hades that wanted to spare as many people as possible.
“It was Hades’s idea to do exactly what you are talking about here and spare as many people as possible. He wants to open the gates and give the humans here the option of going home. Hell also has an alliance with the Fae, and our trade has benefitted both realms. Hades hopes you’ll be open to opening your gates to several realms and the supernatural community. I am a duke in Hell and have the ears of the kings. We have a well-respected Fae ambassador in Hell. We can try to make trade happen with all three realms. This was Hades’s plan, not inserting himself as king.”
“I also have no intention of returning for revenge for how I was treated over my limp. I started working on this weapon to protect myself from Zeus. He has a long memory and a bad temper. I didn’t want to risk him remembering throwing me through several realms and getting mad enough about it to come to do it again. I perfected it when I found out Demeter was terrorizing the Underworld. I didn’t make this weapon so I could kill all of you. It was for protection, and then I made it when I found out what Demeter was doing.”
Hera just sniffed.
“I’veneverliked her. She worshipped everything about Zeus. He could do no wrong in her eyes. When she got pregnant with Persephone and Dionysus, she was certain he would make her his queen. She was just a bedmate, and he took her to bed before he decided no new Olympians should be born. She took it out onmewhen he avoided her after he had her a few times. Like I control what he does with his cock. If I did, he’d be a eunuch.”
I was on board with Hera cutting Zeus’s cock off before she killed him. Based on the glittering look in Pavlina’s unusual eyes, she wanted to hold him down while Hera did it. If I still had a cell phone, I’d video it and blast it all over whatever social media existed in the Underworld for all the demigods that weren’t chosen to live in Olympus. And I was sure there were plenty sired by Zeus down there.
“Can we make him a eunuch before we kill him?” Pavlina asked. “Shove that rapist cock down his throat before we slit it.”
Hera just grinned.
“I like you. What’s your name?”
We hadn’t really had introductions when Hera crashed, and we still hadn’t. Hera knew me as the girl in her son’s bed who took a class about her, but she still didn’t know my name, and this was the first time she bothered to ask any of our names. Hephaestus went around introducing us, and now I had Hera’s attention.
“River, if we end this, youmuststay and have dinner with me before I leave. I need to get to know the woman who has captured my son’s heart.”
I gulped, but I agreed. I got she had changed, but if what Hephaestus and Hera said were true about the two of them being close before Zeus hurt him, I imagined she’d hurtmein some sort of goddess mama bear rage if I hurt Hephaestus. As much as she said she had changed and I believed her, having fuckingHeraas the mother of the guy I was dating could get nasty. I knew all about how creative she got when she wanted to torment someone.
Hephaestus just kissed the top of my head.
