Justin had widened the vortex. He was feeding the Void.
"You have exactly ten seconds," Justin replied. "I'd hurry."
Nine.
Eight.
"Ten sssecondsss for what?" Ekhidna demanded. "What do you exsspect usss to do? You've killed usss all. Even your precssiousss Hera!"
Six.
Five.
Typhon and Justin stared at each other.
Four.
Three.
Two.
And then in one swift, smooth motion, Typhon seized Ekhidna by the throat and hurled her into the Void.
The last thing any of us saw was her shocked face. A single black tear slid down her cheek.
Then the Vortex exploded in a blaze of light.
When I was finally able to look back, it was gone.
And so was Typhon.
CHAPTER FIFTY
"He used her to shut the vortex," Jason repeated in disbelief.
I nodded dumbly. The world had been saved, by Typhon of all things, and I was still alive to see it. I should've been happy. But I wasn't. I was numb.
The orishas had gone. The battle had drained them. The witches had disappeared too. Everyone needed rest. Badly.
But my Heroes remained.
"After everything she did to bring him back," Demeter added, shaking her head.
"I guess it must really be awful inside the Void," Morgan murmured.
"Is it weird that I feel ... bad for her?" Jason asked.
Demeter, Ares, and I looked at each other.
"Yes," we all answered in unison.
Justin was noticeably silent. He knew I hadn't forgiven him. He'd taken a terrible risk for me. He'd risked the entire world. In the end, it had worked out, but it just as easily might not have.
I still loved him, and he still loved me. But things were different now. We saw each other differently. We didn't know how to talk to these new versions of each other yet. It might be a while before we did.
"I still can't believe there's no sign of Typhon," Ares grumbled. "I mean, he just ran off with his tail between his legs."
"He's gone. Ekhidna's gone. We won," Carson replied. "We actually won."
"Typhon's gone, but he'll be back," I reminded her. "There will always be Chaos in the world. There has to be, or there wouldn't be change. And as long as there's Chaos, there will be monsters like Typhon and Ekhidna who take it too far."
"That's a cheerful thought," Darren muttered.
"Here's another one: we're still cut off from the Heavens," Demeter said.
I nodded.
"Shouldn't getting rid of Ekhidna have broken her spell?" Morgan asked.
"Not necessarily," Darren answered. "And Typhon might be doing something to keep it going."
"It wouldn't surprise me," I said. "Typhon's older than Ekhidna. He's more powerful and more knowledgeable."
"So, basically, we got rid of Evil Lite, and now we have Mega Evil," Darren sighed. "And bonus: he's also uber-pissed because you made him kill his girlfriend."
"More or less," Ares said.
"So we didn't win," Carson sighed.
"We won for now," Demeter corrected, squeezing her shoulder. "That's the best we can ever do."
"So, what do we do now?" Morgan asked.
"I'll return to the Heavens to permanently seal the Void and to report on what's happened," I answered. "Ares and Demeter will stay here in case Typhon makes a move."
"But you'll be back, right? Because we still have to take on Typhon," Jason replied.
"I'll be back," I promised.
I looked at Demeter and Ares, and we left the others. The ritual to ascend back to the Heavens was intensely private. Even Heroes weren't permitted to witness it. The only mortal who ever had, in all of history, was Justin.
He followed us.
"I don't have a lot of time, Justin," I told him, letting Demeter and Ares walk ahead. "Typhon could make his move at any moment. I need to be back here for when he does."
"Do you always get this emotional when you say goodbye?" he asked wryly.
I didn't smile. Neither did he.
"I love you," he said.
And he meant it. With every fibre of his being. In the fullest way that word could ever be meant. He loved me the way I loved existence. He would give anything up for me. Anything.
I'd never been loved like that before. It was staggering. Intimidating. I felt vulnerable somehow. Exposed. Like it was reaching inside me and trying to make me love him back the same way, a way I wasn't ready for.
I took a deep breath. Justin's eyes were full of that incomprehensible, unshakeable love. But they were also full of the fear that I'd never forgive him.
In the end, even my vindictiveness was no match for his love. It swallowed up my anger. It outlasted my temper. Battered, bruised, but never broken, his love would also remain.
"I love you too," I breathed.
It was a relief to say it, even, apparently, when I was furious at him.
Justin mirrored my relief, multiplied by a thousand.
"I know you're mad," he continued. "I get that. And I'm sorry. But I'm not sorry about what I did. I'd do it again."
I gritted my teeth. "That's not ..."
"I won't lie to you, Hera," he interrupted. "I won't ever lie to you, even when it's something you don't want to hear. So that's why I'm telling you. In case it ... changes your mind about ..."
I leaned in and kissed him. I kissed him deeply, passionately, until I was sure he felt what I felt.
"I change my mind a lot," I admitted, when I finally pulled away. "But I've only ever changed my heart once, and it was for you."
With that, I left him and the mortal world.
But I would be back soon.
Very soon.
EPILOGUE
Zeus took the news better than I thought he would. The last time we were in the mortal world together, Hermes had told me that Zeus wouldn't mind if I loved Justin, not after all that Zeus had done to me, all his endless unfaithfulness.
Hermes had been half-right.
We'd fought. But that was nothing new for Zeus and me. If anything, that was where we shone, where we were most comfortable with each other. On the field of emotional battle. Our fury and our passion were so intertwined, there was no way to separate them.
Besides, I would've been insulted if Zeus had simply let me go.
So he fought for me. He fought me for me. And I won, as it should be.
Zeus and I came to an understanding. We would still rule together. There was no way around that. We were too evenly-matched and ambitious to let the other take over. But our marriage was finished. We were both finally free. And after the grief and bitterness and anger faded, we both felt the same relief. That was how we knew we'd done the right thing.
In a strange way, Typhon's return proved remarkably opportune for us. The other gods were nicely distracted by that news. They barely even cared about the politics of our failed marriage. It was almost insulting.
But even I was worried about Typhon. Ekhidna had been blissfully predictable, at least until recently. Typhon was new, and that made him extremely dangerous
Or so I confessed to Hestia, one of the few gods I ever opened up to in the Heavens. She'd listened patiently, as she always did. Her implacable calm infuriated me, which she knew and remained perfectly calm about. But her unimpeachable poise was also a quality I desperately needed when everyone else was panicking.
We were walking silently in one of the gardens. I was reflecting on our relationship, Typhon, Justin, and a million other things, when I heard something strangely familiar. Something I'd heard before, but never in the Heavens. It took me painfully long to place it.
A cough.
But gods didn't cough. Gods couldn't get sick. That was impossible.
Terror gripped me. I grabbed Hestia. "Tell the gods to evacuate the Heavens. Get them to the Elemental Realms. Or the Dreamlands. As many as those worlds can bear. Anyone left goes t
o the mortal world."
Hestia paled. She didn't panic though. That would've been even more terrifying than what was happening.
She closed her eyes and then opened them again.
"It's done," she answered. "They're already moving. What's wrong?"
"Typhon," I answered tightly. "He's infected the Heavens."
"Infected? With what? How?" she asked.
"A plague," I answered. "One that affects gods."
One that was almost certainly fatal.
I went cold. Typhon had made his move. Now it was time for me to make mine.
Hera, Queen of Mortals (Goddess Unbound) Page 30
