“Read to me.” Apollo said handing Glory Paradise Lost.
“Alright.” She’d barely made it through a stanza before her bra was off. She wasn’t sure that she wanted to have sex with him.
The Eve of The Wedding
Apollo woke up alone in Glory’s bedroom in Avalon. He rolled over into her pillow that still smelt like her hair and took in her scent. He loved her so much that he could almost eat her. He wondered where she was. He didn’t like not knowing. Apollo got out of bed to go and hunt Glory down. He scoured the whole house but could find neither hide nor hair of her. He pulled out his phone to activate the tracking beacon. Evidently she was still in Avalon. Apollo found his shoes and went outside into the grounds, his pace picked up as he scoured the Capability Brown landscape. He broke into a run as he approached the orchard.
“There you bloody are.” Apollo said as Glory came into sight.
“Good morning.” Glory said brightly from up a ladder, she noticed that he was wearing a pair of loafers “You’re not wearing the right sort of shoes for jogging. Those won’t give you proper support. Your arches will collapse. God I sound like someone’s mum. Over the last two days I’ve become sensible. I don’t like it.”
“What are you doing out here this early.” he said trying hard to look like he hadn’t been panicking.
“Picking apples,” she said pointing at the basket near the base of the ladder. “I don’t know why but I keep thinking about them.”
“That’s a strenuous activity.” he said moving to the base of the ladder and was holding it in place.
“Have you ever had one of these?” she asked climbing down from the ladder. Apollo took her hand as she climbed down and then wouldn’t let it go.
“No I haven’t.” he said. Glory picked one out of the basket, took a bite and then offered it to him.
“They’re yummy.” Immortals could tolerate some fruit that they grew themselves. Hades’ pomegranates were legendary.
“They are good aren’t they.” he picked up the basket for her. Apollo put his arm around her waist and steered her back towards the house where she couldn’t get into any trouble.
“I’m think I’m going to go back to Hackney in an hour or so.” Glory said as they walked into the house.
“Do you have to?”
“Yes, I’ve got to prepare for a certain wedding tomorrow.” Glory said. Apollo didn’t like Glory talking about it. He pushed her against the garden wall, rolled her skirt up and pushed her knickers aside.
***
Glory got back to Hackney and dumped her stuff in the hallway. She went down to the kitchen to find a melancholic Liberty sitting there on her own staring at the table.
“I don’t want to go through with it.” Liberty said.
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Glory said.
“I do.”
“Are we the only two in?”
“Yes, Bea and Honour have gone to Valhalla to train.” A solitary tear rolled down Liberty’s cheek. It fell to the ground as a small ruby.
“Why do you have to?”
“Because it’s a fixed point in time.”
“Why are they making you marry him?”
“Who, my father?”
“Yes and Bea and Athena.”
“Eventually one of them will have to come out on top. My dad doesn’t think it’ll be Apollo. But I think that’s an educated guess rather than it being set in stone.”
“They’re playing us off of each other. I think it’s time we both came straight with each other. You’re my best friend and I love you. We’re each other’s only chance of getting out of this whole mess in one piece. I think there’s something in our natures that they’re using. If they’re expecting Apollo to fire the first shot of the war then he needs to be at liberty to do so,” Glory paused for a moment “and as far as I am concerned, I’m his mental little weak spot. We all know what he’s like when he’s in love. I’m the barrel they’ll get him over. Ares’s attempt at courtship has pushed him down the path of self-destruction.”
“Are you in love with him? Please don’t be, he’s unhinged”
“I know that rationally but that doesn’t mean I can help myself. He keeps begging me to just trust him. I don’t know my feelings. I think I care for Ares too. Are you in love with Bea/Gravity?”
“Yes. We’re both buggered aren’t we?”
“We’re doomed.”
“There’s got to be a way out of this.”
Glory’s phone started ringing; it was her new best friend. “Hi Hera, no he’s not here I’m afraid. No not I’ve seen him since yesterday. No he’s not rung or text me today. I’m sure he’s probably just hungover somewhere. Are you sure that he isn’t at Aphrodite’s? Oh really. Sectioning her might be a little extreme. Of course, I’ll let you know if I hear from him. Ok, bye Hera.”
“Ares is missing right?”
“Shit. Fuck. Shit. Fuck, fuck, fuck.” A tear ran down Glory cheek “He has to be dead. How do you kill the god of war and murder? That’s my big idea down the pan. What are we going to do now?”
“Fuck.” Liberty said. She could see Glory begin to panic. She had never seen Glory panic before and it was an unnerving sight.
“Ok we need to act like nothing’s wrong and go through the motions tomorrow. We’ll get through this. Can you predict anything?” Glory asked. She had come round a little bit more to the idea of marrying Ares and had thought perhaps they would be happy together.
“All I’ve been able to see is you asleep for the last few days.”
“They were using me to get Apollo to get rid of Ares. How brutal. I don’t think we can trust Athena.”
“There’s one other thing that I still can’t fathom.” Liberty said.
Glory pulled out the pamphlet that Jeanette had given her. “Who the fuck is Jesus?”
“Exactly, who is this god.” Liberty said.
“Oh shit, I’ve got to go ring Astrid and make sure that they’ve picked up the slack on KW2. Shanghai got bombed today.” Glory said putting her head in her hands. She really disliked Astrid, it was the cherry on the top.
The Wedding
Liberty woke up at 5am, she went and woke the others up before she got in the shower. After blow drying her hair Liberty put a pair of jogging bottoms and a baggy top on and went into Glory’s room so that Glory could fix her chignon. By 6am all the nymphs and demi-gods that Hera had decided were to be her bridesmaids had started to arrive. Honour had a ticket system going that operated like a night club cloakroom: she took your name, found your dress and sent you upstairs to change. There was no faffing involved and once you’d changed you had to go sit in the garden on benches that she’d magicked up. She’d taken their TV outside and hooked it up to the DVD player through an elaborate network of extension leads so that everyone could watch romcoms out there once they were ready. Bea was then in charge of making sure that everyone had flowers in their hair and the right bouquets to carry. The kitchen looked like Columbia Road on a Sunday. Asia turned up at 7am resplendent in her mother of the bride outfit. She was there to do Liberty’s make up.
***
Once Glory had fixed Liberty’s hair she went and drew a bath. Her mind was whirring with strategies to get around Team Bea and Apollo – who she wasn’t sure she wanted to get around, even if rationally that was a bad idea – but as of yet nothing was sticking. Maybe she should just throw her hat into the ring too? Once she’d got out of the bath she went back to her room and dried her hair, then she arranged it into a messy bun. Glory checked her phone and she’d had four missed calls from Apollo and twenty seven from Hera. She rang Hera first as she thought she’d be the least difficult to deal with.
“Hi Hera. No I’ve not heard anything from Ares yet. I’ll ring you straight after if I hear from him. I’m sure he’ll turn up soon. Yes everything is under control here. The cars will be turning up in an hour or so. Ok, bye.” Glory said hanging up. Poor Hera was clinging to the id
ea that Ares was still drunk somewhere. Glory didn’t want to ring Apollo but she knew that if she didn’t he’d turn up at the house.
“Hello, I’ve got a missed call from you.” Glory said.
“I just wanted to hear your voice.” Apollo said.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes, I’m fine.” there was a long pause before he added “I love you.”
“I love you too.” Glory didn’t know whether she meant it. Apollo hung up. That was all he needed to hear.
Glory went downstairs to get her dress from Honour. There was a sizable queue that went out of the front door, down the garden path and onto the street. Eventually she got hers and went back upstairs to change and put her make up on. She should have just fast tracked her dress last night. Glory then went back downstairs to relieve Honour of her duties so she could get ready herself. Prometheus turned up half an hour later with the first of the wedding cars. Honour was back by then and had started shepherding the ready bridesmaids from the garden and into the cars to head to Olympus. This wedding was turning out to be nearly as complicated as The Second Korean War, or The Third World War as the mortals had started calling it. Eventually all of the bridesmaids, including Bea and Honour, had been sent off to Olympus and it was just Glory left with Liberty and her parents. They got in the last car together.
“Well you do look lovely dear.” Asia said to Liberty.
“Thanks mum.” Liberty said.
“It’s nice weather for a wedding.” Glory said.
“Yes it’s fairly sunny.” Prometheus said.
The car dropped them outside the temple where Apollo and Liberty were getting married. Asia went in first and sat down at the front followed shortly after by Glory, who as Maid of Honour went and stood next to Hermes as best man. Amongst the mortals of Britain there was a tradition that the best man gets to sleep with the chief bridesmaid but Apollo was as sure as Hell not going to let that happen. There were a few mutters when Glory had entered the room, she scrubbed up well. Prometheus and Liberty followed them up the aisle a minute later and the ceremony led by Hymen, the god of marriage, moved onwards. Vows were taken. Rings were exchanged. Apollo and Liberty were married.
Everyone made their way to the reception. Glory was escorted out by Hermes. She leaned in and said in a quiet voice “Has Ares turned up yet?”
Hermes looked at her blankly and simply said “No.”
Glory straightened herself out. The pair shared a glance that said that they were both on the same page. They both knew he was dead but they weren’t going to say it out loud as they both knew who had done it. Perhaps Hermes was going to be her perfect ally.
“You look lovely today. The flowers in your hair are beautiful.” Hermes said as they sat down, adding quietly “Aphrodite is after you, watch out.”
“Yes blue is rather my colour.” Glory said acknowledging his warning with a nod.
Toasts to the happy couple were made and there were speeches by Apollo, Hermes, Zeus and Prometheus followed by more wine. The guests all made happy chatter about how lovely the ceremony had been, how lovely the bride looked and how lovely the bridesmaids’ dresses had been.
Glory spotted Aphrodite at a table at the back. She was ignoring all the other guests around her to stare at Glory. Glory could also see and hear Hera pacing outside the window leaving Ares yet another voicemail message telling him that she was very disappointed in him for not turning up and that she was even more disappointed that Glory, who looked so delightful today, didn’t have a ring on her finger yet. Glory noticed Eros in a corner chain smoking and looking restless.
Apollo kept trying to look happy for the crowds but all he wanted to do was watch Glory and make sure that she was fine. It displeased him that she was with Hermes and that the pair of them kept leaning in and talking in hushed voices. He once caught Athena’s eye who nodded at him. She approved of his performance today. Apollo occasionally glanced at his father Zeus who had no idea that anything untoward was going on at all. Metis had finally deserted him. Bea, or more accurately, Gravity watched everyone.
The dancing began and after the first dance Glory and Hermes took to the floor for a waltz.
“He’s definitely dead?” Glory asked.
“I can’t find him anywhere so he has to be.” Hermes said. The pair were talking in tones so low that no one else could hear them.
“Who did it?”
“Apollo must have. Ares announced to the room that you had accepted his proposal. Apollo didn’t take it well, although he held his composure for quite some time. You’re in danger Glory. What’s your next move?”
“I know I’m in danger, but how do I get out of it?”
Glory felt light headed all of a sudden. She left Hermes on the dance floor and went outside to get some fresh air. Hermes had offered to come with her but she said she’d be fine on her own. She walked out of the room and into the cool breeze. The band for the evening was playing soft jazz and a few wayward notes carried through the air and out of the hall. There was a small garden outside and Glory wandered through it and sat down on a bench. Perhaps she could align herself with Hermes? That could work maybe. She rested there for a few minutes on her own until she was joined by Eileithyia.
“Have you had a nice day?” Glory asked cheerily.
“Lovely yes, thank you.” Eileithyia said admiring the sunset.
“Congratulations by the way. We’ll be seeing more of each other. You’re extremely early on. I take it that the father is Ares; I heard you two were engaged. Mother will be pleased.” Eileithyia said.
“I’m sorry what?”
“Oh you didn’t know. Well you’re pregnant dear. Feeling a little faint is quite common I shouldn’t worry.” Eileithyia patted Glory on the tummy before wandering back inside.
Glory’s phone buzzed from a text from Apollo that read ‘Are you ok?’ to which she just replied ‘No’ Glory was in shock. It had to be Apollo’s. She never slept with Thor or Ares, and she had never gone all the way with Loki. No one else had been anywhere near her for ages. Apollo said that he had a fucking condom. The absolute bastard, she was sure he’d done it on purpose. She was going to kill him for getting territorial with her womb without her permission. Dammit this was another thing she’d have to factor into her plan. Not that she’d managed to come up with a robust one yet.
“You’re pregnant with Ares’s baby?” Aphrodite said.
“No.” Glory said standing up and facing Aphrodite “No I’m not.”
“But that’s what Eileithyia just said” Aphrodite’ eyes were feral.
Eros appeared behind her and was approaching her slowly. “Mum, just put the box down.”
“How can you be the goddess of love and beauty if the love of your life is mad about someone else? He’s already bought the ring and now you’re having his baby.” Aphrodite pulled a gun out.
“Mum, don’t do anything stupid.” Eros said.
Apollo opened the door and stepped outside. Glory’s text had worried him and now he was greeted by a scene from a made for television movie.
“You’re pregnant with Ares’s baby.” Aphrodite said.
“It’s not Ares’s baby, it’s Apollo’s.” Glory shouted, Coronis flashing before her eyes. Eros began to run but it was too late Aphrodite pulled the trigger and Glory felt a surge of power. To Aphrodite’s mind Glory had killed her. Aphrodite had based her existence on how others felt about her. Ares’s opinion had mattered the most and without his love she was nothing. Thus Glory became the goddess of love. Glory hadn’t noticed that in Aphrodite’s hand had been the box that Eros had given her. This was the same box that stored her heartache from when Zeus separated her and Apollo. Aphrodite knew exactly what it was when she found it after breaking into the house in Hackney. She had intended to use it to barter for Ares’s affection but the baby bombshell had blown her away. When Aphrodite died her body quickly turned back to sea foam and waves. As the wave crashed it crushed the box into fragments. The
pain that Glory had compartmentalised and never dealt with came flooding back and drowned her. There was nothing but darkness.
PART IV: AND LET THERE BE LIGHT
The Darkness
A girl woke up in a bedroom in a house. The room was bright but when she went over to the window there was nothing outside but darkness. The girl left the room and walked down the hallway and tried to open the door into what she thought was the library but it wouldn’t give. Next she tried the music room which did open. On the sideboard was a big glass of ambrosia which she was glad to see as she was very hungry. The girl drank it all and then noticed that there was a sheet of music on the piano. She went over and picked it up. She had never seen it before. The piece was called ‘Ode to Her’. She sat down and played it through once, she liked it. The girl thought she’d go and try the library door again and this time it opened. Unlike a normal library, the book shelves were all empty. On the large mahogany table in the middle of room however were three slim volumes. Along their spines they all had the words The Lives and Deaths of The Gods. The first volume in the series was entitled Valour, the second was Ares and the third was Aphrodite. She thought that these names were familiar but she couldn’t remember who they were exactly. The girl thought she had better start at the beginning and picked up Valour. She took it to the armchair next to the roaring fire.
The girl felt like she knew most of the book off by heart and skipped to the last chapter The Death of Valour. It was very short:
Valour had been the first to fall in The Great War. She was a victim of necessity. Valour was displaced by Gravity who killed her so he could take her place as a Valkyrie and be near Liberty and Glory. She had been lured by Athena out into the open and cleanly murdered with a merciful bullet. Her body transformed into a new genus of lilacs. It is still to be seen why Gravity truly needed to be in that house and near the sacred Glory. He lies.
The Valkyrie Page 21
