This... was all my fault. Well, not my fault but my God's fault. All of it. Valentina, the usurping, the war, the destruction on Earth. If I had managed to keep it in my pants the one time I needed to, none of this would've ever come to pass. I felt cold and numbed with the painful realization of this truth.
Savannah and Hera were right, if I could be an honest man for once, half the troubles that found their way to me would've never existed.
As though sensing where my thoughts were taking me my Queen reached out, curling her dainty fingers around my broad wrist and holding it tightly. Like she could ground me to this moment and keep me here.
"Is that what this is all about?" I blinked, trying to understand her question while I continued to work through the things Soren had said. His words came back to me, the more important ones... To become immortal, he had to kill his own father, contain his father's immortality and he would be able to live forever.
Asher was after me. Not anyone else in this room. Just me. He wanted to kill me, claim my immortality and live to rule as the God of the Universe over Gods and Men.
But he was still mortal himself. I could kill him first - couldn't I?
"Yeah, but he was orchestrating most of everything that was happening. When the souls were released - this time around - he worked with Atlas to find the Titans. He leveraged his ability to persuade Atlas to work with him by convincing him he was going to restore the Titans to their rightful power and he'd never have to bow to Zeus again. A millennium of servitude, I suppose, got to him. Atlas helped him find all the Titans before we came to Olympus. He gave us all missions before we met any of you. To us humans, we didn't understand what we were being told, but the Titans inside of us understood the severity of what we needed to do. But Coeus didn't want the Titans back in power. He wanted to be King of the Titans - a role he believed he was entitled to over his brother, Cronos. It was only further cemented when you killed Lincoln. To Coeus, that was Cronos' fault, he wasn't strong enough to lead the strongest race in the pantheon. He convinced himself that if he played along with Asher, he would be able to claim his throne once he was done doing the Demi-God's bidding. But it became more than ruling the other Titans. He wanted to rule the humans too, he wanted to prove to them - and maybe himself - that the Titans were the rightful Gods that should be worshiped and loved. He wanted temples built in his honor, people throwing themselves at his feet. It wasn't about power, it was about glory. He wanted the world to worship him, even the other Titans. But the more Asher saw him slipping away from the original plan-"
"What is the original plan? You're stalling."
"Asher's plan was to infiltrate you, get you to trust and like him, while the Titans played the bad guy. But Coeus lost control, he led us to do things that blew Asher's cover. Like taking Valentina, that wasn't a part of the plan. But Crius was starting to worry once he had done everything Asher asked him to, Asher would have no use for him anymore and would take his powers. It was Asher who taught us how to take powers from the others, you see."
"How long was Asher on Olympus?"
"From the beginning. I let him in on the first day I moved in. He lived in the shadows, watching us all, figuring out what your strengths and weaknesses were. No one noticed him, no one would. He made himself invisible to us. Only Atlas knew he was there, because Atlas had sheltered him in his office."
All this was good and well. We knew now for sure Atlas wasn't on our side, Asher knew more about us than we did him but there was still one solid fact circling in my head. He was mortal. That's why when I struck him during the battle he had fled. He knew I could kill him.
Savannah and I spoke at the same time, "But the plan, the full plan, what is Asher up to?"
"He ran when I started hitting him with my lightning bolts, they were hurting him."
Soren turned to face me, nodding, "Yes. He's still not fully immortal and that's his greatest weakness. He thought if he took Valentina's immortality from her, it might work, I suppose that's why he ran."
When he couldn't take her immortality and he saw we were winning, the coward had fled. More unbridled anger coursed through me and my fingers flickered with electricity.
"Because Valentina is also of the Zeus bloodline." I didn't need the confirmation but Zeus wanted to hear it. His children were in danger if Asher sought his immortality.
"Yes." A crackle echoed around the room, several people jumped and it was only then I realized I had released a small lightning bolt into the ground. I stepped onto the blackened spot to cover it as I looked back at Soren. "He never intended for Earth to turn out like it has, that was... My doing. The Titans resented the humans Zeus created. They're seen as lesser beings and yet our magic is intrinsically tied to their faith. Their power within their non-power."
None of the humans who had been taken captive and left alive in the shambles of the cities Soren had left had done anything. Just like Valentina hadn't done anything. Once more, someone with far too much power for their own small brains had punished the innocent for their own desires.
"Well, with the humans enslaved in the cities, and the monsters given free range, he's going to use them. He knows you're hiding here and he's coming with them. Minotaurs, Centaurs, other creatures that believe they have been wronged by the Gods and want to see their justice done. He's going to use them to kill you and because you can't die in the Underworld, he's going to take your immortality."
That was the plan. Trap us here like sitting ducks and come, ripping from us our powers and our lives.
"You can't die in the Underworld?" Savannah was fixated on this fact, her hand tightening more around my wrist with fear.
Griffin answered her morosely, "No, it's a realm of death, not life. You being here right now means you're essentially dead, but you're not, because I'm allowing you to be here. If you were to be fatally wounded here, your soul would be trapped in your body but your body would be dead. You're dead, but you're not dead."
"That's complicated."
"That's death," Griffin said softly, looking away from us as his eyes fell to Valentina again. Absently he made his way over to her, looking lost. Savannah followed him, pity flooding her eyes. She wanted to help him, I sensed, but she was at a loss of what she could do.
"We need to kill Asher before he kills us," I distracted her from her thoughts, "and we need to fix Earth before he kills off humanity and there's no faith left for us all to survive." I ran my fingers through my hair, shaking my head in disbelief. All on the back of our grief over losing Valentina.
"We have a lot of work to do." Savannah looked at me and I forced myself to offer her a half smile. Even without powers she was still willing to stand by my side.
"And no time to do it." We both turned to look at Griffin who sank to his knees, bowed over the stone coffin that held his beloved. A sinking feeling filled me with dread. We didn't know how much time we had until Asher came. The only things we had learned was danger was imminent and as always, time worked faster on Earth.
He had more time to come up with a plan to destroy us than we did to come up with a plan to defend ourselves and save the world.
Savannah pried herself from my side and walked over to Griffin, curling an arm over his shoulder like he was a little brother. She whispered something of encouragement in his ear and I forced myself to turn away. They needed me to take control again, I turned to Soren.
"Thank you for your knowledge, you're dismissed." He nodded, his body becoming ghostly once more as he drifted for the door and disappeared beyond. Whether Griffin's threat of leaving him listless for eternity was real or not, we weren't going to worry ourselves over Soren's afterlife when our future was at risk.
Savannah had Griffin up and functioning once more as he conjured wheels on the bottom of Valentina's coffin. Sensing what was happening, the Olympians moved forward placing their hands on the stone side and wheeling her from the chamber. Even Charlotte took her place in amongst us, her eyes round and fearful as she stare
d at Valentina.
Hollow as my glee was, I hoped she saw now the ivory tower in which she believed she stood was crumbling.
From the throne room, we walked right to the edge of the banks of the river Styx. Griffin paused only to place two gold drachmas on her eyes, staring at her in disbelief and self-torture. We stepped back, giving him room for his grief as he guided her into the water.
Savannah let out a soft sob, turning herself into me and finally allowing herself a moment of weakness. Her tears soaked my shirt as I watched Griffin bend over his lover's corpse, kiss her forehead and see her off. Her body sunk into the river, claimed by the other spirits that lived within it. A cold darkness settled over our group as we all watched Griffin for guidance of what to do next. But he wasn't capable of it. Not right now as his knees buckled as he let out a sob, falling into the edge of the water almost like he was silently praying for the river to claim him too.
I imagine if he didn't struggle with the desire to get revenge for his loss he would've taken to the river and been done with it. But like myself, Griffin still believed there was work to be done and until that was completed, our grief and heartache would come second to the revenge burning through our veins.
But that didn't stop the others from standing there, watching him fall to pieces and waiting for guidance of what to do next. Griffin would come up with an idea, if only for his own vengeance, but he also needed time to grieve right now. The weight of responsibility wasn't fair to him. I pried Savannah once more from my chest and looked around at my constituents.
After we set Valentina afloat, everyone needed time to gather themselves.
Chapter 7
The mood was solemn as we passed back through the throne room and dispersed to our respective rooms. Savannah paused as we headed for our room, glancing at Griffin who still looked as lost and broken as ever, standing on the dais and staring at the two thrones.
“Maybe I should…” She looked uncertain as she glanced at me. I shrugged one shoulder and turned back to the hallway.
“I need to shower anyways.” I still had pieces of Valentina’s ash clinging to my skin and the last thing I needed right now was to have that on my mind. It was bad enough to have seen her in that condition but to have pieces of her attached to me…
“Alright.” She pressed up on her toes to kiss me before retreating into the throne room. I didn’t watch her go, directing myself straight into our room. I was relieved to have a chance to be alone and sort through my grief. The weight of needing to be strong was bearing down on me and I couldn’t hold it together for much longer. The last thing I wanted was for anyone, or everyone, to see how shattered I was.
Fidgeting with the dials, I adjusted the temperature of the water before shucking off my clothes and stepping under the stream. The door was firmly closed behind me and I was now alone. Alone save for the rampant thoughts echoing around in my head, chasing me with memories I couldn’t handle right now. I could still picture her smile, I could hear her laugh, I could see the steel determination alighting her eyes when trouble was near and she had to step up.
I hadn’t known Valentina for long, but she had touched my heart deeply. Losing her felt like I had lost a part of myself. I teased her, called her Jailbait but it was only because that was how I showed my affections. Sensitivity isn’t my forte. I didn’t grow up in a household where affection was shown and “I Love You” was thrown around. I had lost a lot of girlfriends because of my inability to commit - so they say. It doesn’t come naturally to me and every day Savannah proves to still want to be with me is a damn miracle. But Valentina, in the short amount of time I knew her, crawled into the cavities of my heart and found a way to settle there comfortably.
I imagine it has something to do with her being my godly daughter. Zeus’ anger and horror at the condition of her frail body overwhelmed me. I wasn’t prepared for the grief we felt. It was debilitating. Trying to hold myself together in front of the pantheon was exhausting. Holding it together in front of Savannah was too much.
A part of me knew I should’ve been able to confide in her, open my heart a little more and let her in. But that voice - the god damn evil one always ready with a witty comment in the back of my head - reminded me the only reason I felt like this was because I had let Valentina into my heart in the first place.
I stood there, like a coward, under the hot spray of the shower, bawling my eyes out like I was a baby. I couldn’t erase the image of her curled and burnt body from my eyes, whether open or closed. There she was: her mouth caught open with a scream and blackened beyond recognition. It wasn’t Valentina I wanted to protest but we all knew it was. We could feel the loss amongst our dwindling ranks but also within our souls.
The anger built again, bubbling inside of me and mingling with the urge to kill Oliver repeatedly. My fist collided with the wall, collapsing frail granite tiles in and around my hand. I could feel the stone cutting into my skin while it stitched itself back together. Where the rock dug in deep, the blood flowed out freely but I didn’t mind the pain. I had to feel something other than this grief. I shut the shower off with a click, blindly reaching out for a towel before wrapping myself and stepping out.
I couldn’t be bothered to dry my hair or my torso as I stood in the cool bathroom, letting the air turn my skin into ripples of bumps. Beyond the steamy reflection of the mirror, I could see myself. Every curve of muscles perfectly chiseled, years of hard work and arrogance evident in their every line. Things that used to be important to me lacked meaning now that I had found my heart, at least that’s what I wanted to believe.
“Hey, you done now?” Savannah knocked on the door in a way to force it open with her effort, peeking into the steamy room. “Your eyes are red.” A flicker of concern went over her face as she squinted and frowned at me. I wanted to point out her eyes were bloodshot and her face was puffy, but that would go straight to her head and she would think it was the only thing I saw in her.
“I got shampoo in my eyes,” I said gruffly, running my hand through my hair, shaking out the excess water before awkwardly shouldering my way past her into the bedroom she had commandeered for us when we first got to the Underworld.
“Right, uh huh.” She walked after me, plopping on the bed with another soft frown. This time I was sure it wasn’t for me so much as her thoughts.
“Hey,” I cupped her chin, reminding myself I had to be strong for her, “don’t think about it. Not tonight.” I felt myself lean down and kiss her way before my conscience caught up to the action. Her fingers gripped the damp towel hanging low on my waist, pulling me closer in desperation. Losing ourselves in a tangle of flesh would have been one of the ways I dealt with grief three months ago. I felt a pang of guilt and pulled away. She frowned again; that was for me.
I turned away, despite knowing how she would interpret my actions and scrutinize herself like she was the deeply flawed one of the two of us. I pulled the closet open and stared in it for something to wear. Plenty of options but none of them were appealing. Once dressed, I knew I had to look like a Griffin-wannabe in black trousers and a black button-up. But it was only right, we were in mourning, weren’t we?
“We need to figure out our next move.” I spoke to her with my back still to her, my eyes still burning in weakness. “The longer we wait to retaliate, the more damage they can do.”
“Is that what you want? Retaliation?”
“No, I want justice.” I turned to face her, “but nothing I decide on will be sufficient. It won’t make Griffin feel better. Or you, or… me.” That was all Savannah needed as she rose and came toward me, brushing her hands along my forearms before reaching and cupping my face. In her, I could see my future and my past. It was bright with hope and belief. If the Titans killed every mortal on Earth, it would never matter because Savannah’s faith in me alone would be enough to power my magic for centuries.
“You know it’s okay to be sad, right?”
“A king can’t afford to be sad
.”
“You’re not a king, Aidan.”
I cocked an eyebrow, almost challenging her, “I’m not?”
“No, you’re a man.”
“Thank the Gods, I have you here to keep me grounded.” She smiled but it was fractured, it didn’t reach her eyes and it didn’t light her face.
“You have me here to keep you whole.”
I nodded, “You do.” I kissed her again, meaning what I had said even if the voice in the back of my mind reminded me I wasn’t as whole as I liked to pretend to be. I felt her body move against mine, urging for more and I wanted to give it to her. I wanted to give her the world but I couldn’t focus on it because the only thing I wanted to feel right now was pain or satisfaction and Savannah couldn’t give me either of those things right now. I pulled back once more, tried to ignore the hurt on her face and kissed the crown of her head before moving to the door.
I don’t know when Savannah crossed the room, or how she got into the bathroom before I left but as I pulled the door open and stepped out, I heard her from the shower stall: “Aidan, why is the wall broken?”
The door closed and I left, disappearing down the hall and back to Griffin’s throne room. I wasn’t sure if the Prince of Darkness himself would be there but if I was going to come up with a plan, I knew he’d want to be involved in it. Differences aside.
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