“Our way.” I gently corrected myself.
Zeus shook his head, lifting his cup of coffee before replying, “I won’t discuss this matter without your mother.”
It took me a moment to allow what he said to sink in. I couldn’t stop myself from scoffing slightly.
“My mother? Why? I’m almost twenty years old, and I want to be with Darce.”
“A mortal wants to be with the God of the Underworld?” Zeus laughed, lowering his cup to the table. “It’s a wonder you haven’t died already in his dark hovel. He and his minions must be keeping a quick eye on you.”
“Isn’t that what you want? For me to be dead? Isn’t that what you did to Persephone?”
The words tumbled from my mouth as rage coiled in my stomach. I remembered what Eros had told me; of what the group of them had done to Persephone. Stealing and stripping away her powers, pushing what was left of her soul into a forgotten jar. And yet, here they were. Social justice warriors for my mother, a woman who was far beyond making any decisions for me at this point.
“Enough.” Zeus’s voice cracked like a whip. “Or I’ll silence you myself.”
With a snap of his fingers, a shimmering bolt of lightning appeared just beside the boat. It had darkened the sky for the briefest second, striking its watery target before it disappeared back into the sunshine. I felt my bones rattle, but I couldn’t back down. I might have been frightened, but I wasn’t going to let him see.
“I’m not afraid of you,” I replied, gritting my teeth.
“And that’s what makes you foolish. That is why we must wait for your mother.”
“Can’t handle me yourself?” I taunted. I knew I was getting way over my head. Zeus smirked, seemingly amused by my behavior.
“I could blink and crack your bones all at once,” he warned gently.
“You can’t threaten me…”
“I can do whatever I wish, little human,” Zeus scoffed. “You are nothing more than bone and ash. Dirt and rain. What made you into who you are, I can unravel in seconds.”
“You already tried that once,” I retorted. “See where that got you?” I started to move my chair from the table, gripping Darce’s wrist. I wanted off the boat. I didn’t care if we had to swim back to shore—we were leaving, and we were going together.
“This is hardly the way I raised you, Summer.” My skin prickled. I shifted in my seat uncomfortably as the familiar, and shocking, sound of my mother’s voice commanded our sudden attention. I quickly turned to find her staring back at me. She looked different—strangely unlike the way I remembered her to be. She appeared more. . .what was the word Eros had used? Ethereal? She didn’t have her wild hair, or the crinkling age lines around her eyes. And the bag of romance novels were long gone.
It was all a lie. The words echoed in my mind over and over again. All of it. All of it had been a lie.
“Where did she get her manners?” Beside her, Minthe’s magenta eyes met mine. A shiver rolled down my spine as I gripped the back of my chair.
“Mom?”
I watched with wide eyes as she crossed the room and came to stand beside Zeus. A chair was brought almost immediately from a stewardess, and she took her place between Zeus and Poseidon.
“I never allowed you to speak to anyone like that,” she said, folding her hands into her lap.
I sat stoic, watching her—taking in this new woman before me. How long had I gone thinking my mom was dead? How long had I clung to the idea of who I had thought my mom was? Even after learning she was alive, I had envisioned her just as before. But the woman I had known, had grown up to love, was gone. The woman she was before had died in a car accident along with my dad. She was forever gone to me.
The woman I looked at now was a stranger to me. I didn’t know who she was. Maybe, I never really had. I had only known the lie she had fed to me—fed to my dad. Dad. His face filled my mind as I turned back to my plate. My mom was alive. My mom was here. But Dad...
Dad was gone. A pang of sadness filled me as I realized the truth of the situation.
Dad was in the Underworld where I had left him. He was waiting for us—waiting for us in an afterlife version of our home. Tears filled my eyes as I tried hard to swallow. I felt the soothing sensation of Darce’s hand on my back and tried to focus on the warmth of his skin; the strength he was trying to share with me through his touch.
“Aren’t you happy to see me?” My mom asked, breaking my concentration. I opened my eyes and peered at her.
“Should I be?”
“I’m happy to see you, Sunny.”
Pain filled my chest at the sound of my old nickname. The one Dad called me. It had been so long since I last heard it. It was all I could do to remain seated.
“You don’t get to call me that. Only Dad called me Sunny,” I replied quietly. I dug my fingernails into my palms as I clenched them into tight fists.
“He wasn’t your real father,” Hera retorted, easing back into her seat. She rolled her eyes and flicked a strand of her hair over her shoulder. I wanted to tug on that hair so hard.
“You stay out of this.”
“This was brought to our breakfast table. Perhaps, if you wished to speak more privately, you could take this dalliance elsewhere. It’s honestly beginning to bore me,” she snapped.
Darce rose from his chair; the sound of it against the wooden floor startled me. He extended his hand out to me, giving me a nod.
“Summer and I are going back home. It’s clear this situation is far beyond negotiation. I will not yield to giving her up to you. Any of you. I won’t be separated from her again.”
“Sit, sit…” Zeus purred, and gestured back to our chairs. A small smile was still etched on his face—though, I was beginning to realize this was part of the game. He was enjoying each moment of this drama as it unfolded.
“We can talk this through, ol’ boy. After breakfast.”
“There’s nothing more to say,” Darce said, holding his ground.
“You can’t just take her back with you,” my mother said as she lifted a glass of juice to her lips. “There’s our agreement you must ahold to.”
“Our bargain has been null and void for centuries. Ever since you took her from me. Took her powers. Killed Persephone.”
“It’s not even nine, and we’re already talking about murder,” Zeus taunted with a smirk. “You are amusing, ol’ boy. Come along. Sit down. Eat something. Don’t get hot-headed so soon.”
“I’m not your boy. I’m not even sure I want to be your brother,” Darce seethed. His eyes turned to me. “Let’s go home.”
The words melted into me and sunk slowly into my stomach. It’s all I wanted. I wanted both my new and old homes—wanted the comforts of my old room and bed. Wanted to see my friends, lounge at the pool and binge watch one too many shows on Netflix. I wanted to see my dad come home from a day out in the field, watch him pull his wallet and phone from his pockets and lay them on his desk like he used to do.
I wanted to disappear back into the beautiful, dark cavern-like palace with Darce too. I wanted to wake up to his warm lips and gentle smile; wanted to hear Arae’s teasing remarks about my outfits. I wanted to playfully banter with Thanatos, who was only starting to understand my ‘That’s What She Said’ jokes.
I wanted all of those things. I wanted to slip away from this stupid yacht, and never look back. But I knew based on their expressions, it wouldn’t be so easy.
I heard Morpheus in my mind; his words echoing in my ears. ‘See things for what they are.’
As I turned my gaze back to Zeus and Hera, I saw his painted smile fade.
“I won’t repeat myself again, Hades, sit down. Eat your meal, and after we’ve all cooled our heads a little—we can come back to this conversation. Surely, we can find a middle ground. A place where we can all agree.”
Darce’s jaw tightened, but he remained quiet. He took his seat after a long moment, and even then, he sat unmoving as everyone around us b
egan to eat again. My mother met my gaze; her expression full of longing. The last time I saw her, we had been in my dad’s car. Athens was a flash of color then, positively bright with its astounding nightlife.
Why had she chosen that moment to destroy everything? Why did Dad, in all of this, have to be the one to die?
As I pushed the remaining piece of pineapple into my mouth, Zeus reached in front of me, grabbing a reddened pomegranate from a bowl I hadn’t seen. I felt my heart sink into my stomach; my gut tying itself into knots. I lifted my eyes to Zeus for only a moment. Did he know? Surely he knew. He had to know what had happened to Persephone and her lives, and all the ways they had died.
He cut the pomegranate in half with a long, sharp knife and carefully pulled it apart with his hands. It was almost as if he were peeling fabric from his skin. He plucked the seeds embedded in the membrane of the fruit one-by-one and pushed one into his mouth.
“The seeds are so sweet, and yet,” he sucked his thumb of pomegranate juice, “it leaves such a bitter aftertaste.”
As I darted my eyes away, I saw the vision of Leora, who had died from choking on a thick green vine. It had erupted from her lips just after eating a seed Darce had offered her. Then I thought of Celena, who had suffered the same fate. The seeds, which had represented their bond, had become a symbol of their death—our deaths.
I tried to keep my focus on the plates of food before me; all steaming and smelling wonderful. It was all I could do to keep my food down.
“You two seem rather cozy,” Eros interrupted as he came into the room, bowing slightly towards Zeus and Hera. His gaze turned to me, and he strolled towards the empty space beside me.
“May I?” He asked, tapping the back of the chair. His hair was still disheveled from his sleeping, and his clothes from the night before were wrinkly. But his smile was still as charming as ever.
“Please Eros,” Zeus said with a flash of a smile. “Join us.”
“Nice to see you again, Demeter,” Eros said as he came to pause at her chair. By the clip in his tone, I wasn’t sure if his kindness was sincere.
“Hello Eros,” my mother replied. The whole thing was weird. Watching her sit so comfortably between two Gods and greeting another like an old friend. How had she kept this all a secret for so long? How had she kept this from me and my dad so successfully? If the trip hadn’t happened. . .if we had never piled into his car, I never would have known about Darce or Zeus. . .they would have all remained fictional.
“Good morning, Summer,” Eros continued as he rounded the chair beside me. “Sleep well?”
“Yeah, thanks,” I said with a nod.
He reached for a kettle nearby and poured himself a steaming cup of tea. He was watching me as he reached for an orange from the fruit assortment. My own eyes darted back to Zeus and the pomegranate he was still eating.
“Mil’ady Demeter,” Eros asked, breaking the tense silence of the room. “How do you find your daughter? You must find it relieving to see that she is safe and in one piece.”
My mom—Demeter—was nothing but business. She sat straight in her chair as she lifted her fork to her lips. Her eyes drifted from him to me. Even from across the table, I could tell everything about her was different—even the color of her eyes. The differences were almost stifling. I would look up and see something new there that was never there before. Did I seem that different to her too?
“I’m glad she is well,” she began. “And very happy to see her safe.”
“And you truly thought his Lord would harm her?” Eros raised a brow as a curious smile grew on his lips. I saw her grow rigid. Darce did too.
“It would not be the first time,” she replied curtly; her gaze traveling to Darce before it moved back to Eros.
Darce slammed his fist down onto the table. I sat back, startled by his eruption.
“You do not know what you’re talking about, Demeter,” Darce growled.
“Don’t I?” She scoffed quickly. “Or do I need to remind you of the others?”
“Perhaps it is I who needs to remind you of what you did to them. Not once. Not twice—”
“Enough,” Zeus hissed, darting his glare between the both of them. “Enough of this banter. Enough of this hatred—”
“You seem to have forgotten about the ceremony. What you allowed to happen—” Darce continued, glaring at him. “You’ve contributed to this hatred.”
“I’m in no mood for this conversation, brother. Tread carefully.”
“And I’m in no mood to continue to listen to you blather on about your wife, your children, your kingdom. . .”
Zeus straightened with a taunting smile as he lifted another seed to his lips. His fingers peeled the flesh of the fruit apart, juice dribbling over his skin like fresh blood. I noticed it began to dribble onto his white pants, staining them. I didn’t imagine the stewardesses would appreciate that.
“Then what would you like to hear, ol’ boy? What is it you want from me?”
“I’d like to be treated as an equal. Just as you treat Poseidon. I’m not the lesser between the two of you. I was born of the same parents. I’m the same flesh as you—the same blood.”
“We’ve never—” Poseidon began, but Zeus held up his hand, stopping him.
“And you think we’ve treated you as such? The lesser?” Zeus asked.
“You’ve never treated me as a brother,” Darce replied.
“No?” Zeus asked, placing the pomegranate onto his plate before interlacing his fingers beneath his chin. He raised a brow as he sucked in a breath. “I’m disappointed to learn this is how you truly feel.”
It was like the calm before the storm. Zeus wasn’t being sincere at all. I didn’t, for one second, believe he actually cared in the slightest how Darce felt. I did know by the way he was looking at him, Darce’s words had only ticked him off more.
“You’re so full of yourself,” Darce said with a snort. “You act as though you’re almighty, but truly, brother, you’re no better than the rest of us. If not—worse.”
“Worse?” There was a hint of amusement in his eyes as he watched Darce. “I wonder, ol’ boy,” he paused, “if you’d like to see just how much worse it could be?”
Chapter 13
Everything after that happened fast. Too fast.
A loud clap of thunder echoed in my ears, and the entire table trembled violently. Zeus lifted his hand in the air, strangely reminiscent of the moment Darth Vader had used the Force to grip the necks of his men in mid-air. A crack of lightning shot forth from his fingers, wrapping itself around Darce’s neck like a noose. It moved like a snake around his flesh as Darce tried to pry it away; his eyes growing wide as he gasped for breath.
“Stop!” I screamed, leaping out of my chair and knocking it over. My glare darted to Zeus. “Let him go!”
My heart was pounding in my chest. I couldn’t even think straight. All I knew was that I needed to get Darce away from these people. I needed to get us back home, but I didn’t know how to do that. I had no idea how to get him out of this or how to stop Zeus—or his terrifying powers.
Beside me, Darce’s eyes bulged and his lips were beginning to turn a soft shade of blue.
“Please,” I managed, doing what I could to keep myself from crying. My hands gripped Dace’s shirt. Zeus stared at me for a moment; his lips pursed as an eyebrow raised. A gurgling noise erupted from Darce as he continued to try to free himself.
“Please,” I whispered again, the desperation sinking in. I would do anything to free him. Even if it meant striking up my own deal with him.
Suddenly, Darce gasped as he fell from his chair, landing on the ground with a thud. Eros grabbed my hand, causing me to pause. As I looked at him, I noticed his languid expression. A gentle shake of his head kept me motionless before I heard Darce grunt beside me. I pulled my hand away and darted my gaze back to Zeus.
He was watching me. Everyone was. My mom, Hera, and Poseidon all seemed to have their gazes fixed to
me. Waiting.
I moved to Darce’s side wordlessly. He was on his knees as he coughed, trying to catch his breath. I slid my fingers over his shoulder and cheek. An angry red line appeared around his neck, and I wanted nothing more than to throttle Zeus myself.
“Breathe,” I whispered softly, brushing his hair from his face. His dark eyes met mine and he gave a slight nod of his chin. To see him reduced to such a state. . .to see him appear so weak. . .
The rage I felt deep in my gut twisted, and I jerked my chin in Zeus’ direction.
“You’re his brother!” I yelled as I glared at Zeus and then at Poseidon. Neither of them flinched or made any move to apologize for their behavior. Like marble statues, they looked at me with placid expressions. “How can you treat him like this?”
“D—don’t,” Darce rasped, shaking his head. “L—let’s just g—go…”
He tried to slowly push himself to his feet and tossed his fallen napkin onto the table.
“You’re not permitted to leave,” Zeus said, leaning back in his chair. He crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. “I didn’t dismiss you.”
“We don’t answer to you,” I hissed. “Not after this.”
“Summer—” my mom interjected, but I ignored her.
“The thing is, Summer, you do. All of them do. They all answer to me. And I, in turn, do my best to reward them for their loyalty.”
“You fuck them,” Darce retorted, keeping his hand on his throat.
“Watch yourself, brother.” Zeus seethed.
“I—I will not. I have stood by for far too long,” Darce managed as he took a step closer to the table.
Darce’s mortal mask faded into the power of his true face. He grew taller, broader somehow. Dark lines laced across his skin like black veins and his eyes burned like a fire in the night sky. He had shown me this side of him once before, and it was how he had appeared in my dreams. I shuddered with the sudden electricity sparking in the air between them; King of the Gods and King of the Underworld. Everything about this was just getting worse and worse.
Gilded Ruins Page 12
