to say about women in her house. Zeus was such a shit. Hephaestus led us to a back wall and pulled a bottle of wine out. To my surprise, the wall swung out and revealed a secret passage. Zeus had secret passages to cheat on his wife. Total garbage Olympian.
Once we were all inside, the door shut, and we started walking, and Hephaestus finally relaxed.
“It’s soundproofed in here, but try not to make a lot of noise. My father is too worried about my weapon to take a lover, but he can’t go for long without dipping his dick in something. We can’t stay here long because he’ll eventually bring a woman down here.”
Hephaestus led us down several corridors with two-way mirrors we could peek into before we finally reached a bedroom. And it was quite the bedroom. Pavlina let out a low whistle.
“Wow. This is tacky.”
“Not even phoenixes have nude paintings of themselves in their secret bedrooms,” Demos said. “I agree with the spider. This is gauche.”
Solron flopped on the heart-shaped bed, and it started vibrating. She smacked something on the side of the bed, and it stopped.
“For fucks sake. It looks like an eighties porn video exploded in here.”
Hephaestus just rolled his eyes.
“My father probably thinks this is impressive. We should get some sleep. We’re going to have to figure out the best way to take out Zeus in the morning.”
It was a tight fit, but everyone eventually found a place to sleep. The heart-shaped bed was big enough for my monsters and me, and the couch pulled out to a bed. There were golden chaises everywhere for people to sleep on.
It wasn’t his turn, but everyone gave Hephaestus big spoon tonight. He was snuggled into my back, and I had my arms wrapped around Pavlina. I was content but nervous. I closed my eyes and was trying to get some sleep when our bedroom door opened.
A beautiful, tall woman with flowing red hair strolled in. Fuck! I still had a knife strapped to my ankle, and so did everyone else. Hephaestus bolted to a sitting position and glared at her while we all reached for our weapons.
“What do you want, Hera?” Hephaestus said.
Oh, shit. I’d heard all about how mean Hera was. But, if she knew we were here, why did she come alone? Why didn’t she bring Zeus and more Olympians if she knew we were here?
Chapter 15
Hephaestus
W
hat the fuck was my mother doing here, and how did she even know about this room? How did she know I was here? Furthermore, why was she here alone? She didn’t even have a demigod guard with her. My little Hellspawn and all the monsters in bed with me had their knives out and were pointing them at her. The witches had magic crackling at their hands. Barbatos was a swirling red cloud. Solron just looked bored.
Hera just held up her hands.
“Relax. I didn’t come to fight, and Zeus doesn’t know you’re here.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. I didn’t trust her just yet. We were pretty close right up until I stood up for her, Zeus flung me through several realms, and gave me a permanent limp. After that, I was pretty much dead to her.
“How do you know we are here?”
My mother frowned and wrinkled her nose.
“I hate these tacky rooms. I’ve always known about them. I have cameras all over this palace now. I know about your weapon, and I know Zeus is freaking out. I’ve been watching both of you. I knew you were still here, even if he wouldn’t entertain the notion. I knew you didn’t have the weapon on you, but you’d try to get it here. I’ve always known you were sneaking off to the Horae, and they’d do anything you asked.”
“I didn’t think you cared.”
Hera just gave me this sad look and shook her head.
“I’ve always cared. I just had to pretend like I didn’t because of Zeus. He was so upset when you stood up to him. After he threw you out of Olympus, he beat me and kept accusing me of loving you more than him. I didn’t want him to hurt you again, so I kept my distance. It was bad enough he permanently injured you. If I took your side over his, he would have trapped you in the Pits of Tartarus. You know your father. He has this desperate need for everyone to love him, and he’s insanely jealous, even of his own children.”
I glared