to go toe to toe with him over killing Zeus. I’d totally fangirl for a reason if he was going to help us.
“We need to make sure as few people die as possible,” Hephaestus said. “Zeus would take it personally if his offspring rose against him and they are half mortal. Old age won’t kill them, but we can. We need to find a way to get Zeus, Athena, Poseidon, and Ares somewhere neutral where we can fight,” Hephaestus said.
“Athena is mine, and Poseidon goes to Tryphon,” Pavlina said. “I don’t care how much you hate them. We hate them more.”
“I always knew their little feud was going to bring trouble. I’m shocked you didn’t bring the Gorgons with you. They share your story, correct?” Hera asked.
“Yes, but I’m saner about it, so we didn’t bring them. The Gorgons are vicious and would kill every last one of you. They don’t care about making a society here. All of us were willing to listen to Hades and Hephaestus. If we like them, then it stands to reason that not all of you are a total garbage species. I’ll kill anyone you tell me to, but I want Athena.”
Hera just cocked an eyebrow at her.
“Athena is fair game, but what if she had changed in the long years since she cursed you? What if she apologized?”
Pavlina tossed her black hair over her shoulder.
“It would have to be a superb apology, and there would be groveling involved. She’d have to work for it. I’d just help Tryphon kill Poseidon. Athena only cursed me because Poseidon raped me in her temple. You seem to have a high number of rapists in your species.”
“Not all of us,” Dionysus said. “Everyone who is on my side is not like that.”
Pavlina just let out a little growl.
“Good because I’m pretty firm on the whole killing rapists thing. I like to make it last a long time too.”
I wasn’t like that before, but I agreed with her now.
“Yes, but we need a plan,” Hephaestus said. “We can’t hide here forever, and there’s hardly enough room for all of us.”
Dionysus just beamed.
“Then come stay at my place. Hera has cameras in every secret room to spy on Zeus for us. She’s been doing all the watching to report back to us, but Hermes can get us access so we can all watch. You’ll be safe at my place, and you can still watch his meetings with Ares. You can also meet all of us and see we aren’t so bad.”
I was excited about the possibility of meeting more of the Olympians I’d studied about that weren’t awful. But they had better apologize for snubbing Hephaestus. He might not care about that anymore, but I did. Hephaestus stood and brushed off his trousers.
“We should get there the Olympian way. I’ve been traveling by foot to get a lay of the land since I haven’t been here in so long, and I wanted my people to see too, but we can’t risk going on foot at this hour.”
Dionysus just smiled and cut a hole in the air like Hades did.
“How do you think I got here? Welcome to my home, all of you.”
I actually wanted to see what his fucking house looked like.
Chapter 19
Hephaestus
D
ionysus was the last person I would have picked for a leader for this little rebellion. I knew he was totally against pretending to be gods, but a lot of us were. I thought the whole idea was silly and fortified my forge so people wouldn’t bother me. I sometimes made trips out to teach humans metalsmithing and working with fire, but it was fucking mortifying when they wanted to pray and sacrifice in thanks. I was just trying to give them tools to strengthen them as a society. I didn’t need a goat killed or people kissing my ass for it.
I didn’t take Hera for following Dionysus either. He was Persephone’s brother and the result of Zeus’s affair with Demeter. Demeter didn’t care about either of her children because Zeus didn’t. She only got obsessed with Persephone when she wanted to get away from her and took up with Hades.
Dionysus wanted her approval so badly. He’d never cared for Zeus, but he got nearly perfect at every art form our people had, and Demeter still didn’t care. I knew everyone talked about Dionysus’s famous parties when we were on Earth, but no one ever talked about all the art he taught humans.
Dionysus had always been more