about the arts than war. I would have pegged him for writing ballads and painting frescoes about it instead of leading the charge. But if Hera had changed so much, Dionysus could very well have gotten angry enough to take up arms too.
I’d always loved his palace. They never invited me unless I was making something for him, but we could deal with that later. A lot of the Olympian palaces were over the top with gold and marble. Not his. There was no gold in sight. Every single wall in his house was a fresco he had painted himself. He was also talented with the loom and had made these ornate rugs. In fact, everything here, right down to the furniture, was carved by him.
We had a lot in common in that we both enjoyed working with our hands and making things, but because of Zeus, we had never been close friends. I loved all the arts too and wouldn’t have minded chatting about them with him. He probably could have used someone to talk to, but that was taken from us.
Everyone in the house was looking around in awe because his place really was beautiful. River was gaping at the walls.
“Who did these?”
“I did. I made everything in here. I’m also quite adept at cooking for myself. The humans who help me live on my estate help me keep it clean and run my farm. They are treated well, but if they want to leave, I’m not going to stop them.”
“A lot of the humans want to get on at Zeus’s estate because of who he is, but the smart ones try to get on with Dionysus, Apollo, or Hermes. All of their servants live inside the palace and aren’t worked to the bone. Apollo and Hermes cook and do chores too. All of us do. It’s the ones we are trying to get rid of that can’t even wipe their own asses,” Hera said.
Everyone in this room that wasn’t an Olympian thought Hera was being facetious, but she wasn’t. My father literally required his servants to wipe the shit from his ass and thought they should be grateful for the honor.
“She’s not joking about that last part,” I pointed out.
“I’d die for Persephone, but I’m not wiping her ass for her,” Pavlina said.
“That’s the thing,” Dionysus said. “We know how to cook, hunt, farm, and do all these things for ourselves. We used to do it all the time. It changed when Zeus wanted to play god. Zeus took offense when the Romans came into the area he had chosen for us and started changing things up. That was the only reason we ever left. Zeus and several others wanted the adoration, and they found humans useful. So, they played it like they were offering them paradise and a chance to serve the gods. They would pick and choose among their offspring as to who was allowed into Olympus and pulled many humans here to serve them like slaves. They do nothing for themselves anymore, even though they know full well how.”
“What were their criteria for demigods? We have a ton of them in the Underworld, and they loathe their parents,” Tryphon asked.
Hera just laughed.
“You answered your own question. That was the criteria. They hated them when they were on Earth too. Zeus didn’t want Olympian blood left on Earth, so they were either forced to the Underworld or Olympus. Most of them wanted to stay where they were, and they weren’t given a choice. If they didn’t hate them then, they hate them now. They just pretend not to because they don’t have any other option.”
“We could go on and on about how shitty Zeus has made things, but we need a plan,” Hephaestus pointed out. “While we were still in Zeus’s place, I could have taken him out in his sleep.”
“We need them all in one place,” Dionysus said. “Athena and Poseidon still hate each other, but we need them working together towards a shared goal. Everyone loves Hermes, even Zeus. It’s why he’s so good at spying for us. They whisper into his ear, and he whispers into ours. Everyone thinks he’s harmless, but what he knows makes him one of the most dangerous people here.”
“The Olympians don’t take Hermes or Eros seriously, and Zeus forbid them to be together because he thinks it’s unnatural if love isn’t between a man and a woman. They’re still together right under his nose, and they’ve been