like never before.
Frozen, unsure of what to do, I sat there. Clinging to my wife’s body with a bruising grip, wishing she were here right now with me in truth. But I would be with her soon. Death was not final for one such as me.
“I…I,” she said and then shook her head, pushing a strand of lush blond hair from her face, “Hephaestus, come, my love.”
Confused, I shook my head. Hephaestus, why was she suddenly calling out to him. But I understood the moment he returned with not just Zeus in tow, but Dionysus too.
Then she stood and turned toward the three men, her back to us.
“My counterpart was never clever enough to realize who it was helping our sweet Psyche out, but I realized the truth almost right away. I will not ask you what you hoped to gain from thwarting me at every turn Dionysus, some secrets are our own to keep.”
I gasped, glancing over toward Dionysus, I’d believed he’d betrayed my trust. I’d never quite trusted him. And yet, looking back I could see that he’d always been in the thick of everything. From the very beginning.
Dionysus looked at me, and we shared a look. One deeply heartfelt and full of raw emotion. I remembered my pledge to him, that when the day come that he needed my help I would give it.
I nodded silently to him. I would do it.
I would keep my pledge.
“Zeus,” Aphrodite said in her sweet, slightly seductive voice, “I called you here because I would ask a favor of you. For my son’s sake.”
I sucked in a sharp breath.
I was not truly hers. And yet, I did not think that mattered one whit to her. She wanted my affection and I knew I already had hers. She’d tried for so long now to give it to me, the only impediment to our bonding was me.
Zeus shook his head. “Nothing is given for free, Aphrodite. Surely, you know that. And you’ve got nothing to offer me. Unless, you’ve decided to open your bed to new and exciting partners once more—”
Hephaestus growled, clenching his thick, hammy fists at his side. But Aphrodite walked over to him, took his arms, and wrapped herself up in them. Instantly the beast was transformed into a docile teddy bear once again.
The most astonishing part, it was not an act. I could feel her love for my Uncle. It was pure and raw and honest, just like mine for Psyche.
“Zeus, do not make me expose you. For I assure you, I will. You know who I am, and what I can do. I have already read your heart, and we both know there is something you want much more than my body.”
I frowned.
Between the two of us mother’s powers had always been far more potent, try as I might I could not read the King’s heart. But the look on Aphrodite’s face now, she was not bluffing, she knew something. Something that King desperately wanted.
I hugged my wife just a little bit tighter to me. Death was not permanent in our world. There was no sorrow in me now, for I knew that Aphrodite was doing something and not for own petty satisfactions this time, but for love of me.
And my heart…it thawed just a little bit more.
“You know what I am asking, don’t you Mighty King of the Olympians?”
I glanced toward my Uncle, but Hephaestus stared straight ahead at Zeus a slightly baffled look on his face too. Whatever it was that moth…erm, Aphrodite was doing, even he did not share in the knowledge.
But when I looked at Dionysus, I saw a ghost of a grin on his face. He knew. He knew something. I recalled the words he’d said to me long ago. How Psyche meant more to us than anyone could have imagined.
How could he have known that even back then?
Only the Fates would have that type of knowledge.
And yet…
Suddenly it all became clear to me. Why Dionysus had done as he’d done. I’d sensed it in the very beginning. He’d fallen in love. And every bit of this had been planned for love of a woman.
A fate, to be precise. But which one?
Dionysus looked at me, as though he knew I knew now. Silently he mouthed, “you owe me, boy.”
Then he turned back around and I blinked. What was about to happen? I wasn’t sure, but I felt the heavy hand of Fate in this place.
Suddenly a glow manifested on Zeus’s palm and when