You must get a blade and give her updates on why I’m not in the pits yet.”
My baby bird’s face spread into this devious grin like this didn’t even faze her. Gods, I was falling deeper for this woman and wanted to keep her here if we ended this. I didn’t want her father to claim her and take her back to Hell. I wanted to take her to my home in the Elysian Fields and spoil her rotten.
“Hephaestus was always put down by the other Gods and used by demigods to forge weapons for him. All of you have been using him and putting him down for centuries. I get the feeling he was lied to about those collars. If I can see him alone, I think he’ll tell me once and for all what they actually do. And maybe he’ll make me the Swiss Army knife of God killing weapons that have a way to unlock them.”
“River, you’re right about Hephaestus being used and abused by Gods and demigods alike, but it’s also made him very bitter. It’s why he still lives alone in his volcano with his forge. Olympus doesn’t want him because he’s not pretty enough for them, but I’ve told him he’d be welcome here a million times, and he doesn’t believe me.”
“Well, I’m not a God or demigod. I’m not going there to insult him. I’m not even Greek. My father is some Hellspawn, and my grandmother immigrated from Mexico. I have no intention of talking about what he looks like. I will ask for his help to save the Underworld.”
“It’s a risk, River. My own people have believed Demeter’s lies about Persephone being here against her will. Who is to say she hasn’t whispered into Hephaestus’s ear, and he made those collars do everything she’s threatened?”
River just shook her head.
“I don’t believe that. I just met Demeter, and she’s a rancid bitch. You offered Hephaestus a home. I just need to talk to him.”
She had all this hope for Gods and Goddesses, but they were all petty little bitches except for Hades. The Gods of Olympus used to go around raping women, and then the Goddesses would curse the woman like it was their fault. Poseidon released Tryphon to wipe out entire cities just because he didn’t think they loved him enough.
Tryphon ended up in the Underworld in this massive hot mess. He’d been sent to destroy an entire village unless they sacrificed their princess to him, all because some Nereids got butthurt that her mother said she was prettier than they were. Tryphon hated that kind of shit, and it cost him his life. Perseus even cut off poor Medusa’s head in the middle of that mess. It was pretty much a given, then everyone hated us monsters, even if it wasn’t our fucking fault we got turned into one like Medusa.
“You have too much faith in the Gods, baby bird.”
“I took Greek mythology as an elective in college, Kimon. I’ve read all about it. I didn’t know Olympus and the Underworld were real and just different realms. I didn’t know the myths were actually true and that I’d end up here and meet all of you. Maybe not being worshiped for so long has knocked them down a peg.”
“You met Demeter, and you seriously think the Gods and Goddesses in Olympus are less petty bitches than when they were running around Greece and Rome?” Pavlina asked.
River just huffed and glared at us.
“Well, we need a plan, and right now, this is the only one we have. If I can find out what those collars do, it’ll give the monsters in the pit hope. Maybe Hephaestus will make me a knife with a hidden key.”
“Or, he’ll warn Demeter, and you’ll end up with a head full of snakes,” Hades pointed out.
“Well, it’s the only plan we have, so we should just prepare. Demos is getting back tonight, so hopefully, he’ll have news we can work with after I find out about the collars.”
I thought River would look quite lovely with snakes for hair, but it would sure put a damper on things if meeting her gaze turned me to stone.
Chapter 33
Demos
W
hile it was nice to stretch my wings and gather intel on how to bring Persephone back, I had to return to jail. I did do some experimenting with that fucking collar. I was trapped as a phoenix and couldn’t revert to a man, but all my magic was there. I could