Worth It - Lisa Oliver Page 0,59

me.” Paulie’s confidence increased. “Your heart is full of hatred. You have no concept of love. If I was Zeus I’d… I’d…”

“Go on.” Zeus stood by his side, now matching him in size. “What punishments would you inflict on my sisters?”

“I don’t believe in punishing anyone, but they need to learn compassion, to understand how mortals live and have some empathy for them, including paranormals.”

“You’re quite right.” Zeus took his hand. “Living in this isolated domain has meant many of my family have forgotten the basic tenants of human decency. So, humor me. What would you do if you were me?”

“The first thing I’d do is take their powers away.” Paulie turned slightly, finding it easier to talk to Zeus than face the hate in Hera’s eyes.

“That’s a good start.” Zeus pointed to his sister on the ground. “Demeter is the goddess of the harvest. How could she use that to find love in her heart?”

“She should try scraping a living from areas plagued by drought,” Paulie muttered. “To see what it’s like living on roots and berries because the harvest has failed again. Listen to the endless cries of hungry children, many of whom die because there’s just not enough food to go around. She could work for a harvest instead of just lording over them. Actually do the work with her hands and see if she gets any better results. Learn about achievement and having a love for the land and the people who work it. ”

“I like it. And Hera?” Zeus pointed to his sister. “She’s the goddess of marriage and family. What would you do to her?”

“She keeps going on about Olympus as her home when she doesn’t understand what the concepts of home are all about – things like family, love, sharing. How would she like it if she was homeless? Working in a soup kitchen full of shifters, sleeping on a blanket on the floor, huddled with dozens of others to stay warm. These women look as if getting one speck of dirt on their glowing white gowns would be worse than the world ending. See what real poverty is like, lady. Survive what I went through, and then come back and have another go at me about being an abomination.”

“And finally, Persephone? She’s Hades’ former queen.” Zeus’s tone hadn’t changed and Paulie took strength from that.

“I’ve heard all about her and how she made poor Hades miserable. Ali is a good man. He took me in and gave me space to think. He became my friend. Ali genuinely cares about Hades, and Hades adores him. They’re so happy together. I can’t believe anyone would want to split them up, just so they can wear a pretty crown on their head and stomp around being mean to those cute demons all the time. That’s just wrong. She never loved him.”

“I know,” Zeus said calmly. “But how can you soften a heart like hers?”

“I don’t know that you can. If Hades couldn’t do it, then her heart must be made of concrete. She just wants to be a queen, like the title is important.” Paulie chuckled as a thought hit him. “If I were a god, I’d make her queen of… oh, I don’t know... queen in a hive of bees perhaps, lording over the worker bees, getting food brought to her every day, while her only mission is laying thousands of eggs. Then she’d be a useful queen because bees are dying out. She’d have to be nice to the other bees otherwise she’d starve.”

“And if you wanted to put those punishments into effect, what would you say or do, as the mate of Zeus the all-powerful god?” Zeus chuckled and Paulie was glad his mate shared his humor.

“Oh, I hadn’t thought of that.” Paulie grinned at his mate. “Do you have some special ritual, or do I just fling my arms wide and say…”

“Zeus, don’t let him finish,” Hera cried out, clinging to her sister and niece.

“Zeus’s mate decrees it so!” Paulie flung out his free arm, but there was no one to fall to the ground this time, as the three women just disappeared. “Huh. Well, that was one way of getting rid of them. Where did they go?”

“They’re off living the punishments you decreed for them.” Zeus slapped his knee and laughed. “I’m trying to imagine Persephone as a queen insect. Did she have a tiny crown when you were imagining it?”

“Well, yes.” Paulie turned around, but the women were definitely