“Aether,” Hermes greeted when the man came to a stop in front of us.
Aether stopped a few feet from us and seemed to crowd out all of the light from the sun. His enormous body reminded me of the time Nix had transformed into his god-like form. Just like Nix had been, Aether was too large to be a man, his muscles too formed and chiseled. His blinding beauty could only belong to a place as incredible as this and the weapons at his belt seemed to signify the kind of situation we’d stepped into.
“Brother,” Aether greeted stoically. “You brought guests.”
Hermes squared his shoulders and said, “You could call them that.”
“I did call them that,” Aether countered.
Hermes leaned in with challenge. “Then you’ve picked a side?”
Aether’s laughter broke through the tension, cutting the atmosphere with a knife. “Let’s not be hasty, Messenger. I’m only relaying the words of our queen.”
Hermes’ head snapped toward the temple, lightning sizzled at his fingertips. “She is expecting us?”
Aether’s smile turned sinister. “Only since the beginning of time.”
“Let’s not exaggerate,” Hermes chided, sounding much more like himself. “Back then we used Titans and Furies. We’re more civilized these days. We’re more modern.”
Aether snorted, but didn’t disagree. His large hand swept toward the temple and he inclined his chin. “This way, song-singer. Your queen awaits.”
I glanced at Ryder before turning my wide-eyes back on the temple. “My queen?”
“Hera,” Aether explained. “She is not pleased with your presence.”
“Why not?” I dared to whisper.
“I should think it would be obvious.” Aether raised an eyebrow at me and when it was clear that I didn’t understand, he said, “You bring a war with you, Siren. Nobody here is anxious to fight again after years of peace. Least of all the mother of the gods. She requests a word with you and she is not patient.”
I gulped audibly. Hera? Of course. The last story I’d read about her involved murders, cannibalism and curses.
It was probably best to go when she summoned.
Chapter Fifteen
We followed Aether into the temple and disappointment dampened some of my nerves.
I had expected something jaw-dropping and almost offensively opulent. I expected the gods to have designed this place with their crass materialism, engorged with gold, bulging with jewels and precious stones, bloated with the tainted tones of their entitlement and greed.
Instead, after expecting so much, after climbing a mountaintop to reach this pinnacle of the Pantheon, it was actually pretty anticlimactic.
The wind blew stronger up here, gusting through the space between the columns as a reminder of where we were. There was no other furniture besides two thrones at the very back of the interior. And if I hadn’t known they were meant for Hera and Zeus, I would have been reluctant to call them thrones.
Their low slung backs turned into wide armrests that bowed away from the seat with a dramatic flair. They were made from stone, the same white limestone that the temple had been forged from. I looked for gold embellishments or diamond detailing, but nothing obstructed their simple style.
“I think she’s disappointed,” a female voice snickered from the corner. “Hermes, didn’t you warn her how poor we’ve become? How destitute and bedraggled we’ve sunk? Why, we’re practically beggars.” She walked toward us, stopping at the side of her throne. Her eyes cast their judgment on us within seconds, the tick in her jaw revealing her displeasure with our presence.
“Sister, do I detect bitterness in your tone?” Hermes met her sarcasm with bullets of his own. “You’re not jealous of the child are you?”
Hera. Queen of the gods. She was the opposite of anticlimactic. Her beauty was so severe that I felt it aggressively, like an attack on my senses. Her dark hair reached the floor, dragging in soft waves behind her. Her olive skin glimmered in the light of the sun from the open ceiling. Dark eyes watched me intently, as if she expected me to attack her. There was an endless depth to her black gaze that seemed bigger than a soul or spirit, something infinite and all-powerful lurked in her eyes.
She was not good. That much was obvious.
But she was also not entirely evil.
There was something about her that separated her from Nix. I felt it with Hermes too. These gods would never be my friends. I couldn’t even consider them my allies. Not really anyway. They had their own agenda and they would use whoever or whatever they could in order to accomplish their goals.
But at the same time she didn’t want to turn every single human into her slave either.
