beautiful harvests,
come.
Atlas leads Kronos around the knotted trunk of the Hesperides tree, so he and Themis are like night and day on either side of it. Then Atlas retreats to take his place in the circle, and we clasp each other’s hands, forming a ring about the tree.
It is you who gives life to mortals
and who take it away.
Blessed is the one you honour with a willing heart.
He who has this has everything.
Themis cries, the last sound she will ever make, and glowing life-threads stream between her fingers into the bark, igniting its cracks with golden light. Life pours from her, and the apples brighten until each shines like a miniature sun. It burns my eyes to look at them, but I do not turn away.
Themis slumps to the ground, her cold cheeks gleaming with tears. I press down the ache in my chest and lift my gaze to our new brother, Kronos.
He does not wait to be offered an apple but reaches like a child trying to catch the moon and snatches a golden orb from its branch. As he sinks his teeth into the fruit, I watch his limbs shake and his cerulean eyes blaze gold.
Glistening juice drips down his chin, flecks of flesh caught between his teeth.
He smiles and murmurs, ‘He who has this has everything.’
My skin tightens as I wade into the chill water. My clothes are draped over the branch of one of the silver-barked trees that cluster the bank.Above, the spring sprays from the rocks, feeding the marbled lagoon. I tread slowly, careful not to slip on the broad stones, until I am waist-deep. My back is already damp with sweat from the descent through the forest. We are only permitted to leave the Hesperides plateau once a moon cycle to bathe, and I intend to relish every moment. I run my fingers through the knots in my long, dark hair before submerging myself. The cold stings, but I remain below, the sound of the water another heartbeat in my ears.
When I emerge, I feel his eyes like the sun drying the beads on my back.
His lips part as I turn, his gaze ripening with lust. I make no effort to cover myself. It has been many years since I have been consumed by eyes that hungry. He watches me like a wolf, yet I do not feel like prey.
He begins to remove his clothes.
Now it is my turn to watch.
His limbs are lean and strong, the skin beneath his tunic ghostly pale. He has a collection of old scars and a couple of new ones. My cheeks flush as my gaze descends below the ridges of his abdomen. He smiles and lowers himself into the water, keeping his distance. I think of the unspoken rule that none of Gaia’s chosen twelve may enjoy each other’s flesh.
‘You followed me.’ My honesty catches me off guard.
His smile widens. ‘I will leave if you wish it.’
I glance about the rocks. We are alone.
‘You may stay, Kronos.’
He frowns. ‘Do not call me that.’
‘It is your name.’
‘I would like you to call me Zeus.’
My mouth quirks. ‘Shining one? Is that what you think of yourself?’
He slides below the water like an eel and swims towards me. I step back and slip on a moss-swathed stone. The lagoon swallows me, and I splash, fighting my way back to the surface.
He is waiting for me, closer but still out of reach.
‘I did not mean to scare you.’
I blink the spring water from my eyes. ‘Surprised, not scared.’
