“Not enough.”
Not enough what?Hecate put up a glimmer of power around her mind, knowing that it likely couldn’t keep the Fates out, but they might sense it and give her some privacy.He doesn’t love her enough? Or she isn’t doing enough?Before Hecate could open her mouth to respond, Nyx did appear in the doorway. There was an unreadable expression on her face, and only the top-half of her appeared in its mortal form. It gave off the appearance of someone who had only gotten half-dressed in the morning.
“Sisters.” Her voice was quiet and full of regret. “I believe that I owe you an apology for the damage I did to your home.”
What damage is she referring to?Hecate had to fight to keep her face stoic.Who else in existence could cause damage to the Fates’ home and get away with it… unless that’s what this is about?
It was Lachesis who turned to Hecate. “That is not what this is about.”
“…not what this is about.”
“…. What this is about.” The sisters spoke again simultaneously as they turned their attentions back to Hecate.
So much for the mental privacy.
Clotho turned to look at Nyx, her sisters following her gaze as they refocused their attention on the primordial. Clotho’s eyes began to glow white, Atropos and Lachesis following suit. It was Atropos, who started speaking, her sisters’ voices echoing her.
“It’s dangerous for you to be away from Erebus, Nyx.” As each sister repeated the words, the temperature in the kitchen seemed to drop another degree. Hecate looked over and saw frost beginning to creep in the panes of her windows. It took a lot to make a shiver go down the Goddess of witchcraft’s spine, but a warning from the Fates, who had left their loom to issue it, would do the job.
“What would you have me do?” There was a twinge of anger to Nyx’s voice, as though she hated hearing his name but refused to raise her temper at the sisters. This time, Lachesis kept talking.
“You ask yourselves what you are without the other. Why do you separate yourselves at all? You are one together.”
“One together.”
“One together.”
The echoing of the sister’s voices hit a little harder, making the void in Nyx’s chest expand a little bit more.
“I cannot forgive what he has done.” There was a resolute quality to Nyx’s voice that made Hecate’s shoulders fall as if she was resigning herself to the fate of the world.
“Be near him. Your powers must work together. Go to the mortal realm and ensure that you can work together.” The sister’s echoing voices extinguished the fire in the hearth and froze over Hecate’s windows entirely. She watched with a heavy sigh as tears fell down Nyx’s cheeks.
“That’s it then? There is no hope for…us?It is for the good of the humanity that you seek me out, to tell me to put aside my heart and the wrongs done to me?” There was no malice in her words, only heartbreak, even though the words were harsh. The Fates only nodded in sync.
“There is no hope for us, or you are only here to tell me to abandon all loyalty to my heart?” Nyx’s voice rose as her chest heaved, looking at the sisters for clarification. At that moment, Hecate knew that Nyx wasn’t going to get it. It wasn’t in the sister’s nature to clarify what they had spoken. As soon as she guessed it, the sisters began to fade.
“NO!” Nyx screamed, lurching forward from the door frame as if she could grab one of the sisters before they disappeared. The triplets had faded entirely, and Nyx fell through the mist they left behind. She made no effort to catch herself as she collapsed on the floor of the kitchen, burrowing her face in her hands. The primordial looked up at Hecate, tears running now freely down her face as she cried in earnest.
“Why won’t they just take my heart with them into oblivion?”
25
Erebus made his way back to Mt. Olympus with one thing on his mind—Nyx. After speaking with Makaria, the last of his illusions of grandeur had depleted, and he was filled with the all-consuming desire to be next to her once more. He was in his primordial form, hurtling over the landscape and winding up to the top of the mountain as fast as the wind. Erebus would let Poseidon and Hades know that he was leaving as a courtesy and depart. It felt like there was a countdown clock in his chest, ticking endlessly and driving him to a near point of insanity to get back to the Underworld.
When he arrived in the great hall, most of the gods were still flitting about, sharpening their swords or drinking excessively, depending on how they chose to prepare for battle. The mood was vastly different to what it had been when he left, even the inebriated gods had a more serious attitude about them. Erebus spotted Hades first, leaning up against a column with a goblet in his hand that looked untouched.
He certainly does know how to keep up appearances.If there was anything that Erebus had learned over these past few weeks, it was that there was no point in making any assumptions about the God of the Underworld.
“Hades.” He got the god’s attention as he materialized in front of him. “What’s happened?” Hades startled at the sudden appearances of Erebus but recovered quickly with a grim smile on his face.
“Rumor has it that Kronos is striking at dawn, which means we’re all now striking at dawn.” He rolled his eyes, and Erebus could sense the contempt rolling off Hades in waves. A chill went down Erebus’s spine, but he ignored it.
“Where’s Zeus? I’m leaving.” He shook his head and held up his hand at Hades’s shocked expression. “I don’t want to hear it. I never should have come here. We all know it.” There was something that changed on Hades’s face, but he seemed to decide against voicing it.
“He’s in his receiving room.” Hades nodded in the direction of the small chamber behind the self-declared throne. “I’m sure he’ll have something to say about this, Erebus.”
Erebus rolled his eyes, his shadows curling up around his frame and wrapping themselves about his limbs.
