“I don’t care about that!” Aeëtes snapped, crossing the short distance between them, and kneeling down in front of Hecate. She jerked back from him in surprise, studying his face as her mind whirled with how panicked he was. “Please, you have to believe me. My parents have set up the arrangement. I told them I didn’t want it, but they haven’t listened.”
Hecate’s eyes screwed shut, and she tried to keep the tears at bay. She shook her head, but when she spoke, her voice was thick with tears. “I don’t want to hear this. I can’t, Aeëtes. If she cares for you and believes that you’ve been promised to one another… It’s too much.”
“It can’t be. You have to understand, this isn’t…”
“We. Need. To. Focus,” Hecate spit the words out, standing up and striding away from Aeëtes. She needed to put some space between them before she caved. Aeëtes dropped his head to the chair where she had been sitting, letting his tears fall freely, as opposed to Hecate. She heard it and bit down on her cheek so harshly, it bled, keeping her eyes fixed out the window.
“Helios told me about your mother,” she said softly, hoping to ease the blow. Aeëtes’s head snapped up, and his mouth gaped, unable to find words but imploring her to go on. When she didn’t after a minute, the atmosphere between them changed once more. The air got thick. Somehow, he knew what she was going to say. He straightened up, letting out a long, slow breath as if he was attempting to calm himself down.
Aeëtes stopped crying and looked down at his feet, both of them now unable to speak freely or even look at each other.
“She’s gone, isn’t she?” Aeëtes’s voice was hoarse. Hecate nodded slowly and Aeëtes said nothing in response. He felt like he could see the barrier between them that Hecate was building, and it was only adding to his distress.
“Yes,” Hecate confirmed, her tone soft. “Her name was Clymene. It sounded like your father really loved her.”
“Not enough to have a family with her,” Aeëtes snapped, his sadness morphing into frustration. “Sure, they had children, but abandoning Circe and me is hardly something to honor her memory.” He was growling. Hecate agreed with him, making a soft noise of assent and picking up her head to finally look at him. She had buried her heart, but at the sight of his torn expression, it tried to crawl its way up from the depths.
“He’s a jealous, flighty god, Aeëtes. You’re nothing like him.”
He didn’t respond right away. Aeëtes finally met her gaze, his eyes pleading.
“Why are you still even here, Hecate?”
The question shocked her, and she found herself nearly running from the room. Aeëtes straightened until he was standing at his full height, something changing in his features. Aeëtes had never known his mother, and now he was confident that he didn’t care to know his father. He had his real parents, no matter how tumultuous that relationship was. Now, he had Circe.
But he wanted Hecate.
He felt a final piece of his resolve come to him, settling into place. Hecate was still staring at him, full of surprise, and he repeated the question. “Why are you still here?”
“You know why!” The words tumbled out of her, almost defensively. “Without your mother, the spell that I had in mind won’t work. I need to come up with something else.”
“To defeat Hera.”
“Yes!” Hecate scoffed, throwing her hands up in the air. “To defeat Hera.” Aeëtes shook his head and took a step towards her.
“I’m serious. Yes, she’s the worst, but I’m one person. You’re doing all of this to defeat Hera? You’re going to stay here now, for an indeterminate amount of time, to find a different spell—living outside of the Underworld, no less—just to defeat Hera?”
Hecate’s expression grew tense, “My honor is on the line, Aeëtes.” The words sounded hollow in her mouth. She sounded like an Olympian, and she hated it. It was a deceitful and prideful thing to say, to insist that the reason she remained now was one of principle and not because of the man in front of her.
“Your honor,” he scoffed, turning away. “Of course.”
There were a few more terse moments of silence, and Hecate watched as his hands flexed into fists and released several times.
“It’s too much, Aeëtes. Faidra, Clymene… You need time to figure all of these things out,” Hecate sighed, her traitorous tone turning wistful. “It doesn’t matter what you think you feel for me. You’re going to need more time.”
“Time, time, time! Do you need more time or do I?” Aeëtes snapped, and everything around the couple started to cave-in on itself. There were tears in his eyes when he spoke, abandoning any rational principle left in his body and tossing the last of his care to the winds. “I was understanding when you said you needed time, Hecate. I got that. But it’s been what, a thousand years? More?”
Hecate took a step forward, moving from the defensive to the offensive, nearly snarling at him. “Don’t you tell me how long I need—”
“That’s what you’re trying to do to me, isn’t it?” Aeëtes crossed his arms over his chest, and Hecate’s mouth dropped open. She knew that she had been caught. Aeëtes had given her all the space that she needed to come around to the idea of them together, and he hadn’t given her a single deadline or ultimatum. Now, here she stood, trying to force time on him.
“I meant it, Hecate. I don’t know what else I need to do to convince you, but I meant it when I said that I wasn’t going anywhere.” Hecate felt a fresh wave of panic rising in her chest; this wasn’t a conversation that she was ready to have. Regardless of the situation concerning Faidra, if Faidra had feelings for him or was expecting to marry him, she wasn’t going to get in the way of things. She refused to be the other woman, no matter how many times Aeëtes tried to convince her that it wasn’t the case. He had also just learned about Clymene. Now, here he was, refusing yet again to leave.
“Aeëtes…”
“No. I’ve never known my mother. I didn’t think that she was living a happy, peaceful life somewhere. Despite what you may think, I’m not that naïve.”
“I don’t think that you’re…”
