“Stop.” Aeëtes held up a hand and quieted her. “I’m not saying that you’re wrong. It’s a lot to process, but that’s life. Things happen, especially when you’re fucking immortal, if you haven’t noticed. I know how I feel about you, and some bullshit engagement or family drama isn’t going to change that. I’m not going to lose you, too.”
“I won’t be some pawn for your emotional regulation, Aeëtes.” Hecate tried to put some anger in her voice, but there was none left. It came out pleading, and she hated herself for it. He only shook his head, throwing up his hands and seemingly praying for someone to listen to him.
“You’re the only person I know who sees yourself as a pawn.” He frowned when he spoke, rubbing his eyes like he was tired. “I’m not doing this now.” Aeëtes started heading towards the door as Hecate stared at him, dumbstruck. He paused at the threshold, looking over his shoulder at her with an expression that was equal parts exhausted and hopeful. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“You’re standing at the door right now.”
Aeëtes shrugged. “I’ll try again tomorrow.” He was gone. Yet, Hecate realized that she knew he would be back. Shetrustedthat he would be back.
She didn’t like how it made her feel.
? ? ?
Hecate knewthat she was hiding. She didn’t leave her room for the rest of the day, even once the sun finally set on what had been a very long, emotionally overwhelming day. The moonlight was coming in through the open window, and she leaned herself against the wall, breathing in the night air and listening to the sea down in the harbor. There was something calming about Colchis, and she could see how a younger Clymene and Helios would’ve found some solace in this place. All it held for her now was heartbreak.
The breeze picked up outside her window, suddenly smelling overwhelmingly of myrrh, and she quickly took a few steps back. She would know the scent of that magic anywhere. The air in her room began to circulate, as if it were moving in a vortex around the corners, until there was another sharp gust of wind, which caused Hermes to come tumbling in through the window.
The god could barely fit and nearly got stuck in the frame, pushing himself through with a grunt and landing on the floor in a rather undignified tangle. Hermes was all golden limbs and blonde curls, even his winged sandals causing yellow sparks when they scraped on the floor. It brought a smile to Hecate’s face in the darkness, even when she felt like she was slowly carving pieces of her heart up.
“Hermes, have you ever made a normal entrance?” she chided him, sliding a hand to her hip. Hermes made a rather undignified squawking sound as he stood, shaking himself and adjusting his shoe.
“My vixen.” He grinned, holding out both of his arms and presenting himself to her like a present. “Where would the fun in that be? Besides, no one suspects anything when you make as obnoxious of an entrance as I do.” He winked at her, his eyes full of trickery.
“Trickster,” Hecate quipped at him, unable to keep a little mirth out of her voice whenever she spoke to him. Hermes only smiled, giving her an exaggerated bow and plopping down into a chair, remarkably ungracefully.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing. Now, O Fearful One, why did you need me so terribly?”
“Need you?” Hecate’s eyebrows rose as she eyed him carefully. “Where did you get that idea from?”
Hermes shrugged, rubbing his fingers together until a trickle of golden magic appeared, solidifying itself into a cup of nectar. He sipped it slowly, keeping his eyes on the goddess, and his lips shone with gold as he set the cup back down. “Everyone seems to forget I’m the messenger god, too.” He was calculating now, his voice taking on a harder edge. Hecate knew this side of him, too, but it was rare to see both the devious trickster and calculating messenger at once. He shrugged, running a finger around the lip of his cup. “I spoke to Helios. Rather, Helios was venting about his day, rather loudly, I might add, and I heard about it. I came straight here to see you, obviously.”
“Obviously,” Hecate deadpanned, eyeing him with scrutiny. She trusted Hermes, for the most part, but she knew that he could be bought and paid for, like any Olympian. He played both sides during the titan war to his advantage, something that she would be wise to never forget. Hermes made a big show of looking around the room.
“I don’t see Aeëtes here. I was so hoping that you two would be looking for a third this evening.” His tone was conspiratorial, but Hecate knew that he also wasn’t joking in the slightest. She bristled slightly at the thought of Aeëtes.
“Ah,” he said slowly, “So we’re both going to be disappointed tonight then.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Hermes snapped his fingers and his cup disappeared, and he motioned for Hecate to sit in the chair opposite him. She did so, but not without taking her eyes off him.
“Level with me, Goddess.” Hermes’s eyes were open and expressive, and she sensed a bit of his devilish demeanor trickle away. “You haven’t been in the Underworld for a few weeks now. I know that your trip was open-ended, but here you are in Colchis. What’s happening?”
Hecate chewed on her lip, her silence more telling than almost anything she would’ve said out loud.
“Ah.” Hermes nodded, and he snapped his fingers again, two more cups of nectar appearing in his hands. He handed one to her with a dramatic grimace. “It seems I took the drinks away too early. Drink up, tell your best friend Hermes what’s happening with the very pretty prince boy.”
Hecate let out a sharp burst of laughter. Hermes’s ability to shift from calculating mischief to outlandish companion never ceased to make her smile. She accepted the cup from him and took a long sip, letting it refresh her tired bones.
“I learned about Clymene today.”
“Ah.” Hermes nodded, taking a sip of his own. “A sad story, that one.”
“You knew?” She looked at him in shock, but Hermes only shrugged.
“I know a lot of things. Let’s assume when it comes to the gods and their affairs,” he haggled his eyebrows, “I knoweverything.”
Hecate scoffed playfully but continued. “Then you know we can’t use his mother for the spell that I need to break Hera’s curse on him. Circe’s remedy continues to hold, but we don’t know for how long. He also learned about Clymene today, too, so…”
