Page 37 of Conquered Obstacles

“I will not shorten your life, you stupid man. No love is worth that,” I said firmly, tears in my voice. “Think of your family.”

“I am,” he said firmly. “I’m still a pawn people want to use. Let it end with me. I’m the last alive with power of the bloodline of your priests. Let it end with me then. Just as it should have back then.”

“No.” I stood and shoved him to plop on his ass. “No! That will fix nothing. That won’t change what happened. That’s not penance for what you did. That’s just being cruel. I will not become Hera and spread my suffering around to torture others!”

“That’s not what I want either,” he whispered. “I just want a chance. I thought it was a way for us to have a chance. You were happy with me.” He stared up at me with tears running down his cheeks. “We were happy on New Year’s. It was just Cole and Arabella. I know you saw me. No masks. No labels. No goddess or priest. Just us. There has to be a way to get that back.”

“Your idea of sacrifice and penance even is noble, but you would resent her for giving up that power and who you are at your core,” Hades cut in when I couldn’t seem to find my voice. “You truly love my sister. I see that, and your offer is real. I cannot believe it, and I maybe have never met a man so in love with someone who would offer that much.

“But it would turn sour. You would see her power day in and day out and miss yours. You have lived too many years with gifts, and they would be gone like losing a limb. It would ruin anything you could have, especially when you would halve your life. It is not the answer. You would give it all up so she would never fear you, but you would give up your greatest asset.”

“Your ability to protect her,” Poseidon said for both of us when I couldn’t hide my confusion. “Even against our wishes, you left wards at her new home and still handle situations to help her. Our sister has a pure heart, and even if she can be just, she cannot be harsh. For her to keep being fair as karma needs to be, she must never be tainted.”

“I’ve long since been tainted, Brother,” I argued.

“No, you are not the tainted one of us,” Hades argued. “That is your job, Zeus.”

I gasped as Zeus was suddenly standing in front of us wearing a hoodie of all things and his power cloaked. I’d felt other gods but hadn’t realized he was there.

“I warned you not to disobey my sister,” Hades seethed.

“My gods were gathering, and I had every right to know why and to hear what was happening no matter the location or her whims,” he snapped.

Hades’s hand shot out and wrapped around Zeus’s neck, lifting him up off the ground. “We are not yours. You rule the heavens. You failed in your role of allowing good souls to end up there to watch over them. You never ruled us. I tire of repeating myself. If you break my sister’s decree again, I will chain you to the heavens so you cannot even visit your wife in the underworld.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Zeus seethed. “My gods would revolt—” He flinched when Poseidon and I snorted.

“From what we hear, they tire of your bullshit just as much as we have,” I drawled. I gestured around the warehouse. “Things are going so well, and you have the gods all so in line that you assumed this was some meeting to overthrow you? Sure, that makes perfect sense.”

“How dare you speak to me and—”

“Fuck you, Zeus,” I sneered. “You’re a sexist disgusting pig who can’t control shit and I have no love for. You don’t get this affronted when Hades or Poseidon say anything to you, but it’s always how dare I when I call you out. How dare you. I banned you from my realm. Was that too complicated for your tiny penis to understand?”

Hades and Poseidon both looked at me like they’d never seen me, shock in their wide eyes.

I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest. “I have thousands and thousands of years—since the beginning of time dealing with sexism. You lose patience with the idiocy of it. It’s ridiculous.”

“It is,” Hades agreed. “So is your new plan, Zeus.” I worried when Zeus flinched. “And I will not allow you to hurt my sister anymore.”

I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I heard four people exclaim in shock.

Four men.

One was Isiah. I hadn’t realized he was in my view until I saw him fall to his knees, but then I focused on him. I realized Colton was one who made a noise too.

“What did you do?” Zeus demanded with a groan.

“I gave her four suitors a piece of your power,” Hades said with cold amusement. “If you try to hurt them, you will do the same to yourself.”

Fear raced through me, and I met Hades’s gaze. “No.”

He nodded. “He planned to kill Colton and Jamie so he could finally force the god he made for you on you and he would control you.”

I lost my mind and grabbed Zeus by the hair and yanked him away from Hades, slamming the brother I’d once loved into the concrete floor. I punched him twice before he recovered from shock and was easily able to kick me away.

Poseidon grabbed me so I wasn’t harmed, and Hades fisted the front of Zeus’s hoodie to keep him in place.

“I am not yours do to with as you want!” I roared at Zeus. “I hope you and Hera kill each other with your insanity. I hoped it would destroy both of you after you chased me from my home, but you still plot to own and possess me. Never. I will never let you, Zeus.”

---