Page 38 of Conquered Obstacles

And then I locked onto the necklace he always wore from Hera.

I shook off Poseidon and went to Zeus and ripped the necklace off. My eyes went wide as I felt vast power in it. “You were right. This is a curse. It feels like when I held the pillar. We could never sense it around—”

“Give me that!” Zeus roared and lunged for it, his eyes wild and desperate. “I swore to Hera that I would never remove it.”

Hades turned so he wrapped his arms around Zeus’s and held him to his chest. “You didn’t. Arabella did. Calm yourself, Zeus. It’s just a necklace.”

“It’s my oath to…” He frowned. “You’re nothing next to my perfect Hera, Kismet. She should have killed you. I wish she had so we’d have been rid of you.”

I tried not to react. I tried not to care… But I did. It hurt. It hurt so deeply that I couldn’t even breathe, Poseidon’s arm the only thing that kept me standing.

“Enough of your bile,” Hades bit out.

I gasped as I was filled with power, a huge chunk filling me. Then I heard the twins moan in the background.

“If you hurt Arabella or her daughters, it will hurt your psycho wife. If she hurts them, she will only hurt herself. I thought and thought about how to handle this situation when neither of you will ever stop or see reason. This is the way. If either of you harm them, you harm yourselves.”

“But the same isn’t true if she wants to punish Hera, right?” Poseidon checked as I gasped for air.

Hades snorted. “No, and she’s free to anytime Hera is in the underworld.”

“That wasn’t our agreement,” Zeus argued, trying to shake off Hades. “I am the god of the gods. How dare you take my power? And especially give it to her. Those mongrels or—”

Then Zeus was gone.

I blinked at Hades.

He sighed. Heavily. “I tire of his bullshit the way you do sexism, Sister. He makes my ears bleed.”

“Hear, hear,” Poseidon agreed, helping me to my seat.

I reached out my hand to Hades, glad when he accepted the gesture. I kissed his hand for all to see. “Thank you, Brother.”

He didn’t react for a moment but then ran his other hand over my hair. “I will not let them hurt you again, Sister. Not while I still live. We will have the life we hoped for this time even if that means Zeus and Hera have to be returned to Father. So be it. I want the life you have hope for. I want to have that hope back, and I only can with you around.”

I hoped I could deliver on that this time around instead of failing us.

10

The rest of the event went as planned. Patti punished her nieces and so did Mary. Then Patti made a show of punishing Barb as well and making it clear she condemned her actions. Barb tried to fight back and argue, but she couldn’t get her footing and seemed shocked that her mom would so publicly go against her.

And then to make it clear who was in charge, Patti beat her husband. He was shocked she could, but there was nothing stronger than a pissed-off woman who actually was physically stronger… Plus, right.

She was right to be this upset.

I saw some of the other groups mingling and getting a chance to get to know each other. And apparently, word got around about how much we were helping some, and others needed help.

Also, Jamie had a really great idea when he was drugged?

Hades was amused as he explained during our Sunday family lunch. Jamie had made the comment that not everything had to be done by the books when everyone involved knew I was a goddess.

And meringues were a pain in the ass. They were a complete pain in the ass, and everyone loved them and wanted more but hated to make them. It was the one thing in the factory everyone bitched about because they took so much time and were so damn finicky. If my power should be used for anything, it should be all the fucking meringues.

He had a point, but I wanted to know more about the idea.

Apparently, Jamie wanted to set up a group who faked making them. They would receive all of the sugar and egg whites that were needed… And I would just fill a huge warehouse with the meringues we needed. The packaging and pallets could all be there for me, but even if we had the ovens and everything for show, my power was better.

Yes, that was true for everything, but again, meringues were a pain in the ass more than anything else.

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