Page 5 of Conquered Obstacles

But none of us missed our temples and the problems that came with having them so… Nothing was perfect.

“That wasn’t what you brought us here for,” Poseidon interjected when Hades started talking about a property in Charleston, SC.

“Right, right,” I sighed. I told them the truth and how I had been trying to get in touch with the head of AMC theaters and my idea to get around the issues we had on Valentine’s Day.

“They could still lie and say they lost their confirmation,” Poseidon hedged, but Hades figured out the rest.

“These companies would then be pissing off another big corporation,” Hades said with a smirk. “These problems of yours are coming at you through the bakery, not your deal with Costco but you’re bringing someone else in.”

“Yes, especially because I suggested it could be extra hours for their employees to manage the tables and check people’s confirmations,” I told them. “That means now they’re trying to pull this with another corporation’s people.”

“Smart, and you offered them something exclusive or they can brag about?” Poseidon surmised, nodding when I did.

“Once I finally just showed up and talked to the guy.” I let out a slow breath. “It’s Dionysus.”

Poseidon’s eyes flashed shock. “I tried to find him. He blocked everyone. Hera swears she killed him.”

“He’s alive, and apparently there is a group hiding in my domain as humans,” I told them. “He thought I was contacting him to punish him. He was rather…”

“It’s not your fault, but things got worse after you ran,” Poseidon muttered. “Now we know it was Hera’s anger that she didn’t get to kill you, but she was on a warpath. She—I had to stop her from beating him and a few other of Zeus’s bastards who are full gods. She was…” He shook his head and turned away from us. “I hate that she lives.”

“You hate that you pretended not to see her insanity,” Hades said coldly.

I swallowed loudly, thinking that was a bit pointed and could go badly.

“Yes,” Poseidon whispered, accepting his failings.

“Well, I made it clear that I wasn’t upset and what he did was fine if he wasn’t hurting humans.” I shrugged. “He’s the god of wine, festivity, and theaters. It makes perfect sense.”

“True,” they both agreed.

“I invited him for lunch tomorrow to simply catch up and meet the twins. I wanted to tell you what happened and invite you to join us.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “He’s scared that Hera will now be more focused on my realm and it could get them caught.”

“I hope it’s Apollo, Artemis, and Hermes,” Poseidon sighed.

My eyes went bug wide. “The twins? I thought Hera never thought they were his bastards. She believed the lie their mother told everyone and it was…” I forgot who she’d told people the father was.

She never told me that crap since I knew they were Zeus’s.

“People started to say they were the most gorgeous after you were gone, and Hera lost it. She was jealous another woman gave Zeus twins and she didn’t.”

I shook my head. She really was insane.

So was Zeus for allowing this of his own damn creation and feeding into her insanity.

“I will be here tomorrow,” Hades promised. “I knew he was alive since he never came to the underworld, but I couldn’t find him either and it bothered me.”

“You also don’t like that gods can hide from you,” Poseidon muttered. “You want to figure out how to stop that.”

Hades turned away and looked out at the sprinkles. “Yes, it cost me too much.”

Me. He meant all of the time we lost together. I felt the same but… I couldn’t change the past.

He left before we could get a chance to respond.

And he took all of the bags with him. No, probably to Huntsville.

I followed his power and found the facility matching the brochure. It looked great. I put everything on pallets and realized we couldn’t have Amazon pick up like normal for this because then they would know about it.

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