Page 55 of Arrogance
Eurus, the quietest of the wind gods, and God of the east and rainy seasonal winds, even spoke up to share his discontent. “Perhaps we should have ventured to a milder location?”
Boreas threw his hands up in defeat. “Very well! Let us find our first bison at least, and then we can make our departure. We don’t want to have made this journey all for nothing.”
All of us nodded our heads in consensus to his compromise. I had hoped a bison would appear out of the blue sooner rather than later. I could practically feel my blood thawing. I needed something to take the distraction away from the bitter cold.
I tilted my head over to Zephyrus, the God of the east wind, who trailed the other wind gods, beside me. “And how are you fairing?” I asked him.
“Could be better,” he openly shared with me. “Not the ideal place I’d prefer to be, but my brothers and I each take turns on deciding on a new place to hunt. I’m surprised you cared to join us this round. What prompted that decision?”
“You know I love a challenge. I can’t think of a better way to test my skills than to do so in the most extreme conditions. And this is certainly extreme, is it not?”
He nodded. “I cannot argue with you there.”
Zephyrus was very soft-spoken and agreeable compared to his brothers. He was the easiest to talk to and carry a conversation with. A gentle soul, to say the least. But I did want to stir the waters a bit with him. It was common knowledge that Zephyrus was madly in love with Hyacinth. However, an unrequited love is what it truly was. Hyacinth soon fell in love with my brother, pushing Zephyrus completely out of his life altogether.
I never learned how Zephyrus felt about this entire situation. I assumed he was hurt and likely jealous over Apollo. And now with Hyacinth having been killed, who knows how Zephyrus was feeling. I would imagine his emotions were all over the place. A mixture of bitterness, sorrow, enmity, and possibly even gratification. Hyacinth had treated him poorly. Surely, he may have thought justice was served and that the Spartan prince suffered the consequences for betraying his love and loyalty.
“Such a horrible accident that happened at the discus throw competition,” I led in with. “I am relieved I was not present to witness the horror of it all.”
Zephyrus let out a deep sigh. “Yes. It was very unfortunate.”
“And very odd for that matter. I know my brother well, and I am shocked his discus was thrown inaccurately, striking Hyacinth. Apollo never makes amateur mistakes like that,” I stated, giving Zephyrus a curious look, wondering what his interpretation of the whole scene was.
“It was all an accident. Hopefully Apollo has moved on by now?”
I shook my head. “I’m afraid not. He is heartbroken by the entire thing. He completely blames himself for his part in it. He even resorted to accusing me of being involved, explaining that I was out to get revenge on him for what he did to Orion.”
“Apollo killed Orion!?” Zephyrus gasped.
“Indirectly, yes. He lied to me and told me that Orion was a rock in the far distance. My brother persuaded me to have an archery match, with Orion being the target.” I was beginning to become sentimental once again by bringing this up. I wiped my eyes with my arm to prevent the tears from rolling down my face. I did my best to hide my emotions, not wanting to seem weak in front of the Anemoi.
“Why would he do such a thing?” Zephyrus could not believe my own brother could be so cruel.
“He was tricked into it by Aphrodite. She and I both separated Adonis and Apollo from their love affair. I cannot go into reasons with how we managed to break them apart, but nevertheless, we were able to do so. And Aphrodite further took it upon herself to convince my brother to harm me by having Orion murdered,” I confessed.
“Wait a minute. You say that it was you and Aphrodite who separated Adonis and Apollo?” Zephyrus asked, seeking clarification.
“Yes. It was us. Why do you ask?” I raised my brow to him.
“So, you’re telling me Hyacinth had nothing to do with stealing Apollo away from Adonis?” he further questioned.
“Not at all. Hyacinth wasn’t even in the picture at the time. Apollo was truly upset over the loss of Adonis, but it was for his own good. Nothing ever good comes from being associated with the bewitching Aphrodite and any of her pet lovers. I did my brother a favor by ridding him of that meddlesome boy.”
Zephyrus had a look of worry expressed on his face, as if he was stunned with the information I had just presented to him. “Oh Artemis! I’m afraid I’ve made a terrible mistake!” he exclaimed.
“What do you mean, Zephyrus?”
“Please forgive me… it was I who killed Hyacinth,” he admitted.
“But that’s impossible! How could you… why would you?”
“I had made love to Adonis at the event. The beautiful little liar told me that it was Hyacinth who broke him and Apollo apart. He was likely trying to tug at my fractured emotions over Hyacinth leaving me as well. The conniving shrew!” Zephyrus spouted with irritation.
“But what does Adonis have to do with all of this? How is he involved?” I asked.
“Don’t you see, Artemis? It was Adonis who seduced me. He then persuaded me to find a way to kill Hyacinth for hurting the both of us. So, I caused the wind to alter the direction of Apollo’s discus, so that it targeted Hyacinth,” he finally confessed.
“No!? You couldn’t have…” I uttered with incredulity.
