Then again, I never gave her the chance to actually see it.
A ragged breath left my body, my eyes heating with tears. I have not cried in decades, not since the day I found out about Zeus’ many affairs.What kind of Goddess of Women and Marriage was I if I couldn't even maintain a monogamous relationship with Zeus?He paraded his dick around the whole Celestial Kingdom and Earth and look where it got me: a laughingstock for centuries. I saw the stares and the pity in their eyes.
‘The poor goddess of marriage couldn’t even keep her partner around.’
I could see those thoughts running through their minds. Never again. I promised myself that I would never be looked down upon again. I would prove to be a better goddess and hold my bonding together. Now that I had Michael, I knew he would be faithful. The bond is so powerful that I can feel what he feels and know if he ever tried to stray. His love has outshone all the love Zeus ever had for me, and it warmed my heart to feel his overwhelming emotions.
Since Uriel has been born, his love has stayed true. Michael could feel the tension in my body, and all the worry I had over our child’s safety. Our beautiful daughter, created with our love, drove my motherly instincts into hyper-drive. She wasn’t my first child, but she was the first child with my mate. The bond we had connecting us was strong, and maybe I did want to keep her locked up. The prophecy gave me an extra reason to keep her with me always. That was my subconscious talking: to keep her and never let her go. I never wanted to hear those words leave my lips, so there they stayed deep within me. Unfortunately, my brilliant Uriel found those thoughts and quickly called me out.
I love her. She represented everything that I cared about. I knew she was the Goddess of Innocence, but of which innocence, I wasn’t sure. What if the evil was actually her mate, and destroyed… THAT innocence? My heart twisted: thinking she would do those things. She acted so childish, but was that all my doing?
It appeared to be so, since those infernal plants, which I insisted upon keeping, stunted her growth. When she never asked why blood stained her underwear, I never questioned it. Not once did she come to me asking why she had sexual feelings in parts of her body. Not once did I question any of it because I thought she was the Goddess of Innocence—of sexual purity.
Obviously, this was not the case.
It was my fault.
It was my actions that ruined her and prevented her body from growing. I had poisoned her—her whole life. I had not only hidden her power but prevented her from becoming her true self. All over my selfish desires to keep her with me forever, to always have our family bond, and to restore my reputation so no god or goddess could laugh at me again.
Gripping my white dress, I felt unbearably hot. Uriel had stripped me of my guilt only for it to come back tenfold as I pondered these things. Twenty-five years of caring for her, and the Fates laugh at me, in my face. Maybe this was some sort of trick to get me to realize what a failure I am as a goddess. The evil will come to take her from us and along with it, my own power, because I was obviously a terrible goddess.
“My sweet goddess,” Michael interrupted me from my thoughts. His hand stroked my hair as he sat with me on the couch cradling me with his wings touching the floor. His clean-shaven face rubbed my forehead while he kissed me gently. How is it that a bond can make one relax so readily?
“Will you now let me take this burden from you?” Michael hummed into my forehead. His deep voice soothed me down to my stomach. Sighing deeply, I leaned into him. Maybe I needed him; I couldn’t be strong all on my own. I had been stern about being in charge of our family and our bonding/marriage. As the Goddess of Partnerships, I didn’t think to accept his help.
Was I that obtuse? I've had millennia to fully understand my powers and learn to let my mate in, to have him help me. It takes two to create such a strong bond. Why did I not let him in sooner?
“Uriel will forgive you. I am sure she already has, just like she said.” I gripped Michael tighter. “I know you do not trust Lucifer. You seem to think you are the only one able to protect her, but I promise you, if Ember thought her son was a danger, she never would have paired them. She has never been wrong, now has she?” I shook my head in agreement.
“Will you let them be then?” I hummed, letting him know I heard him. If Lucifer is meant to be Uriel’s mate, then there must be a reason. I knew nothing about Lucifer since he hid as much as I hid my Uriel. With my daughter’s defiance against me, she must care for him, and he must have treated her properly.
In just the few days I have been away from her, she has done fine on her own. I’d like to think we both had something to do with that. Her playful nature was calming to the God of Destruction, just like Ember was calming to the ever-brooding Hades.
“Mate, what are you thinking?” Michael tilted my chin up to look into his eyes. He has weathered every storm that we have ever encountered and told me he would love me regardless of our bond. He has been my rock, my everlasting anchor to this mess of a storm we were in.
“I love you,” I sniffed, letting a tear fall. “And I’m sorry for how I have acted since Uriel was born,” I cried into his chest. Letting the walls crumble around me and the fortress I tried to build for this family, I wailed into his chest. “I wanted to protect her, protect us, and also not look like the fool I was with Zeus. I wanted to show everyone I was strong, and that I could do it all.”
Michael continued to stroke my arms, planting kisses on my face as I cried. “I don’t want my baby to leave. I don’t want anything to happen to her. I can’t let whatever evil is trying to take her from me succeed. If I lose her, I lose everything. I still remember it like it was yesterday when I nursed her to sleep, played with her in her room, taught her how to walk, and you taught her to fly. I just cannot lose those precious moments.”
“You won’t,” Michael made me look at his face. “You will never lose those moments, but you need to realize she is grown now. I will not fight you, Hera. You are a strong woman and this fear you have of not being strong enough has to stop. You are only hurting your family when you try to do everything yourself. A family involves more than one person, even a marriage involves more than one. You needed to see what you were doing, otherwise, you would have never listened to me.” I bit my lip, knowing he was correct. Michael had been more than accommodating of my tantrums. He knew I had to face the truth myself before I could crawl out of this deep hole I dug for myself.
My relationship with Uriel was hanging by a thread. The evil still coming for her and now being summoned by Zeus for trial had me falling into a pit I could not escape.
“What do we do, Michael? I don’t know what to do now.”
Michael picked me up, carrying me to the bedroom. I don’t remember the last time I just laid limp in his arms while he carried me. My mind was spent, my body ached, and I just needed his touch.
“Let me figure some things out.” His thumb rubbed my cheek as he laid with me while his large wings encased our bodies. “Right now, I want you to sleep. Think of Uriel and give her sweet dreams when she sleeps. Tell her you care, you love her, and you bless and accept Lucifer as her mate.” I blinked, letting the rest of the water flee my lashes. “It’s the right thing to do, Hera.”
Nodding silently, I buried my head into Michael’s shoulder, closing my eyes so I could give my baby girl the messages she needed.
Chapter 37
Lucifer
Urielflashedherbareass in front of me! I took my thumb and wiped it across my lips, smiling as she giggled while trotting down the hall. My heart leaped in my chest at how she could be such a tease. My little bunny was more than willing to show herself to me fearlessly. She was the only woman alive that showed such innocence and purity; it immediately made me think of awful things to do to her, pleasantly awful things.
She pranced down the hall with her dress swaying side to side and half her hair pinned up by a neat little bow, the rest falling down her back. The bow was completely oversized and gave her a rather youthful appearance for a twenty-five-year-old.