Page 103 of For the Gods' Sake

“Great, Mia, you go first,” I said.

She let out a soundharrumphthen waved the Sunday morning paper, the most read of the week, in front of my face. The same one that was crumpled in the hand of every god in my office.

“Do you know how many people I had banging down my door this morning?” she said, her tired eyes signaling an already taxing day. “I’ve already inspectedfourfarms and repaired likefifteen sets of cropsjust to show my patrons that we aren’t full of shit!”

Scattered murmurs in agreement filtered through the room.

Jason Dionysus was seated in the corner, drinking a cup of coffee that I was sure was spiked with some sort of liquor of his creation.

Luce Diana, Roman god of the hunt and game, was sitting cross-legged on a couch, fiddling with the large hunting bow they carried everywhere. Twin to the crossbow Apollo used.

Lia Vulcan, Roman goddess of the forges and invention, who also had a personal penchant as a tattoo artist. She’d done mine and every god’s for that matter.

Quinn Hephaestus, her Greek counterpart, who focused his talents on architecture and invention, stood next to her, matching her strong stance perfectly.

All gods whose patronage was largely supported by trade and who fueled the most integral industries to human life.

And who had all been called into question by thepaper’s headlining article.

No, not one about me and Reyna, though there was one article nestled in the middle of the paper titled,Jupiter to Make Roman Princess Olympian Queen Soon!

It was one that carried much more weight.

Summer Troubles from the Sea to Extend Elsewhere this Winter.

Fucking bullshit.

The same reporter who’d written the first piece about me had written a scathing article claiming that multiple sources were reporting problems with their crops or their machinery or their game and alleged that their gods were covering it up.

And as was confirmed by the screeches and yells I was greeted with when I walked into my office, not one ounce of it was true. Everything was going according to plan. Better, even.

“How do you want us to play this?” Luce asked from the couch.

I breathed in, considering. “Subtle, but firm,” I decided on. “Don’t start show-boating your power. That will look like you’re trying to distract. But visit farms and forges and hunting groups—whatever is applicable—and reinstate your power.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, listening to my command. It had taken a few years to get comfortable knowing I had that type of sway over beings this powerful, but I was settled into it now. “Think nonchalant shows of power. Like Mia did, repair things in front of them. Anything that makes their life easier.”

“We can do that,” Lia and Quinn said at the same time. Then Lia spoke for the two of them. “We were working on some new systems for the bigger factories.Makes it more efficient so that workers can take more breaks. We can implement it this week.”

“So long as you’re sure it works,” I said.

Quinn nodded quickly. “It does. We’re sure of it.”

I nodded, giving them leave to do their jobs.

“Easy. People might have freaked today, but it’s hard to complain when your vineyards are pumping out top tier grapes like it’s rain in a storm,” Jason jumped in. He leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees. “Better question is, what the fuck are you doing to do with that reporter? He’s clearly doing well enough to earn a front page slot on a Sunday, for Zeus’s sake. Even if it’s utter bullshit.”

That was the question. Toeing the line between letting humans run their own lives and making sure that it wasn’t harming anyone. And spreading information—false information like this—could hurt people.

Luce scoffed, timed with the sound of their bow string vibrating after a pluck. “I read this idiot’s first one, you know? It’s like he’d been walking around with his head up his ass for twenty years. Sure, it was volatile at the beginning but it has beenfine.Rose was the last of it.”

They were right. There had been a good ten year break in drama from my birth. The host of it contained within the first few years after. Hell, my parents got more of it than I ever did.

I had to deal with the infamy and the latent resentment.

Rose and herfather’ssins had been a rare blip in an otherwise fairly calm few years.

“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Lucecontinued, “He added Artemis to the list of so-called casualties. He’s probably just trying to make a name for himself by writing shit that’s wrong so people talk about him more.”

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