Sides
Blood of Zeus Fic
I’m not sure how I feel about it, but I finally got another part of the Hera’s Daughter!ReaderxHeron fic out. I need to get the angst out of the way to get to the cute stuff haha.
But for now, Reader gets caught in the crossfire of the battleground that is Zeus and Hera’s marriage.
Image from Google.
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You had to speak with Zeus.
It was not often that you sought out the King of Olympus’s company – generally speaking, the two of you rarely interacted without Mother present. But if Mother knew about you sneaking off Olympus to see Heron, then you had to assume Zeus had become aware as well.
All of Olympus – indeed probably all of Greece – had seen Zeus’s display last night – sending lightning to destroy the demons ships, to save his latest bastard from certain death. The marble halls were filled with grumbles and whispers, everyone speculating what would come next and whether the boy – Heron – would be brought to Olympus, like all the others had been.
Your sandaled feet clapped against the marble floors as you reached the door to Zeus’s perch. Courtesy dictated that you knock before entering the King of the Gods personal sanctuary, but days of fretting had frayed your nerves and instead you placed both hands on the large, ornate doors and shoved hard. The massive frames groaned noisily across the floor as the cool evening air brushed against your face and you pushed outside, your gaze immediately landing on Zeus.
He was leaning over the wall that looked down on the cloud cover, a glass of ambrosia in his hand, his pensive expression morphing into one of genuine surprise as he turned to see you enter.
…You had not particularly planned on what you would say once you had actually arrived, and for a brief few seconds you stood there in silence. Zeus did the same, his lightning blue eyes studying you with mild caution.
“…good evening.” The King said finally, briefly raising his glass in your direction.
Words tumbled around your mind like leaves in a hurricane, and when you opened your mouth they made their rather frantic escape. “I have been sneaking off Olympus.”
Zeus stared at you blankly.
“…I have met Heron.” You gripped the sides of your dress, knuckles turning white. “…several times. I met Electra too. Ares knows. Mother knows. I…You…”
Zeus shifted in place, his expression somewhere between deeply uncomfortable and faintly amused.
“…you…you know this already, don’t you?”
He nodded slightly, and for a while you simply stood there, staring at his face until something clicked in your mind and you felt like a fool. “You…you are the old man….”
Zeus took a moment to sip from his chalice, before softly clearing his throat. “…yes.” He lowered it to the nearby table, before rubbing his hands over his bearded face, looking more tired than you had ever seen him. “I will confess, I had not expected to see you approaching Electra’s home with Heron. The Fates have an….interesting sense of humour.”
The day you had met Heron, you had wandered back to his home with him after leaving the market, and had seen the Old Man – Zeus – watching you from the window. “You knew it was me?”
Zeus barked out a short laugh. “Well, yes. You did not look at all different than usual. Just…mortal sized.”
You needed to sit. You stumbled into the nearest kline, what felt likes weeks’ worth of exhaustion falling on your head. You buried your face in your hands, and faintly felt Zeus’s presence cautiously come beside you.
“…I did not tell your mother, for what it is worth.”
“Of course you didn’t.” You muttered, squeezing your eyes shut behind your palms. “Then you would have had to explain what you were doing there.”
Zeus gave a self-deprecating laugh, before taking another large gulp from his chalice. “That…that is also true.”
You both sat in silence for a while after that.
“…I suppose you must be eager to see him.” Zeus said finally, and you groaned into your hands.
“Am I that obvious?”
Zeus actually laughed at that, his large hand coming to gently pat your shoulder. “I have been young and in love before, believe it or not. I do recognise the look of it.”
“With Mother?” The question tumbled from your lips before you realised it. Zeus looked surprised, his eyes sliding away from you to peer over the balcony, into the clouds below.
“…yes.” He said finally after a few seconds of silence, a note of wistfulness in his voice. “We…were all a little younger then, I suppose.”
You had heard stories of the Great War with the Titans, of course, but Mother had made you long after that. You had never seen her and Zeus as anything other than what they were now. It was a difficult thing to imagine them as something else, something happier.
“Did you….” The question rolled impatiently on your tongue, and Zeus’s gaze flickered back to you. “Did you love her? Electra?”
Zeus’s entire face seemed to dim, a flash of guilt in his eyes. “…yes. I did.”
“…and Mother?”
Zeus stared down at you, his hand frozen to your shoulder. His somewhat startled expression melted into one of deep thought, and he was quiet for a moment. “…would you believe me if I said yes?”
Your fingers picked at the edges of your dress, but you kept your eyes firmly on the King’s. “That depends.” You straightened your back slightly. “Would you be telling the truth?”
Zeus’s lips quirked upwards. His large hand gave your shoulder a soft squeeze. “You sound like-“
“What are you doing?”
Your head snapped around towards the door. Zeus’s hand retreated from your shoulder as though it had been scolded. Hera stood at the doorway, her gaze fixed on Zeus, face twisted in anger.
Your stomach dropped. “Mother-“
“We’re going. Now.” Hera marched over to you, grabbing you wrist and tugging you sharply to your feet.
“Going?” You nearly tripped as Hera pulled you along, bewildered. “Going where-?”
Zeus frowned and rose from the bench, his chalice forgotten. “She can remain if she wishes-“
Hera barked out a hard, incredulous laugh, completely devoid of humour. “You would love that, wouldn’t you?” She spun to face Zeus, almost causing you to tumble into her. “Do not think I don’t know what you are thinking-“
“I am not-“
“Mother, please, where-“
“You think I will leave her with you?” Hera snarled, voice growing vicious and so very, very angry. “So you and your bastard can take turns? Or perhaps you are planning to share? What a delightful welcome for him. Father and son, defiling her body together as well as her mind-“
Zeus’s eyes narrowed, his frown turning sharp. “Now you are just being vulgar-“
Hera’s eyes grew wide, her jaw slackened as though Zeus had slapped her. “Vulgar?” Her voice grew higher. “Vulgar-?!”
Your head was spinning, your wrist was beginning to hurt in Hera’s vice-like grip, but your mother’s words struck you like a clap of thunder. “Welcome?” The King and Queen turned to you suddenly, as though they had forgotten you were there. Mother’s eyes grew wide as you tried to tug your hand free. “Heron is here?” You looked up at Zeus, who rubbed the back his neck almost sheepishly. “You did not think to tell me that?!”
“I thought you must have been told!” Zeus protested, his eyes darting towards Hera. “I thought that was why you had come here. Your mother has been scheming against me. She manipulated events to kill Electra, has rallied half of Olympus against me-“
“You bastard-“
“-and her price for peace was Heron’s head.”
You felt as though ice cold water had been thrown over you.
Hera released her hold on you, the air around her suddenly charged, winds tearing across the space around you as she moved to shove Zeus’s chest. He stumbled briefly, but quickly regained his footing, and you swore you felt the palace itself shake the two rulers of the Heavens seethed at each other.
“Have you not taken enough from me?!” Hera nearly screamed, the ground cracking as she stormed towards Zeus, marble and stone rendered feeble in the face of her rage. “My dignity, my throne, now you want to steal my daughter-“
“That’s not true.” You grabbed your mother’s arm, shaking it to get her attention. She whipped around to face you, eyes wide. “You wouldn’t…Mother, that….”
Even as you struggled to form the words, they rang hollow. Heron was hardly Zeus’s first bastard. Electra hardly the only lover he’d taken. It always ended the same, with blood spilled, Zeus falling into another bed, Hera’s heartbreak and rage falling on someone else.
Heron’s face flashed in your mind, Electra’s blood seeping into the ground, the Demon General standing over her-
“You can’t.” You gripped Hera’s wrist tighter. “Mother, you can’t. Heron hasn’t done anything wrong. He-“
Hera’s looked shocked, wresting out of your grip. “You’re taking his side?” She cried, pointing angrily at Zeus.
“I am not-“ You shook your head, refusing to back down. “This isn’t about sides. Heron doesn’t deserve to die! Neither did Electra! It wasn’t-“
“This is your fault.” Hera twisted away from you, her teeth bared in Zeus’s direction. “You and your bastards, all of them, you’ve poisoned her against me-“
“Mother, listen to me! This is wrong!”
Hera shook her head furiously. “You don’t understand. You couldn’t possibly. We’re leaving for the Underworld. Now.”
“I won’t.” You pulled your arm back as Hera reached for it. “I won’t go.”
Hera looked shocked for a moment, before a dark cloud came over her expression, one that made your hair stand on end. “Yes, you will.” She hissed.
“I don’t want to!”
“I don’t care!” Hera shouted, the air cracking around her. “I am your mother! You will do as I say!”
“I won’t!” You heard your voice rising, adrenaline pulsing through your veins. “And I won’t forgive you if you do anything to Heron!”
“Forgive me…?” Hera looked as though you had struck her. “Forgive me?” Emotions danced across her face, bewilderment, hurt, then cold, icy rage. “You defend Zeus’s bastard over your own mother, and you think I need your forgiveness?”
“I’m not…” Tears stung your vision, your head and chest ached horribly, a cold, dark feeling deep in your belly. “You can’t-“
“Do you think your pet bastard would forgive you if he knew?” Hera demanded, her voice low and hard as stone. “That you had lied to him? That your mother helped kill his own?”
“Hera.” Zeus finally spoke, his broad back suddenly blocking your vision. “Enough.”
Hera hissed something at him. Then you saw her long dark hair flicking in the wind, her sandaled feet clapping against the ground. “Why don’t we ask him?”
You felt as though icy cold water had been thrown on you, watching Hera’s back retreat through the doors, numbness soaking into your bones. “Wait…” Panic squeezed your chest like a vice. “Wait, wait, stop, Mother, stop-!”
You pushed past Zeus and ran after her, but by the time you caught up, Hera was already in the gardens, her presence as fearsome as a hurricane. You ran towards her, Zeus at your back, just as her gaze landed on where Apollo, Hermes and Artemis sat, a familiar head of dark hair amongst them. Heron’s face briefly filled your vision, his expression painted with confused alarm as he realised Hera was looking directly at him.
“You there.” Hera ignored both you and Zeus, her focus entirely on her target, her voice sharper than a knife. “Bastard.”
Apollo slowly rose to his feet. Slightly behind him, you noticed Hermes quietly move in front of Heron, while Artemis stood as still as a statue, her shoulders tense and rigid. Apollo cleared his throat lightly. “I am afraid you may need to be a little more specific-“
Hera flicked her wrist vaguely in Apollo’s direction, as though swatting a fly. There was a sharp crack and Apollo’s head snapped to the side with such force he was knocked to the ground, a surprised cry of pain spilling past his lips as blood burst across the marble floor.
“Mother, please, stop-“
“Hera, do not-“
Artemis rushed over to her twin’s side, while Hermes positioned himself directly between Hera and Heron. The Queen of the Heavens looked right past him, her eyes locked onto the demi-god behind him. “Heron, isn’t it?” She spoke his name the same way someone might talk about a particularly unpleasant insect. “So it is you I have to thank for my daughter’s sudden rebellious attitude.”
You wanted to run, somewhere, anywhere but here, but your feet were rooted to the marble floor. Hera stepped aside slightly, sweeping her arm wide to gesture at you.
Heron’s eyes met yours. Confusion flooded his handsome face, his eyes widening slightly as realisation struck, his mouth opening wordlessly before snapping shut.
“Heron…” You choked his name out weakly. Hera turned abruptly and strode past you, pausing to hiss sharply in your ear.
“He will disappoint you. Do not say I did not warn you.”
With those final words, she was gone. Zeus brushed past you to kneel by Apollo’s side, his wound already healing. Hermes’s shoulders sagged, a heavy sigh spilling past his lips. Artemis looked grim, her knuckles white on Apollo’s shoulder.
Heron continued to stare at you mutely. Feeling returned to your body like a bolt of lightning, and you turned around, quickly retreating into the safety of the palace.
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