The Dragon's Daughter

xiv. sweet tooth

“I—I choose—”

Before she could point to a door, a brilliant light flooded the room.

Janus raised his hands to either side of his head to cover his eyes. When the light died, a woman was standing at the fountain.

She was tall and graceful with long hair the colour of chocolate, braided in plaits with gold ribbons. She wore a simple white dress, but when she moved, the fabric shimmered with colours like oil on water.

She was someone she knew. Someone she knew pretty well.

“Janus,” she said, “are we causing trouble again?”

“N-no, milady!” Janus’s right face stammered.

“Yes!” the left face said.

“Shut up!” the right face said.

“Excuse me?” the woman asked.

“Not you, milady! I was talking to myself.”

“I see,” the lady said. “You know very well your visit is premature. The girl’s time has not yet come. So I give you a choice: leave these heroes to me, or I shall turn you into a door and break you down.”

“What kind of door?” the left face asked.

“Shut up!” the right face said.

“Because French doors are nice,” the left face mused. “Lots of natural light.”

“Shut up!” the right face wailed. “Not you, milady! Of course, I’ll leave. I was just having a bit of fun. Doing my job. Offering choices.”

“Causing indecision,” the woman corrected. “Now be gone!”

The left face muttered, “Party power,” then he raised his silver key, inserted it into the air, and disappeared.

The woman -- goddess turned toward them, and fear closed around my heart. Her eyes shined with power.

“You must be hungry,” she said. “Sit with me and talk.”

She waved her hand, and the old Roman fountain began to flow. Jets of clear water sprayed into the air. A marble table appeared, laden with platters of sandwiches and pitchers of lemonade.

"Okay. So. I learned my lesson from what happened with Lady Artemis last year," Percy whispered. "Who is she? Is she a goddess? She is, isn't she? Do you know her?"

"You say that as if I know all the gods."

"That's because you do. You're like Wise Girl 2.0. Which is good for me."

She rolled her eyes but answered his question nonetheless. "That's Hera. Queen of Heaven."

"Atalanta Elora Anastacia," she said. "It is always nice to see you, my darling niece."

"Aunt Hera."

☼︎☼︎❁☼︎☼︎

Hera served sandwiches and poured lemonade.

"Here." The goddess slipped her a slice of cake. Not just any cake. The strawberry shortcake Hera gave her the first time Elora went to see the goddess.

"I really shouldn't," Elora said.

"Nonsense. Eat up. And when you're done with the quest, I'll send an entire pan just for you."

"That's going to gain me a lot of weight."

Hera let out a tsk. "You'll burn them all before they even get the chance to stack up. Call it the incentive to live. You live and you get a cake, you die and you'll see your father I guess. Which one's better? My cake or seeing your father as a ghost?"