Kronos (Book One)

A Painful Relay

Their heads jerk towards the goddess wearing a feathery pink robe. Guilt written all over her face.

Takashi's jaw drops. "W-What?"

"I made the queen of Crete fall in love with that white bull."

Everyone in the hall is speechless.

His pupils pause before wavering. "So many innocent people died because of you! You're the goddess of love. Why would you do that?" his voice breaks at the end.

Chloe sinks into her chair with a sick stomach.

"Don't you think I know that?! You can hate me all you want. I deserve that."

"Just tell me why. I deserve an answer."

"You are in no position to deserve answers," Eros objects while waving his bow through the air.

Aphrodite motions him to stand down. "I did it because Poseidon threatened to kill someone I love if I didn't do it."

Perseus grips his own arm in response to the name.

"Who was it for?"

"Adonis."

Heracles' eyes widen when he heard that name. Chloe covers her mouth with teary eyes.

"Why didn't you tell Ares or Zeus so they could stop him?!" Taki's questions nibble at her.

Her pink aura surrounds the dining area to keep things private. Her hearted pupils tremble. "He said if I tried to tell anyone, he had a way to remove his existence altogether. Even after death. He even showed me how he would do it and threatened to do it to Ares and to my servants. I didn't want to lose any of them."

Taki, Echo, and Heracles' minds came to the same conclusion: Poseidon is the killer. But how when he demonstrated to Zeus his full power? Could it all have been a ruse to kill the trail?

"What do you mean by that? What happened between our father and Poseidon?" Perseus asks.

"That recent earthquake was our father's way of testing Poseidon's true strength," Heracles explains.

Taki's milk chocolate eyes harden. "You sacrificed all those people for him."

"Wouldn't you do the same if he had threatened Penelope?"

Dark green aura explodes from him. "Don't you say her name."

His aura starts to age the scattered flowers into nothing. The same effect during the torturous ceremony. Heracles notices wrinkles on his arms that weren't there before. Perseus and Chrysaor are bewildered.

Eros charges energy into his pointed index finger. "Mother, just say-"

"Son, you will not hurt him. I will not allow it."

Taki takes a deep breath to extinguish the rage. Heracles' arms return to their original state.

He exhales. "I......would fight with everything I had to keep her safe from any threat. I would never sacrifice others for her. There's always another way."

Aphrodite's heart shaped pupils almost break, telling everyone there was no other option. How badly she would have taken that alternative route. She looks around the room at her servants. The looks on their faces brings her to her knees.

"I would understand if you no longer wanted to serve me. You are free to leave and say what you will of me......I failed you all."

Takashi is silent. He remembers what Artemis had to do to save her temple, but it wasn't completely the same. Still, there was pain involved. Heavy tears being proof of that. Along with his past.