Hell Is An Empty Heart (Book One of The Triple Moon's Chronicles)

80 | Between Temptation And Reason ***

Warning for mentions of sexual abuse and trauma.
To be read and to learn of its damaging effects on oneself.

The seeds had germinated in his mind.
The spiderweb had been wrapped all over his heart.
Bitter was the taste she left on his now-bleeding, muted throat.
Cold was the daughter he thought to have easily impressed with buffooneries.

Her retaliation didn't require any sharp weapons. Her attacks left no apparent damage, but simple words that stabbed him right where it hurt the most. With that same inner power that forewarned Athena of another end to her ulterior motive, Persephone had punished the real author to her mother's sufferings.

Hades had fallen for her, but now the wounded Zeus was more than ever convinced to get rid of this obnoxious child. Sat at the fountain of his own realm with his laurels crown on his head, he was excruciating in anger at his failed reunion with his long-lost daughter.

His mind screamed revenge at her disdainful behaviour, but he couldn't help to forgive her, as she was right. Zeus surrendered to the truth, and his eyes cried the tears of the impaired child within him.

They were all envious of Demeter's daughter. The woman who only knew laughter and games, the goddess who loved and cared for any creatures, even those who couldn't answer back to her. Nobody could match her sensitivity, grandeur of heart, or ability for imaginative thinking.

A smoky voice came to him: "You're back from the jungle?" She was billowing in front of him in her immaculate white dress, swirling between temptation and reason. Zeus lifted his head up to see Themis. She flashed him a wry smile, her arms crossed and her head tilted away. She hadn't forgiven him for sending her into confinement during the negotiation with Demeter for the release of Persephone. As he remained silent, Themis kicked him in the knee. "I'm talking to you, Zeus!"

As he looked away, he raised his legs to the edge of the fountain so that he could hold his body even tighter in comfort. Time had frozen for Zeus, and he could not keep his eyes out of the running water. They were supposedly the actual tears of a woman in lamentations, an ornamented structure with white marble that included chambers and caves. He saw himself in it—the immaculately dressed king with his hollow eye sockets, from which he too let water flow out into the open air. His chin trembled, and he choked on his words, "Shouldn't you be celebrating your release and ignore me for a couple of centuries, Themis?"

She made a tongue-clicking motion before settling down next to him and keeping her arms crossed. "Sorry, that should be your first word to me!"

"I'm not in the mood to argue with you," he murmured, hunching his frame even more to conceal his weeping.

Themis couldn't ignore his pain, and although he treated her worse, she still offered him a gentle pat on the back. "By the almighty Chaos, what has happened to you?" she asked, but she received no response. Drawing nearer and unfolding his body to look at him in the eyes, she saw his wounded soul and wiped his tears away. Her voice melted to honey, sweet and all-accepting, fruity and nurturing with a hint of soothing spice. "It's me, Themis; you can tell me anything."

He crawled into her embrace, leaving his hefty form to fall into her arms. Themis rocked him and sung him lovely lullabies like he was a nested man child. He would never truly confess to her about his plight, but as he was reborn again, his hand reached out for her breasts, then to her lips.

In this awkward moment, Zeus attempted to kiss her. She tried to avoid his face at first, but he soon got hold of the back of her neck and forcibly stole what she refused to grant him. Themis buried her cries in quietness from the ordeal, as she knew how all this was wrong, but she could no longer turn down his sudden overtures.