The Three Kings Trilogy- Lord Of The Sea

Chapter Fifteen- Blind Liar

Hades

How should one react when they find out ambrosia is actually just laying around? The same stuff that turned me into the immortal being I am today? The gift our 'grandmother' gave to Cronus as a way of saying 'thanks for overthrowing your father and saving all of your ugly or horrid siblings I accidentally gave birth to?' If anyone is deserving of it in this day and age, I suppose it would be Neoma.

Hestia, Zeus, and I sat inside the old castle after a long flight and boat rides. I just wanted to find Neoma as soon as possible. Demeter and Poseidon had Aphrodite resting in the kitchen for her to wake up in.

"Where would Cronus have likely put her? It's not like Greece is that big." Zeus scoffed, pacing and resting his finger on his chin as if that could actually help him think. The man was too goofy to even function properly.

"We don't need to find him. We need to find Echidna." Hestia insisted, sitting on one of the old columns that had fallen down three years ago during the fight.

The castle was basically rubble as if it had been abandoned for decades. We hid in the main room, one of the few rooms still standing with candles lit so we could see. The old garden Demeter had blossomed to live the minute we had arrived but nothing else was like we had left it. Even the boat was starting to show signs of age.

"Why Echidna? What could see help us with?" Zeus began to argue.

"She would lead us to Cronus. She and the twins are probably the only people in Cronus' army he allows out and about for recruiting." I answered for Hestia, shutting down any chance or an argument brewing.

"We still haven't spoken of what we will do once we get Neoma back. We need to find somewhere Cronus cannot touch her." Hestia pointed out.

"Let me take her to my kingdom below sea. I'll keep her safe while you guys look for the ambrosia. My personal army will keep her safe." Poseidon promised. We all turned to the archway to enter into the kitchen and there he was with the most serious face ever. Poseidon wasn't necessarily a serious or unserious person. He was just... Poseidon. Seeing him like this even sent goosebumps up my arm.

"Let's just do this once at a time. Maybe once Aphrodite wakes up we can get some answers on where they're keeping Neoma." Hestia suggested.

"Let me check to see if I can rush the process." I stated quietly.

As I made my way toward the kitchen, Poseidon met me halfway and stopped me, gripping my arm. I thought he was about to stop me from interrupting her beauty rest but when I looked up, a look even more serious than before appeared. Concern? Anger? I was unsure what it was but even I was beginning to feel anxious.

"Blow out two candles and hide in the corner. I hate to say it but Aphrodite is definitely hiding something. Demeter is asleep so you should do it with ease." Poseidon stated quietly, only loud enough for me to hear.

"Do you think she's involved with Cronus?" I asked, matching the same tone as him.

"Unsure but she hasn't been the same since arriving with Neoma. Just see if she admits anything when she thinks she's alone."

"You got it."

Poseidon finally let go of me, walking past me and going into some sort of macho man script. It's clear he may be loosing it but there was some truth in his madness. Aphrodite claimed she's been traveling the world since long before the deal with Agape was even made but at least one of us would have ran into her before the last decade at least. Entering the kitchen, Demeter was indeed asleep in one of the chairs and Aphrodite laid out on the island. In the far corner, over by where the dining table sat, three candles sat around there. Taking Poseidon's advice, I sat in the chair and blew out all three instead of just two. Sure I was pale but nothing would be able to be seen from here.

*****

I sat in that chair for hours. Even when I knew everyone else had fallen asleep in the entryway, I didn't dare take my eyes off of Aphrodite in case any small detail could be revealed. The moon sat at its highest point when the woman sat up with no issue. She had clearly been awake for at least a little bit and was just waiting out to see if anyone else was in the room.

"Demeter? Are you awake?" Aphrodite whispered, turning her attention to the clearly snoring woman. She waited a few moments before quietly hopping off the island and onto the floor. Now my attention had definitely been captured.

She reached down in between her breasts, making me increasingly uncomfortable onto to pull out three black marbles with grey and white swirls even I could see from where I sat. Aphrodite threw them down onto the cracked flooring and a puff of white smoke appeared. My heart began to pound rapidly, almost making me lose my composure and blow my cover immediately.

The smoke faded away and in the middle of the old kitchen, in front of Aphrodite stood those three fucking hags. The Graeae's mouths were sewn shut and arms clearly broken, bent in a way to look like they each were trying to scratch their back with their wrists sewn as well. They smelled worse than usual and shook more anxiously. It's never a good sign when they're scared.

She quickly grabbed one of the slightly rusted kitchen knives left here and slit the mouth of the middle hag open. A loud gasp, as if the graeae could not breathe sounded with pained whimpers following after. What has she done to these women?

"You better shut up because if Cronus finds out you were the one who alerted the gods, he could do so much worse to you." Aphrodite threatened, resting the tip of the blade against the hag's throat. "Now, you use that psychic shit or whatever it is to find out what's going on with Neoma Knight right now."

The graeae took a deep breath and shut her eye slots. Even from here, I could see she was searching her mind for something involving Neoma. Once her eye lids opened, even I wondered what the hell was going on. Perhaps this is how Cronus was keeping tabs on Neoma.

"She's conflicted. She sees the monsters as kind creatures and slowly believing the gods are terrible beings. Just as things should be." The hag answered. Just as things should be?

"Shit... okay here's what is going to happen right? I'm going to untie all of you and you're going to go to Neoma. I know you have to tell her the truth or whatever so tell her this- the gods are on their way to save her."

Maybe Poseidon and I were wrong. Maybe Aphrodite is actually helping us. I mean, she does hate Cronus almost as much as we do so I wouldn't be too shocked at the matter. One by one, she cut the sewn parts to relieve freedom and allowed the graeae to pop their bones back into place. It felt like forever but they finally sunk into the ground to let her know Aphrodite's message. I know the truth though- the goddess of love is clearly a double spy.