Hermes | Book 1

: 25 :

Life was a painful liar, Death was a sweeter one.
But they are liars,
All of them.

Chapter 25

"YOU'RE BACK ," said a voice- dipping slightly, honey like- in a tone that was both dry and slightly moist with vague amusement.

Hermes leaned back against the stiff backed chair, his eyes still set firmly on the letters that floated over the thin tablet. But his eyes were only skimming, not seeing the letters, he hadn't registered a single word after Athena had spoken.

"I am." He said amiably. His fingers roamed at the bottom of the smooth surface of the tablet and with experienced familiarity traced the slightly uneven surface at the very centre.

"Why aren't you with your lover?" Athena's boots made a sure click click  sound as she slowly advanced towards him.

Hermes fingers still aimlessly went back and forth over the button in random contemplation. "She is not my lover-"

"Yet." Athena said. Her footsteps echoed all throughout the silent room. She was around him, but towards him.

"Did she say something?"

"Who?" There was an edge of superior playfulness in her tone that made Hermes's ego bristle.

He instinctively pushed hard on the button beneath his fingers and the screen went black, leaving him to see himself on its reflective surface.

But like the letters, Hermes did not really see himself. His eyes traced over the image, but they seemed like words scattered on a paper. He didn't bother putting them together.

"Aphrodite," he said turning. Unbound blonde hair fell over his eyes at the force in which he turned. "What did Aphrodite tell you?" With the hand that wasn't holding the tablet, he pushed back his hair clumsily.

Athena wore a flowing sapphire skirt, paired with a roughly sewn black blouse whose combination brought out the colour of her eyes unnaturally well. Her black hair was twisted and pinned loosely at the base of her neck with a simple silver ring.

Seeing the distant hint of tease on her face, Hermes knew it was next impossible today for him to get her to concentrate on him unless she wanted to.

"Careful," she said bending towards him and swiping away the falling tablet from his loose hold over it. "This is worth more than all of us combined."

"There is nothing worth more than the Gods." Hermes looked at her carefully.

"That is true," she said without hesitation. Chewing the bottom of her lip.

Hermes trained his eyes to stay focused on the brilliant blue of Athena's irises.

"But it is still worth more than all of us."

"Why would you say that?"

Her eyes flickered to his and stayed there. Hermes thought he would be used to this by now. They had met each other for eons together, but he still couldn't hold her gaze for too long.

It felt like he was being dunked into a freezing lake for all the sins he had committed in his lifetime as a God. This time, there was something else that shone through it at all.

A silent pleading.

"Something is not right Hermes," she whispered quietly.

"What do you mean?"

But the sharp glint that needled him to understand the truth behind her words faded and he was left with the familiar feeling of falling from a height without wings.

"Aphrodite said she wanted to see you." Athena said casually. Her clasped his hands over her own. Her fingers trembled over his before coming to a stop.

An unspoken message that he couldn't decipher.

"Athena?"

"Aphrodite was searching for you. She asked me to tell you to meet her in her room if I saw you."

Hermes desperately searched through her facial expressions to see something, anything to show that her behaviour was justifiable.

"It's quite late Athena," he asked gently, squeezing her cold fingers against his. "Why are you still up?"

"Don't you want to meet Aphrodite?"

"What is not right Athena?"

At the edge of his vision, Hermes saw the door open. A man in a dark grey suit with dark gold lapels entered. Athena did not turn even as the man bowed slightly in respect and said, "Lord Zeus wishes to meet Lady Athena immediately."

Hermes looked back at Athena to find her gaze firmly fixed on him. "Everything is a lie, Hermes. Everything is a lie." Her voice was below a whisper and could hardly be heard, even by him. "Find me when you realise the truth."

Without another word, she turned around and walked out of the room.

Click.  Click.

Click. Click.

Click. Click.

Click. Click.

Then the door was gently shut and Hermes stood staring at the back of it for a long time.

Everything is a lie, Hermes.

Everything is a lie.

Hermes sank heavily into the stiff backed chair he had occupied previously.

Find me when you realise the truth.

That was the last time he had seen Athena.