Just a Kiss Goodnight

Just a Kiss Goodnight (18)

Hera's P.O.V

I watched Georgiana sob to herself quietly in the dark, it was a pathetic sight. Goddess of Women I may be but this pathetic girl had never worshipped me and she went against everything else I stood for. She was weak, a product of a broken marriage and a pathetic little love affair. Everything about her made me want to scream, The silver stamp in her eyes that named her Zeus's child, the striking red hair of her mothers.. I wish I'd have known before she was born. I'd have caused her mother more pain during the pregnancy and birth for my husbands betrayal.

A Peacock rubbed its cold, soft head gently against my leg, its feathers rippling softly in the Labyrinth's mysterious draft. I smiled down at the creature softly, taking in it's beauty and proud stance. The Greeks chose well when they dedicated Peacocks to me, they held the same qualities as I, they were strong, proud beautiful and eternally loved by all. My Peacock let out a soft cry as it looked up at me, its black eyes seemed to hold a ghost of sadness in them.

"I understand, my darling." I whispered softly, lowering myself to its level and reaching a hand out to stroke its soft feathers. "I'll take you with me to Olympus... I have many Peacocks you can join and leave behind your loneliness with."

"H-hello?"

I rolled my eyes at the feeble voice of the girl. "Stay here." I cooed at the bird at smiled.

I stood, dusting off my dress and walked towards Georgiana slowly, staying in the shadows. "Georgiana, darling..." I drawled, smirking to myself as the girl looked towards where I was with blind panic in her eyes. "It's good to know you're alive. Killing you would have been too easy and simple."

The girl took a deep breath, determination filling her bright eyes. "You coward." She snapped.

"Excuse me, little mortal? Did you just say that I, Queen on the sky, am a coward?" I half laughed, feeling my anger bubble up inside of me. Who did she think she was? I could kill her in an instant.. and she had the nerve to call me a coward?

"Yes, I did, Hera." My eyes widened at her bold tone. "You stand in the shadows to speak to me, you have to knock me out to get the courage to take me away. You call yourself a Queen but you're just the cowardly lion from the Wizard of Oz. You don't have the right to call yourself a Queen!"

I flew forward to her and slapped her violently, vibrating with rage. She twisted her face to look at me in the eyes, a full smile of her lips as she chuckled slightly. "That's more like it, Hera. Did that feel good? All those hundreds of years of resentment towards my father finally being let out, huh? Go on, another slap if you please?" She winked at me and I stopped, looking at her like she were mad. How could she know about my husband and I's hundreds of years of feuds? She didn't even know about us all until a few days ago...

"I read a lot, Hera." She said calmly. "I was a geek at Greek mythology in school, I know about it all Hera... I'd be angry at him too if I were you.."

She'd shocked me. The last thing I had expected her to do was agree with my anger, my hatred for my husband. "You can't understand the anger.. mortal girl." I spat, desperate to cling to my rage at her.

"Hera.." She whispered, still looking into my eyes."I do understand. I might be a mere mortal girl, but I know what it feels like to be betrayed by someone you love and trust."

I felt my heart soften slightly. Her eyes told the tale of a girl who really did understand, of a girl who had been hurt like I had...

Poseidon's P.O.V 

I stood in the shadows, watching the exchange between my sister and Niece or

God daughter - whichever you'd like to use - , smiling. I was proud of Georgiana, very proud. It took a lot of balls to stand up to Hera, she wasn't the nicest of goddess's. The way Georgiana spoke reminded me of how her mother had spoken when she'd met me for the first time, bold and absolutely brilliant. Georgiana's mother had been like a little sister to me and I'd loved her dearly. Demeter and I helped Zeus keep her and Georgiana a secret from Hera while she'd been alive and when she'd died I'd been just as devastated about it as Zeus had been. I'd gone to the funeral with him and stood there as they'd lowered her coffin into the earth, into my territory. As her body had entered the earth I helped make sure it would never leave the earth again and Demeter had planted red tulips and blue violets there for her. Angela had always been nuts about the meanings of flowers, that's why Demeter had loved her so much. The two flowers at her grave meant everything to her, the red Tulips represented a declaration of love and belief and the blue Violets represented watchfulness and faithfulness; the two flowers she'd given to Zeus and told him to look up to let him know how she felt about him.

Watching Georgiana act so much like her mother had caused a tear to roll down my cheek in pride and in grief. I remember when Georgiana was only a bump in her mothers stomach and feeling her kick my hand through her mothers tummy. I hadn't seen her since Zeus had left her to that horrid family and seeing her now was like a blessing.

Hera loomed over Georgiana after slapping her harshly, I felt my protective instinct react but held myself in place, waiting to see Georgiana's reaction. She surprised me yet again by laughing at Hera and openly taunting her. They spoke for a couple of seconds longer before Georgiana said something that really caught my attention.

""Hera.." She whispered, looking into Hera's eyes."I do understand. I might be a mere mortal girl, but I know what it feels like to be betrayed by someone you love and trust."

Guilt swept over me then. Had I not let Zeus give her away to a horrid family, maybe Georgiana wouldn't have so much hurt in her voice or eyes, maybe she would have been treated like the princess she was.

I stepped out of the shadows then, deciding I'd seen enough of this exchange and needed to get Hera and Georgiana up onto Olympus before it was too late and Zeus took my head off with a particularly large eagle. "Hera.."

She spun around, narrowing her eyes at me. "Poseidon, leave us be. This is of no concern of yours." She spat at me.

I chuckled and stepped forward to Georgiana's side, draping an arm around her fragile frame. "But you see, Hera, it really is. This here is my God Daughter and Neice." 

Her eyes widened in shock. "You knew.." she breathed, fury encasing her words.

I nodded at her, still smiling. "Yes, I knew all along. Now you should really get to Olympus, Zeus is most certainly not impressed."

"Why didn't he come himself?" She snapped.

"You know he couldn't. You know it hurts him to be so low down an in the earth." I argued back. "Your entire plan worked again Zeus not being able to come and save Georgiana. You wanted her to feel like he didn't care, like she wasn't important to him." I stepped closer to her. "You stupid woman. You know how important Georgiana is to us all and yet you really thought you could pull this off? You thought you could just get rid of Zeus's only daughter!?"

She stood her ground and glared at me. If looks could kill I'd be dead by now. "She's wrong. In every way to me." She spat, gesturing to Georgiana.

I looked at Georgiana for a second, registering her surprised and helpless look. I smiled at her quickly, letting her know she would be okay before I turned to Hera again. "No, Hera. She's not, she's every bit as right as her mother was. Now go back to Olympus before I drag you there, Queen or not, you're being a dick."

She huffed at me and faded away into the background with one last glare at Georgiana. I sighed and turned back towards Georgiana. I untied her carefully, making sure not to hurt her wrists any more than they already were. When she was free she flung herself into my arms, sobbing quietly. I smiled and hugged her close, letting her get her fear out of her system.

After a few moments she pulled back and wiped away the tears from her face. She smiled at me radiantly. "So, my godfather huh?"

I chuckled at her. "That's right, kiddo. But before I explain all that, lets get you to Olympus so your dad doesn't kill me." She laughed and nodded, taking my hand as I lead the way out of the Labyrinth with Ariadne's string.