"You do not get to choose," was Zeus' just as suddenly frosty tone, as he turned to glare at her down his nose, with his lightning blue eyes gleaming ferociously.
"They will be jealous, but you will understand that you are protected under the fist of he who makes their weapons. They will crawl to you for more than just your body, now, Aphrodite."
Heph was still silent. He knew he couldn't say no, or he might lose both of his legs under the wrath of Zeus. Of course, Heph wanted to scream in protest. He didn't want a wife. He actually wanted to be as free as possible as he wanted, not love an unsure Goddess.
"You may be my King," the goddess spat, mismatched eyes sparking with unparalleled fury. "But my blood and position means that you must respect me in return for my service. I am your elder, and I have served you faithfully for millennia upon millennia. Why do you punish me for my loyalty?"
"I do respect you, my Aphrodite, but they do not! My verdict is final! You shall marry at sundown!" Zeus boomed angrily, ending the argument and whipping around to stalk back to his throne and his weapons hanging around them.
"And you are not my elder, for I am your God," He growled quietly down at her, sitting in his throne.
Aphrodite's voice was like ice.
"I am your elder in years, my Lord." Her eyes sought out Hephaestus, narrowing faintly in question. What did you have to do with this? "And I will not marry someone with which I am so closely related." Now this was dangerous—continuing an argument even after the final verdict had been dealt, all while speaking so harshly to the man who was married to his own sister.
Zeus slammed his hand down onto the armrest of his throne, making thunder crack down in front of her, barely missing her.
"I said SILENCE! That is my verdict, therefore you must follow it! You have different blood than him, there will not be serious confliction if you choose to create a family."
Heph felt her glance at him and he shifted his weight around slightly. He wanted to get moving again, not get seen by the first time by Aphrodite.
Our blood is the same, dimwit, she wanted to hiss, My father is his grandfather. You are both my nephews. But no one seems to care about relations on Olympus, do they?
But she knew how dangerous it was to say more, so she merely bowed her head and murmured a quiet but harsh "Do not expect me to be faithful to him."
Zeus just rolled his eyes and waved his hand, calling them away from him. Heph heard her whisper, the only one in the hall who did, immedately turned and went to limp off, curling the blanket back around his head as he left the hall with the giant stack of metal in his arms. He would bother not to try and bond with his sibling if she were going to be… difficult. Heph didn't quite like the unfaithful. They reminded him too much of his father.
Aphrodite watched him go with fury in her eyes—a fury that she could not afford to turn on Zeus, however much she wished to. After a few seconds of silence, she let golden light overtake her physical form, and disappeared from the throne room of Olympus.
Heph limped down the marble steps, his head turned down as he slowly hobbled down the large steps, shifting his weight around to assure his safety from a second fall. As his feet touched ground, so did his thoughts.
She's never even going to look at me after tonight. He started down the dusty path to his mountains. But I might as well make her a ring. Because I am certainly not my father.
Aphrodite's freedom was perhaps the most precious thing in the world to her. And now? It was being forcefully stripped away. She was being tied down to a man she cared little for, and who probably viewed her as nothing more than an object.
Why? Zeus knew perfectly well that she could fend for herself…. what was he trying to achieve, here?
Heph soon approached his hot forgery, where he set the silver and tin down, rummaging around in his storage to grab a gold ore, and a small diamond, with other larger bits of precious gems.
It would be the best ring.
Because he is not his father.
Heph got started right away. It needed to be ready by that night. He let his thought slip away as he worked swiftly.
(sure, yeah. to the wedding?)
(Yep! Who does the starting?)
(Hey, sorry. I’m doing that bad thing where I pretend 80% of my unread don’t exist bc I’m too anxious to deal with 18 of them, sorry. Is it okay if I get to this when I go home? I want to type the wedding starter out on my laptop so it’s better written)
(It's okay, I do that too often. Don't worry about it, I just wanted to make sure you didn't forget about this ^-^
Tske as much time as you need!)
(Sorry if I do this in the future.. I promise that if I don’t appear here for a while I will respond eventually, as soon as things temporarily calm down
<3)
(Alright TT, don't stress yourself out too much, your real life matters more than your unread things. ❤️)
(Thanks Emi ❤️, same goes for you)
