“Apologies, my young brother,” Hades said with a grin. “But those are trade secrets only the Three Graces have the right to reveal.”
So it was true then, Apollo thought. Although Hermes had mentioned of the triplets’ involvement and the grapevine had pretty said as much, it was the first time for Apollo to hear Hades confirming the rumors.
He glanced at the trio, who was now understandably surrounded by a throng of immortals inquiring about their services. For so long, Aglaea, Euphrosyne, and Thalia had been disregarded by other immortals as minor deities whose only claim to fame were being the daughters of Aphrodite.
Casting a look at his admittedly remarkable surroundings, from which an abandoned and long-buried temple had been turned into a land of crystal winter, Apollo knew Hermes’ words would come true. From here on, the triplets’ efforts would be recognized and it would only be a matter of time before Zeus himself rewarded with more assignments.
“Why did you choose them?” Apollo asked curiously. “Most of our kind usually ask for this kind of help from one of the Muses.”
“They were busy,” Hades said with a shrug.
Apollo raised a brow. “Too busy for one of the most powerful Olympians?”
Hades grimaced. “Stop making a big deal out of this.”
“Then stop lying to the god of truth,” he retorted.
“This is why I avoid talking to you.”
“Actually,” Hermes intruded with a sardonic smile, “this is why most immortals avoid talking to him.”
Apollo only laughed, knowing it was the truth and not at all bothered by it. “Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo,” he quoted, “but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.”
Hades and Hermes looked at each other.
Finally, Hades said, “I give up. Who said that?”
Apollo bared his teeth in a smile. “Oprah Winfrey.”
The two other Olympians shuddered.
“It is simply not done, Apollo,” Hermes said with mock despair, “for a god to quote a human who is still alive. It is just not done.”
“I fear I shall make my leave before your closeness to humanity rubs off on me,” Hades said and after bidding the two with a deep bow, the lord of the Underworld walked away to greet the latest guests to have arrived.
Hermes and Apollo stared after the older Olympian.
“How old do you think he is?” Hermes asked.
“Old enough he probably would have forgotten his age,” Apollo guessed. “Zeus has.”
“He only says he has,” Hermes said with a snort, “to save face, since we all know Hera’s much, much younger than he is.”
“True.” Apollo glanced at the other god, who was the closest to him among the other Olympians. “Why do you care to know anyway?”
“It just makes me wonder, I suppose,” Hermes murmured. “Like how old you need to be in order to realize certain truths about life.”
Apollo said flatly, “Don’t even think of saying her name. He may seem like a changed man now, but do not be fooled by his smiles and newfound charm. Hades is still the king of the Underworld, and the reason why he is called the Prince of Darkness remains true.”
The god of light fell silent, and Hermes knew even without Apollo saying a word what the other god was thinking.
Of all the Olympians, Apollo was the one who held the humans most dearly to him. However, he was also the god of plague, and when the time came that the Crones decreed the need for massive deaths to take place—-
It was Hades who had struck the final blow, Hades who had willingly spared Apollo from the weight of those deaths.
“Sometimes,” Apollo admitted under his breath, “I think what happened to him is all my fault.”
“Preposterous,” Hermes dismissed with a rare note of practicality injected in his normally mischievous voice. “You are not one of the Erotes to have manipulated his emotions and make him fall the way he did for Persephone.”
“But I was the one who made him blind to the faults of mortals, and she is more mortal than she would ever care to admit. For most of us, our word is our bond but it is not so for her. She has spent most of her childhood surrounded by mortals, and it has made her as...duplicitous. That humans are flawed I already know, and I care for them despite it. But Hades – the only times he knew of them was in the times when they were most cruel and selfish, sickeningly in need of purging. It had made him shun the human race and this had blinded him how they have the power to fool even immortals like us.”
They looked at the Lord of the Underworld. Tallest and second most powerful among the Olympians, Hades was every inch the warrior, and he wore his strength and authority like second skin. He drew gazes everywhere he went, with young and old goddesses falling all over themselves to catch his attention, never mind if they all secretly thought the same thing.