At least Mom had gotten that right. Well, she’d watched me through her spyglass.
She took the head seat and waved at me with a smile. “Sit by my side, daughter. I won’t have much time with you in this realm.”
I perched on the seat next to her. My mates settled around me.
“There’s coffee in the Void?” I squeaked in delight and snatched the steaming mug at my place setting.
I couldn’t remember the last time I had smelled coffee, let alone sipped it. For coffee’s sake, I would forgive Mom for her stupid moves on my mates.I drank a mouthful of coffee and moaned in bliss.
My mates gazed at me, shame and sorrow and lust all twirling in their eyes. I got it. They each took their roles as provider, protector, and mate seriously. They were thinking of the months when I’d been Lucifer’s and Ares’s captive in Hell. They thought they failed me.
Guilt brimmed in Axel’s amber eyes.
I knew what ran in his mind. It all started with him forcing me to attend the Half-Blood Academy.
“Don’t spoil my fun, boys,” I said. “I don’t regret any of it. Without the Academy, I’d never have met you, and I’d have lived the life of a bored virgin for eternity. Now I have a life I look forward to, with all of you. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.” My eyes misted. “I’d go through Hell again and again just to be with you.”
Tears simmered in my mates’ eyes.
“Eat and drink,” Lilith said, heaping food onto a plate and shoving the plate in front of me.
At the same time, my mates all competed to get food for me. So I got five piled plates before me in no time, and they were still getting more for me.
“This is ridiculous,” I said. “It’s like you want to shove all the food down my tiny throat. Serve yourselves, mates. Or I’ll fast.”
No way would I fast, but I didn’t mind throwing a threat here and there to have my way.
“I wouldn’t suggest fasting, Belle,” Mom said. “After you leave my domain, you might not find food resources for a long while. While you and your three demigods might sustain yourselves, the hotheaded mortal won’t last long without sustenance.”
“I can sustain myself fine under any circumstances,” Héctor said. “I once suffered severe torture for centuries and never broke.”
I stared at him, my mouth gaping. “You never told me about that, Héctor.”
I’d gone through inhuman torture as well in Hell, and I nearly broke.
“Don’t fuss, Lamb,” said Héctor as he cut my steak for me. “It was a long time ago, and I killed all of my tormentors. The past holds nothing on me as I look forward to a future with my beloved mate.”
There was still so much I didn’t know about my mates, but I had an eternity to get to know them. I just had to make sure we all survived.
“If we won’t have food for a while, then we need to pack food and water to last at least a week when we leave your tower,” I said. Giving it another thought, I added, “Make that two weeks, just in case.”
Héctor had been a mortal for only a couple of days. I doubted he truly understood how fragile and high maintenance a mortal could be.
“It doesn’t work that way, child,” Lilith said. “Everything in the Realm of the Ivory Tower is made of magic. It can’t exist outside it.”
Great. Just great.
I regarded my mates as they devoured their food. Men ate at a different pace than women, even demigods. When it came to food and sex, they were my cavemen.
For a second, the cozy scene of dining with my mates and Mom filled my heart with warmth and contentment, something I hadn’t felt for a long time.
“You’ll be fine with your demigods and mortal looking after you, Belle,” Mom said softly. “That’s why I had to test them, to make sure they weren’t as rotten as Lucifer. I won’t let my daughter be shackled to unworthy males.” She scanned them one by one critically, yet with approval. “Congratulations, you’ve all passed the tests. Your hearts are loyal and true for my daughter. You have enough love for her to carry her to eternity. So I allow you to stay by her side.”
“I trusted them before you tested them,” I muttered. But I couldn’t deny that a small part of me was insecure. It was nearly impossible for anyone to settle down with even one partner in the era of the Great Merge. And the four of them? The most powerful, gorgeous males on Earth had to share me. I had to make sure I was enough for them. I still had a hard time processing that I was the one fortunate woman who caught their eyes and hearts.
And more than once, I felt this was just too good to be true. So if they ever walked away from me and chose other women, I wouldn’t blame them much, though my heart would be shattered.
No, that wouldn’t be the case. If they ever cheated on me, I’d shove the steel heel of my boot into their sorry asses.