“And a tyrant,” I said under my breath.
As soon as the original gods showed up, I knew this wouldn’t end well. So I might as well be my mouthy self.
The gods regarded themselves as the ultimate law of the universe, above anyone and anything. They even treated their children as their properties, pawns, or weapons. Zeus had forced Aphrodite, the Goddess of Beauty and Love, to marry his ugly son Hephaestus. But if he thought he could dictate my mates’ and my life, he was seriously kidding himself.
I’d allow no one to take my mates away from me.
Once upon a time, I might have stayed quiet like a mouse, trying not to bring any attention to myself so no one would discover the hateful demon blood in me. But my origin was in the open now. And even if Ares hadn’t ratted me out to Zeus, the original gods would still sense my true nature.
I flashed the god king a wicked grin. “I’m a woman from an era of free dating and free marriage. We choose whom we want to be with, regardless of their gender, age, class, and origin. Maybe you should keep up with the modern world and upgrade your old system. I’ll be more than happy to mail you all the information and brochures if you’re inclined to leave an address.”
A shocked expression twisted the gods’ perfect faces. I bet no woman had talked to them that way. Too bad I am Marigold—badass number one.
Hyperionchuckled in pride and delight inside his dark cell. He hadn’t warned me not to piss off the original gods.
“You’re a child of the true Titan king, Celeste,” my father declared. “You’re no lesser than the Olympians, than any beings.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,Hyperion,” Poseidon hissed. “We won the war and you lost. And this time, you committed an even worse crime by breeding an abomination.”
Zak and Paxton stepped forward to shield me. Axel and Héctor guarded my sides with my father’s cell at my back.
“You brats will go against your godly fathers for a demon spawn?” Hades puffed out an icy breath, shadows twirling under his shoes.
“We’ll defend our mate to our last breath against anyone and any force!” Zak declared, his righteous voice booming and echoing in the dome, rage beating like the storm in his every word.
“Well said, brother,” Héctor said, clasping Zak’s shoulder.
Paxton bared his teeth, and Axel snarled, a primal challenge to the gods.
My mates raised their weapons in front of their chests, and I eased out from its sheath the archangel sword gifted by Mom, sparks of fire dancing on the crimson runes etched on both sides of the blade.
Thunder rolled all around, striking the ceiling and the abyss.
“Leave my daughter alone!” Hyperion roared. “I warn you, Zeus!”
“Let the trial begin!” Zeus announced in his thunderous voice. “All Titans must attend.”
The King of the Gods slammed his scepter into the platform. Lightning blasted from its spearhead and struck the walls all around. Blinding light illuminated the platform where we stood like it’d caught fucking fire.
The Titans stomped to the front of their cells and bellowed.
The burning light and lightning from Zeus’s scepter illuminated the cells against the walls on all twelve floors. There must be a hundred or so Titans contained in the dome.
“Titans,” Zeus roared. “Today I grant you the right to decide the fate of Hyperion’s daughter, born unlawfully.”
The majority of the Titans bawled their enthusiasm, and a dozen echoed my father’s boos.
How dumb were these Titans? The original gods locked them up infinitely, and they were now siding with the gods? This must be that Stockholm Syndromeshit, and even the once-powerful Titans weren’t immune.
“The judgment day has come.” A voice that sounded liked a broken war horn drowned the cheers and boos. I traced the voice and spotted a giant Titan with a full beard and greasy hair in a cell a few floors below the platform. “I’m Cronus, the King of Titans, King of Time, and King of Cosmos. My firstborns—Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades—have come to enact justice on my behalf, because of the illegitimate and outrageous fornication between Hyperion and the demon queen, which produced an abomination that dares to breathe and stand obnoxiously in front of you—”
What kind of speech was that? Cronus must be really, really old.
“Shut up, Cronus, you fucking usurper!” Hyperion shouted. “You’re insanely jealous. Lilith, the Queen of Beauty and Light and All Goodness, chose me over you, no matter how you tried to seduce her. You have no fucking shame! And you have nothing to offer her!”
“How did the demon queen even get into the Eternal Prison in the first place?” Hades demanded, training his harsh stare on Tartarus.
“Great question, my Lord.” Tartarus bowed to the death god. “And that remains a mystery. During your absence, the former Queen of Hell, now Queen of the Ivory Tower, found a path into the Void after her quarrel with her former consort, Lucifer, the King of Hell.”