As the room came into focus, I blinked. Beside Zeus stood the most beautiful little girl I’d ever seen. Her hair was the same shade of gold as his, her eyes were so blue that they put the sky to shame, and her skin was pink and porcelain. She was perfect in every way.
“Hera, meet Aphrodite,” he said, and he ushered her toward me. Aphrodite moved with more grace than the wind, and as she curtsied, her cheeks flushed. “I discovered her among nymphs on an island.”
“It’s an honor,” she murmured. Her voice was like honey, far more intoxicating than mine would ever be. I hated her already.
“A servant?” I said. “How kind of you. I could certainly use someone to help me with the baby.”
He cleared his throat. “Er, yes, well—of course, Aphrodite will be here to help you with our son, but not as a servant. As my daughter and a member of the council.”
Cold horror washed over me. A member of the council. Zeus wanted her to be our equal. My equal. “But she’s a child—”
“She is my child now,” said Zeus. “Ours. And she will grow, as will our son. They will both be members of the council, and perhaps one day she will be his companion.”
“But she wasn’t born into our family,” I said. “She cannot simply join us before we make sure she’s suited to rule.”
“And how would you suggest we do that?” said Zeus.
I shrugged. “A test, perhaps, to weigh her virtues.”
He scoffed. “None of us are perfect, Hera.” Something about the way he said it sent a shiver of foreboding down my spine, and I draped a blanket over my lap.
“No, we aren’t, but we must all share some key qualities to ensure we’re fit to rule. Not us, of course,” I said. “But if you intend on adding others to our council, we must make sure it is best for humanity.”
Sighing, Zeus patted the little girl on the head. “Very well. We will test her when she grows older, and in the meantime, coming up with the parameters is your responsibility. I expect them to be fair.”
“Of course,” I murmured. “They’ll be fit for a god.”
Aphrodite shyly took a step toward me. “Daddy told me all about your baby. Can I touch him?”
I eyed the little girl with distaste. The last thing I wanted was for her to go anywhere near my son, but I felt Zeus’s gaze and the hope that emanated from him. He’d done this with the best of intentions. He hadn’t meant to insult me with a gift that was far more beautiful than I would ever be. Perhaps he didn’t even see her that way, given how young she appeared.
But as she stepped closer, I noticed something ancient in her eyes, something that searched me even as I searched her. She wasn’t a child. I didn’t know where she’d come from or who she was, but she was not as young as Zeus wanted me to believe.
Without breaking her stare, I took her hand and set it gently over the spot on my belly where my son now kicked. Her eyes widened at the movement, and she giggled. “He likes to move.”
“He does,” I said. “Perhaps if you are good, when he’s born, I will let you hold him.”
She nodded solemnly, but that ancient look didn’t go away. How could Zeus have missed it? Unless he hadn’t. Unless he knew she was older and this was all a ruse.
No, he wouldn’t do that to me. He loved me, and he wouldn’t hurt me in such a way. We were about to welcome a baby together. But even as I tried to reassure myself, my uncertainty refused to disappear, and my sister’s poisonous words returned to me.
“Has Zeus already decided what you’re to be the goddess of?” I said. We all chose our assignments—the things we held most dear, the things that came naturally to us. Fidelity for me, of course, and marriage, which I’d chosen after our wedding. Fertility after I’d fallen pregnant. But the council mostly chose for the minor gods that roamed the world.
“Love,” said Zeus, and I nearly choked. “She is the goddess of love. There was no choosing involved. She simply is.”
“The—goddess of love,” I said tightly. “Very well. It certainly suits you.”
Aphrodite beamed, and without warning, she threw her little arms around me. “We’ll be great friends,” she murmured in her childish voice. “I can’t wait.”
I could. I could wait forever. But the way Zeus beamed, seeing her hug me—I had little choice but to hug back. If it made him happy, I would do it. He certainly did plenty to return the favor.
But that suspicion remained, a small doubt that refused to go away. Before I accepted this little trickster as my own, I would need to make sure that was all Zeus intended for her. Because although I wanted to trust him, in the face of the unknown, even I had my doubts.
* * *
That evening, after Zeus had slipped out of our chambers to tuck Aphrodite into bed, I followed him. My footsteps were silent, and I moved without detection despite the baby I carried. Her room was only one down from ours, where I’d intended the baby’s nursery to be, but Zeus had assured me we would be more comfortable across the hall from the baby instead. Perhaps he was more concerned about getting his rest, but the thought of being that much farther apart from my son ate at me.
I bent my head toward the curtain that separated Aphrodite’s room from the corridor. If Zeus caught me, I had a dozen explanations on the tip of my tongue, each one a greater lie than the last. But he’d done this to himself, bringing a stranger into our home only weeks before our son would be born.
“I don’t think she likes me.” Aphrodite’s voice, and barely audible at that. I set my hand against my other ear, determined to block out any outside noise.
“Who, Hera?” said Zeus. His voice was like thunder even when he tried to whisper. “She’s just a bit surprised, darling. She didn’t expect you.”
“I want her to love me.” The yearning in Aphrodite’s voice shifted something inside me. “I want a mother.”
“She will be your mother,” murmured Zeus. “And I will be your father. You’ll never be alone again.”
The same promise Hades had made to me. Except this time I knew Zeus wouldn’t break it. Not to me, not to this little girl, not to anyone. “I’d really like that,” she whispered.
“I know you would.” A pause. “Get some sleep. Tomorrow I’ll introduce you to all your aunts and uncles.”
“More family?” I could practically see her eyes widen in amazement.