Dust rose in clouds. The ground rumbled in waves.
Having broken through moral restraint and cast aside all self-control,
Hera pressed forward with unprecedented ferocity, launching a savage and domineering assault on the prey beneath her claws.
It hurt. It hurt tremendously.
Like bones ground to pieces inch by inch, like flesh torn apart layer by layer.
Lorne, as the victim, winced and grimaced, wanting to open his mouth and protest this outrage.
But a descending head blocked the words that surged up to his throat.
Sweet. And carrying the rich fragrance of fermented fruit.
Like the opening of a long-sealed jar of [divine nectar wine].
Hera narrowed her eyes.
The already frenzied expression on her face grew even more uninhibited and intoxicated.
In just a short moment, the victim felt his mind turn to mush as a salty, metallic taste of blood spread between his lips and teeth, and his mouth felt like it caught fire, stinging and burning.
At the same time, both his arms creaked and groaned, as though someone might wrench them clean off his torso at any moment.
On top of that, various parts of his body let out cries of protest under the unbearable strain, bones snapping and cracking.
For a moment, Lorne felt like an innocent little lamb that just passed by, got brutally knocked flat by a heavily loaded cart, and then got run over again and again.
No.
He had to fight back. If this kept up, by the time the other party worked off her fury, there would not even be bone fragments left of him.'
In the midst of this raging storm, Lorne struggled with all his might to summon a thread of clarity, then seized the right moment, briefly broke free of the suppression, and raised his head to fight back with all his strength.
Wave after wave of heat surged through his every limb and bone.
The God of wine and revelry flushed red, nourished and saturated by a drink no less potent than wine itself.
Within it mixed the fragrance of lily flowers, and the sweet, clean taste of a childhood memory of some food.
And this sudden stinging sensation finally roused Hera's somewhat frenzied mind by a few degrees.
But faced with this defiance filled with a kind of profanity, she seemed to see a tiny kitten baring its claws at her as she pressed her lips into a dismissive, teasing smile, spread her flawless white arms wide, and gathered that naughty little kitten into her huge embrace.
"You want this, do you? Fine, I'll give it to you."
"And what I give is far more than what you want."
Lorne was overwhelmed by a sudden sensation of suffocation and flailed his limbs uselessly, like a man drowning.
Before more gifts born of godhood and motherhood pulled him into the depths of chaos and intoxication.
---
..
..
Morning.
The birds in the forest chirped and chattered noisily.
Lorne dragged his black and blue body up from the ground.
Like a mummy drained of all moisture, he slumped against the city wall, tilted his head at the classic forty-five degree angle to stare at the sky, and fell speechless with emotion.
Seven days! That mad woman tormented him for a full seven days and seven nights!
And she even said that when Zeus tricked Alcmene, he spent three days and three nights in bed.
She could not settle for less.
But could that even be compared?
Zeus was in a normal courtship.
He most likely considered Alcmene's endurance and deliberately held back his power.
This one? She went full force from the start. Not only did she not act human, she did not treat him as human either. A complete S&M!
The thing is...he isn't a Masochist damn it.
'If not for my tough constitution and occasionally auto-healing myself with a sip, I might not even have made it past seven days.'
Lorne muttered inwardly, and unconsciously rolled his tongue, sweeping the faint sweetness at the corner of his lips into his stomach.
In an instant, a wave of heat surged through every limb and bone, and the aching soreness in his body diminished somewhat.
Right.
The "sip" he spoke of was not some figure of speech.
It was an actual physical act.
Perhaps because of the way he stepped in to take a bullet for Heracles, he stumbled into the same treatment that legendary hero received in legend.
Namely, being nursed and fed by Hera.
Whether out of some warped sense of amusement or something else, that Queen of Heaven seemed rather fond of expressing her nowhere-to-go maternal instincts this way.
And it was only through this ongoing continuous nursing that Lorne managed to survive those seven days and seven nights of nightmare-level difficulty.
After all, in her most vigorous years, she got stuck with a husband who loved everything and everyone.
And because of her own love and self-restraint, she never once crossed the line of her marriage over hundreds and thousands of years.
One could easily imagine the pent-up anger of this empress.
Lorne took on the full weight of centuries of accumulated grievance.
The fact that he did not get completely shaken to pieces was genuinely remarkable.
"You're awake? That was quick."
A light hum mixed with a faint laugh came through the trees.
Hera, freshly cleaned and changed into new clothing, walked gracefully out from beneath the shade.
At this moment, her eyes shimmered with a watery glow, bright as stars.
Her face was lush and radiant, like a lily that bloomed after receiving water and nourishment.
Looking at this scene, the "dried corpse" by the city wall shuddered involuntarily.
He never noticed it before, but now he found that old saying rather apt.
There was no field too tough to plow.
Only an ox too exhausted to keep going.
Faced with a Greek Queen of Heaven who broke every chart in every category, never mind an ox.
Even a Minotaur would end up on his knees.
"What? Are you afraid of me?"
Hera raised an eyebrow, a smile that was not quite a smile on her lips.
"Is being afraid not the natural response? You are the Queen of Heaven of Olympus." Lorne offered this flattery, then raised both hands in surrender and asked with a wry smile. "Now that you got your anger out, can we call it even over the matter of privately releasing that mother and child?"
Hearing this, Hera's expression darkened as she looked at Lorne before her with unfriendly eyes.
"You think I did wrong?"
"Not at all!"
Lorne immediately waved his hands and made a righteous case to excuse Hera's actions.
"Marriage is supposed to be mutual faithfulness, a restraint on both parties. Since he got to fool around outside freely, you naturally had no reason to cage yourself in either."
"Then why are you in such a hurry to distance yourself from me?"
Hera let out a cold hum and fixed her gaze on the figure before her.
"Are you saying I wronged you?"
Faced with these two consecutive deadly questions, faint sweat broke out at the back of Lorne's neck.
He carefully parried each blow as it came.
"How could that be! In my heart you have always been that kind and merciful goddess.
The fact that you showed mercy to that mother and child and forgave my overstepping only proves that your true nature never changed!"
"And precisely because of this, I do not want to become a stain on your name because of me, and drag you into trouble and criticism!"
"After all, a moment of impulse should not become a shackle on your future pursuit of happiness..."
Hearing the other party defend her so earnestly, the displeasure in Hera's heart immediately dissolved, replaced by a stirring she could not quite name.
Her bright eyes, now soft with warmth, rested on the handsome and thoughtful young God before her, and she spoke gently.
"You do remind me. Some things once or twice do not really count for much."
"..."
Lorne's body stiffened.
His throat went a little dry.
'Being too impressive seemed to have backfired somewhat.'
Fortunately, the Queen of Heaven had no intention of filling him up a second time.
She simply curled up one corner of her lips and gave a faint hum.
"Here is what we will do. Starting now, you are my attendant God."
Since he could bring his own illegitimate children and mistresses up to Olympus, why couldn't she?
Besides, his betrayals of marriage were far more than one.
If she went by the fair principle of equal retaliation, the number of times she needed to match and catch up to was probably still considerable.
Only, she was not that indiscriminate scoundrel.
Even if she sought revenge, she at least needed a target she found pleasing.
And the one right in front of her seemed rather suitable.
Just as Hera quietly calculated this, Lorne carefully raised his hand.
"Ah. There is actually something
I forgot to mention. My real name is Lorne. I am Lady Hestia's attendant God. I preside over wine and revelry."
"It is you!"
Hearing this completely unexpected answer, Hera could not help feeling a jolt of astonishment.
She had heard the name of Lorne the God of Wine before.
During the great trial targeting Poseidon, this newly appointed attendant God served in place of Hestia at the council of God authority, and handled certain affairs of Hestia's temple.
Because of his outstanding ability and social skill, the Gods of Olympus generally held a good impression and favorable view of him.
Only, during that period Zeus was busy with his affair and she was busy trying to catch him in the act.
She almost never returned to Olympus and never formally met this legendary God of Wine.
She never expected that through a strange twist of fate, she and this God of Wine ended up crossing paths in such an unexpected way.
"Lady Hestia has been good to me..."
Lorne skillfully produced his number one shield, and sincerely declined Hera's recruitment.
"So I am grateful for your generous regard. But I am afraid I cannot serve under your banner."
"Not necessarily!"
However, Hera lifted her head with complete self-assurance and spoke.
"Big Sister never cares about gains and losses in God authority.
I can exchange two attendant Gods for him at most. She will agree."
Hearing that the Queen of Heaven had absolutely no intention of backing down, Lorne's stomach immediately ached.
'Damn it. This seems to have gotten out of hand.'
"Where is Big Sister right now?"
"Athens..."
"Good. Take me to see her!"
Hera immediately made the decision about the next leg of the journey.
Her face brimmed with eager, barely contained impulse.
Through the water-light gathered in her palm as she looked at her own reflection while tidying herself up, the Queen of Heaven could not help touching her slightly flushed cheeks, and the corners of her lips curved into a smile of quiet pleasure.
It seemed like a very long time since she felt this eager about something happening.
However, Lorne's mood at this very moment was completely different.
'Take Hera to Athens?'
Setting aside whether Hestia would be so furious she hung him up and beat him senseless after learning he brought Hera over to poach him...
'Goddess of Justice Themis and Memory Goddess Mnemosyne were still up on the War God Mountain.'
'Who knew what kind of reaction Zeus's current wife meeting those former ones would produce.'
'If this really played out, he did not know how many pieces he would end up in at the end.'
"Are you not moving?"
Hearing Hera's somewhat displeased urging, Lorne had no choice but to brace himself and summon his bronze chariot.
Anyway the road was still long, and this Thebes place kept running counter to his luck.
He could slowly think of something along the way.
Lorne consoled himself with this thought, loaded the Queen of Heaven onto the chariot, and set off toward Athens.
(End of Chapter)