Chapter 78: Late-Night Rendezvous

A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next four chapters are up on my for early access as well as the chance to vote on the direction of the story!

Aphrodite and Percy have a chat~

-x-X-x-

Percy isn't really surprised when he 'wakes up' in a dream later that night, coming to and finding himself staring out at a beautiful, surreal Olympian vista of sorts. The marble pillars all around him seem like they're almost from a painting, being on just the wrong side of 'strange' and unnatural.

"Hello, Perseus."

He is surprised, however, to find out who exactly is visiting him. Truth be told, he'd been expecting Hera to immediately cash in on her favor and come to him for a conversation sooner rather than later. Failing that, he'd imagined that it might be Kronos trying again, or perhaps just raging at him for the damage Percy and Co. had done to his forces today.

Instead… whirling around, Percy finds himself staring at Aphrodite in all of her naked glory. The Goddess of Love and Beauty, Lust and Sexuality, and Desire and Pleasure once again manages to embody all six of her domains damn near effortlessly. Gliding towards him, she smiles as his eyes are drawn to her perfectly sculpted body.

"It's been a while, hasn't it? You've been quite the busy young man since we last spoke."

Showing no understanding of the concept of personal space, Aphrodite loops her arms around his neck and slides a leg up his side. Percy doesn't mind though. In fact, his hands go to her body as well, gliding along her figure, cupping her breasts for a moment before moving down to her hips and finally terminating at her ass.

As he grips her buttocks, Percy decides to take the initiative for once and focuses his mind a bit. This was HIS dream after all, even if he was sharing it with a Goddess. As such, a moment later they fall upon a bed together, Aphrodite on her back and Percy on top of her.

Letting out a gasp of delight, Aphrodite giggles as she opens her legs wide for him and his cock slides right into her, encountering just the right amount of friction and tightness as he fills her with his length. Percy, meanwhile, lets out a shuddering breath, even as their bodies press together.

Truthfully… he'd missed her. Even with everything that had happened, he wished she could have visited more. Actually, especially with everything that had happened. Besides Hestia, Aphrodite had been one of the only Olympians to give Percy some seriously solid advice as well as actually try to help him. Athena had been a big boon as well to be fair, but only after he'd won their competition and fucked the Maiden Goddess silly.

Aphrodite though… he could have used her advice. Actually, he could use her advice now.

"Thank you for the warning regarding Hera. Because of that, I was able to hold her off for a while. She only managed to get close to me today, in fact. And… she was acting rather strange as well. Almost like she was trying to play nice or something."

Far from looking concerned by this, Aphrodite giggles beneath him, causing her soft full breasts to jiggle with her giggling.

"I know, Perseus. Who do you think gave her that plan of attack?"

Percy blinks, slowing to a stop for a moment though he doesn't pull out of her completely. Instead he just lays there on top of her for a moment, somewhat poleaxed.

"You're… helping her?"

To be fair, Hera technically isn't an enemy. Not in the same way Kronos or Atlas were. At the same time though, Aphrodite had literally been the one to warn Percy of Hera's intentions towards him almost a year ago now. She was the reason that Percy had been doing everything he could to avoid catching the Queen of the Gods' eye for as long as possible. And now… well, to say he was confused would be an understatement.

"In a way, I suppose I am. But in reality… I'm helping you most of all, Perseus."

His confusion only heightens, but when Aphrodite pointedly bucks her hips, he nevertheless starts fucking her again. Still, even as he's plowing in and out of her immaculate, altogether perfect and divine pussy, Percy can't help but demand answers.

"Explain… and none of that vague nonsense, please. I get enough of it already as a demigod. Just… be straightforward with me, Aphrodite. I'm begging you."

There's a pause as Aphrodite looks up at him silently for far too long. But then her gaze finally softens and she lets out a sigh.

"… I am the Goddess of Lust and Sexuality, of Desire and Pleasure. In many ways, I know others better than they know themselves when it comes to these domains. Even the Queen of the Gods is not immune to my sight. I look at Hera and I do not see what others might. Others might see her as nothing more than a tyrant hoping to turn you into her puppet so she can return to her old station of power. But what I see… is a woman running scared."

What? Percy just stares down at Aphrodite, causing her to smile fondly up at him.

"Zeus was not a good husband for Hera. In many ways, she was not a good wife either. They simply weren't compatible, no matter how much everything pushed for them to remain together, until the very weight of accumulated time itself kept them from considering anything else. But think about that for a moment, Perseus. Hera, Goddess of Women, Marriage, and Family, despite having been alive for eons… has never once been in a healthy marriage."

… Holy shit. She was right. Everything Percy knew from mythology about Zeus and Hera's relationship spoke of a dysfunctional marriage held together purely by spite and tradition. They were so incompatible it wasn't even funny.

"Hera is no victim in all of this, to be fair. She's done her fair share of monstrous things over the centuries. However, when I look at her… I know she can be more. Zeus dragged her down to his level, turning her into the spiteful, vengeful 'hag' that he often described her as. He created a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts by treating Hera so poorly that she eventually became the very thing he labeled her to be."

Aphrodite smiles wickedly.

"But Zeus is gone now. And Hera at long last has the opportunity to be more than just his constantly cucked wife. So yes, I've been helping her Perseus. I'm pleased you took my warning to heart, because the distance you put between the two of you allowed Hera and I to have a number of very productive chats over the last several months. She believes that I've been helping her prepare for how best to make you fall in love with her. In reality… I've been preparing her to fall in love with you~"

Percy's mouth opens at that… and then closes. He's admittedly having a difficult time processing everything that Aphrodite had just said. It was one thing for the Goddess of Love to drop a bombshell like 'Hera can be a better goddess with Zeus gone' and another thing entirely to admit that she'd been working the Queen of the Gods over in a bid to deliver her on a silver platter to Percy.

"… Don't I have enough goddesses already in love with me?"

His bemoaned words are met with a tinkling laugh from Aphrodite, who runs a hand down his chest as she looks up at him.

"Don't be ridiculous, Perseus. You can never have enough goddesses in love with you~"

He blushes at the intensity in her gaze and tone. Right, that had been a particularly dumb question to ask the Goddess of Love, hadn't it?

"But Hera… surely she's not just going to accept every woman that came before her, be they goddess or demigod. She'll want me exclusively, won't she? And you're… okay with that outcome?"

Aphrodite huffs and clenches down harder on his cock, wrapping her legs around his waist more possessively as she rolls her eyes at him good naturedly. The Goddess of Beauty even manages to make rolling her eyes look kind of hot, to be honest.

"Of course not. I'd kill her before I let that happen."

Oh. Well. Damn.

"… But it won't come to that, Perseus. As I already said, Hera is not the tyrant that anyone, including herself, presumes her to be. She thinks she wants to seduce you and make you into her puppet king, but that's not entirely true. I know what truly lurks within the Queen's heart… which is precisely why I've prepared her for you, and why I intend to prepare you in turn for her."

Then, Aphrodite grins wickedly at Percy.

"Do you know what the greatest lie about Hera is, Perseus? It's a lie that she herself has even come to believe."

He tries to think of what Aphrodite is talking about, but in the end he's forced to shake his head and admit he doesn't know. Letting out another melodic giggle, Aphrodite clenches down around his cock all the harder and then tells him.

"The greatest lie ever told about our delicious Queen of the Gods is that Marriage is the same as Monogamy. It isn't, Perseus. It never has been. Hera is the Goddess of Marriage… but she's NOT the Goddess of Monogamy."

Percy opens his mouth… and then once again closes it without saying a word. Aphrodite had a habit of making him do that, didn't she? And yet… the goddess' words ring through his head. Even as she pulls him down into a tongue-filled kiss and their lovemaking becomes far more enthusiastic, he's still thinking about what she's just said to him. Even as he cums inside of her, filling her womb with his seed, he's thinking about her words to him.

Finally, as he can feel their time together nearing its end, Aphrodite pulls away from his lips and looks him in the eye.

"The next time Hera approaches you; you must do as I tell you Perseus. If you approach her in the right way… you will be quite pleased with the results, I promise you. Just do exactly what I say~"

-x-X-x-

Percy wakes up, Aphrodite's instructions for how to deal with Hera still fresh in his mind. At the same time though, he looks up at the ceiling… and realizes it's still the middle of the night with hours to go before dawn. Letting out a shuddering breath, Percy slowly extracts himself from Thalia and Bianca's embrace, leaving the two female demigods to cuddle with one another instead as he climbs out of the hotel bed and gets dressed before leaving via the balcony.

He's not sure why he goes out… it just feels like he has to. Like something is whispering in the back of his mind, something pushing him forward. For a moment, he worries that it might be another trick from Kronos… but no. This feels different than the Crooked One's slimy presence. This feels like… fate, maybe. Like there's somewhere he has to be.

The feeling only grows stronger as he finds himself nearing a river. His eyes meet the glittering surface and he can't quite help himself… he walks right on in. It feels a little bit like coming home, if he's being honest. Though entering the Ocean feels even better, there's nothing quite like submerging himself in ANY body of water if he can, be it fresh or salt water.

Slipping beneath the surface, Percy smiles as he looks around. The river is a bit murky, as is any river that has existed in the middle of post-industrial human civilization for decades. But he can see perfectly all the same. The murk and the muck mean nothing to him as he swims along as easily as walking.

Until… he sees something in the river, deep underwater. Something that causes his eyebrows to lift in surprise. There, near the bottom of the river, a creature is trapped with its tail underneath some debris. The creature's appearance is what confuses Percy the most though… he's never seen a fish with a cow's head before, after all.

Hell, it even has cow horns protruding from either side of its skull!

Floating closer, Percy watches the cow-fish go still when it notices his presence. He hesitates for only a moment, concerned that it might be sent by their enemies after all, but truth be told, even if it did attack him… he wasn't afraid of anything while submerged like this. They were in his domain right now.

As such, using his control over water to lift the debris off of the creature's tail is the work of a single moment, allowing the strange cow-fish to swim free. For a moment, it seems almost surprised by his generosity… and then it comes closer to him. Percy blinks, surprised to find that the thing is easily three or four times his size now that it's so close.

Still, it bumps its cow nose against his chest and Percy can't help but laugh, even as he rubs it on the snout a little bit. Grinning as it circles around him, seemingly thanking him for his help, Percy just nods before heading back to the surface and the shore.

The cow-fish follows him until they're both near the shore, with Percy standing up and halfway out of the water while the cow-fish rests its massive head in his arms.

"You're certainly something interesting, aren't you? Doesn't seem like you can talk though, hm. Wonder why I felt so strongly that I needed to find and help you…"

"Percy."

Blinking, Percy looks up to see that he's been followed. Standing just outside of the water, bow drawn and arrow nocked, is Zoe Nightshade. At first glance, it looks like the Lieutenant of Artemis is pointing the arrow at Percy. But no… no, she's not pointing it at him. She's pointing it at the creature in his lap.

"Zoe… what are you doing?"

"Do you know what that is? That's the Ophiotaurus. Half-cow, half-serpent. Prophecy states that if it is killed and its entrails sacrificed in a fire, it will give the one who performs the sacrifice the power to bring down the gods themselves. This… this must have been what my Lady was hunting when she was taken. We need to kill it and get rid of the remains before the Titans get their hands on it."

She pulls back her bow, glaring at the unassuming, harmless cow-fish.

"Please, step away. I have the shot."

Well. Fuck.

-x-X-x-

The Vote:

[ ] Let her take the shot, seems prudent - 12%[X] Try to talk her out of it, seems reckless - 88%

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