New God of the forge.

chapter 26

"Athena?"

"Hephaestus, so you were here."

She said before bending a bit and placing her  hands on  her knees to support herself, she used too much energy. The effects of the river should wear off tomorrow but being weakened to such a degree was already getting her annoyed, she can't even walk without getting tired.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be resting"

Hephaestus got up from his seat, separating from Aphrodite and went to assist Athena stand upright. The sudden loss of His warmth caused Aphrodite to frown a bit but didn't dwell on it, she recognized that Athena needed assistance. However that frown returned as she saw the gentleness with which Hephaestus held Athena, of course she didn't frown because of that but instead she was reminded that Athena and Hephaestus have a friendly relationship and Athena would be better than her because unlike her Athena was a virgin.

Hephaestus oblivious to Aphrodite's frown gently helped Athena to a chair before repeating his question again but got a delayed response after a few deep breaths from Athena.

"we need your help"

She said and pointed towards the door, turning his head He saw Hera, Ares and Themis were standing, Ares was seemingly distracted  as his attention was more focused on his hands while Hera stared at Hephaestus from beyond the doors, there were no emotions that could be read from her face, she was very stoic.

"help you with what?"

A frown had now appeared on his face, he wasn't in the mood to speak with his mother and he was definitely not going to accept Ares in, this isn't his house but he's sure that Aphrodite would not be comfortable with him present. Killing Ares definitely was out of the question so the only thing he could do was just accept his existence.

"can we come in?"

"you two can come in, don't know about him"

He turned to look at Aphrodite and she  frowned giving him the idea that she didn't want Ares to enter.

"Looks like a no"

Ares seemed to not care and instead turned back as Hera and Themis entered. He wasn't really needed here and there were things that he wanted to check out, Judging by the sudden rush of power he felt he concluded that his plan was going smoothly a such he turned and  went to check on her again.

With Ares gone, Hera and Themis entered Aphrodite's palace and took their  seats and Aphrodite had her nymphs move the mirrors out of the way in order to allow for an easy conversation with no obstructions or distractions.

"so what exactly can we help you with?"

He asked as he sat back down beside Aphrodite and his arm wrapped against her waist again but this time it was a way for him to feel more emotionally secure or rather to keep his calm considering that his mother was present and he didn't like that.  Athena took note of this and squinted Her eyes a bit, almost as if she suspects something, when they found that Hephaestus wasn't at his house Ares had mentioned something about how he was now Aphrodite's new toy.

"before that, what do you think about Olympus as a whole? And what about Zeus, what's your opinion on him?"

Hera asked, as far as she is aware and from what she's seen, Hephaestus shouldn't care all that much for Olympus, yes he helped during the gigantomachy but that didn't mean he held any love for Olympus,  she  also  wanted to measure how likely he is to  join their side.

"Why are you asking that?"

He squinted his eyes in  a bit of suspicion, was she asking that just to check if he was in cahoots with Apollo? If  that was the case he should clear his name by saying something that wouldn't be suspicious.