Half Responsible

Pact

He supposed someone would realise something was up. Poseidon spent most of his time on Olympus, so people tended to get curious when he stopped coming around for a month, citing that he was under the sea.

He knew Aphrodite knew. How couldn't she? She could smell someone's infatuations from a mile away. Technically, she could spy on him. Sometimes, you never knew when a god was watching as their essence could be in different places. The general rule of thumb was you couldn't spy on someone when they were in their element unless you were physically there. So, Zeus could not know that Poseidon was having an affair with a mortal, not that he would notice because rumour had it that Zeus was still seeing that actress. Oh, how they've all crumbled. It only took seventy years.

Poseidon was, however, cautious. He and Sally never did that, at least not something in a way that would get Sally pregnant. He stayed with her in that cabin. She'd sleep, and he would slip away in essence to be the sea god, but physically, he was by her side. When she got up, they ate together, and he showed her the oceans and their beautiful creatures. They did things that other mortals did – they watched movies in the cinema and sat around at cafés. Of course, he gave her the space that she needed as well. He would return to the sea when those days happened, but it was never long before he returned. He found living the human life with her fascinating. The neighbours were curious about the pair at the run-down cabin, and he got to know them well, too. To them, he was Kai –a funny name, Poseidon realised, for it also meant the sea. He wondered if Greek families around the area realised that Kai Thalassarchos meant "Sea, Master of the Sea". He wasn't the smartest when it came to pseudonyms. If anyone asked, he was a marine biologist, which he technically was, and sometimes he'd walk into the institute, pull the mist around him, and help them find new methods of taking care and preserving the area.

"Between you and your brother," Amphitrite said one day while remodelling the throne room. "That prophecy will come true."
Poseidon leaned on his trident, rubbing the furrow between his brows, "I hope not."

She urged. "I don't think you have a say in that, even if you tried."

"If a child were to ever be born from this union," he told her. "I would still love them, regardless of if I have doomed them. But as it stands, there is no child, and we've been careful."

Amphitrite raised an eyebrow and signed off on the pink curtains.

"Don't get too careless, love. Say that and the fates will find a way."

He disappeared from the palace under the sea as the sun rose. It was the Summer Solstice, and he would have to go to Olympus sooner or later. Sally slept peacefully. None of her worries would touch her here, not while he was still around, but he knew the day would come when she'd be alone. Any god that spent far too much time with their mortal lover ends up gathering attention.

She stirred in her sleep.

"Poseidon?"
"Go back to sleep," he said. "I'll be here when you wake up."

"Isn't it the Solstice?" she muttered, burying her face in her pillow. "Shouldn't you be out soon?"

"Yes," he muttered. "But don't worry about it."
Poseidon made her breakfast. Break rusks with some feta cheese and olives that she could enjoy, along with some eggs and coffee. A little bit of Greek yoghurt on the side, tomatoes and other herbs, and she'd be set for the day. She woke up from the commotion and pulled herself from the bed to the kitchen. He could feel her starting from the back.

"Enjoying the view?" he asked.

"You don't look like this for my enjoyment, do you?" she wondered slightly.