Page 124 of Ungodly Rich

Zeus wandered over to the railing, staring at the city as if it belonged to him alone.

Once, Hades would have been intimidated by this. Now he saw Zeus’s constant need to climb up high and look down on humans as a sign of insecurity.

“You brought her here, didn’t you.” Zeus’s words were low and dangerous, his gaze still fixed on the traffic weaving through the streets below.

“I’m sorry?” Hades asked carefully.

“Julia. You arranged for her and Ares to meet, because you wanted all of this to happen!” Zeus gestured downward, to where his son was currently fighting for his life. “I’ve been asking myself what god would be reckless enough to plan such a thing, to use Julia as a pawn, lure her and Ares together. And now you’ve come to gloat,” Zeus concluded. “So, admit it. You planned all this, didn’t you?”

“I can assure you,” said Hades measuredly, “I never wanted Hephaestus to be hurt, nor could I have foreseen it.”

“You expect me to believe this wascoincidence?” Zeus snarled. “That the daughter of the only mortal I ever loved, whose mother Herakilled,met my son by complete accident? Her relationship with Ares has fractured this family, has nearly cost Hephaestus his life!”

“Call it coincidence or fate, divine purpose or true love. Whatever you like, they found each other without any help from me,” Hades said calmly.

Of course, Zeus, like Hera, was searching for someone to blame. Both of them had assumed that Julia was a trap, a bomb, a weapon launched into their midst to wound them. They couldn’t see otherwise, because they were blinded by their own self-centered vanity. To them, everything was a power struggle or a game.

They forgot that sometimes the right explanation was the simplest one.

If anyone had drawn Julia to Ares, it was destiny. The Fates. Not one of the gods had planned this.

And none of them could stop it. Not even the most powerful among them.

Hades held his ring at the ready, prepared to vanish into invisibility and flee if Zeus struck. He spoke his next words carefully. “I didn’t plan any of this, but I suspected the truth about Julia.”

Zeus’s grip tightened on the metal railing, though he didn’t move.

“You knew that Hera killed Claire, and you didn’t think to tell me? I don’t appreciate those who keep secrets, Hades.”

“I had always guessed that Claire’s death was Hera’s fault. But more than that, I knew the prophecy regarding Julia.”

The afternoon sunlight suddenly vanished, great black storm clouds gathering around the rooftop. The sounds of the city felt muted, muffled as if behind glass.

“The prophecy?” Zeus repeated.

“I visited the Fates, years ago.” Something Zeus had probably never done. The Fates were idiosyncratic, erratic, impossible to predict. Impossible tofind,even for gods, unless you spent years looking. “They revealed a prophecy to me,” Hades went on.

He repeated the words he’d only heard once, in a remote mountain cave, but would never forget.

“The divine order hangs in the balance. It will all be decided by the mortal daughter of a mortal woman lost to Zeus. For while neither the strength of men’s arms nor the power of their minds can unseat the gods, this woman will prove the weakness that could tear down Olympus.”

“That prophecy doesn’t mention Julia by name. I’m sure there are plenty of mortal daughters of dead mortal women I loved,” Zeus scoffed. “Not to mention that it said ‘couldtear down Olympus.’ Not ‘willtear down Olympus.’ ”

He was right, of course. The wording of prophecies was of crucial importance—and was often deliberately confusing.

The Fates never made it easy, for those trying to guess at the future.

“The prophecy didn’t name Julia explicitly,” Hades agreed. “But I think now it’s safe to say that it’s about her. She has walked into her fate, set everything in motion. In falling for Ares, and setting off this chain of events, she has already begun to fulfill it.”

“She hasn’t fulfilled anything yet,” Zeus growled.

“Don’t even think about it,” Hades warned. “Julia is under my protection now, as well as Ares’s. As well asyours,since she’s still wearing the fragment of the Aegis that you gave her mother all those years ago.”

Zeus’s expression grew thunderous. Wisps of storm cloud detached from the sky to wrap around him like a coat, lightning crackling through the air.

Hades forced himself not to run. Not yet.

“What are you planning to do, Hades?” Zeus asked, through gritted teeth.