Free The Gatekeeper's House by Eva Pohler

guess.”
    “ But, Therese…”
    “ No, listen, I’ve asked
around. I’ve done research. Every single god who has married has at
one time or another cheated on his wife. Even your husband, who seems the most
loving and faithful of all, has had children with another
woman.”
    Aphrodite glanced around and then said,
“Lower your voice.”
    Therese took a deep breath. “I’m so
sorry.”
    “ You’ve got it all wrong
about Hephaestus and me,” Aphrodite said.
    “ What do you
mean?”
    “ I never loved him. It was
always Ares. See, when Hephaestus was born, Hera thought she’d been
tricked and that a monster had been switched with her child,
because she’d never before seen a malformed god. She threw her baby
from Mount Olympus. Hephaestus was rescued and raised by Thetis and
Eurynome in a cave on a riverbank. When he grew older, he wanted to
get back at his mother for never trying to find him once she
learned the truth. He sent her a golden throne.”
    “ I’ve heard this,” Therese
interrupted. “Hera was trapped on the throne, and Zeus offered you
as the bride to whoever could free her.”
    “ Exactly. We all expected it
to be Ares. Even Zeus was certain his strong and brilliant son
would be our savior, though I’ve had my doubts about Zeus’s
motives.”
    “ You once told Than that
Zeus married you off to Hephaestus to make you unhappy, so it would
diminish your beauty.”
    “ Yes. That’s my theory,”
Aphrodite said. “But at the time, I was sure Ares would be the one
to save Hera. He was the only one I thought would come forward.
Everyone else was glad for Hera to be stuck on the
throne.”
    Therese and Aphrodite shared a laugh at
Hera’s expense.
    Aphrodite continued, “But Dionysus gave
Hephaestus the idea to come himself, so Hephaestus could claim me,
and because Zeus had sworn on the River Styx, I was
stuck.”
    Therese’s eyes widened at this
revelation. “So you never loved Hephaestus?”
    “ No. And he never truly
loved me. He didn’t really know me,” Aphrodite explained. “He’s
been kind to me all these years, and I have grown to care for him,
but the passion you feel for Than is like that which I have always
felt for Ares.”
    “ But Zeus, Poseidon, and
Hades—they’ve all cheated on their wives.”
    “ They’re the most powerful
gods among us, and their temptations are also greater. I’m not
excusing their behavior, mind you. But Than won’t be subjected to
the same level of temptation as the lords of the sky, sea, and
earth.”
    “ But…”
    “ I want to tell you one more
thing, Therese,” Aphrodite said, “and not many know
this.”
    “ I’m listening.”
    “ You must swear on the River
Styx to tell no one.”
    “ I swear.”
    “ Hephaestus and I were
granted a secret divorce by Zeus years ago.”
    “ What?” Could Aphrodite be
telling the truth? Therese wondered how she had never heard of
this.
    “ It was after our divorce
that he had affairs with two nymphs and then eventually married
Algaia, the oldest of my Graces and the mother of all his divine
children—well, except for one, but that’s a long story.”
    “ I…”
    “ So you see, he never
cheated on anyone. Hephaestus is one god who has always been
faithful.”
    Therese looked up at Aphrodite with
surprise. She’d been convinced fidelity was impossible among the
immortals, but here was Aphrodite throwing her a bone.
“Seriously?”
    “ Yes.”
    ***
     
    Than stood outside Hecate’s rooms but
could not feel Therese’s presence on the other side of the wooden
door. She was still out. By his calculations, she’d been gone from
the Underworld for at least a week without a break. Before he could
god travel back to his chambers, the wooden door opened, and Hecate
greeted him on the other side of the threshold.
    “ Looking for Therese?” she
asked.
    He nodded.
    “ Haven’t seen her in days,
but she prayed to me this morning that she’d be coming home to rest
this afternoon. I think she