I dared to grab his arm, right around the biceps, and dig my fingers in hard. “Here’s the thing: you would be in charge of the Super Dupers. They are the ones who need you. And besides that, if you don’t come back, Hera is going to win. She’ll take the throne of Olympus, and where will you be then? Just a sorry excuse of an ex-husband begging for scraps from her table.”

He pointed at the floor, and I mistakenly followed the motion before snapping my eyes back up to his grinning face, though his eyes sparkled with anger. “I will be right here, enjoying the favors of whoever would like to be in my bed. Would you care to test out the mattress with me? I bet I could show you a thing or two that vampire hasn’t.”

I rolled my eyes. “Zeus. You are better than all this. You were a god once, so why are you running from it now?”

He yanked out of my hand. “Because no one wants the gods alive. We ruled hard and fast, we took as we pleased, and I won’t go back to wanting that and not having it.”

I didn’t understand. “Why can there not be a middle ground? We can find a balance, Zeus. If I can find a way to be a good monster, you can be a good and fair god. Right?”

He laughed and rubbed his hand over his face. “Let me be very clear, then. I need more of the pantheon on my side. Hera has been building this plan of hers for far longer than I even realized. I am too . . . late to turn the tables on her.”

I grabbed him again, and Hermes groaned. I yanked Zeus so we were nose to nose. “You have some of the pantheon on your side, you fool. And you have me on your side.”

His eyes flickered with lightning, and the air around us charged. “And my son?”

I blinked, wondering who he meant for a split second. “Hercules?”

“That would be the one,” he drawled.

“He seems . . . conflicted.” I tried to blink away the sudden tears. “He helped dig my mother out of the bakery.”

As if that would explain everything. I fought the growing onslaught of tears, the image of my mother suddenly right in front of me, and I was unable to shake it. I tried to turn away from Zeus, but he caught me by the arms. “Tell me what happened, Drakaina.”

The story spilled out in spits and starts until the end, when I told him that his son had helped me move the cement blocks, that Hercules had apologized for my mother’s death.

“I don’t think he wants to help Hera, but he’s in charge of the Hydra. Why would he help her after all she’s done to him?” I wiped at my face, and someone handed me a tissue. I blew my nose and used a clean edge of my shirt to wipe away the last of my tears.

Zeus sighed. “Hercules . . . he is complicated. He wants everyone to like him, and that isn’t possible. But mostly, he wanted his stepmother to like him.”

“But why would that be so important? You know that hating your stepmother is a normal thing in the human world, right?” I wiped my nose and clutched the tissue in my hand.

“Because he never knew his birth mother. She died, and Hera was all he had. I didn’t see what she was doing, how she was hurting him, until it was far too late.” He shook his head. “She played us against one another for years, all because . . .”

“Because she was angry at you,” I finished for him. He grunted.

“Yes. Bitter. She’s been bitter for far longer than I ever realized.”

My heart hurt for Hercules. I couldn’t help it, and I could see now why helping me dig my mother out of the rubble had been something he would do. If he couldn’t hold his own mother and say good-bye, then he could help me. None of that changed what I was facing, though. What Zeus was facing.

I reached out and put a hand on his bare shoulder. “Will you step up, Zeus? Will you help me stop Hera?”

He was quiet, something so unlike him I almost wondered if I’d pushed him too far.

“Who all do you believe is on my side?” Zeus strolled away from me, clenching his butt cheeks several times, changing the mood in an instant. I glanced at Hermes, who shrugged.

“Nothing I can do about it,” the flying messenger said.

Zeus bypassed the bed and went to a large dining room table I’d not seen beyond the mass of still-writhing and occasionally groaning bodies. He took a wooden chair, spun it around, and sat on it. He spread his legs and leaned forward to put his elbows on his knees.

I didn’t look away; instead I just raised an eyebrow and answered his question. “Artemis. Panacea. Smithy.”

“You mean Hephaestus?” Zeus’s lips quirked, and I ignored the subtle implication.

“I mean Smithy. Ernie. Me. Sandy.”

He frowned. “Who is Sandy? You say her name like I should know her.”

“The surviving Stymphalian bird.” I took a breath and tried to think who else there was. Not too many more. “Remo, and his vampires if we need them. I’m sure I could get the SDMP on board.”

Hermes zipped forward. “You know, you need Hades on your side. Your brother could help you turn the tide. The rest of the pantheon is just watching, waiting to see who will take the throne before they declare their allegiance.”

“Why?” I blurted out even as I put the ingredients together. “So they won’t fall with whoever loses?”

Zeus nodded. “Yes. But . . . Hermes is right. If Hades would side with me, the others would fall into line.”

“Then talk to him.”

“Well, that’s not going to happen,” Hermes muttered.