Hephaestus stares down at me, his eyes burning with rage. My blood turns hot and cold and the room starts spinning. This has to be a bad dream. I need to wake up. I think I'm going to be sick.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" he asks. I don't respond. I can't respond. I'm paralyzed.

Ares shifts beside me. He's waking up. Hephaestus' hand twitches, and all over my body I get the sensation of something lightly brushing my skin. Ares starts wriggling, trying to move but being unable to. Hephaestus' eyes dart to him and linger for a second, before he turns and marches out the door.

"Come back here, you fucking—" Ares starts to yell, before falling quiet when he hears Hephaestus start to shout. Hephaestus is calling people over. He's inviting them to come see us. Fuck, no. This can't be happening. I try to get up, to do anything to get away, but whatever my husband activated holds me down.

"I can't move," I murmur to Ares in desperation, even though I know he can't help me. We're stuck in this together. I wish I'd stayed in his arms. He's so close to me, and yet I can't even hold his hand. I clench my eyes shut and try to will myself out of this reality and into one where we can hold each other.

"It's going to be okay," he whispers. "It's going to be okay. Just stay still. Don't look at them. Don't react. They'll feed off your reactions. We'll get through this."

Tons of footsteps come from the hallway, and then they reach the room. Shocked silence. Someone lets out a surprised "Wow!" Then laughter. More laughter as the room gets fuller and fuller. I keep my eyes closed and try to make a neutral expression. Breathe in for three, out for five. In for three, out for five. Pretend I'm dead. Pretend I'm a corpse. Pretend I don't exist. If only I could be so lucky.

I can feel the eyes on me, looking at my body. Looking everywhere. It's like I'm covered in a swarm of insects, crawling over me and each other, their tiny legs on my skin, biting me, eating me alive.

"Well, what do we have here?"

"Ho-ly shit!"

"Wow, Heph. How'd you know this was what I wanted?"

In three, out five. I feel like I'm going to explode with shame. I want to blow up and take everyone in this room with me, except Ares. I hope he's okay. I wish I could look at him.

"It must be humiliating for Ares to be bested by a cripple. I guess brains are worth more than brawn."

"Clearly Aphrodite doesn't see it that way. Though, I can't blame her."

"Nah, she could have anyone, but she chooses that fucking lunatic? Lucky bastard."

"Let me guess, you think you'd be a better option?"

Don't cry. Don't react. Don't exist.

"Hey Heph, what's it like sharing the first time seeing your wife naked with a bunch of other gods? Awfully generous of you."

"I don't know how you get any work done with this at home."

"Come on, I doubt she's let him get any."

"You wanna bet? Be realistic. He won the right to have her whenever he wants. Of course he's used it. Plus, there would have been a huge freak out about Eros otherwise."

Don't talk about my baby. Don't bring my baby into this. Shut up! Shut the fuck up! Where is my baby? Where did my husband take him? I need to go! I need to find my baby! Why is everyone laughing? Why is no one helping me? Why do they all hate me so much?

"That reminds me, is this exhibit 'looking only,' or..."

I feel the material tighten around me as Ares tries to move. "If you so much as go near her I will rip you apart limb by limb," he snarls.

"Really? And how do you suppose you'll do that?"

The laughter grows louder. It beats at my eardrums. It wraps itself around my neck and strangles me. I swear, if anyone touches me, I will kill everyone here and then myself. Every time I think my humiliation's reached its limits I discover a new level. The cacophony of voices grows more intense and I feel like I'm drowning. Then I hear a familiar voice.

"You wouldn't mind being in Ares' place, would you?" Apollo asks, a smile in his voice.

"Of course not!" Hermes exclaims. "You know I wouldn't mind if there were three nets and every single being in the universe looked down on me in disgust, if only I got to lie next to Aphrodite. Fuck, I'd do anything..."

Apollo laughs, at me. "I don't blame you one bit. There's not a lot I wouldn't do for her affections either. If only her taste in gods wasn't so awful. I can't imagine she'll be too keen on seeing Ares again after this, though. Maybe she'll realise the most beautiful goddess should belong to the most beautiful god. Then you can be jealous of me instead."

Hermes snickers. "Yeah, right. She's even less interested in you than she is in me, and I'm way more charming. You enjoy your fantasy, though. Maybe you can write a song about it."

Their eyes dig into my naked body, touching me everywhere. Hearing people I, against my better judgement, considered friends talking about me like that breaks me. All of my fear and embarrassment leaks out, to be replaced with a heavy blanket of nothingness. I'm done. I'm ready to die. I want this to end.

People talk, and people laugh, until Zeus says "Enough!" Fuck. How long has he been here? I don't want him to see my naked. He's probably the person I least want to see my body. I hate this. I hate that I have no way to protect myself from him. I turn cold with fear. Hephaestus wouldn't let him hurt me, right?

"What is the purpose of this?" he demands.

"I wanted everyone to see them, and know what they have done," replies Hephaestus, his voice flat.

"You thought it was a good idea to let all of Olympus know that you're a cuckold?"

"I also want all of the wedding gifts I gave you and my mother for this cold-hearted whore." I'd never heard my husband bad-mouth me before, but it didn't have much of an affect on me. Actions speak louder than words, after all, and he's done much worse than calling me a whore, even when he supposedly loved me.

"If you choose to divorce Aphrodite, Ares will pay you in items equal in value to the gifts," Zeus tells him.

"And what if I..." My husband pauses. "What if I don't want to divorce her?"

"Then all you've done here today is make a fool out of yourself," Zeus says, before I hear him storm out. Even though I'm still very much in trouble, I feel a wave of relief that he's gone.

I hear my husband walk closer. "I doubt you can afford it," he spits at Ares.

"If he can't afford it, I'll pay," Poseidon speaks up.

Hephaestus yells "Everyone else, get out!" I feel the room slowly empty. "You promise?" he asks Poseidon.

"Of course," the ocean god replies. "But if I'm paying for her, I expect to marry her." Would being married to Poseidon be worse than being married to Hephaestus? Better? The same amount of awful, but in its own special way? It doesn't matter; as with everything in my life, this isn't my decision to make. "Amphitrite would love her," he adds.

The net, I think Hermes said it was, moves, and I open my eyes to see Hephaestus yanking Ares out of it before shoving him at Poseidon. "Just get him out of my sight for now," he says. "I'll let you know of my decision later."

Poseidon leaves, and I watch him take Ares away. Hephaestus turns to me and wordlessly takes me out of the net. He puts me on the bed and leaves.

I'm completely alone. I start to cry.