The days following Ouranos's death, Rhea finds herself led like cattle. With little say otherwise, they march her to the sea to watch her father's body desecrated and her elder brother shamed for his absence. Then to Othrys, where she is made to swear fealty to her new king along with the rest of the Titan spawn roaming the earth. To her surprise, the petty war forced upon them by Ouranos over this jutting piece of rock has come to an end. Soon, it will become Kronos's palace – an odd way, she thinks, to cement peace.
And once built, a palace she will be expected to share with him as his bride.
A piece of news Kronos has yet to announce. Though it's only a matter of time – throughout all of the proceedings, Rhea half-wonders when they plan to tie her up and drag her to her wedding ceremony next.
Her only relief – if it can even be considered relief – is that Kronos catching her unawares in her sleep is no longer a possibility. Ouranos's Curse, the last words uttered before his passing, had made sure of it:
Of all the wakeful nights I spent watching to see who would dethrone me, may yours in this new reign be just as restless. For a child you sire is destined to depose you, just as you have done to me.
She had not been alone in her hope that those dangerous words were meant for Kronos alone. But the night following, as Rhea tried to seek rest from a day of tumultuous events, slumber eluded her. As it did for them all. As it would forever. For Kronos had not been alone in his coup; the same ichor she found painting the robes of Kronos had also stained the hands of Hyperion, Iapetus, Krios, and Koios. All of them having an important role to play in Gaia's great plot that had been hatched under Rhea's very own roof.
They save Kronos's coronation for last – the final event to cement his ascension as Titan Lord and positioning over the universe. A sure sign that there can be no turning back and the days of Primordials are at an end.
In the grand scheme of it all, Rhea feels absurdly small. Though much of it is her own doing as well – she stands close to the back of her brothers and sisters, certainly never the tallest among them. A pale gray shawl covers much of her face, her shoulders, her body. Ever the wraith, blending in more amongst the clouds than with her own flesh and blood.
Kronos still spots her in the crowd.
Rhea's mouth sets into a firm line. Behind a seated Kronos, Gaia sways with his deadly scythe in her hands, murmuring words the Titaness has no interest of hearing. Not when all she can think of is how long she has before this coronation is over and Kronos is free to declare her his betrothed.
How long? her eyes scream at him.
His gaze does not waver.
Soon.
Rhea wraps her shawl tighter. Though her face does not change, Kronos clenches his fist as if he knows exactly what she is about to do. Gaia, distracted and with eyes closed, cannot stop her. He, in the middle of his coronation, cannot stop her.
She turns away from him, from the coronation ceremony.
She vanishes.
Rhea attempts to go home only once.
It is a strange whim she has whilst wandering the Phrygian plains. She cannot be sure what makes her journey in this direction, only that she recognizes the roof of her little hobble in the distance and it is far too late to turn back now.
Her heart sinks as she gets closer.
The signs of desertion are already apparent. The birds which once nested in the thatch roof have taken over completely, their chirps near deafening as she reaches the front door. The door itself lies split in two on the ground, the wood nearly disintegrated and crawling with termites. The bed she once slept in – a bed she no longer has use for – lies collapsed and covered in animal droppings.
She can hardly take it all in without feeling her emotions swell. In her youth, not once had she considered her existence here just a short blimp in time. Otherwise Rhea might have cherished this humble life more.
"You came back."
Rhea turns around slowly, leveling a leaden glare. "And you left this place abandoned."
"Think what you may, I am a sentimental creature."
Gaia breezes in through the doorway, her thin garments fluttering as she turns to sweep her gaze over their old hobble. She brushes her hand over the fragments of Rhea's bed. As if reversing time, it mends itself instantaneously, shit-free.
She sits atop it with legs crossed. "Once a bird leaves the nest, mother has no reason to stay."
Rhea purses her lips. "Things could have gone differently."
"Is that so?"
Her mouth twitches, trying and failing to contain her boiling anger. "You promised me to him without consulting me."
"I did what I had to." Gaia scoffs. "Better Kronos than Ouranos. Would you have wanted that? For your sire to one day realize just how grown and womanly little Rhea had become?"
Rhea stiffens. That day in the field… "You still should have told me."
Her mother waves her off and Rhea cannot pinpoint why the gesture hurts so much when it has been done to her a thousand times already. "Your knowledge on the matter would have changed nothing. Your fates were tied together long ago."
"You do not decide my fate!" she snaps
"You're right." Gaia casts her gaze past Rhea to the open door. "But neither do you."
Rhea follows her stare, only to swear she will combust right there and then. Kronos leans in the doorway, ever the youth she met all that time ago, only now he wears his onyx circlet inlaid with sapphires the size of river stones. A hideous display of newfound wealth and privilege.
The sky crown of Ouranos.
Rhea's whips around to face her mother for another round of screaming only to find Gaia herself has disappeared.
"She said that you would come back here." To her surprise, his arrogant smile is largely absent. "That you always do."
Another ruse from great Gaia herself. "Not anymore," she whispers, barreling for the exit, but Kronos snatches her arm in a vice grip.
She feels the silver lining her eyes but refuses to let her hellish gaze soften. "Let go of me."
She cannot be sure what persuades him to listen to her. He is king now and need not bow to anyone but himself.
His hand falls away from her arm.
And Rhea flees once again.
Despite how far she journeys away from mainland Greece, away from the sea and deeper into the Phrygian plains, Kronos still finds her.
She roams the plains with a wooden staff in hand, ever the shepherd, but it is not sheep she leads. Sleek yellow lions follow in her wake, a group of sisters to guard her in her travels. Though she knows very well a creature like the Titan Lord is not to be deterred for long.
Wind parts the grass before them. The sluggish cats mosey along, knowing it is not in their favor for a hunt. Any prey they find will surely catch a whiff of them long before they can approach. Rhea changes their course towards a nearby oasis – best to have liquid fill their bellies than nothing at all.
But as she does, something large catches her eye, resting at the foot of the hills. A silver male awaits them in the distance.
The lionesses pause, sniffing the air. A male is not a strange sight in these parts and it has been a while since one has graced them with his company. An opportunity to diversify their breeding stock is always a welcomed one, but Rhea finds it odd she does not recognize him when she knows all of the cats roaming these plains.
Then she catches sight of those eyes – liquid gold.
She curses aloud and turns away in the opposite direction. Though like a daemon, once spotted, Rhea doubts she will be able to shake him again.
"Go," Rhea tells the lions several days later. The wind is in their favor, ideal for a hunt, and she knows her presence – and the ghost following her – would be an unwelcomed distraction. They slink off into the sea of yellowing grass.
Rhea sighs and drops to her knees, thin gown fanning out like a pressed flower beneath her. The Titaness studies her hands, her arms, counting the number of golden freckles that have since appeared since her many months – years, perhaps – of travelling the plains.
A rustling in the grass sounds behind her and Rhea might have mistaken it for the wind if she wasn't expecting his approach. "With all the time you spend stalking me as a lion you should be usurped by now."
A brief pause follows. "I noticed your males rarely fight." When she turns her head, she finds Kronos sitting in the tall grass alongside her. For a moment, it feels as if nothing has changed: she is still residing under Gaia's roof and he has yet to kill their father or resolve to thoroughly ruin Rhea's life. "They look large and impressive, roar to make everyone aware of their presence. Yet, in the end, they all know their place. Who truly rules."
"And the females have no need to play such games," she retorts. "They go for the throat immediately or not at all."
"Except when they mate." He smirks. "The most elaborate game of all."
Rhea rolls her eyes. She hardly needs a lesson on lion behavior from him. "Go away."
He takes her rebuff with ease. "That is no way to speak to a king."
"Forgive me, my lord. Not all of us were raised as preening cocks on Othrys."
"You always speak from the heart, Rhea," he chuckles. "Truly, it is a breath of fresh air from those preening cocks you are so fond of."
"I'm glad you find me amusing."
"Always."
She whips around to face him. "I want no part in this blood trade you and Gaia brokered. I want no part of this empire you have built on sinful foundation."
The humor fades from his face. "Of all of Ouranos's loyal supporters, you are the most unexpected."
"I will never support that tyrant, I swear it on my life-thread. Yet the laws of the cosmos – that which you cannot change, not even as king – are clear."
He cocks his head, leaning in closer to catch her eye once more. "Do you fear me then, little beast?"
"Fearing you. Fearing for you." In Rhea's mind they are not wholly different. "Is that not wise?"
"Rhea of the wild things, oh so very wise." His knuckles stroke her cheek. "You deserve the world. If you married me, I would gladly lay it at your feet."
She does not waver. "No."
His hand falls away. Kronos stands, dusting the grass from his tunic. "I will come back then in the hopes you change your mind."
Rhea snorts. "Come back tomorrow and you will find my answer the same."
"In time we shall see."
She purses her lips. "I suppose we shall."
In a way, Rhea must appreciate his tenacity. Most gods, she thinks, would have moved on to more fruitful endeavors. It matters not how quick nor how far she travels. Any sign of first light and he appears on the horizon as a sleek white lion, surveying Rhea and her pride with those gilded eyes. And when the light of the day fades, Kronos approaches with the same proposal on his lips.
Marry me. Become my queen.
Her answer, as she warned him, remains the same.
In her refusal, Rhea avoids her mother too – she stays far away from Gaia's places of worship: sacred caves, cracks in the earth, anywhere her presence is strong enough to manifest. The longer she can put off a scolding from the Earth Mother, the better. Particularly since the sting of betrayal has not faded quite yet.
On one particular morning, Rhea nearly thinks the other Titans have been recruited into Kronos's desperate bid for her hand in marriage. For, as soon as the sun comes up, she finds Hyperion's gaze especially oppressive, setting her body to perspire in a manner most unnatural of immortals and her brown skin to burn.
Kronos's doing, she muses, to force me away from the plains. Though even a Phrygia on fire she finds more tolerable than the darkness of Othrys.
But one glance at the hill in the distance tells her that this has nothing to do with Titan Lord's frequent visits.
Rhea scrambles up the grassy mound, her eyebrows furrowed. "I would have dressed better if I knew your arrival imminent."
Theia glances over her shoulder with a knowing, radiant smile. "No. You wouldn't have."
The Titaness brushes the dirt from her chiton. "I would have considered it in the very least." Her lips purse. "You're pregnant. Again."
She pats her swollen belly. "Our numbers have grown by half at least. Amazing all the sex you can have when there is no Sky-father to sneer his disapproval."
Rhea shrinks back and the tinge of color painting her cheeks does not escape Theia's note.
Her tinkling laugh fills the air. "Ah yes, I forget beautiful Rhea is a maiden still. Though not for lack of suitors."
"I have suitors?" Rhea feigns. "I would've thought Kronos order them executed."
"I'm sure he has tried," her sister muses. Theia pauses for a moment, her pale eyes suddenly dissecting her every move. "You refuse him still?"
She picks at her nails, seeming disinterested. "Does he sulk?"
Theia only sighs. "You are promised, Rhea."
"A scheme made without my knowledge or approval. Gaia has yet to command me to fulfill such contract. So here I remain."
Her sister seems unsurprised. "She will grow desperate soon. Kronos has not freed our siblings from the Pit. Nor will he, for as long as you remain unwed."
Rhea's gaze snaps to hers. "Why would he do such a thing?"
"He had the resolve to kill our sire." Their eyes flicker upwards to the blue expanse above their heads. "You will find him full of surprises and void of mercy."
And is sending you here one of those surprises?
Wise Theia catches on to her suspicion immediately and rolls her eyes. "Hush now, he did not send me. But I suppose it's best to talk of lighter things now." She stands a little straighter, placing a hand a top her bulging stomach. "We celebrate our child's birth, Hyperion and I, now fast approaching. Kronos will play host to us on Othrys and I would see you join in the festivities."
Rhea hesitates. "It has been… a very long time since I've been on Othrys."
"All the more reason to come. And stay, so that you may be there when a new Titan is born. Mother raves at how you are the perfect midwife." The indecision on Rhea's face remains, which must anger Theia greatly. Her small face bunches up. "I was the one who helped Gaia bring you into this world. Shall I call in that debt?"
Her resolve flounders. "No, I will come."
Theia's scowl fades, replaced by a beaming smile. "Don't worry. I will keep our brother well away from you if that is what you wish."
A promise quickly discarded.
Though Rhea finds it difficult to blame Theia, considering the crafty nature of her intended. For in the middle of the feast, Kronos himself gifts the expecting mother a trove of sapphires from the Far East.
"Those outside our borders pay homage to my ascent to the throne," he proclaims, standing from his seat at the head of the table. To Rhea's great displeasure, she found herself seated closer to him than her typical standing would suggest as the youngest daughter of Gaia and Ouranos. Of course, it had been to the displeasure of Themis and Mmnesyone as well, who had regarded her throughout the festivities with their jealous glares.
"Yet I have no use for them," Kronos continues, and Rhea finds that statement more than true. For the only sapphires that had ever interested him were the ones embedded in Ouranos's crown. His crown.
An army of cupbearers hoist the chests above their shoulders, displaying the treasures to all the gathered Titans and Primordials. Theia in all her hunger does not take her eyes off them, Rhea seated at her side forgotten. Her sister's love for a shining hoard trumps all else.
"Thank you, brother," Hyperion intones with little enthusiasm, as if he too has since grown exhausted with his wife's obsessions. He stands from his own seat wedged in between his wife and the Titan Lord, giving Kronos a minor bow. "As always, I am in your debt."
Their king smiles. The band of nymphs continue on with their music.
"Excuse me," Rhea murmurs, unsurprised that Theia does not even glance her way. Perhaps it is not too late to escape this madness, she thinks to herself as she rises from the table.
She couldn't be all the more wrong. The Titaness can hardly grasp for another cup of fermented nectar before he swoops in like carrion on a carcass.
"Are you enjoying yourself?" Kronos says pleasantly enough, but Rhea knows better.
Her glare is her answer. "First, none of our Titan brethren have even attempted to look my way throughout these festivities. Now a gift to occupy Theia's attention. Do I have enough proof you are conspiring against me?"
"I am only a man, Rhea," he gives as a simple reply. All the confirmation she needs. "What else would you have me do?"
"End this folly. Though that seems unlikely." She crosses her arms. "I do hope not all of this is part of your scheme."
"Ah yes, even down to the part where I impregnated Theia myself in the most complex plan in the universe just to have you grace my halls." He rolls his eyes. "I have many feasts here on Othrys, Rhea. After all, a peacock has need to preen."
"And the Titan Lord has need to flaunt. I know that very well."
"Precisely." The world rumbles low in his chest. "Though I will admit I had hoped for your presence here tonight."
"In the hopes that Othrys would sway me?" Rhea pauses a moment, wondering if she should take the bait. "I think you would agree that my aptitude is better suited for the grasslands."
"I would think this a nice change in pace." He takes a sip of nectar, the smile on his face positively feline. "Even with my pestering, you must be lonely in the wilds."
Two can play at this game. "I assume these feasts are not constant," she bites back with as much grace as she can muster. Gaia, for all her failings as a mother, taught her well in this regard. "You must be lonely as well."
"And why I would prefer to share this place with my wife," Kronos answers smoothly, unperturbed.
Rhea bristles. "I am not your wife."
"You could be." Perhaps she had enjoyed their banter from before his ascent to kingship. No longer, when it is clear that life on Othrys has done nothing but to hone his craft. "Gaia isolated you so. Kept you from the friendship of your sisters, from embracing Titanhood. Were you to marry me, I could just as easily bring you back into the fold."
Without thinking, her eyes drift towards her radiant sisters. She cannot help but think back to all the lonely moments she sat upon her bed, wishing for the comfort of a family beyond stony-faced Gaia. "Do you spend all those quiet hours in the middle of the night thinking of arguments to persuade me with?"
"Always," he says without hesitance.
The look in her eyes darkens. "Ask me again—"
Kronos takes a step forward, a last attempt to corner her in their little alcove. "Rhea…"
Anger rushes through her veins. She pushes him back. "—tomorrow. For tonight my answer to you is no."
Kronos snorts. "You are as unmoving as Gaia herself."
"That sort of flattery will get you nowhere," she says to him, before moseying on out of sight.
The Titan Lord broods for the rest of the night and Rhea can't help but be pleased.
Theia might not have kept her promise, but Rhea most certainly does. She stays with Theia until the birth of rosy Eos, whom Rhea cradles against her chest, watching as the babe causes the sky to bleed red at the first signs of sunrise. It reminds her of the death of Ouranos.
Perhaps Eos will give the phenomena new meaning.
The door parts before young Helios, thin and scrawny-legged. Closer to manhood than childhood now and Rhea cannot help but think on the last time she saw him. Holding his hand comes little Selene, a child still. Both here to greet their new sister.
Behind them enters Kronos.
"My lord." An exhausted Theia still shines more radiant than the sun. She pats Selene's silver hair when the girl approaches. "Another Titan to add to your ranks."
Kronos nods, though his gaze fixates on Rhea. Under the scrutiny, Eos in her arms stirs. From her back, sweeping orange wings unfurl like a butterfly from its cocoon.
"Chaos has blessed us indeed," he says, but his eyes hardly glance in the infant's direction. To Rhea's dismay, they reflect a certain fondness for her that she cannot quite place. It makes her mouth run dry.
Rhea does not linger in lieu of Hyperion's arrival. She murmurs no excuses when passing the winged babe to Helios, eager to slip from the room before Kronos can stop her.
Her return to the plains is more than welcomed, as is Kronos's initial absence. The relief she feels not having the king of the universe trailing her every move cannot be overstated. A life of independence and peace is the only thing she has ever wanted for so long now.
But, now that she has it and weeks pass on by without interruption, Rhea senses something in her has changed. An ache in her heart that she cannot shake.
An ache she should be able to shake. Especially in the most tender of moments when the great cats, having longed for their mistress's return, encircle her in a great pile upon their time to retire for the night. The purring cubs, lacking in boundaries, cling to her chest. She runs a hand over their soft fur but, for some reason, even they are unable to drive away her worries this time.
Instead, Rhea imagines them as babes of her own, clawing at her breast, looking up at her with loving eyes. Sometimes she imagines it isn't the lionesses that surround her, but her sisters and their respective brood.
It's a life I could have, Rhea reminds herself when the daydream stretches on too far. I need only say yes.
Such contemplation leaves her in a distant mood. She finds herself perched atop one of the tallest hills the following morning, her desire for a good hunt waning. The lionesses depart without her.
Rhea sits back, watches as the clouds float in and out. The dimming sun colors them a haunting shade of purple before, finally, making way for the stars.
"What a pleasant existence you lead." She doesn't move, let alone deign him with an initial response. "What I wouldn't give to study the sky all day and night."
"You should have never become king then," Rhea says half-heartedly, for once not in the mood for a fight. She peers at him from the corner of her eye, mildly relieved that her escape from Othrys has not left him in a fit of anger.
Instead, his chest rumbles with laughter. "You make a fair point."
The silence settles between them, something Rhea once thought would have been difficult for the both of them. Kronos must take it as a welcoming sign. He takes the seat beside her, lying back in the grass. She does not protest.
Rhea turns her head slightly, looking at him from head to toe. "Those scars," she says. For once, his tunic is sheer silk, exposing the multitude of jagged marks across his flesh to her scrutiny. "Where did you get them?"
He hesitates for a moment, yet another surprise from someone she believed to be so sure of himself. "I was young and foolish and I suffered the consequences."
"More so than now?" Her eyes narrow. "What a feat."
Kronos pauses again, no arrogance on his face as it had been in his many other visits to her. "Do you truly wish to know?"
"If it is something you wish to hide? Absolutely." Rhea rests back on her elbows. "Did one of our brothers beat you to a bloody pulp?"
"Quite the opposite, actually," he chuckles, though it is not his usual laugh. His eyes dull, suddenly a million years away. "I am the youngest of the five brothers by far. They were far too occupied to pay much attention to me."
"Ah yes, thanks to their many centuries warring with each other over a mountain."
"That was Ouranos's doing." His smile melts. "If they were too occupied fighting each other they could not join together to turn on him."
"Then you came along and proved him right," Rhea says.
"I did." He purses his lips. "Perhaps our brothers did have time for me every now and then. When times were peaceful, I travelled at their sides, entertained them with my wit. It did not earn me their enmity when there was war."
"But it also did not earn you their respect," Rhea interjects knowingly. "In that regard, Themis and Mmensyone are much the same."
"Correct. I was powerless – no armies, no lands, no wife to impress upon them." Kronos twirls a blade of grass between his thumb and forefinger. "I found such a life unsatisfying and it was not long before I sought Gaia out and her prophecies from the deep Earth."
"And?" She leans in closer with renewed interest, far from the last time she had mocked him for reciting their mother's prophecies. "What did the whispers tell you?"
He casts her a gaze that she can't quite read. "For all that I seek, I would have to climb the highest peak."
"Mount Othrys?"
"No," he says. "Gaze upon the world unknown, mounted upon thy father's throne."
The absurdity hits her in an instant. "You're mad."
Kronos can only nod. "The oracle does not lie. The highest peak is no mountain. It is the throne of Ouranos."
A plane of existence most Titans dreamed of visiting, a tangible layer in the uppermost reaches of the atmosphere intertwined with an intangible realm in the bosom of wide-ranging Chaos. Created by their sire alone to be his alone.
Rhea glances upwards at the sky, almost as if she can see it. "What was it like?"
"No words could do it justice," he whispers, though the awe is evident in his tone. "I see why he guarded it so jealously. I hardly felt his wind striking my chest nor the push that sent me hurtling through the ether. I was mesmerized by the beauty of it all until the very moment my body shattered against the plains of Thessaly. It was utter agony lying there as every tendon, every bone slowly stitched itself together again. The fact these scars are all that remain is a mercy from Chaos himself."
Crooked one. Were she a heartless being, Rhea might have laughed. "Do you regret it?"
"The first time I ever laid eyes on you was from atop that throne." Her heart seizes in her chest. Rhea looks away, thankful that it is dark enough that he cannot see the blush rising to her cheeks. "If it were the only way to see, I would gladly climb and fall again and again."
"A non-existent choice now," she muses. "You are the king."
"And rightfully so," Kronos retorts. "As I said, the oracle does not lie."
Rhea laughs. "And what else do Gaia's prophecies tell you?"
"That our life-threads are tied. That we belong together."
She flinches at his brute honesty. "Is that what all of this is? You, following whispers and fate?"
If the question proves too difficult to answer, Kronos does not show it. "The deal I made with Gaia was for a crown and the girl I saw whilst in the heavens." His shoulder brushes against her own. "I do not need prophecies to tell me what I already saw with my own eyes."
Rhea finally turns her head to look at Kronos. Her heart stutters in her chest at how handsome he looks beneath the starry night, a longing that burns throughout her body and soul.
"And if I told you that you could not have both?" They are close enough that their noses touch. For once, she does not shrink away. "Then which would you choose?"
He kisses her instead of answering. Perhaps it is meant to be his answer, yet some part of her finds it to be a meager one. They are not the words she expects, the ones she longs to hear.
Better Kronos than Ouranos.
She supposes there is some gentility in him: the way he cradles her face between his hands, the way his tongue explores her mouth with the utmost sincerity.
"Marry me," Kronos whispers against her lips. "Please."
Her entire body runs cold. She opens her eyes and the dream shatters.
"Ask me again." She stares at his lips, traces them with her fingers. "Tomorrow."
"Rhea—"
"Tonight, the answer is no, Kronos," she says, watching the confusion in his eyes flash to hurt and teeter towards anger. "Come back tomorrow."
Rhea worms her way out of his grasp before he can fumble for another response. She runs before he can grab her, before he can convince her – maybe even force her – to stay. She runs straight back to the lion's den, her heart skipping a thousand beats and not from exertion.
Once safe, she allows the tears to fall.
Rhea spends the next day trying not to think of him, of the heat pooling in her belly. She tries not to think of those promises either, of becoming a queen of the cosmos in which her hand could help to shape the world's very foundation. Nor his softer promises of love.
As the sun starts to set, Rhea very well hopes she's ruined his ego and that he won't come back. Perhaps he's set his sights on another. Marrying Themis or Mnemosyne would save him the trouble.
A fool's hope – it is not long until she spots the white lion pacing in the distance.
Rhea only sighs. For once, she journeys to meet him halfway.
A mistake, she soon realizes. He approaches her in a foul mood, the impatience oozing from every fiber of his being, stilting any hopes of peaceful conversation. He certainly has not forgotten the night before.
You are a Titaness, she reminds herself. You are a mother to lions.
In a rare fit of bravery, she sits directly beside him, refusing to let her unease show.
"Marry me," he says with unprecedented directness. In it she sees what Rhea herself never got to see: that part of him with enough nerve to steal his father's crown.
Rhea refuses to let her resolve slip. "No." She lies back in the grass.
A muscle twitches beneath his eye. "Gaia—"
"Promised me to you," she sighs, boredom masking an undercurrent of nerves. "But I am not Gaia and, even if I was, we both know her promises can take ages to fulfill."
His hand curls around her thigh and she glares at how familiar he's become. Too familiar. "I would have you sooner rather than later," Kronos muses.
It all hits her in a sudden burst of clarity. Rhea sits up suddenly, disquieting him as her face nears his own, only a breath away.
"Then what's stopping you?" she whispers. A teasing hand presses against his thigh as well.
"Nothing whatsoever," Kronos replies back nonchalantly, using his grip on her leg to haul her forward even more, her chest to his. Another tease. "Except curiosity."
They stare at each other for a small moment before he taps his nose against Rhea's, leaning in… But she turns her head, his lips grazing the side of her face instead. Disappointing to say the least.
Rhea lies back in the bed of grass with the grace of a lioness. Perhaps life out on the plains have hardened her after all. "Go on."
He breathes out of his nose, taking a moment to regain himself. "Why say no?" Kronos asks, voice baring the slightest hints of frustration. "You could be a queen, which no Titaness in their right mind would refuse."
"Point taken," she admits. "Are you asking if I loathe you, hence my refusal?"
"Impossible. I can make anyone love me."
Why me then? But she cannot pose that question to him. She cannot bear to hear his answer.
Rhea's face goes blank. She gets up again, but fully this time, attempting to stand. "If it does not offend you, my lord, I must go."
Kronos snatches Rhea by the wrist, jerking her a little. "It does offend. It always offends." A dark look clouds over his regal features. "You will stay."
He will stop at nothing to get what he wants, Theia had told her. In no moment does she believe it more than this.
"I will not." Rhea carefully pries his fingers away. "Ask me again tomorrow." With his permission or otherwise, the Titaness begins to walk away.
"You will say no," he groans after her with a roll of his eyes.
Perhaps he thinks she will keep on walking, that she won't dignify him with a response. Rhea does.
She peers at him from over her shoulder. "Maybe. Maybe not."
Nightfall comes and goes, and Rhea spends the majority of it holding all of her cubs close. She kisses them on their heads what must be a thousand times. She isn't sure when she will get to see them again, if she will see them again.
She leaves before dawn, hours before the hunting party can stir.
Rhea finds Kronos in the same spot that she left him, though she doesn't recall turning him into stone. Though that right there might be the answer to most of her problems.
"Have you come to taunt me?" he retorts.
She shakes her head. "I'll marry you."