Chapter 50

Poseidon's POV

Appearing at the gates of Morpheus's home, I walked straight up to the door and knocked. A servant opened the ivory doors.

"Lord Poseidon?" the forest nymph asked shocked.

"Good day, I am here to see Morpheus," I replied.

She looked frightened, "I shall inform Lord Morpheus that you are here." Scattering off to an unknown part of palace.

It took only a minute before a very young, tired looking Morpheus appeared before me.

"Lord Poseidon, to what do I owe the please? He asks, looking as bored as he sounded.

"I want to know about a dream of my daughter. Is it one of your traps again? Did Hera put you up to it again?" I ask.

He straightened his back, the bored look disappearing. "Excuse me?!" he said enraged.

"You heard me. You see, I'm sure you know what I am talking about."

"I have no idea," he states, crossing his arms across his chest.

This move alone makes me chuckle, "Really?" I smile broadly. He starts to fidget.

"Really," Morpheus replies.

I grab him by his throat, still standing in the foyer of his palace. He struggles in my grip. He might be strong, but so am I. He tries to enter my mind to put me to sleep, despite not being one of the major gods, he is incredibly powerful, but before anything could happen I grab my dagger and shoved it into his shoulder. No sound escapes him as he can barely breathe.

"Okay, okay," he taps out on my shoulder, lifting the pressure from his throat, only enough that he can speak properly.

"Speak!" I snarl in his face.

"To be honest, I would rather have you kill me than the one who sent me the dream," he replied arrogantly.

"What?" I forced my power over his entire body and he sunk to the ground screaming. "You mean like this?" I asked cruelly, knowing full well the pain I am causing him.

"You see Morpheus, I kept Ares prisoner for weeks, torturing him over and over for his involvement with my daughter. You on the other hand caused my daughter to want to leave me," I said in anger, "If you would rather I break you, your weak little sleepy mind, then I will take my sweet time. You will know no end to pain. You would wish for your own dreams to relieve you of the torment. But it will never come."

He whimpered, flaying like a fish out of water on his polished marble floors. None of his servants would dare interrupt.

"It was Chaos!" He grits out.

Silence. Shock. Disbelief.

"Why would my grandfather send my daughter a dream like that?" I ask him. Releasing my power over him. He stands on shaky legs. Golden blood flowing freely from his nose from the power backlash.

"I'm not sure. I think it was supposed to be a warning," he replied, "he didn't say."

"Then what did he say?" I ask. If Chaos is interested in Rhea… I'm not powerful enough to stop him. But I will fight to the death if I had to.

"He showed me what to send to her. He warned me that if I changed anything in the dream, then he would come back for me. I swear I only delivered his dream message."

"How strange," I ponder. "How strange indeed. I shall take my leave. You will not speak of this to anyone. Is that clear Morpheus?"

"Of course Lord Poseidon. I will share this with no one," he mumbled, rubbing his throat.

I left in a spray of mist, appearing before my brother, Hades.

"Greetings brother," I said, throwing him off guard.

"Poseidon, don't you know how to knock?" he asked annoyed.

"I do," I replied smugly before my face changed, baring my weary soul to my older brother.

"What happened?" he asked, sensing the change.

"Rhea. Morpheus, Chaos," I replied.

"What?" he replied confused.

"Rhea, my little girl had a nightmare. But not just any dream… It affected her badly," I said and explained the dream she had to him. "Morpheus said that it came from our grandfather Chaos."

He frowned deeply. "I think we need to include Persephone in this. She might offer some words of wisdom on this matter."

"PERSEPHONE!" he yelled out.

"WHAT?" she yelled back.

"COME HERE WIFE!"

No one would believe they love each other if they communicated like this the whole time.

She came down the stairs, a smile blossomed across her face as she spotted me, "Poseidon!"

Embraced in a hug, she asked, "What are you doing here?"

We explained the situation to her. She looked deep in thought.

"Isn't it odd brother?" Hades asked, "that the Fates interfere so much in her life. That our very own grandfather whom we haven't even seen in millennia interfere in her life?"

"We're riding the same brain wave brother," I replied.

"Argh, enough with the puns, you're boring me to death," he said smiling tightly at his own pun.

"Nevertheless Hades, I agree. Why would they interfere?" I murmured.

"And not to be intentionally rude, but in all my years I've never seen a demi-goddess favoured as much as she has been her entire life," he stated. He has a point. I never expected my brother and his wife to even care for Rhea. Even Apollo seems to like her.

Persephone has strangely been quiet during our conversation, I turned to her and asked, "What do you think Perce?"

She contemplated what to say, "I think we need to keep an eye on the situation. Maybe we should include Rhea into this discussion?"

My eyes widen, "Absolutely not!" I responded.

"Why not? This is about her," she suggests.

"I can't burden her with this. I can protect her."

She sighs, "Poseidon… you can't keep her away from the world, from the unknown dangers she might face. How will she learn to cope? To work through her emotions? You are there to guide her, despite her circumstances. As a parent you need to prepare her for the world and not cocoon her."

Hades looked at his wife lovingly.

"She makes a point," Hades added. She does, I just don't like it.

"Says the one who kept his children in the lotus hotel," I snipped back.

He raised his hands in a surrender motion, "Touché."

"Men! Argh!" Persephone throws her hands in the air as she said that. "So mature."

Hades glares at his wife and she smiles slyly.

"But seriously Poseidon, you need to trust that Rhea will do the right thing. She will surprise you. You, Sally, Triton and Amphitrite are there for her. And if she doesn't come to you about anything, she will come to us," she said, pointing only to her as the 'us' between herself and Hades.

"Thank you brother, sister," I said gratefully. "I shall speak with Rhea, only after I've spoken to her mother as well."

We said our farewell. Now it's time to speak to Sally.

Persephone's POV

"But seriously Poseidon, you need to trust that Rhea will do the right thing. She will surprise you. You, Sally, Triton and Amphitrite are there for her. And if she doesn't come to you about anything, she will come to us," I said to Poseidon, trying to reassure him. Our family needs to stick together. Support each other.

"Thank you brother, sister," he said. My heart warms at the title 'sister'.

As soon as he left, Hades turned to me, eyes serious.

"What do you know?" he demands.

Looking confused I replied, "What do you mean?"

"I know you Persephone. You are hiding something from me. You know something," he said. He knows me so well.

"Fine," I groan out. "I do know something."

"Well…?" he asks.

"Well…?" I reply, smiling slyly once again.

"Are you going to tell me or not?" he demands, looking frustrated.

"Not!" I replied to him, giving him a chaste kiss, then running to our room.

"PERSEPHONE!" I heard him calling after me.

Of course he followed me to our room. Now all I need to do is to distract him from the subject.

I hope Rhea will open up to her father, and soon.