Nobody could chain Hercules, but he was so numb he walked with them to Omphale's palace. He replayed every moment leading up to Megarion's fall in his mind, trying to understand how it could have happened.

His mind could not reconcile how far down the mountain Megarion had been with how quickly he'd been clamped on Hercules's back like one of those hideous monkey things.

It was nonsensical for Megarion to run up on him like that. He should have stayed where he was. Hercules was sure he had, but then…

"Does the accused acknowledge his guilt?" He heard the voice as if he were underwater, but he recognized the words. Omphale was seated upon her throne, wearing her crown and holding a scepter with the head of a lion; a set of bronze chains wrapped the scepter as if restraining the lion.

"Something happened up there," he said slowly. "But I still can't understand it."

"Then explain it to us." Medea. She was sitting with Jason, who looked more dazed than the last time Hercules had seen him. On another day, he would've tried to get her away from his old friend, but he didn't have the words or the energy.

"You threw a man off a mountain. Produce Prince Megarion if he is not dead."

A thought erupted in a far quadrant of his mind. It sounded like Meg's voice, and he spoke its words immediately. "Produce him if he is."

The room went quiet.

Wow. Was this how Meg felt all the time?

"You dare show contempt in my court?" Omphale demanded.

Yes, this was definitely how Meg felt all the time.

"Not contempt…" definitely, a lot of contempt. "You need to prove it was murder. It was a confusing scenario, but there's no proof I actually murdered anyone. In fact, I thought he was one of the Cercopes—"

"Do you mean to say you intended to kill one of them, and the only problem you have is who got killed?"

"I kill monsters. Those things were all over me… and in fact, do they shapeshift?" He'd dealt with shapeshifters before.

In fact, Meg herself had told him not to trust anything he saw. Why would someone force him to watch himself kill his newfound brother? He thought back on the journey he'd taken to the palace.

He'd kept his head lowered, sent Pegasus away, and ignored everything else. If he'd been exhausted before, he was more so now. All he wanted to do was fall asleep with Meg in his arms and forget everything else. Except he'd failed to kill the monster Hecate sent him to cull, and maybe that was why he was facing this trial: another control tactic.

What if all he had to do was resist?

"Are you listening to me?" Omphale demanded.

Someone snapped a whip on Hercules's back, which might have been a problem if he didn't have such tough skin and armor.

He whirled on the person who'd done it, glaring a warning. The culprit was a big guy, but Hercules was bigger. He was probably used to throwing his weight around but would never do more than annoy Hercules. The sooner he understood that, the better.

Another figure appeared behind him, drenched from the rain and leading two unharnessed leopards. Dionysus. "What gives you the right to imprison a god?"

Good point. Hercules turned to face Omphale.

Maybe he deserved imprisonment, but did he deserve to be imprisoned by this witch?

Omphale shifted on her throne, cleared her throat, and said, "I have been granted this man by my goddess. He is bound to serve out his sentence under my command."

"Just say this is Hecate's plan," Dionysus said. "I am a witness, and if your court is just, then you must accept my words."

The series of events on the mountainside played out one more time before Hercules's mind's eye. "You left right when it happened," he told Dionysus. Not accusingly, he hoped.

"Actually, it was you that flew away," Dionysus said. "I was distracted by the madness that seized my new friends. One of them ran into the cave. He produced this." He pulled a puppet out of his robe. The one Megara had shown him in the Underworld.

How had that gotten into the cave?

He thought back on the monster's behavior. She was just as exhausted as him. She wore the remnants of a dress as if she'd recently transformed. She wanted to communicate something to him, but he'd been distracted… He hadn't fully comprehended the situation, but he was shaking and covered in a cold sweat. His mind rejected reality several times, but he knew on a subconscious level that he'd seen Meg in that cave and that Hecate had put her there so that Hercules would kill her.

"I stayed after Hercules flew away." When did Dionysus get taller?

No, he wasn't taller. Hercules had fallen to his knees. What Hecate had done to Meg was revolting, and what she'd tried to do to him didn't come close. Her poor body, the most beautiful creation in the cosmos, was distorted and mangled… where had all that blood come from?

"I witnessed Prince Megarion alive," Dionysus said. "He was taken away by Hecate. And the monster went with him."

Meg had seen her brother and gone away with him. She may have wanted to dispel the illusion.

He may never erase that mental image, but he might change the context. Still… every new lie beat him down until he thought complying with this might be his only option.

"What does that puppet prove?" Medea demanded. "That the monster is a fan of Hercules? Her and all of Greece!"

"Strange that a monster would care for a hero," Dionysus said. He gently waved his thyrsus over Hercules's head, and clarity returned. It was all so much simpler than he'd thought… if only he weren't so tired. Dionysus set the puppet on the ground before Hercules.

It was smeared with blood now.

Meg's blood.

"Some types of monsters want to be defeated," Medea said.

"This was an Empousa," Omphale said. "While they all serve Hecate, this one had gone rogue and refused to hear the call of the queen."

"That's… because…" Hercules forced himself to his feet, body boiling with rage, "She's my wife… and Hecate is a loathsome creature… you tell her… I was annoyed with her before. I was even irritated. But now… if she thought I would help her become queen…" he stalked toward Medea, "I'll help her find a spot in Tartarus… I'll devise a new torment for her. I'll stand there and watch her suffer. What she's put my wife through is unforgivable. What she tried on me? I'd probably laugh it off after a while. But this game is over."

"You are speaking to two devotees of Hecate," Omphale reminded him. "We cannot abide such ruthless blasphemy on her name!"

"Oh, I'll make you." Hercules wrenched the whip away from the man who'd dared to raise the whip against him and smiled. "What do you think happens to either one of you if I use this on you?"

Dionysus grinned. "Reminds me of when I was a new god."

"You wish to pile new murders upon your first?" Omphale was scared. Good.

"You have to prove I killed anyone," Hercules said. "And you have to prove that Dionysus didn't see what he says he saw."

"Are you going to hold your demigoddess against two gods?" Dionysus asked. "Recognize when you are beaten, woman. Before you get beaten."

Hercules always considered himself a reasonable, friendly guy. Well, he was. But there was only so much he could take. These women looked like humans, but were they any better than a Minotaur?

"Let's see if Hecate cares about you even half as much as you do for her," Hercules said. "Beseech her. Now. While you have the chance."