Neither Hercules nor Megara attempted to disguise what they'd done when they stepped away for privacy. Their friends gave them the occasional smirk, but nobody saw a need to draw attention to what everyone knew.
In their absence, a small stage had been set up against the wall, and a set of masked performers took up places onstage.
The slight sweat the pair had worked up with their exertions burned and fizzled off in Hercrules's unfading aura.
Servers brought bowls of water thick with ashes and rosewater, which Megara washed her hands in, only for the contact with Hercules to amplify that rosewater scent with his own grand yet unplaceable scent.
How did she forget that she was the only mortal in the cosmos married to a god? She knew she was lucky, but at times, that luck's astronomical, incalculable degree made her stare at the ceiling and try to make it make sense.
"I got a traveling theater troupe to put on Cadmus and Harmonia; I thought it'd be auspicious," Marion said.
Megara blinked a few times as her mind returned to the moment. "Wait, you mean the same one I was in?"
"There have been some updates," Megarion shrugged. "I reviewed the script. It references Hercules a few times."
"Can't go ten minutes without someone doing that," Hercules said, only revealing some bitterness in his voice.
"I like it that way," Megara said, petting his arm as she did.
During the chorus's introductory overture describing how Cadmus followed his kidnapped sister Europa from the East to the future site of Thebes, Hercules secured a pair of honey cakes for himself and Megara. He ate his own in one bite but spent the rest of the overture feeding his wife's to her by hand.
This left him open when she dove in to lick his fingers.
"You make me want to skip this play and take you back to that room…"
"We could take some honey cakes with us and call it a night," Megara agreed.
"I want to learn the story, though!" Galatea said in the loudest possible voice that could still qualify as a whisper.
"They weren't going to take you away from the play," Theseus reminded her.
The play began in earnest, with the man playing Cadmus speaking through his mask to the Chorus. "I have traveled far, and yet my sister's fate eludes me. Friends, thank you for accompanying me from afar. I understand if you wish to return to your homes and all you've held dear. You venture with me into further peril, and I fear we may never return to our mothers' hearth fires."
"This feels like an elaborate prank," Megara whispered. "I can't believe this is the play where I met Theron, and now, watching it again, it feels like that's him up there. This actor even sounds like him."
"Are you worried that could be him?" Hercules asked.
"That would be insane, right? It wouldn't be him. He wouldn't come back here."
"He doesn't seem too clever if he traded you in. Maybe you're giving him too much credit. That could be him up there, and he's waiting to see you again and tell you how huge a mistake he made because that other girl ruined his life. You can then point out that you're going to be a goddess, and you already have a divine husband who'll do everything for you, including punching him into space."
"No need for that, but thanks."
A large purple dragon appeared onstage, familiar as a prop from plays about Hercules slaying the Hydra, except with only one of the three heads it was recognized for.
"Cadmus is about to set aside your part of the inheritance," Megara whispered.
"He already did that when he married a goddess. I'm grateful to have the best of what he left behind." Hercules nuzzled against her cheek and made her giggle when he nibbled her earlobe. "Now, because of him, I have a goddess of my own." He bestowed a reversing kiss on her cheek.
Onstage, 'Cadmus' drove the Hydra into a cave after knocking out its teeth. Other actors collected them while they landed on the stage like so many scattered twigs.
A machine was rigged up to drop cloth 'stones' over the cave entrance the puppet Hydra had disappeared into, and the chorus celebrated.
"Thebes did not know a still mightier hero would fell the beast. Our new Cadmus would finish the work of the first. Our greatest hero would vanquish every threat which menaced this, the City of Heroes!"
"Never heard that one before," Megara whispered. "Let's keep it for when we premiere our League."
"I like the sound of it, too."
"Besides, nobody will forget that you're the greatest hero, and this is your city. It'll be your temple they all pray in to achieve even a fraction of your glory."
"I don't need to be the greatest hero. I need to be the one that has you."
For a moment, Megara imagined a future without an apotheosis. She'd dreamed of it many times. Some goddess would appear perfect and untarnished by the Underworld and forever young. She would beckon Hercules to the heavens into the eternal marriage that suited him better than this terrestrial one.
He'd forget all about his dalliance with a mortal who helped him gain the confidence and experience he would need for his future as a divine husband who could do no wrong.
Determination swept away that thought.
"I need to be the one who has you, too. And I won't share or let you go. I know your father may have opinions of mortals, but this is permanent between us."
Hercules's arms shifted around her, forming a more secure bulwark against the world. His chin rested on her shoulder, sending a shock of pleasure through her body as she recalled how he'd so recently held this posture while plowing into her. "No more telling me I can't make you a goddess. I need you to believe in me more than anyone else. As far as I'm concerned, your destiny is to be a goddess and always has been."
For a moment, Megara imagined a future without apotheosis. She'd dreamed of it many times. Some goddess would appear perfect, forever young and blameless in any uprising against Olympus. She would make him forget a dalliance with a sullied princess who may as well have been just as wicked as her master when they met.
But what if she could be the goddess? Could it be possible?
Determination swept away that horror show in her mind and replaced it with a vision of herself, wearing her new crown, worthy and welcome among the gods. It was enough to force her eyes to mist over.
As they watched the play unwind toward its end, with curses of Ares and the fall of Cadmus's fortunes, Hercules's hands moved as innocently as possible across her skin. His breathing steadily roughened as his own thoughts drowned out the fate of Cadmus to become a serpent and wander the earth.
It was the crucial moment when Harmonia sacrificed her future as a lesser goddess forever living in beauty that Hercules sighed. "I'm so proud we're honoring her legacy with our daughter. She's part of a heroic legacy on both sides."
"I'm not a hero, that's your deal."
"Sure ya are," Hercules replied in a light, airy tone that Megara suspected was meant to mimic her. "I wouldn't be here without you, so every act of heroism I carried out since you saved me is cosigned by you. Plus, you destroyed my would-be slave mistress, and you never betrayed me to Hecate. You have an iron will most so-called heroes pretend to have. I'll tell anyone who asks."
Her heart melted a little more than it already had. "I know your family may have opinions, but I don't need to be a hero to be with you. I just need to be with you. We need to make this permanent."
Hercules's arms shifted around her, forming a more secure bulwark against the world. His chin rested on her shoulder, sending a shock of sensation through her body as she recalled the sensation of his chin resting there an hour ago but in a very different context.
The play came to an end with another chorus referencing how this was not the real end and how, in the future, Thebes would prosper due to its beloved Hercules.
"I'm literally sitting on you right now, and I'm still interested in this song."
"Maybe I'll understand that feeling when they write some about you. I betcha they will after tonight."
"Two songs isn't enough?"
"Well, I've got upwards of what? Ten? Anyway, some of them are all right, but I want to hear them praise you. I'd even sing along."
At the end of the play, the players formed a line onstage and removed their masks.
There, at the center of the line, was the smug, unmistakable face of the man she could no longer ignore or rationalize out of the room. Beside him stood a woman whose Aphrodite-blonde hair was done up for the occasion in extravagant curls, but she recognized her nonetheless.
Why were they here?
Why were both of them here?
Why had she decided to name her baby Harmonia?
"Uh… hey, Meg? What's wrong?"
She looked at Hercules but found she couldn't focus. She couldn't breathe, either.
She'd been naked the last time she'd seen Hercules's eyes this wide. "Meg? You've gotta tell me what's…" While he was still speaking, her eyes drifted closed.
Megara drifted into sleep, grateful for the escape. It didn't matter why she was asleep or whether it was the right time. At least she didn't have to think anymore.