To the Mighty Hercules and his esteemed bride, Princess Megara Cadmea. I, Prince Megarion Cadmeos, hereby extend an invitation to attend my upcoming coronation at the Palace of Thebes. I look forward to your presence as guests of honor during seven days and nights of feasting.

Musical entertainment shall be provided, and Megara's talents are requested. I should like to see her sing for the city and bless our people with her voice. Please tell me should any accommodations are required for my dear sister's condition.

There was a new wax seal at the bottom of this notice.

It portrayed the initials Mu Kappa Theta over a lyre surrounded by entwined snakes.

"What do you want to do?" Hercules asked when Megara reached the end of the invitation.

She smoothed the letter out along her lap. "My father will be there."

"Do you want to skip?"

Megara chewed her lip. "We would be guests of honor. He wants me to sing. I shouldn't let my father taint that."

"So we're going?"

Megara traced the seal's wax outline. "We have to. My brother needs our support."

Hercules nodded. "What do you need from me?"

"Some kind of strategy."

"Not exactly my strong suit…"

"Talk this through with me: Let's say my father approaches us. What do we do?"

"I step in front of you and tell him if he hurts your feelings, I'll hurt his face."

"That's... well... up to you."

"Do you have another plan?"

"No, no... that'll do. Here's something else: People will ask about our baby."

"None of them have to know about her unless you want them to. All they would have to hear about her is how excited we are and how gorgeous you are."

"Good answer, I'm impressed."

"What else?" he asked, eager to please her again.

"You were once a king. How comfortable are you with courtly etiquette?"

Hercules cast his mind back. "Thessaly was very different from Thebes; I wouldn't equate the two."

"Yet you have extensive media training. Do you want Phil there?"

"Definitely not. The focus needs to be on our new king and occasionally on you. I'll only be there to add my endorsement for the new regime. Phil would cause at least one brawl and look up any skirt he could." He noted a flash of approval in her eyes that jump-started his heart.

"You've grown, Wonder Boy. But we will have him here soon to be an official in our League, so we cannot discount him just yet."

"Phil can be great. In the right context."

"So let's keep him there." Megara set the invitation aside and rubbed along her belly.

"Are you sore? Is it stress? Or are you itchy? Do you need anything? I could get some oil for you. Unless you're hungry?"

Megara chuckled. "I'm a little cramped, that's all."

Hercules hovered a hand over the small dome of her belly, fingers splayed. "May I…?"

"Have I ever refused you?"

"No, you haven't…" Hercules lowered his hand with reverence to cup Megara's small bump in his palm. It was so new and full of promise that it made him tear up. "He said it would be in two weeks… she'll be an even bigger girl by then. More people than me will be able to see her."

"While that's true, I can wear a loose himation and shield her from too many gawkers."

"It's you I'm worried about." He cast his eyes up and down her frame. "You've always been irresistible. By then, you'll have every eye on you, and I'll have to fight someone."

"Tell Megarion you'd like to be part of the entertainment as a brawler." She put on a playful announcer tone. "Come witness the Mighty Hercules defend his territory against a horde of worthless nobodies!"

"Pft!" Hercules shook his head. "He should book you for your comedy routine." He gave her belly a gentle rub. "Even if I seem a little territorial, I kind of want to show you off, Meg. So people can see what I did to you."

"I'll reveal her at a dramatic moment. I'll be onstage at this thing. I can do it then."

Hercules smiled and closed his eyes to indulge in the vision. "That would be… yes, I'd like that."

"And you can be up on stage, too. I'll sing directly to you, and then we can show off. They'll remember the parade, but this will be how we show everyone we're still solid."

"And we're more than that. We're parents. I need everyone to know you're mine and that she's mine, too."

"That's what we want, too. I know being yours will give her a wonderful future and someone to be proud of."

Warmth grew in Hercules's chest. "You really think so?"

"Of course. I already know she'll be the happiest descendant of Cadmus ever born. You'll be the greatest father our line has ever had. You already are."

Hercules climbed into bed with her and nestled her body into his. "And you'll be an amazing mom. You'll teach her so much and show her how to be tough… She'll be so confident! Nobody can bully her!"

"But she'll be sweet like you, not a bitch like I am."

Hercules shook his head and buried his face in her hair. "You're only like that when you have to be, which is less and less. I'm always so impressed with you. I want her to know she can stand up for herself the way you do. I let people walk all over me until I had you."

"Great, so you'll teach her how to get along with people, and I'll show her what to do when that's no longer an option."

"And if you're ever in that situation, either one of you can call on me, and I'll fix it," Hercules said.

A thought occurred to Megara. "Do you think we should dedicate her to you? Lots of parents select a patron god for their children, but this is a rare opportunity."

Hercules took some time to piece together the picture she was painting. "That's… I'd like that. We should do that. We can have a little ceremony at the old villa, maybe have the other heroes around… For once, we'll have Phil around. I'm sure he'd be proud in a sort of… pseudo-grandfatherly way."

"It's allowed, but you'll have to ensure he doesn't cause trouble."

"Yes, ma'am." Hercules kissed her cheek. "But trust me: he will spend more time crying than anything else satyrs typically do."

"Which reminds me: how do we play the other guests at my brother's coronation?"

"As… if we're having a good time?"

"I mean, what's our attitude? Are we victorious? Relaxed? People have barely seen us in months. This'll be our first public appearance since the parade."

"My guess is there'll be various stages of the ceremony and banquet and such. We can adapt. We probably don't need everyone knowing we're anti-Creon unless Megarion makes a public statement declaring a position like that. Then we can be supportive of the new regime but not divisive."

"Listen to you, and you claim you can't handle politics. You're a master of optics."

Hercules blushed. "Never heard that one before…"

"You've got years to collect new compliments but enjoy that one for now. My next question is, what do you want us to wear? We'll have to coordinate something that projects unity."

"So we'll purple and blue and represent each other equally," he said firmly. "Don't know if you want to go civilian or if I should wear my ceremonial armor. I'll do whatever you want."

Megara tapped her cheek and looked him over. "Whatever I want?"

Hercules blushed. "Uh… yep. Don't regret that wording. What do you have for me?"

"You could always wear the ceremonial armor over a nice purple tunic… and the gold-trimmed cape. Do you think you'd prefer me in a blue dress or a purple one?"

"You're asking the wrong person. At this point, I see through your clothes."

It was Megara's turn to bluster out a few half-formed, wheezy notes of laughter and blush. "I didn't expect to hear you say that… but fair. I'll compare dresses on my own. The most important thing I'll be wearing is my himation."

"Why's that?"

"Because it'll be the only thing between Harmonia and an overabundance of attention. Even if she knows she's under there, they won't be able to speculate too much about her. She deserves some privacy just like we do."

Hercules released an ardent sigh. "I love you so much…"

"And I you. Both of you. It's so strange that I haven't felt her move yet, but she feels so real to me. There will be questions about her, but I think there'll be more about you and me. I was so mysterious the last time the Greekly World News tried to talk to us, and now I've sequestered you into solitude away from the public eye… Many people will question why you picked me and whether I'm good for you."

"Which you are." Hercules kissed her cheek firmly. "I wish we could tell them the truth without mentioning Hades. I don't want them to know what you were coerced into. Some people will make life more difficult for you."

"Then we'll tell them a story and clean out all elements of chthonic sleazeballs."

"I'm… a terrible liar. Usually, that's a good thing, but I don't see a lie going down well. Cassandra had to coach me to tell a lie, and it still turned out really bad."

"You have to be judicious with your lies. In this case, we'll only lie a little bit."

"Right, because the best lies have an element of truth."

"So we'll tell a story, and when someone asks you how we met, you'll switch out the truth with the story we invented."

"I… don't know if I could do that."

"Think of it as us presenting the characters of ourselves in a play and telling them what happened in the play."

Hercules pouted in thought. "It'd be nice if I could visualize it…"

The two of them happened upon the same idea, evidenced by the way they slid their eyes into contact.

"The puppets?" Megara asked.

"Technically, it'd sort of be us acting out the story…"

"You're right. Fetch them. I'll be right here: plotting."