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Chapter 9

Greeks, Romans, Cherokee, Part 2

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By the time she got home, ten o'clock rang, and she found herself back where she was that morning. The same handmaidens walked in with pleasant faces. The sundress changed back into the divine gown it was before. When she turned around, Jove was standing right before her.

"Good evening, my dear," he said. He was wearing an imperial purple toga. His right pec—which could put Dwayne Johnson to shame—was showing. "Have you given my proposal much thought?" He offered her a drink.

It was all she could think about all day. It was a miracle that she was able to act at all. "I have," she answered truthfully. She took the drink he was providing her. In truth, she didn't want to risk getting drunk, but it'd probably be rude to refuse an offer from a god. Looking at it again, it looked like tea or whiskey. Knowing better, it was nectar. And Piper had the feeling that it was the good stuff.

He waited patiently. "Well?" he asked. "You have accepted then? Will you be my queen?"

"Juno's not your first wife, though, isn't she?" she said out of nowhere.

His face changed from delight to taken aback. "What are you saying?"

Piper sighed. "Your first marriage ended when… when you prevented a prophecy from happening. Even after you married Her—Juno—you continued to… to tomcat around. Many of those women suffered from her jealousy. The same for your children."

He sat on the bed and stroked his beard. "I cannot deny that neither Juno nor Metis was the first woman I've been with. In my adolescence, before I faced my father, I would occasionally—okay, often—sleep with the nature spirits around me. Then, after I took the throne, I married Metis, and you know the rest."

Piper stepped closer to him to caress the side of his face. Even while he was sitting, he was at eye level with her as she stood. "I need to know, Jove. If I do agree to be your wife, can you stay loyal to me, or would you pursue other women?"

"Meretrix!"

Piper dropped her glass as she whirled around. Jove stood back up. A goddess stormed through the curtain wearing black robes and a goat-skin cloak. She was wielding a gladius. Juno.

"How dare you take my husband! And you!" She switched her fury from Piper to Jupiter. "For four thousand years, I had to put up with your adultery. I knew I couldn't stop your libido, and clearly, I wasn't enough for it, but I stayed loyal to you, nonetheless. And now, you plan to leave me for your dead bastard's movie slut?!"

"How dare you, Juno!" Jove barked, putting himself between the two women. "How dare you insult her and my dead son at once!"

"Most of your sons are dead, but this harlot was once his." She turned to Piper. "And you should've stayed with him like a good girl."

"Excuse me?!" Piper demanded. "My world was falling apart around me. Jason died! And you forced us together—"

"But you were perfect together. All you had to do was fall in love and stay together and love no one else. Something my beloved husband ignores constantly. And let's not forget how much of a Venus spawn you are, McLean. With how many people you invited in between your legs, it's not enough that you cheated on the woman you were seeing. You are a—"

"Do not say that to my daughter, Queen Juno!" Entering the bedchamber was someone dressed too provocatively to be anyone but Aphrodite. Being on Mount Olympus, she had to be Venus, estimated by the ancient Roman-style dress. "Put down the sword, Juno, before we might do something we'll all regret."

Piper saw that the serving girls had left. If only she went with them. She felt so tiny being stuck between these three tall, powerful figures, and they weren't even at their full height.

The marriage goddess turned to the love goddess. "You cannot order me in my palace."

Jupiter stepped closer to his wife. "And you cannot harm anyone under my protection. Piper is a kind-hearted woman who, unlike you, won't harm my children from my mistakes. Plus, she always wants me to be with her in a way I haven't been with you in a very long time."

"So then, she's a good wife because she lets you have sex with her? Fine then!"

Juno reached over to rip open Piper's dress. She shrieked from the shock and exposure. Her breasts bounced free. Her skin erupted in goosebumps, and her nipples hardened from the chilling air. The tear reached down to the hem, leaving all her exposed. That morning, she wasn't given underwear by the handmaidens, but then she found out she did when she changed into her costume. She guessed the dress was normal and fully clothed in the mortal world, but commando as the Olympian gown. Piper didn't have enough time to recover the shreds.

"Go ahead, Jove," Juno commanded. "Swive. Lay with her. Go on! Make sweet carnal love to her if you can't with me!

"Enough!" Thunder boomed all around.

Piper got out of the way. Her mother pulled her closer to hold her protectively. She held the remains of her dress in place as she gaped at the feud.

"This is why I am choosing to divorce you. You are a hateful, jealous shrew—" Jupiter yelled.

"I wouldn't be if you honored your vows and remained loyal to me—" Juno argued.

"Stop it, both of you!" Venus shouted over them. She still held onto her daughter dearly. "You both should be ashamed of yourselves. You're supposed to be the embodiment of married couples. Now look at you. Hating one another, cheating on your other half, and not giving each other love. I allowed this to keep going because I was enraptured by the romantic entanglements of all of this. Now that you bring Piper into this, I'm done shipping."

She turned to Juno. "Remember this, my queen, and it goes to Hera as well; if you harm my daughter or my grandchild, I will allow love to fade away."

Piper's breath hitched. She looked up at her mom.

When the initial shock wore off, Juno scoffed. "What has love brought us? My husband brought another woman into my bed. The bed where only the two of us have consummated our marriage."

"Without love, resentment will remain, and violence will spread. Then, no one will lust anymore, and no one will be born anymore. Humanity will fade, and so will we." Venus said darkly. "Now, if you excuse us, I'm taking Piper home with me."

Both mother and daughter stepped through the curtain, and the moment they were out of sight, Jupiter and Juno started their fight back up again.

Venus changed into her Greek variation before leading Piper away with her arms around her. At the same time, she tried to wrap her torn dress around herself. She brought her to her temple in Olympus. It was, of course, extravagant. Piper could see Annabeth's designs from the reconstruction.

"You had a long day, baby," Aphrodite said. "Why don't you go take a relaxing bath? I'll send some new clothes for you to change into, and I'll fix you something to eat, okay?"

"Okay. But can I not have a dress this time? I just need to wear some pants again."

Aphrodite agreed.

Of course, she had her handmaidens take care of her daughter, which meant more people got to see her naked. What was she in? A bad drama movie where she was eye candy for a male audience? That was why Piper would never do nude scenes! It turned out okay because the serving ladies were good at their job—and hot—just like Jove's servants. After that, she dressed in a rosy-pink sweater—her favorite color—a pair of black leggings and a pair of white moccasins.

When she reentered the commoner area with the elegant furniture and mosaics, Aphrodite was lounging on a divan, and she motioned for her to sit on a neighboring recamier. They shared some chamomile tea and cookies. Her sweet tooth kicked in, so the fetus would be happy with that.

"How are you feeling, Piper?" Aphrodite asked, sipping her tea.

"Better," she acknowledged. "Thanks for coming, Mom."

"Of course. As the goddess of love, I need to exercise all the different forms of love other than passion. Which entitles motherly love. Remind me to introduce you to Dione someday."

Piper blinked while swallowing a cookie. "Dione?" she asked. "In the Iliad, she was described to be your mother, but you came from the sea foam made from Ouranos's, uh, bits."

"Yes, well, even some gods need to grow up, and Dione was the maternal figure I needed. We all need someone to look up to."

Piper stared down at her tea. She hadn't really had anyone like that to look up to. Her dad always worked, her mom was never around, and Piper enjoyed the heroes from stories, but she wouldn't say she idolized any of them. From her time as a hero, she respected Annabeth for being a strong, intelligent woman. Then, Piper appreciated all her teammates. But she wouldn't say she looked up to them as Mom said.

Mom may have read her thoughts. "If you want to spend time with your mother, you could move here."

Piper looked up, flabbergasted. "Really?" Was this real? Could She live with her mother on Mount Olympus?

"Yes, but you have to be a god." That put a damper on things. "That would mean that the only way for this is to accept Jupiter's proposal."

She let out a sigh.

"Would you like to be married to Jupiter? Do you love him?" Aphrodite asked carefully. She leaned closer to her, listening intently.

Taking a deep breath, Piper let out her thoughts. "But if I marry him, I'm marrying Zeus too. And their personalities differ. One is more… demanding, and the other is… somewhat kinder, I guess. But thinking about it a hundred years from now, what will our relationship be like? Would it be like Zeus and Hera's? Would we be happier? Then what would our child be like? Would he or she, I don't know, join the council? But then, what will the other gods think? For some of them, I'd be replacing their mother. How would they react?"

"You didn't say that you loved him," Aphrodite remarked.

This was harder than it should be. Piper had put her tea down to put her face in her hands. She reviewed all the jumbled feelings she had for Jove. It all started as a physical thing. She was sexually attracted to him. Plus, he was good in bed…. Then that was it. His handsome features and kind words were what made her lose all reasoning and allowed herself to get pregnant. The worst thing that never stopped nagging in her head; he was Jason's father! This relationship was toxic.

"I can't," she finally admitted with misting eyes. "I can't dishonor Jason like this. I've felt so guilty for finding a girlfriend after his death, but everyone had said that he would be okay with me moving on, but it's not okay to sleep with his dad! I do want a relationship with someone, but I can't be with Jupiter. I can't be a goddess."

Aphrodite placed a hand on Piper's arm. "That is all you need to say, sweety," she said gently. "And I think it's for the best. The other gods may have mixed feelings." She pulled her hand back into her lap. "Gossip of your affair has been going around. The news of the proposal has the whole mountain in a tizzy. Some of them respect Hera, but others don't like her. Quite a few Olympians actually support your union with Zeus."

Piper's eyebrows met. "Really? Who?"

"Forget about them. What you said is more important. You don't love Jupiter enough to marry him. There's nothing else you need to do. You just want to live your life the way you want to and with who you want to."

That brought a thought to Piper's head. "I don't think I can be with a mortal in this life we live. I'd like to have something normal, but the demigod life is part of who I am, and I can't share that with someone who can't see through the Mist."

"Oh, I do think you can find someone, baby," her mother said knowingly. "You might be able to find someone from the divine life who can be a good fit for you. I'm pretty sure you already met him, and Eros may already have you two in his sights."

Piper raised an eyebrow. "Who?" she had met several different people in the time she hooked up with Jupiter. It was part of the acting career—meeting plenty of new people. But for some reason, she was picturing a turquoise and silver bracelet and a writer's app.

The ever-changing gorgeous face of Aphrodite smiled, which was difficult to interpret, whether it was knowing, mischievous, or sensual. "Until you can figure it out, you have no need to rush. You can still have all the fun you want. Of course, until the pregnancy is too far along or the in-between times you have while raising the baby. Also, you're blessed with sexuality for all the pleasure humanity has to offer. If you want, I can recommend some paramours you could exercise and experiment on."

She waved her hand, and the servants that tended Piper approached. Even more came and with some men. They knelt before them, waiting to be ordered. They were scantily dressed in a classy way to show off their assets.

"And if you tire of them, I can offer some of my favorite lovers. Ares is a beast in the sack, but I don't want him to bed my daughter. I can live for one night away from Adonis—oh, what a man…! But for women, you would love Sappho."

This was making her red-faced.

Piper's college girlfriend, Taylor, was the first woman she had been with intimately. It was some time after she broke up with Nolan. She and Taylor were roommates sharing the same dorm in junior year. They were getting tipsy on wine coolers that Taylor smuggled in one late night, Piper remembered fondly. She could still feel the soft fleece of her pink pajama bottoms, and the tank top she wore drew her roommate's eyes. Mostly because she noticeably didn't wear a bra underneath. Taylor wore an extra-large t-shirt with a mystery underneath.

Piper had already lost her virginity to a boy the year prior. Now, she wanted to lose her lesbian virginity. Taylor got that message, and they were already undressing. Making love to a woman was… different than with a man. It made perfect sense for man-on-woman. It was like two puzzle pieces that joined together. Or a lock and key. Sex was all about procreation. It's not humanity's fault that it feels so good. But for other sexual orientations, with two women doing it, you need to get more creative.

After experiencing multiple orgasms, the two slept, holding each other in the same bed every night until graduation. For the first week, Piper didn't know whether they were girlfriends or friends with benefits. They did officially become girlfriends soon enough. Except that they did rush the relationship, but they understood it was only for fun. Interestingly, Taylor liked to play with toys. Their neighbors pounded on the walls, telling them to shut up.

Piper, however, did not like to talk about this in so much detail with her mother. "Thanks, Mom," she said gently, placing her finished tea down on the table, "but I'm not looking for some… assistance at the moment."

"Alright, but my offer will still stand, especially for when your libido increases in your second trimester."

The topic of conversation changed and went on.

"I find it admirable for you to portray one of your sisters," Aphrodite said.

Piper looked at her, confused. "Sister?" she asked.

"Pocahontas—Matoaka. Or Rebecca Rolf, as the English called her," the goddess said with a melancholic smile. "She was one of my daughters. I slept with Chief Powhatan as Venus. His people didn't recognize me as a goddess, but Powhatan took me as his wife, and we had our beautiful Playful One." Her smile turned dreamy.

This shocked Piper to no end. "Pocahontas is my sister?!"

"Not only that," Aphrodite continued, "but she is also your ancestor. She had a baby boy with her first husband, Kocoum. After the boy's mother was taken and his father killed, he was raised by others, and he had descendants. Eventually, one of them married into the Cherokee, which led to your father, then you. Congratulations, sweet pea."

Piper's mind was totally blown. The movie role she was playing—the one where haters were saying she was not Native enough to play—was both her paternal ancestor and half-sister on her mother's side?! That was unbelievable. But ignoring the typical Greek god scenario. There is no DNA in Olympus.

The night was growing older. Her mother offered her daughter to stay the night with her. Piper was so tired after such a long day; she agreed without thinking.

"Thanks, Mom." They hugged in the most comforting way Piper ever had.

It wasn't expected that she would have two bedmaids sleeping on either side of her naked as she was. It turned out Aphrodite never slept alone and invited the help into her bed for comfort and pleasure. Piper didn't get the name of these… sexy maids, but they did make her comfortable. Soon, an aching feeling made her touch the women, who responded to her actions in kind. They kissed her, caressed her, and made love to her.

This day started with a great morning romp with Jupiter and ended with a threesome with two nymph maids. It was not what she expected, but she didn't hate it.

When the sun rose, she was back in her own bed, alone, just when the morning sickness hit.