Megara had difficulty reconciling the events of the day with the fact Hercules easily transported her to the palace's bath complex.
"When should I come back for you?" he asked.
"I'll need at least an hour, and you can figure out where we're going while I'm getting ready."
"A whole hour?" Hercules asked with the same attitude of a child who'd never had to wait for anything in his life.
"I need to get all my grunge cleaned off, do my hair, pick a dress… " Megara shrugged. "I don't know. It could be two hours."
"Two?" Hercules gasped. "No, no, one, definitely! Or call me when you can so I will show up as soon as you're ready!"
"You'd better hurry off so I can get started, or it'll be even longer than that, and I'm already hungry."
"Okay!" Hercules dove in and pecked her cheek one more time, then vanished.
After he disappeared, a golden haze lingered in the air, and Megara stepped into it to let it tickle her skin. She wished she could bathe in it.
She did a little twirl in it before she strode through the baths, pampering herself as much as possible. There were cute little diadems she'd never tried before. Maybe they were Antigone's. That made her want to wear one all the more.
Her hair was loosely bound back from her face, and she wore a diadem, along with a spare set of earrings and a gold chain necklace. The only question she had left was what she'd wear, but she found a girdle and a purple chiton bordered in gold to answer that question. It took her a few times to decide how she would wrap it.
She snacked on a few palm-sized oranges that she suspected Antigone was saving for later and wrapped her dress a few different ways. At last, she settled on draping it off of one shoulder and belting it with a girdle that framed her curves to the greatest advantage. She examined herself in the light from the open ceiling and saw a faint sparkle on her skin. It was almost like Hercules was still with her.
She stepped out of the baths complex, and that was her mistake.
Eteocles and several courtiers were approaching the men's side of the baths when they stopped to stare at her.
"There you are! We thought you'd never leave the temple of Zeus!" Eteocles said.
"I was at the temple of Hercules, actually. I'm the one who petitioned him to save us."
"Thank you," Menoikeus said. "That was some quick thinking!" His smile faded into the typical Theban skepticism that had already painted every face around him. "Wait. What did you offer him?"
"I didn't offer him anything. He did it because he saw an injustice and chose to do the right thing."
"I guess that's what heroes do," Haemon suggested.
"Good thinking," Eteocles strode toward her. "And you're already prepared for the celebration. That forethought will make you an excellent queen, just as I had planned."
"I'm not marrying you." Megara danced away from him in the swish of her skirts. "You're delusional if you think I'll marry you after that stunt where you almost killed me!"
"I wasn't going to kill you, and it wouldn't have lasted so long if you hadn't resisted for so long!" He lunged for her, but she moved out of the way.
Menoikeus, Haemon, and Megarion rushed up after Eteocles to restrain them, but he swung a wild elbow and slammed it into Megarion's nose. Menoikeus stopped to help Megarion, but Haemon was focused.
He swung for the king, but the guards were on him.
"Nobody can attack the king," the guards growled at Haemon.
"Look what he's doing to my sister!" Haemon shouted.
Megara had been so distracted by the situation with her brothers that Eteocles had pounced. He enveloped her in a bear hug and bent over her,
"You will learn to obey!" he snarled into her ear. You will be my queen, combine the lines of the royal family, and marry me tonight!"
Megara twisted and wriggled herself toward freedom, scratching Eteocles's face over her shoulder. "I'm not marrying you! You don't get to pick for me, either!" She slammed her foot down on his, and finally, she broke free. She charged for the door, but Eteocles grabbed her arm and swung her to the ground.
A shock of pain hit at the same time as her brothers called to her from behind the guards's wall of defense for her assailant.
"You're going to kill her!" Menoikeus cried.
"Let her go!" Megarion shouted.
Haemon was roaring and grunting in an effort to fight off guards unarmed.
"Yield, Meggie. You're not getting out of this." Eteocles had her by the throat, and once again, he closed his hand around it.
She was losing her grip.
Megara's eyes rolled backward. She wished she'd had the forethought to call Hercules herself, but she wanted to handle this situation herself.
"Ss…" she forced through her teeth as her eyes watered. Her makeup would be completely wrecked. Why was that the priority? What was she thinking? Where had her mind gone?
"What was that?" Eteocles loosened his grip so she could breathe. "Were you about to apologize?"
"Sorry, Hercules," she gasped. "I wanted to go out with him, but I'm going to die."
"That's your choice?"
"No! Meggie, get up. We'll figure this out!" Menoikeus redoubled his efforts to push through the line, but they were once again fruitless.
Megara locked eyes with Eteocles. "I'd rather die than marry you. And you will become a kinslayer. You will be hounded by the Furies for the rest of your life."
Eteocles jumped back from her, his hand swinging wildly backward into the air. "You'll not trick me! Wait until you recover, and then–"
A shining golden hand grabbed him around the wrist, clamped down, and squeezed until bones were popping in Eteocles's arm. The king howled in pain, only to be flung aside so Hercules could kneel over Megara.
"Are you okay?" Hercules asked while checking her neck.
Megara wheezed at him in reply, as humiliated as she was that she couldn't say more.
"I've got you," Hercules healed her once again, with hands against her skin. That same aura sank into her skin much easier than before, and once again, she could breathe.
She squeezed her eyes shut, and fresh tears escaped. "I'm sorry, I got all dressed up and then…"
"Shh, this isn't your fault." Hercules lifted her into his arms and waited for her to be settled. Once she was secured, he glared at Eteocles, where he writhed and cried on the ground. "You're lucky I didn't kill you. Someone like you shouldn't be anyone's king, and I, for one, think you should remain celibate until you understand how to treat a lady."
"Thanks for saving our sister, Mighty Hercules," Menoikeus said and dropped to his knees. Haemon and Megarion did the same. "Please, keep her safe. Despite our best efforts, we cannot protect her as well as you can. As her eldest brother, I bequeath her into your care."
Haemon snickered, shaking his head. "Assuming you need our permission, you have mine, too."
"Get her out of here, sir," Megarion said. "We've got a beating to take on her behalf."
"Why so?" Hercules asked.
"Forgive my brother, we Thebans have a particular sense of humor," Menoikeus said.
"He means because if I'm gone, Eteocles will take out his rage on them instead," Megara told Hercules.
"Is that so?" Hercules inclined his head. "So, you are a tyrant, is that it?"
Eteocles, clinging to his flopping hand, scrambled against a wall. "I'm not a tyrant! That little bitch keeps undermining my authority and–"
Hercules's aura flared with a reddish hue. "Excuse me? What did you just call my girlfriend?"
"Girlfriend?" Every member of the House of Cadmus chorused.
"Well… We're going on a date today, so we're… I think we're a couple?" His uncertainty made Megara imagine he hadn't been born as a god into the grandest of all dynasties. He sounded humble as if she could refuse him, and he would accept that refusal.
Why was he so much better than the son of a disgraced hero whose legacy would forever bear the scars of a curse he'd never earned himself?
"You can be my boyfriend if you want…" Was she fluttering her lashes? Malaka! She was the most cliche teenager in the cosmos.
"I do want!" Hercules cleared his throat. "I saved Thebes for Megara. Anyone who raises a hand against her will answer to me. I lifted the curse of Ares, but he's not the only one who can come up with nasty ways to punish people I don't like. Except I'll be much more direct." He smiled at Eteocles's hand. "Tell everyone how he got that way, guys. I'm taking her out for the day, and it'll be up to her if she comes back. Nice meeting you three."
With that, the golden light that surrounded Hercules covered Megara's eyes, as well. When she could see again, he set her down beside a long colonnade of marble columns along a breathtaking coastline.
While Megara got her balance, he pressed a hand to her back.
"Sorry, it took me a while to get back to you. I was distracted trying to find the best spot I could bring you." He brushed his knuckles up and down her back. "You're gorgeous, by the way… Gorgeous and alive… I can't believe that guy…"
"It's like I told you, he thinks he can get whatever he wants if he orders people to give it to him."
"Do you want me to pick a new king for Thebes? I could make it look like my dad's idea; he'll do lots of things if he knows I'd like him to, and it looks like you'll need it."
"You know what? Probably. But right now, I'd rather we just took time to figure out what this thing is between us." She looked up at him. "My first boyfriend is an Olympian."
"Yeah…" he glanced away shyly, and somehow he even blushed. "And… I hope I'm your last one."