A god's favor

Hera's gaze was far too open. Thinking again of the memories in her mind that refused to fit together, Li Jia lowered her voice. "You mean... last night, we didn't..."

Hera coughed lightly twice. "You were drugged with the merfolk's secret potion, siren extract, yesterday. Without relief, you would have died. To save you, I had no choice but to resort to this."

"It was my fault. I took liberties with you."

Looking at Hera's pale, wrinkled fingertips, Li Jia grew embarrassed instead. How could she have judged someone so honorable by her own petty suspicions?

Her tangled feelings eased at once, and she feigned nonchalance. "You only did it to save me, Your Majesty. I won't tell anyone. I owe you a debt, and I'll take this secret to my grave."

Li Jia knew she had taken liberties with a god. Though there had been no actual penetration, word of such intimacy with a slave as lowly and filthy as herself would surely invite ridicule.

Heaven knew, earth knew, and the two of them knew. If Hera said nothing, Li Jia would never breathe a word.

From ancient times to the present, from the West to the East, a woman's chastity was invariably considered of utmost importance. A woman with multiple past relationships would be branded a slut, a public ride.

Men, however, were not. People would only say that a reformed rake was worth more than gold. They had not even coined a term equivalent to "slut."

After marrying Hera, Zeus had countless fleeting affairs and illegitimate children, yet at most people called him "charming and debonair" or "a lucky man."

Hera, meanwhile, was saddled with the blame as the most jealous of wives, judged intolerant of others and incapable of keeping her own man in line.

Li Jia had never wanted her subjected to malice.

"I'll pretend it never happened. Don't let it weigh on you either, Your Majesty." Li Jia avoided her deep gaze, her voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz. "I won't make you take responsibility. We didn't really do anything substantive anyway."

"Pretend it never happened?"

Hera's smile abruptly vanished. She rose and stepped closer, her shadow falling over Li Jia. "Li Jia, do you know what you're saying?"

The pad of her finger brushed the red marks on Li Jia's collarbone, then traced the tooth marks on her arm as she said self-mockingly, "What about these? These marks? Can you just wipe them away too, and pretend they never happened?"

Held fast by Hera's hands, Li Jia pressed her back against the cold wooden headboard and said in panic, "Your Majesty! This was an accident to begin with. It was the siren extract tempting us, not something we chose..."

Hera's tone cooled. "Last night, you were the one clinging to me, saying you couldn't bear it. Now that you've had your relief, you're also the one trying to wash your hands of it?"

"How could you have it both ways?"

"I told you, it was all an accident..."

Li Jia's defense was unconvincing, her reasoning forced. "We're both adults. Besides, we didn't go all the way..."

"Your Majesty, please let me off."

The girl was all but begging.

"So you don't have to take responsibility?"

Hera interrupted her, anger churning in her eyes such as Li Jia had never seen before. "Li Jia, I regret it."

"What?"

Hera stared into her evasive eyes, her voice low and taut. "I should have taken you outright. In your eyes, does the night I spent with you deserve nothing more than to be treated as though it 'never happened'?"

Hera suddenly tightened her grip on both her wrists, pulling her close enough for them to feel each other's breath.

"An accident?"

She suddenly gave a low laugh, her fingertips stroking the lingering tooth marks on Li Jia's neck.

Siren extract could only amplify desire, not create a longing that was never there.

"It was my name you called last night. I counted."

"Twelve times."

"Whenever I pulled out, you called my name and begged me not to stop."

Li Jia's pupils abruptly contracted, and the tips of her ears burned scarlet.

Those chaotic fragments of memory surged over her like a tide. In her delirium, she had clutched the woman's hair, repeating that name over and over, as though it were the only driftwood she could grasp in a vast ocean.

Now that Hera had laid it all bare, Li Jia's shame, indignation, and helplessness wound around her throat like vines, leaving her unable to speak.

"That... that was only because of the siren extract..." Li Jia bit her lip and argued, not daring to look directly at the dark currents surging in Hera's eyes.

Yet Hera suddenly caught her chin, forcing her to lift her head and meet her gaze. "But when you're clearheaded, you've never called me by my name."

Li Jia's breath caught.

It was true. When clearheaded, she always addressed her respectfully as "Your Majesty," never daring to overstep in the slightest.

Yet last night, those uncontrolled cries seemed to have torn open the most secret fissure in her heart.

Hera's fingers slowly moved downward, caressing her cheek, collarbone, arms, lower abdomen, calves, and fingertips. Those overlapping kiss marks set the imagination running.

"Every one of these marks bears my name. Did you think a single word, 'accident,' could erase them all?"

"I..."

Li Jia wanted to explain, but her voice caught in her throat. She could only watch the anger gradually fade from Hera's eyes, replaced by a deeper gloom.

Those hands still held her chin. Their grip was not hard, yet it left her no escape.

"Li Jia."

Hera lowered her voice, a trace of huskiness in it that Li Jia had never heard before. "Did you think I saved you only because you're my acolyte?"

Those words made Li Jia freeze. She had always thought that, as a supreme god, Hera's care for her was nothing more than pity for an acolyte, protection for a subordinate.

But now her gaze was too bright, so bright that Li Jia dared not dwell on the meaning of the feelings behind it.

"No one can compel me, unless that person is you."

Hera's fingers released her chin, only for her arm to curl around her waist instead, pinning her more tightly against the headboard.

"But I'm only an acolyte, Your Majesty. You are a supreme god. How could you be with me..."

Li Jia's tears fell freely, rolling onto the back of Hera's hand.

"Li Jia."

Hera called her name.

She said, "Do you remember? You were the one who said you loved me first."

"Now."

She leaned down, her fingertips gently wiping the tears from Li Jia's cheeks. The next moment, words powerful enough to shatter all her unease fell clearly beside her ear:

"Your god has fallen in love with you."

At those words, Li Jia froze slightly, but no longer from shame, indignation, or helplessness. Her heart raced like a pounding drum, disbelief flickering in her eyes.

She raised a hand and gripped Hera's wrist, her voice thick with tears, yet much firmer than before. "But Your Majesty... this goes against propriety."

"Propriety?"

A hint of teasing entered Hera's voice. Her fingertips slowly moved downward, lightly touching Li Jia's trembling lips.

"From the moment you told me you loved me, I broke every rule with my own hands."

Li Jia's pupils widened slightly. She gazed at her own reflection in Hera's eyes. That humble acolyte was now actually beside a god, sharing the same light and shadow.

Well, all right then. Li Jia was a little tired from crying. She had suddenly been promoted from subordinate to the boss's wife.

"Then can I call you by your name from now on?"

Looking at her reddened eyes, Hera immediately smiled and lightly tapped the tip of her nose. "More than that."

She gathered Li Jia into her arms, resting her chin on the crown of her head, her voice so tender one could drown in it. "From now on, I'll show you that calling my name has never been wrong."

"Form a bond with me."