Conquest Operation -1-
After finishing her conversation with Aphrodite, Hera sought out Heracles first. Since she had decided to help, she intended to do it thoroughly. It wasn't merely as the goddess of marriage or at the behest of the three goddesses—it stemmed from her own convictions as queen of Olympus.
Zeus, consumed by his lust for power, feared that his son Heracles, now a mighty god, might be the central figure in Gaia's curse. That fear had birthed the marriage scheme with Hebe, and with it shipwrecked, a vital link between Olympus and Heracles was essential, come what may.
"So here you were, Heracles."
"Ah, Lady Hera."
"Young one, I told you to call me Mother."
"......Mother."
"Yes, Heracles. I'm glad to see you like this."
Heracles stood in the corridor linking the banquet hall to the guest palace for visitors. He had apparently abandoned his perfunctory duties at the feast and was hurrying to his beloved wives' side. The night wasn't even that deep yet, but his steps were swift. If Hera hadn't stopped him, the moment might have slipped away.
"I heard the story. You're turning down Aphrodite's advances."
"Oh, word's gotten around already, has it? That's how it is."
"Rumors on Olympus spread like wildfire. Now, I'm pleased if you cherish your wives enough to reject Aphrodite's temptations, but considering your father's position, it leaves me feeling a touch isolated. Mind if I ask why?"
"......Of course."
He phrased it politely, but Heracles' face wasn't exactly beaming. Aphrodite's confession weighed on him, felt awkward and intrusive. And the bizarre situation where yet another wife was playing stork, delivering more wives(?), chafed at him too. Countless male gods would fly into a rage hearing this, but that's how Heracles felt. More precisely, the man dwelling in Heracles' inner self did.
The love of those three beautiful, vibrant goddesses who offered themselves so freely delighted him, yet with each addition, he grew terrified that he couldn't properly reciprocate their affection and devotion. And he still hadn't endorsed Adamantia's bold scheme to rule the world from the island of Sicily.
He might deserve scorn for such a gluttonous, pampered worry, but on this point, Heracles refused to yield.
"I'm curious. Out with it, then."
"Mother, three goddesses already shower me with love. I'm scared that adding even one more wife might make me burst from happiness beyond my station."
"That's your reason?"
"Yes. They're all so strong and beautiful, the goddesses who love me—I feel duty-bound to respond in kind. I managed three through sheer luck, but four? I haven't the confidence."
"You do have a knack for amusing words, Heracles. Afraid you can't return their love."
Hearing this, Hera couldn't help but smile. A man who truly grasped the value of a woman's love was a rare treasure indeed. Rarer still one who knew it wasn't eternal.
Yet to Hera's eyes, Heracles knew the one truth but missed the other two. So she adopted a stern tone and began to chide him.
"First off, valuing women's love and fearing your own limits—that attitude is commendable."
"Yes, thank you, Mother."
"Don't get too pleased; that wasn't praise."
"?"
"Heracles, do you know why goddesses fall in love?"
"......Not really, Mother."
He lacked prior experience with women, so he answered guilelessly. But to Hera, it rang like deception.
There was no grand principle behind a goddess's love. She herself had wandered that path, as had Aphrodite, now awakened to the preciousness of a lifelong partner. For eternally living goddesses, love was a meandering journey to find that eternal companion. Adamantia, Gaia, and Echidna had journeyed long before settling on Heracles as their mate.
For a husband who reciprocated love to remain ignorant of this was a sin. Hera would enlighten him. A goddess who chose a male god as partner deserved his knowing acceptance. For a true mate to overlook it would be an outrage, even in Achaea.
"A goddess's love isn't some fleeting surge of passion, Heracles. That might hold for mortal women, but a goddess's love is different—special."
"......I'm not sure I follow, Mother."
"You don't think the three goddesses' love stems from Eros's arrows and could fade someday, do you?"
"......"
She had struck the mark.
In some hazy, unwitting instant, Heracles had found himself wed to the three. So he strove all the harder to cherish and love them, to cling to their hearts lest they stray. Noble as that was—a true response to love—it also sprang from ignorance of the gulf between mortals and gods, a pitiable folly neither Heracles nor he recognized.
"Listen closely, Heracles. A goddess's love differs from a human's. Even if sparked by Eros's desire, it binds your fate to those three goddesses."
"......"
"Gods can't defy fate—quite the opposite. Gods live in submission to it. If divine love were mere momentary lust, I'd have left Zeus ages ago."
Hera, steadfast beside Achaea's greatest philanderer, Zeus, invoked her own example to underscore fate's weight. Heracles sobered despite himself. Indeed, had she wed Zeus on a whim of passion, the two gods would have parted long ago. But she hadn't.
"Unlike humans, a goddess's love is noble. Your three goddesses' devotion won't waver so long as you remain true to yourself. Your wish to reciprocate is right and good—but never forget this truth."
"I'll keep it in mind, Mother."
"And it holds for Aphrodite too. She's the free-spirited goddess of love and lust, yes, but her affections run deep."
"But Mother, I already have so many wives."
"Your wives said Aphrodite would be fine. That's one less worry for you. And..."
"?"
"I want you to marry Aphrodite, Heracles."
This time, Heracles looked stunned, falling silent. After her lesson on the purity of divine love, what was this? Yet for Olympus's queen, it was vital politics—and something Heracles needed to grasp.
"You might not realize it, but your father Zeus is wary of you, Heracles."
"Father is?"
"Yes. He won't heed me. He already views you as a rival."
"How could he? I fought the Gigases for him."
"Because you've grown too strong. With Gaia, Adamantia, and Echidna at your side, too powerful."
"......"
"Left unchecked, Zeus will suspect and test you endlessly. To stop that, Olympus and Sicily must be bound tight."
Unaccustomed to such political maneuvers, Heracles scowled in distaste, but Hera remained unflappable. Zeus was already power-mad; any pretext, and he'd scheme a war. His sole proposed bulwark against it was this marriage alliance between Olympus and Sicily.
Aphrodite wasn't his blood kin, true, but she was a major god—powerful even on Olympus. With her as bride, not even Zeus could strike rashly. Hera felt a pang over her daughter Hebe's failure, but deemed it for the best and pressed on with Heracles.
"I know full well how dearly you cherish those three goddesses."
"Mother."
"But think on my words. To avert war, you, your family, and Olympus must be inextricably linked. Fail that, and Zeus will ignite it."
"Is it truly that urgent?"
"More than you imagine. All the better that Aphrodite's heart is sincere."
As Olympus's co-ruler, Hera loathed war. It would only swell the sky king's power. With men shunning marriage and family for the battlefield, her domain and prestige would wither like a nightmare. This mattered deeply to her too—a perfect excuse to redo the wedding Hephaestus had botched.
Heracles, no stranger to neither love nor politics despite his feats of strength and wisdom, floundered now. The beautiful goddess Hera enveloped the young god with seasoned cunning. She intended no escape for her fledgling charge.
The moment Heracles Conquest Operation began.