#zeus chapter

Hera art by @xiz0r​

Chapter 110: Portrait of a Queen  A strange thing is happening in Ravenloft, leaving buttons all over the image of its queen.

Zeus stares up at the portrait of Hera, hoping to ease the emptiness inside him. He’d had it painted for her birthday; she’d posed for it months before her disappearance- and she’d not even seen it finished. The canvas is nearly as tall as he is, leaving the viewer waiting for her to reach out a hand for assistance to step off the wall.

Usually, it helps.

Hera’s hair tumbles over her shoulder in the blackest waves, framing a face too beautiful to put into words. Her chin is lifted, bordering somewhere between confidence and reverence, but her eyes are serious. He’d chosen the gown himself, a red velvet so heavy and cool to the touch it had slithered over his hands like water. And though it sat off her shoulders and showed quite a bit of her decolletage, the artist had managed to make it sensual without being vulgar.

And in her hands, a raven spread its wings, ready to take flight.

Chapter 143: Figurehead Zeus doubts his place in Ravenloft.

“You spent how much on whores?”

Zeus grins and flicks a feather off his trousers. “Dunkle, I’m ashamed of you! They’re courtesans . Hera would be appalled.”

Sneering at the hated nickname, the Duke pinches the bridge of his nose. “Zeus, you didn’t even sleep with any of them!”

“Not true!” Zeus argues, sitting up quickly and wagging a finger at his uncle. “We all climbed into bed together and I slept nestled against the bosoms of angels. What I didn’t do is have sex with any of them- why would I do that?”

The Duke glares at him, his sharply angled eyebrows furrowed. “You spent half your yearly allowance to sleep on a pretty girl’s tits for one night ?”