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Rhea sat barefooted amongst her lions, holding a hand to her swelling stomach.
When her sisters had spoken of their own pregnancies, their gossip and whispers making Rhea jealous, they had oft spoken of the pains and aches that came with a young immortal growing inside them. Listening to them was one thing, but experiencing it for herself quite another. Still, despite her mortal form aching in her back, her feet and every place in between, Rhea had never felt so great as she did now.
The Titans had been whispering behind her back about her lack of a child after so long – Rhea, the goddess of motherhood, not yet having a child was a tragedy, her sisters would whisper to their nieces and nephews – and they had continued right up until Kronos had gleefully announced Rhea’s pregnancy and had a great feast thrown in her honour within the grand dining hall of Othrys. He himself had been outraged on Rhea’s behalf upon hearing of the foul whispers and rumours that suggested Rhea was incapable of conceiving a child. Rhea had had to calm him before he started hunting down the source of the rumours.
Rhea shut her eyes, basking in the sun that warmed the plains her lion prides so loved. It heated her flesh, sinking into her true form hidden beneath and soothed her. Rhea had grown used to living within Othrys, the dark fortress that it was, but she would always hold a special place in her heart for the wild, untamed plains of her youth.
The sun was beginning to edge beneath the horizon, she had been there for many hours when Rhea finally stirred. With some effort, she managed to rise to her feet and dusted off her hands. Her swelling belly was beginning to limit her mobility, so Rhea was taking the opportunities she had now to spend time in the wild for it was soon to become far more difficult for her to do so. Her chiton was dirtied from having been seated in the dust, but that wasn’t something that Rhea cared for. Many of those creatures in Othrys have witnessed her returning with mud or dirt tracked up her from the brief moments she could glean out in the wild. This would just be any other day for them.
Rhea said her goodbyes to her pride, along with her promises to see them again soon. She reformed on the threshold of Othrys, the great black doors flung wide open and exposing the main thoroughfare of Othrys beyond. Rhea had thought to herself before that it looked awfully alike to a throat of a giant creature, just waiting to snap shut and entomb them all within its depths. But Rhea could admit that the cyclopes and their other monstrous siblings had outdone themselves with their construction of the great fortress.
The goddess threaded her way through the inhabitants of Othrys on her way to the throne room, assuming that her husband would still be there. He’d been squabbling with Koios and Iapetus when Rhea had left and such quarrels usually led to him brooding atop his throne when they were finished. Rhea kept her chin lifted and her head high as she walked, beings scattering from her path. Like the rest of her kin she stood at over a dozen feet, towering above most over beings. She didn’t even need her crown – everyone moved aside for their Queen with or without it. Rhea, like the rest of her siblings, was born from the Earth and the Sky; she’d been deserving of respect even before she married her husband and Gaea had placed a crown upon her brow, naming her Queen of all.
Oceanus tended to disagree with Kronos’ claiming of the known world. He’d promptly announced that the seas made up an entirely different kingdom that Kronos had no right to rule over and seceded. The argument between Kronos and Oceanus over that had been close to starting a war.
The great doors to the throne room, brilliant and gold and looming high over even Rhea’s head, opened at her approach and released a rush of freezing wind over the corridor. The long hall beyond was of course designed for those visiting to have time to reconsider the likelihood of them leaving the throne room alive.
Rhea raised an eyebrow when she spotted the three figures at the far end of the throne room. Koios and Iapetus were still there, many hours after they had first arrived. Her brother of the North, the cunning and callous Koios, glanced briefly to her with his icy eyes and near-white hair speckled with frost as Rhea approached and just as soon dismissed her and returned to speaking. His voice rumbled and rose through the throne room with a thread of annoyance and frustration, the breaths of the three Titans misting in the freezing temperature that always followed Koios. None of her brothers seemed concerned with the low temperature. Iapetus of the East was rather more welcoming to Rhea’s arrival, directing a faint smile and a nod in her direction. His silver eyes gleamed with a brilliant light, betraying his amusement at the conversation being shared between Kronos and Koios. No doubt Rhea’s husband was being as difficult and stubborn as ever.
It wasn’t often that Koios trekked over to Othrys, oft preferring to linger in his own kingdom to the North; but Kronos had summoned him to discuss diplomacy efforts with Oceanus’ sea kingdom, and so he answered. Koios’ far-sight and his intellect were always useful for diplomacy.
Kronos himself was sat on his throne. Sitting there with his elbow leaning on the arm rest and propping up his chin, a ripple of frustration creasing his brow in response to Koios’ lecture. When his gaze landed on Rhea upon her entrance his eyes of ochre immediately brightened and he raised his head, looking utterly delighted to see her. Koios’ voice rose, causing Rhea’s lips to twitch slightly as it instantly became clear that Kronos was no longer listening to his brother – if he had even been listening in the first place.
Kronos waved a dismissive hand at Koios, cutting him off much to their elder brother’s disgust as Kronos catapulted himself out of his throne. Rhea’s husband swept over to her with his brilliant, crooked smile and gathered her close as soon as she was within reach, mindful of her swelling stomach. Koios grunted, looking displeased at the interruption, but Iapetus only seemed faintly amused as Rhea pulled him into her own embrace and pressed her lips to his. It was a kiss of hunger and desperation, one which stoked a fire in her belly. “I was beginning to worry about where you’d disappeared off to,” Kronos murmured to her when he finally pulled away, their foreheads now resting against each other’s.
Rhea’s lips twitched. “Worried I would run away and go to live with my pride again?” She asked in amusement, her tone teasing and light.
Kronos looked vaguely disturbed at the prospect, a faint frown creasing his forehead where it settled against hers as he paused briefly. “You would hate it,” he said, his voice low.
“Oh? Would I?” Rhea questioned with a smile tugging at her lips.
“Yes. No one to wait on you hand and foot at your every whim, not to mention the distinct lack of beds out there in the wild.”
“We’re immortal, love,” Rhea said. “We don’t need sleep.”
Kronos smiled wolfishly, akin to those creatures that intrigued him so. “That’s not the only use for beds,” he whispered, gently pressing a hand against her belly and making it exceptionally clear what he was referring to.
“This little one was conceived outside the fortress, and most certainly not on a bed,” Rhea reminded Kronos with a quiet laugh.
Koios cleared his throat, the sound piercing between the two like an arrow from Lelantos’ bow. Kronos’ expression twisted in annoyance as his brother spoke from behind him. “I would hate to get between our mighty King whom is attempting to shirk his responsibilities and his pregnant wife, but we were in the middle of discussing important matters of diplomacy with the sea when you interrupted, Rhea. I would rather like to finish our discussion.” Iapetus, on the other hand, only looked extremely amused with the two of them.
Indignant rage crossed Kronos’ gaze and he sharply twisted to glower at Koios. “She is Queen and you will address her as-”
Rhea noticed Koios’ eyebrows beginning to rise and the look of annoyance intensify. She quickly pulled Kronos’ attention back to her with a lingering kiss to his cheek. As she’d expected, he turned his head so their lips were pressed together again and instantly deepened the kiss, cupping her head tenderly between his palms. As usual, it effectively shut him up. The last thing Rhea wanted now was for Kronos to cause a second ongoing diplomatic crisis because he insulted Koios, one of their more sensitive siblings where it came to insults against his person.
Kronos blinked at her, his lips twitching slightly. “You are dismissed, brothers,” he said, his eyes on Rhea still, arms now wrapped around her waist and holding her close.
Koios bristled. “We were in the middle of-”
Rhea felt Kronos tense slightly, his eyebrows drawing together in a frown and a stormy look brewing in his eyes. “My wife clearly desires my attention, Koios. Dismissed, brother.”
Iapetus rolled his eyes and pushed Koios in the direction of one of the side exits, much to their prickly brother’s frustration. “I, for one, am not eager to be present and watch if they decide to have sex,” Iapetus said to Koios. “Are you?”
Koios eyed the two of them before scowling. “This needs to be discussed, Kronos-”
“Later,” Kronos firmly said, lips twitching into a wry smile as he listened to Iapetus trying to herd Koios out of the throne room. He pressed his lips against Rhea’s ear, his voice low. “He has been going on for hours – you have just saved me from a few more of immense boredom.”
“It may be wise to listen to him,” Rhea pointed out in faint amusement.
“Says the one whom interrupted us,” Kronos said, his twitching lips forming a full-blown grin as he held her even closer. He had a point there, Rhea conceded. But Kronos recoiled suddenly, jerking in faint surprise, an odd look crossing his face. One hand shifted to Rhea’s swollen belly, cradling her tenderly. “Did it just kick me?”
“She,” Rhea stressed. Kronos snorted in amusement. He was just being obtuse. Rhea knew it was a girl; Kronos knew it too and he was only being difficult intentionally when he doubted her. Both of them knew full well that Rhea would instinctively know the gender of their baby. “And yes. She did. She likes you,” Rhea added. “She’s only ever this active around you.”
A boyish grin split Kronos’ face. “Ah, I see. Is that why you insist on spending so much time in the wild?” He looked pointedly to her muddied chiton, but only seemed amused. He’d long since made peace with Rhea’s tendency to return from her outings splattered with mud. In truth, he’d done much the same in his youth too before he struck down their sire.
“Do not be jealous,” Rhea lightly scolded. “Mayhap if you were to spend some more time outside these walls, that would be one way to escape all those dreadful meetings you dislike so much.”
“Is that an offer to sit the throne and hold court for every little issue our brethren can think of?”
Rhea paused briefly. “Of course not,” she said, her lips twitching. “We can both run away together.”
Kronos frowned briefly, though amusement gleamed in his eyes. “Alas, one of us must remain so that our ingrate brothers do not perceive any treasonous ideas with us both away.”
“Alas, indeed,” the Titan Queen hummed lowly in agreement, smiling softly as Kronos took her hands in his and brushed his lips over her knuckles before pulling her close again, entirely uncaring of the mud still staining her chiton. The warmth of his true form beneath his flesh seeped against Rhea’s own as he moved, Rhea raising an eyebrow at him. He only smiled back at her, their hands intertwining. “For a short while, then,” she relented.
Their daughter would be born in a matter of months and Rhea knew that finally, then they would have a child to raise and to protect, a heir to Kronos’ throne – if their brothers didn’t protest. But for now, Rhea smiled and laughed as Kronos pulled her into a dance with his own shining grin, watched over by his black throne and the darkened walls of Othrys.