Ch. 80: Hephaestus & The Dove in the Cage (Hermes' POV)
Hephaestus dropped his fourth bottle of vodka, the empty glass thudding against the cold, metal top of the table. His eyes, dark and hollow, drifted to the ceiling, as if there was something up there only he could see. His face, worn and creased from years of anguish, bore the look of a man whose soul had long been crushed under the weight of his own genius. "I didn't tell Talos this, but... I found her on the battlefield. Hundreds of years after Titanomachy, in the chaos. I was the son whose mother wanted to kill."
I was halfway down my own bottle, the burn of the alcohol numbing my insides. "Sounds painful," I muttered, unsure if my words were enough.
