Dionysus (Greek God Romance Book 1) by Alicia Wolfe Read Free Book Online

a god, a brand and had created vanity long ago.
    Rebecca and Dionysus waited at the bar until dawn, then strolled together down Zeus Boulevard to get to Heph’s Shop of Wonders.
    Hephaestus did not care for his nickname, which meant that everyone insisted on calling him that.
    Dionysus said, “Uuuh.”
    “What?”
    “The sun. It’s too much.” He blocked it with his hand.
    “You, all right?”
    “I am a god. I am sublime.”
    “Ha!”
    “What?”
    “If that’s what sublime looks like, I’ll pass.”
    He swiftly changed the subject, looking back to see if any of the “monsters” heard her comment. “What’s the world up to?”
    “You don’t know?”
    He shrugged. “I am at a part of my life where I live in hibernation, most of us. . . actually. The world isn’t young anymore. We aren’t needed. People have found other things to pay tribute to.”
    “You don’t seem like the kind of. . . god, if you will, that needs people to pay tribute to.”
    “I don’t. I can’t imagine what the world would do to us if we came out of the closet, asking for this and that.”
    “You’re afraid?”
    He frowned. “Who isn’t?”
    “Apollo left a book behind the counter. Greek mythology. He had it opened to you. It said you were torn to bits.”
    “I was.”
    “That’s got to leave a mark.”
    He looked up. “It has. But the aggression is gone. Apollo could learn a thing or two.”
    Rebecca looked over at him and smiled. “It was left there to provoke you.”
    “Certainly. Also I think he finds it irritating you don’t know much about our lore and wants you to read it without saying so. If he said something about it, then he would relinquish power to you.”
    “That’s not convoluted and crazy.”
    He snorted. “Most of us are.”
    Rebecca gestured around. “How did this happen?” Olympus looked much like one would envision Olympus to be. There were temples and massive columns with gorgeous marble statues and engravings running along the sides of the homes. They were colossal, each a mansion in their own right. Each god or goddess had a respective color that their homes would be: a sky blue for Zeus, a deep blue for Poseidon, red for Ares and so forth. They also had engravings around the top of their homes that correlated to specific battles. Battles that were never reported such as the story of how Typhoeus came to be, around Poseidon’s home. Rebecca could appreciate the craftsmanship but had no idea what any of it represented. She would later see the town from above and notice in detail the many statues that capped each roof, which was not visible from below because of the size of everything.
    The trees outside the residences and temples were perfectly manicured and lined the sidewalks in rows. The sidewalks themselves were marble and sparkled.
    “Too many people.”
    “Eh?”
    “You ever lie to someone?”
    “Of course.”
    He grinned. “So human.”
    “Gods don’t lie?”
    “The ones that are supposed to.”
    “If I ask a pointed question, you have to answer honestly?”
    He nodded.
    “But not entirely?”
    “Now you get it.”
    She scoffed. “How is that different?”
    He ignored the question and continued, “How many people do you think you can lie to and keep in the dark?”
    She thought this over then said, “I don’t know. . . couldn’t be more than a handful. It would get out eventually.”
    “Now try a civilization.”
    “The jig was up.”
    “Huh?”
    “Expression.”
    “Ah. . . Those are fun. You should teach me some.”
    She smiled. “I will.”
    He continued, “Humans kind of spawned out of control.”
    “I’ll say.”
    He laughed heartedly. “It’s a new age, this one where many do not want kids. But for centuries and millennia before that, people bred like rabbits. Five kids here. Ten there. And it almost seemed as if they did not care that they were worth less than the soil they stood upon. Zeus started it all. . . guess we are to