Chapter 79

                                    

                                          
HERMES
Three years later
He was starting to get annoyed.
Hermes thought he'd be used to it already, but waiting for his friends to come back home had only grown more tedious and begun to feel more like a chore rather than something out of kindness.
He could text Warren and ask what he was up to at the moment, but he gathered that he might be deemed a clingy boyfriend if he asked him that same question for the fourth time today. So, he decided not to and tossed his phone away before the urge to do so could creep up on him once more.
"You slob." The god murmured to Cerberus, currently feasting on the turkey he'd prepared for the dinner that took weeks to plan. Initially, it was big enough to serve everyone, but apparently the four people that had said they would come couldn't even uphold the simplest of promises. 
Well, three confirmed and the other one... he didn't know.
Cerberus, as if he understood the god's insult, tore out a chunk out of the baked poultry and threw the leftovers at Hermes' feet. He scowled at it before kicking it away to the fireplace, letting the fire consume it instead.
He could've sworn the dog growled at him as it stood and walked out of the castle's drawing room.
"Yeah, yeah. You're welcome for the food, you asshole." For his sake, Hermes tried not to think of how Cerberus was just as rude and cruel as his owner. He had been trying to win over the dog's loyalty and respect for decades, but it occurred to him that it was a game he was not patient enough to play any longer. 
That was until Cerberus met Veronica and he suddenly turned into a regular golden retriever, smiling and begging for pets all the time with puppy dog eyes reserved only for her. It annoyed him at first, but he soon came to realize just how important it was to his friend when Lore disappeared. 
Disappeared because he wasn't dead. He refused to accept it, even three years later. Hermes has convinced himself that as his body was no longer here, his soul was someplace else. Somewhere it could find its way back to where they would be, waiting for him.
Even when he watched his friend's corpse turn to dust before him and the mark he left on his wife fade away, he refused to believe he was dead.
So, for the past three years since his best friend's disappearance, Cerberus has devoted his loyalty for Veronica and her only. Not even the promise of a thousand belly rubs and meat jerky could convince the mutt to leave the goddess' side unless she herself takes the leave, which was almost everyday if she wasn't attending to the people of the Underworld as their Queen.
He could still remember it clear as day: the Midas unit he watched form and break apart in a matter of months all gathered in Tarrin's office a week after the war, silently grieving over their fallen superior and their friend who had sacrificed himself for the woman he loved.
"Who are you." Warren had asked that day to the man that stood behind Tarrin's desk. It infuriated him, Hermes knew. His boyfriend's boss may not have been the best or kindest, but he respected him to an extent that made the god himself admire Tarrin for. There were big shoes to fill, and the man before them was certainly not enough to even fill a quarter of it.
"I know this is difficult for all of you, but I assure you that I am not here to replace him." The man's voice had quivered when Taylor shot a look at him. It was a smart decision, Hermes thought, to not mention Tarrin's name in a room full of beings powerful and angry enough to tear anyone that dared to stomp all over the integrity of their late friend.