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Excerpt
For long
periods of time he worked over a roaring fire.
There were certain limitations in what he did, and because he
didn’t like being uncomfortable while there in the forge, he chose to
wear only a heavy leather apron to protect his flesh from flying sparks
and out of control flames. Sweat
covering his bare body became both his nemesis and a lure.
The down side was the slickness made it difficult to hold onto
whatever he was working on. On
the other side, the physical labor his work required had made his body
well-muscled.
In the
beginning of their relationship, he often caught his wife watching him
work with lust in her gaze. These
incidents had usually led to wild sex games they both enjoyed.
Now, she only stopped by the forge not to admire his fit physique,
but to apologize for fucking another man.
It was
all so infuriating. Why did
she do this to him? Didn’t
she find him appealing anymore? It
certainly seemed as if she liked him well enough whenever they were
together, although that wasn’t nearly as often as he’d like.
Up until now, he hadn’t thought about being unhappy in his
marriage. Despite his
misshapen leg that caused others to cringe, she’d married him, and
freely came to his bed where there was always pleasure for them both.
Surely these weren’t the actions of someone who didn’t enjoy
what they had together.
With one
last hit, he’d finished making the thunderbolt shape, and plunged it
into a vat of cold water. Steam
and a sizzling hiss filled the air around him.
This final step would set its unique character before he added the
fire element. Later it would
be up to his three assistants to insert the thunder, lightning, and
intensity, bringing them together in each piece of metal, becoming a
perfect thunderbolt for Zeus to throw.
Hephaestus
saw nothing wrong with being a calm, good natured, type of person.
Anger didn’t get him anywhere.
Besides, he was too big and powerful to allow rage to rule his
emotions. Someone with his
strength could easily hurt another, permanently.
While he made things that killed and maimed, he wouldn’t do it
personally.
Since
his difficult childhood, he focused on keeping his emotions in check.
Up until now, it had been easy for him to do.
Without any warning, the grip he had on his more volatile feelings
started to loosen. He grabbed
his stick, used it to knock a stool out of his way, and started pacing the
workshop. Circling pits full
of roaring fires and lengths of various raw materials, he knew they were
ready to be changed into something useful, except his mind was firmly
settled on his wife, Aphrodite.
This was
the last straw in their relationship.
No longer would he stand by while she played these games.
Not with him. He was
tired of them and how they made him feel, useless and lacking in the sex
department. From the first
incident between her and a mortal man of all things, having sex by some
river, he’d put up with her extramarital activities.
Well, no
longer.
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