Born to marry

It was a cold night, it was raining and all humans were sheltering in their homes. A cry was heard in the sky and the gods proclaimed the arrival of a new being.

I was a normal young girl until I fell in love with a god, became involved with him and gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. We were both happy to have her but worried about her safety. Zeus had heard about her birth and we knew it wouldn't be long before he showed up.

A week before she was born, he warned us that he was coming to see her and I didn't know what he had in mind for her, but there was no way I was going to let him take her from my arms.

A crash sounded at the door and Zeus appeared in the company of another God. My husband distracted them while I hid her behind some bushes. They approached and congratulated me on the blessing.

-Congratulations Elizabeth, I hope you didn't come at a bad time.

-That's never Zeus, you are always welcome whenever you want.

-Where is the child, can I see her?

-She's asleep at the moment and I wouldn't want to wake her up.

-Let me get this straight, you refuse to show me your little girl?

-Don't you dare touch her, she's my daughter and I won't let you hurt her.

-Who says I want to hurt her, I just want her to meet someone," he said pointing to his companion.

-Who is he?

-Your daughter's future husband.

-You decided about my life, but you won't bring my daughter into your plans.

-Please, show her so I can meet her.

-No, she's just a baby, you can't take her away.

The baby began to cry and they both went to the place where he had hidden her. Her father hurried to take her before they did and politely asked them to leave.

-You've seen her, now go away.

-You are such a disappointment that you don't even deserve to be called God.

-Get out of my house Zeus, now.

-You gave up being a God, your powers and might just to be next to an insignificant mortal.

-Don't you dare speak ill of my wife, tell me what you want, I imagine this is not just a courtesy visit.

-That's no way to talk to your superior, but I'll let it pass and tell you why I'm here. The young man you see beside me is Morpheus and he will be the one to marry your daughter.

Morpheus took the girl from him and watched her as he carried her in his arms. She looked so tender that he couldn't resist smiling.

-What do you think Morpheus, do you like it?

-I want to see how she will look when she grows up," he gave her back to me, "Please, take good care of my wife.

-She will not be your wife, you will not control her life and she will not be a goddess like you.

Zeus asked Morpheus to leave and he obeyed. He looked at us with a cold expression and threatened that if we refused this union, he would punish us brutally.

-I don't care what you do with us, we are not afraid of you and I will not let you do what you want with my daughter.

-You should be flattered, few humans are lucky enough to marry a God.

-Well, my daughter won't be one of them.

-I think your husband has been hiding things from you, do you want to tell him about our deal or shall I tell him?

-What deal?

-My love. Forgive me, I had no choice.

-Forgive you because? What deal is he talking about?

-A god is not allowed to marry a mortal, let alone give her up for her. I was so in love with you that I didn't think about what I was doing and I offered her our first daughter in exchange for her to let me be with you.

-You did what, why didn't you ever tell me that?

-Because I didn't want you to worry, the plan was to steal the child and then erase your memory.

-I don't believe it.

-Stay with her as long as you want, but when that girl turns 18, Morpheus will take her. And don't even think of escaping because I'll find you and pulverize you both.

We nodded and he left. My husband and I argued until we came up with an idea, put it in a basket and left it in a barn. It pained me to have made that decision, but it was the only way the gods wouldn't find her.

After that, we changed our appearance and moved to another town. I didn't care what would happen to us after that, the only thing that mattered was that our daughter was free to choose her mate. I made the mistake of getting involved with a God but I didn't want my daughter to go through the same thing.

We moved to a village far away from the previous one, blended in with the locals and agreed to keep a low profile. But none of that helped because Zeus ended up finding us.

-Running away from me?" he asked, appearing in our new house.

-Zeus...

-I warned you, I warned you and your husband that if you tried to escape I would exterminate you.

-We don't care, kill us if you want.

-Where is the girl?

-She's not with us, but I assure you she's far away from you.

-Tell me where she is.

-Never, you can torture me if you want but I will never tell you.

Zeus destroyed us with his thunderbolts and then everything went dark. We woke up in Hades' kingdom and he welcomed us in a friendly way, showed us around and took us to a place where we could see what the humans were doing.

-She is his daughter," he said, pointing to a girl playing with some sheep.

-Yes, that's her.

-I told you you were worrying in vain, she'll be fine with them.

-I hope you're right.

-You can watch her here as often as you like.

-Thank you, Hades.

The underworld wasn't as bad as humans thought, it was a warm but cozy place and I was sure it wouldn't take long to get used to it.

-I'm sorry for what my brother did to you. He goes berserk when they contradict him.

-We've figured it out.

-But let's not talk about the past anymore and please make yourselves at home here.

-Thank you, Hades.