No sooner had she finished than she changed tack, looking at Zeus with a half-smile: "Speaking of which, don't tell me you can't see Eurynome's feelings for you."
"She spends every day distracted by thoughts of you. When do you plan to take in my poor sister as well?"
Zeus hurriedly shook his head. "My dear Metis, there's really nothing between me and Eurynome."
"At least not yet," the amorous God-King added silently in his heart.
Metis snorted lightly and said no more.
After Zeus's shocking divine gesture just now, she truly could see things more clearly.
That scene had frightened her, and pained her beyond words.
But it also let her feel an unprecedented happiness at being cherished.
Her lover was, after all, the God-King—yet he could do that much for her. What more could she demand?
She dropped the matter of Eurynome and turned to something else: "Dione—my new sister—our Father and Mother have sent word and told me everything."
Her gaze turned utterly serious; in the poise of a lawful wife she continued, "Since she already has a child with you, it's not fitting for her to remain alone in the ocean's depths."
"A goddess, once wed to a god, ought to follow at her husband's side."
"I'll invite her to come to Olympus. The child ought to grow up healthy atop the peak of all gods."
Zeus pondered a moment, then gently nodded.
He hugged Metis even tighter, saying in a voice full of emotion, "My dearest love, thank you for your magnanimity. It was my fault to let you suffer such grievance."
Metis lifted a jade-white hand and once more pressed her slender fingers to Zeus's lips.
She gazed at him, her Ocean-daughter eyes—those that seemed never to run dry—stirring with waves again.
"My love, please don't say such things anymore. I love you, so I will accept all of you. Rather than have you unhappy because you feel torn, I would rather bear this trifling pain myself."
"Zeus, Zeus… you are my lord, my king, my father. So long as you are happy, I will be happy. My mood will always change only with you."
Zeus could say no more; he only held Metis tightly, unwilling to let go.
Metis slowly closed her lovely eyes, quietly savoring her lover's strong, warm embrace—while in her heart, she had already quietly changed tactics!
Since she could not change her beloved God-King's amorous nature, she would accept it proactively!
She would create for herself the most advantageous, unshakable position!
She would never be like certain goddesses, wallowing in self-pity and throwing tantrums all day.
Carry on like that and, in the end, there would be no good outcome—she would only push the god who loved her into the arms of those scheming little hussies!
The goddess of wisdom knew very well that a goddess's most powerful weapons are always her intellect and gentleness.
Even the God-King cannot resist those.
Being the only one isn't necessary—but being the greatest is. She herself must be first!
At last the wise goddess asked Zeus not to worry about such "trifles" anymore, and to leave everything to her. Zeus gladly agreed.
After all, Dione was his own; even if there were a few small frictions between her and Metis, it didn't matter.
Moreover, Dione was also a daughter of Ocean—a "sister" to Metis.
Given Metis's temperament, he believed she was unlikely to do anything unseemly.
The matter of Metis was, for the moment, resolved.
After his beloved goddess of wisdom left, Zeus began to consider seriously how to soothe the enraged Lady of Night.
By now he knew exactly how vile a thing Mnemosyne had done.
It gave him a splitting headache.
Don't be fooled by how coquettish and compliant Nyx was before him—
She is absolutely not a goddess to be bullied or placated easily!
Remember, the ends of the two previous God-Kings were directly tied to her!
This Lady of Night is no broad-minded goddess; she too is a primordial sovereign who repays every slight.
Mnemosyne's provocation this time was a great humiliation to her.
Add in the jealousy that had already overflowed, and the fierce envy among goddesses—she was certainly going to make a scene!
But Zeus didn't have long to brood. Right after Metis left, he sensed—it had already broken out on Olympus!
Nyx, who had been staring unblinkingly at Olympus, wanted to strike the instant she saw the thick fog shrouding the wilds dissolve.
But sensing that Zeus was with Mnemosyne at the time, she grudgingly held back her fury.
Until she saw Zeus separate from the Omniscient Goddess and their children—then the Lady of Night, wearing a cold and violent smile, flew straight up Mount Olympus!
And just as Zeus was meeting with Metis, Nyx had already found her target—Mnemosyne!
Boundless, oppressive, pure night spread like a great black velvet curtain, swiftly veiling the entire peak where Mnemosyne's palace stood.
From that pure night seeped a hair-raising aura of danger that sent the newborn Muses scurrying into their mother's arms in fright.
In such absolute darkness, they could see nothing, sense nothing; it was as if existence itself had been stripped away.
But such a trick might frighten young children—it could not frighten the all-knowing goddess who had seen through all things long ago.
She only soothed her children in a gentle voice, and toward the encroaching, hostile night she displayed an almost contemptuous indifference.
It was precisely this indifference that further enraged the Lady of Night.
Clad in a splendid black starlight gauze, her flawless, regal face was now all killing cold; in those eyes that should have been deep and tranquil burned a blazing fury.
Her figure appeared before Mnemosyne without a sound.
With the last shreds of her reason, the Night Goddess suppressed the urge to strike and instead, in a voice severe and dripping with hatred, rebuked, "Mnemosyne! You vile god! Shameless!"
"What did you show me? What are you trying to do?!"
Nyx's voice trembled with rage. "You vile and shameless god! How dare you seduce Zeus!"
"You! You! You!"
"With such shameless conduct, how are you worthy to receive the God-King's love!"
Mnemosyne only let out a cold laugh and said loftily, "What? Do you mean to bully Zeus's daughters?"
"Make way and let my children go first."
Nyx's fury nearly broke loose in that instant, but she was, after all, a great Mother-Goddess and knew the gravity of the matter.
With extreme reluctance she snapped a cold humph, and the clotted darkness opened a narrow seam.
The Muses, frightened and uneasy and worried for their mother, still obediently returned to their palaces when they heard her instruction.
Some nymphs and elemental sprites who served Mnemosyne seized the chance and slipped away quickly with their young mistresses.
They dared not meddle in the quarrel of these two great goddesses—doing so meant death. Not to mention meddling—lag behind, and you might die.
When only the two of them remained in the hall, Mnemosyne let out another cold laugh and said with great disdain, "Nyx, what gives you the right to pass judgment on me here?"
"You're two generations older than great Zeus! And you're nothing but a paltry Night goddess!"
"How shameless—to cling to Zeus like a little girl!"
"I pay you some respect and call you Lady of Night, but if I didn't—what would you amount to?!"
The all-knowing goddess's barbs came one after the other without pause: "I am Zeus's fated wife, his destined, eternal, inseparable beloved!"
"My children—you saw them—are the crystallization of my love with the great Zeus!"
"Hmph. Don't think that because you used base tricks to entice Zeus, you've become indispensable to this world!"
"Zeus is softhearted and gentle, but that is not your license to do as you please!"
Mnemosyne snorted again, slicing at Nyx's dignity with the knife of words. "Don't think to grab more than your share. You have already received unprecedented honor, and yet you still want to hoard Zeus?"
"You should stay honestly in your shadowy depths! When the great Zeus deigns to visit your realm and favor you, that is already your supreme glory!"
"I let you see that memory as my gift—to make you understand clearly that the goddesses Zeus loves most will always be here on Mount Olympus!"
"Don't entertain unrealistic fantasies. Do you truly wish to keep Zeus in your sunless, desolate solitude? How overreaching! Mind your station!"
"Zeus is the highest sky, and you are the lowest Underworld; Zeus is the most radiant Lord of Thunder, and you—heh—are nothing but the dark night!"
"Seems my 'lesson' didn't get through."
"You actually dared come to Olympus, break into my palace, and question me to my face? How bold! What a greedy 'Night'!"
(End of Chapter)
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