The nap was short, but well needed and well appreciated. I woke slowly, enjoying the sheer luxury of being in Eli’s strong arms. I moved my head so I could peek at his face from under my blanket of silky red hair. He smiled at me.

“Why didn’t you wake me?” I asked.

“You were so beautifully curled up, I didn’t have the heart to,” he said.

“What time is it?” I asked him.

“About 8:30 in the evening,” said the man who always knew where the sun was in the sky. I never needed a watch with Eli near me. Carefully, I moved from under his hair and sat up on the side of the bed. I felt energized and renewed and I suddenly knew that I was drawing strength from my followers. Was that the secret to Zeus’s power? Did he use the power from everyone who pledged their allegiance to him? Maybe that is the reason he seemed so tireless throughout eternity. Maybe he had a stronger connection with others than I realized. Or, maybe he was simply much stronger, metaphysically, than the rest of us. Definitely, a subject to discuss with my father.

I stretched, reaching my hands high into the air, and yawned.

“Do you think we could ever duplicate that again?” Eli asked me.

“I think a better question is, do we have to duplicate it, again or was that a one-off?”

“Of course, it could be a one-time event. Regardless, it was... intense. Wonderful.” He paused and then asked me, “Um... did we cause an orgy downstairs?”

“Yes, we did. Everyone in the house found a partner to be with.” I turned toward him. “Eli, it was the sex that did it. The metaphysical sex. Essentially, I made love to everyone at the same time. I felt them with me. I married all of them. I didn’t physically touch any of them, but it was as if they were all in the room with me. No, that’s not exactly right. It was as if they were all you.”

He frowned and then nodded. I felt the stab of jealousy that hit him like a physical blow. Eli enjoyed having just me with him and resented the presence of the others. I felt what he felt, but his face showed nothing and I wondered how long he had been feeling things that I totally missed. I knew I was out of touch with my feelings, but I had never realized that I was so out of touch with him. I suddenly felt like I had to get to know him all over again. Actually, a delightful prospect that didn’t frighten me, at all. I had missed so much of him and regretted it.

After taking a moment to beat down the jealous monster that rose in his chest, he said, “As long as sex, metaphysical sex, with them will always include me, I don’t have a problem with it. Not a real problem. Nothing I can’t handle.” There it was. The tiniest of frowns on his face that I had seen a thousand times, but never knew exactly what he was feeling at that moment. Eli felt jealous and possessive, and he wrestled with that particular demon from the beginning of our relationship. He didn’t like to feel possessive and fought against it. I mentally commended his efforts and mentally berated myself for not fully understanding this all along. I touched the side of his face and gave him that smile that I reserved only for him.

He relaxed inside and that tiny frown vanished. He continued, “I have heard of this before, actually. There were groups on Sonara that were called family partners, but they had a bond that others could almost see. I never understood what it was they had. Athena, it was like an extended family group. A commune. All members worked to benefit all other members. Until now, I never understood why anyone would want to be involved in a partnership like that. And you are correct. It is exactly like being married to all of them.”

“I had no idea,” I said, thinking about the implications of what he was saying. I had difficulty with one spouse and all of a sudden, I had inadvertently wedded myself to ten others. I could picture this one in my mind: Dad, I have a problem that maybe you could help me with. You see, I accidentally married ten people. As if I tripped and fell on them. Or something equally as ridiculous.

The worst part of this is that maybe they didn’t want to be wedded to me. “Eli, I didn’t set out to do that.” That defense sounded lame, even to me. I stood up from the bed and backed away from him as if putting distance between me and all of them would negate the metaphysical contract.

Eli laughed at me. “Athena, my love, I don’t think you did it on purpose. I think you did it quite accidentally.”

“Accidentally? No one can accidentally get married. Not to ten people at once.”

“Apparently, in the metaphysical sense, a person can accidentally marry ten people at once,” he said. “Athena, is it really such a bad thing?”

“Eli, I felt your jealousy. You don’t want this.”

He came off of the bed and approached me. He was naked, his hair hanging wild and free and my IQ dropped about forty points upon seeing him. After six hundred years, he could still grab all of my attention without even trying. He was as beautiful as that statue that guarded the harbor at Rhodes. Michelangelo’s David was not nearly as perfect a male specimen as the man who slowly closed the distance between us. Our flesh touched and I folded myself around him, holding him close to me. “Athena, it is not a matter of whether or not I wanted this family partnership to form. It is what it is. Once done, it is literally until death do us part. We cannot be separated from each other, now. How can that be a bad thing for me? It is, after all, what I have wanted from the start. You and me together. Unbreakable.” The kiss was one of possession and not one that was meant to arouse.

In that case, “So, do the others know what has happened? Will they be as willing to accept this as you are?”

“They cannot escape it.” He stepped away from me so he could see my face.

I asked, “And these groups were called Family Partners?”

“All married and together.”

I nodded as I moved about the room looking for my discarded clothes. “I think I had better talk to Bill before I invite him into our marriage group. He and Hermes had sex, but he may actually prefer women. Bill and Hermes were the two odd men out.”

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“Check with him if you must, but I think you will find that Bill is all right with the situation, and Hermes has hooked up with humans before.”

I turned toward Eli, my bra hanging loose in my hand. “Have I been that out of touch with everything that goes on?”

Eli just smiled and didn’t directly answer my question. “Bill enjoys men who are smaller and more delicate than he is, but he hasn’t engaged in any kind of sexual behavior beyond masturbation for years. He will not solicit teenagers just for his pleasure. Our Bill is highly principled. Hermes is perfect for him. Hermes looks like he is fifteen.”

“Wait a minute, Bill had a girlfriend in college... a very pretty black girl. I saw her in his head.”

“Yes, he did. But, I don’t believe he ever had sex with her.” Eli searched for his own clothes. “Bill is very inexperienced when it comes to sex. He wrapped himself up in his work, becoming a very good detective because he didn’t allow boys or girls to distract him.” He placed his hands on my shoulders and tugged gently until I stepped into his full embrace. “Don’t feel bad, Athena. Your eyes and ears have been opened as a result of our...” he hesitated before saying, “marriage to ten other people.”

I spoke into his chest. “Eli, you and only you are my husband and I love you very much. The others are allies. An adjunct to my power.”

I felt relief he didn’t show. My eyes sought his and I said, “You are very good at hiding what you feel. Those little moments of jealousy, of relief.”

“A tiny moment of jealousy doesn’t mean that I am ready to lock you away in a closet so only I have access to you. It means I have control of the rages that could ensue if I allowed myself to let go. Athena, my love, I have always been extremely emotional and have always had to keep a tight rein on my baser feelings and reactions.”

“Apparently, I have a lot to learn.” And I felt as inept as a child. I have never been a good judge of people because I kept myself so closed off from them. Cold, I have been called. Out of touch, has been said about me and it is very true. When one is out of touch with their own feelings, it is very easy to miss what others are feeling. It is easy to not acknowledge others or maybe a better way to say it is, it is very easy to not empathize with others. I put on my under-things and pulled my jeans over my hips. I put on a shirt that matched my eyes exactly and then went to work, brushing the tangles out of my hair.

When I finished my own hair, I turned to Eli, brush in hand. Brushing his long, long hair was fun for me. It actually didn’t get tangled as easily as shorter hair, so brushing didn’t take very long. I braided the silky strands, making them perfectly even all the way down his back, to his knees.

“Do you know how much I love having you do that?” Eli asked me. “It is almost as good as sex with you.” I knew it to be true. I felt his deep pleasure as he stood still, like the Colossus of Rhodes, while I dealt with his hair. I enjoyed the task but didn’t realize how much he did too until I allowed myself to.

“I do,” I said, quietly. Then, “I am starving. I hope there is some food left from lunch.” I stretched out with feelings, aware that I could touch everyone in the house... all my allies.

Hebe and Demeter were already in the kitchen. “Everyone has been busy. Hermes went to the store and purchased a feast for us and the ladies are cooking,” I said to Eli.

“Then, let’s go.”

The formal dining room table had been set with places for twelve people. We would have to sit close together because there simply wasn’t enough space in the room for a bigger table. Gold flatware outlined each place and crystal goblets were already filled with water. I suddenly felt as if I should have dressed for dinner. But, everyone else still wore the clothes they had on earlier in the day. I knew Hebe was responsible for the table. She didn’t have any particular abilities as a goddess, but she had an incredible flair for decorating.

Without being asked, I proceeded to the head of the table and motioned for Eli to sit beside me on my right. Bill could sit on the other end, he being the host. Ares sat on my left.

Demi, Hebe, Ariadne, and Nike brought plates piled high with food from the kitchen and set them at each place. This meal consisted of broiled fish, asparagus, small red potatoes, and bright orange boiled carrots. The plates were artistically arranged and very appetizing. Again, I sensed Hebe’s influence. Demi and Ariadne poured the wine—a delicate white that in no way overpowered the gentle flavor of the fish.

The conversation was unremarkable during the meal. Each of us followed Zeus’s standing orders that mealtime was not the time to discuss any political or controversial matter. Besides, I suspected that no one really realized the implications of what we did earlier.

When we finished our dessert of fruit compote and cheese, I rose to my feet. “Earlier today, we all experienced something that is quite literally indescribable.” That got their attention. Every eye turned toward me and they waited. I hadn’t really planned a formal speech, so I just started talking. “What occurred happened on a spiritual level. A metaphysical level. In other words, during the course of having sex with Eli, we spilled over to all of you. We have, albeit inadvertently, created a power group. Eli calls it a family partnership that the Titans are familiar with. All of us are blood relations, except for Bill, so being members of a family group is something we have all heard of. Something we are familiar with as a result of being in Zeus’s court.” I paused. I was justifying what I did, what happened. I didn’t have to explain anything to anybody. A thought shot through me. What if Zeus having sexual relations with all those various women was his way of creating or maintaining a power structure?

Jason, Demi’s husband, spoke. “You mean we are somehow joined together?” Demi smiled at him and patted his leg, as if to say, ‘Now, now, dear. It's quite alright.’

I answered his question, anyway. “Yes, we are. It is a bond that is stronger than marriage,” I told him. “It is also something we will explore more deeply when time permits.”

Ariadne asked, “It has to do with sharing power, doesn’t it?”

“Yes,” I said, simply.

I glanced at Aaron who had been silent during all of this. “It would have been nice if you had asked us if this is what we wanted,” he said, with venom pouring from his mouth with every word. He glanced at Nike and then turned his head away from her. I could see problems brewing already. I suppose nothing is perfect. In a way, it was comforting to have the old, angry Aaron back in the fold.

“Well, it wasn’t exactly planned,” I said.

“And that makes it all right?” Aaron rose to his feet and stalked out of the dining room.

Hercules looked very pleased and Hebe smiled.

Bill asked, “So, I am married to you guys?”

Hermes, who sat at Bill’s right hand, said, “Yep.”

Bill shrugged his shoulders, acting almost indifferent. He had been through so many changes recently, I am not surprised at his lack of reaction.

“How much sharing will there be?” Nike asked me.

“I don’t know,” I answered, truthfully.

She glanced toward the door where Aaron leaned a shoulder against the jamb. “You mean we did what we did because of some metaphysical mistake? It wasn’t because...” her voice trailed off.

I addressed her unfinished thought, “Nike, I am sorry that things aren’t different for you.”

I ignored Aaron’s snort of disgust. Aaron, I would deal with later. For now, I looked at Hermes, “Are you ready to start this show? We have to go visit a demon’s lair.”

He smiled and nodded.