Ultimately Zeus had made a rather secretly informed decree when it came to Persephone. He had been denied access to her by her jealous, overbearing mother, an act of retribution when he'd turned her away in favor of another. He had visited Hades and obtained the truth from his aloof sibling. Or, rather, the version of the truth that seemed most plausible. Where Demeter screamed theft and rape and Persephone played innocent and dumb, Hades had told him plainly; the girl had come of her own free will with him to the Underworld. They had spoken, she had come to like him, and it was she who had plucked and ate the pomegranate's seeds. In the end his decree had been partly to spare her the oppressive nature of her mother, and partly to show his brother that despite being estranged and awkward and distant Zeus did in fact care about his happiness.<br/><br/>For all the good<i>that</i>had done.<br/><br/>"Persephone acts as well as she sings," he said, lifting his wineglass to inspect the liquid within. "She played dumb for her mother as if she'd been cast to play 'dull, innocent maiden' by Sophocles himself. And who could blame her? Demeter never had much regard for Persephone's intelligence." Demeter... if ever Zeus had a regret, it was his involvement with her. Yes, Persephone had been a lovely result of their time, but he hadn't expected Demeter to turn like she had. At first it had been quite nice. He could hardly walk from his throne to his bed without her lurking along the way to surprise him with a gift or a poem or, if she were especially giving that day, her naked body.<br/><br/>For a time it had been pleasant, but fixation had turned into obsession, and obsession into an unhealthy sort of need. She had started to become angry when he left to fight, demanding that he remained on the Mount to let their kin wage the war in his stead. Zeus, young and comparatively awkward and casually cruel, had instead set her aside and taken a new lover to his bed. He recalled when she had discovered it, when she had discovered him naked and satisfied with another woman curled around his body. He remained glad that nobody else had been there at the time, because the fight that had ensued had been on the tier of his grappling with Cronos himself.<br/><br/>He took a sip of wine as his thoughts turned, but at that moment Hera chose to drop a particularly... intimate bomb. He sputtered and nearly choked, spitting wine back into the glass. He had to take his napkin to wipe his lips, and cleared his throat a few times between coughs. Between the sudden and intense heat in his belly and the choking he had to admit that the sound of her laughter was beyond divine. "I see," he finally said, one hand on his chest as he breathed. A smirk spread on his lips as he leaned forward, lacing his fingers together over his plate. "Perhaps once I've reminded you of true warmth, we could discuss these... methods of yours." His eyebrow arched up sharply at the suggestion, and his smirk grew wider. "Oh, I have missed you, my love."