He could feel the burn now on his arms and back from her nails, but relished it. He loved the memories it brought back, of younger passion and nights that had been spent entirely on the pursuit of more hedonistic bliss. He slipped away to lay more next to her, his leg curled up across her hips as his arm draped over her middle. He kissed softly and slowly along her jaw, though mention of her as a virgin made him smile. After a moment he even chuckled at the notion, low and warm in his chest. "Virgin goddess, indeed. It never failed to amuse me how mortals would put such value on something as arbitrary as whether or not one of us had made love before. Even now, mortal society tries to flaunt it as some symbol of purity. Spend an hour in cups and jest with Artemis or Athena, and see how 'pure' those virgins are."<br/><br/>Of his own need, he remained mute. He had needed it, too, more than he could imagine, but the entire point of this effort was that it wasn't about him. He fell quiet, listening to the rainfall as he began to work through what he realized were deeply complicated and conflicting feelings. On one hand he needed a woman's touch, had needed it desperately for years now, and that it had been with Hera was more of a blessing than he could imagine. On the other, he was reluctant to admit that it had been a realization of his own need rather than an indulgence to her own. His fingers moved on her skin, tracing lines across her belly. The lines glowed brief and blue as they formed runes and shapes, a little magic trick he had picked up from their Norse cousins to help avoid the risk of a child. He wasn't sure how she felt about it, but birthing a new god into this world was not something he was personally ready for.<br/><br/>Zeus looked up when he heard her groan. "Ah." He propped himself up on his elbow, flattening his hand over her belly and rubbing up and down her smooth skin, from just beneath her breasts and down to the top of her hips, then back up. "Well... perhaps that responsibility should not fall to you. I drove them away, after all. It would only be right if I were to make the first overture to bring them back." Especially with his daughters. Hebe, Eris, and Eileithyia may have all had reason to scorn him in the past, but if he could win over his own wife he was confident he could convince them of his change of heart.<br/><br/>Less so was he certain of Ares or Hephaestus. The God of War was a brute, to say the least, and the argument he had taken with Zeus on the day of his departure had almost been a war unto itself. There were scars there that Zeus wasn't sure could be mended, by words or actions alike. And Hephaestus... he had never been able to view his second son with anything but guilt ever since he'd cast him from the Mount in a fit of rage. The God of Industry's life had never been an easy one, or one bereft of shame, and Zeus knew that in some way all of that had boiled down to his own decisions. Between being lamed by his own father and shamed by his once-wife and brother, it was no wonder that he had slipped quietly away like his mother before him. Zeus had just been glad to know that Aglaia had gone with him. Gods knew Hephaestus deserved to be loved for all he was.<br/><br/>Zeus looked down at his queen wife and sighed softly. "As proud and happy as I am to have you once more by my side, my wife, I won't let you face that hurdle alone. Though it may be best to begin with our daughters... or even Hephaestus." He paused and looked away, out to the window and the calm, light rain. "Fates only know how much I have wronged him."