Chapter 63: Curse

Spent and resting on the couch, Seto's fingers trailed lazily along Joan's waist and stopped on her lower abdomen. "How long until it starts kicking?"

"No idea," Joan admitted. "We'll have to look it—"

The sound of shattering glass jerked their faces towards the window. A woman in a billowing white and blue garment with heavy gold jewelry glared at Joan and Seto. She wielded a golden scepter tipped with a glowing fist-sized lapis lazuli lotus. Rage radiated from eyes that matched the stone.

Seto pressed the KC pin on his collar and spoke into it. "Who ordered the flying maniac bitch that just crashed into my office?"

"Kneel and beg for your miserable lives, heretics!" the woman demanded.

"I kneel before no one. Who the fuck are you?" Despite his loud, unwavering voice, he clutched Joan so tightly that he betrayed his fear to her.

"I am the goddess Hera. Most sheep who stray learn their lesson in due time and return to the flock, but you have gone too far. Repent now, or I shall smite you!" Hera's blue lotus gleamed as it arced through the air on its golden rod and came to point at Seto.

This has to be an elaborate hoax. Somebody must have installed a hidden camera in my office while I was away. I can't show weakness now, Seto thought. "Spare me your empty threats. Nobody's impressed by your golden dildo."

Hera screamed with fury and a blast of energy shot from the tip of her scepter. Joan's left hand shot up and a wave of light from the ring deflected the blast. Seto felt his head nearly split open from the toll the ring's magic exacted. He reeled back and collapsed while Hera's deflected blast tore through the wall of his office, taking out half of Tanaka's desk on the other side. Stunned, Seto's head secretary looked down at the place where his right arm used to be for several seconds before releasing a scream and promptly fainting.

Hera remained unfazed by the casualty as she continued to focus her attention on Joan. "It seems your little toy has more quirks than my followers reported to me."

Joan's heart sank as she remembered the miniature lapis lazuli lotus the festival shopkeeper had given to Mokuba. His suspicion was justified after all.

Seto looked upon the scene helplessly as his body failed to respond to his brain.

Hera approached Joan slowly, floating gracefully rather than trying to walk over the broken glass. "You spent the source of your power too quickly. Look at him: broken and lying at your feet. Without him, you are nothing."

Joan glanced at Seto before looking back at Hera. "What's your problem?"

"That abomination growing inside you. You are a disgrace to womanhood everywhere."

"I'm sorry you feel that way."

Hera's glowing blue eyes drilled straight into Joan's. "Listen, upstart whore: you're tipping the balance of nature by claiming four men. I won't stand for it!"

A little smile tugged at Joan's lips. "Let me get this straight: you're jealous of a whore like me?"

Hera dodged the question. "Whores like you deserve punishment and suffering, not the joys of motherhood. Even death would be too kind." Hera thrust her scepter against Joan's navel. Joan's hands fizzled with weak sparks as she desperately tried to tap into her magic again. Instead, a jolt of pure terror shot through her body. "That abomination in your womb will grow. You will labor to bring it into this world, but it will turn to dust before you can hold it in your arms."

Seto's brain reconnected with his body, and he struggled to sit up, wishing he had enough strength to hurl something at the Greek cunt that had just condemned his child. He almost missed the days of the Millennium Items, when a golden eye could read minds, a golden necklace could predict the future, and a golden dildo merely granted the wielder temporary control over someone's body.

Seto regained focus just in time to witness Hera's triumphant expression before she turned and flew out the shattered office window. Joan sank to her knees and burst into tears just as Roland and Tamara burst into the office.