Forging Splendor Read online

  Forging

  Splendor

  By: S.R. Nulton

  Copyright © 2019 S.R. Nulton

  All rights reserved.

  This story is a work of fiction based off of works of fiction (we hope, cause otherwise I might have to move to Delphi as the new oracle).

  No character, place, circumstance or relationship is intended to resemble anyone/thing, living, dead, undead, mostly dead, or anywhere in-between.

  The author humbly requests that you suspend disbelief for a short while and enjoy this story for what it is…

  Whatever that may happen to be.

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  FOREWORD

  Chapter 1: Deal With The Devil

  Chapter 2: Blast From The Past

  Chapter 3: The Ideal Houseguest

  Chapter 4: Getting What You Want

  Chapter 5: Showtime

  Chapter 6: Breaktime

  Chapter 7: Sharing Is Caring

  Chapter 8: Crazy Ex-wife

  Chapter 9: Moping Like a Pro

  Chapter 10: Familia

  Chapter 11: Time For Reinforcements

  Chapter 12: When You Need A Break

  Chapter 13: Mother Issues

  Chapter 14: Independence Day

  Chapter 15: What Now?

  Epilogue

  Afterword

  About the Author

  FOREWORD

  Hephaestus was the Greek god of forges, volcanos,… Most remember his first, disastrous marriage to Aphrodite, but few remember that he was also married to one of the three graces or charities, Aglaea. She was the goddess of beauty, magnificence, adornment, and … basically, a more useful version of Aphrodite, who was only really known for inciting obsession.

  There is very little known about the relationship between Hephaestus and Aglaea. Really, all we do know is that they had four daughters: Prosperity, Welcome, Acclaim, and Good Cheer(?). If that doesn’t explain that it was a good relationship, I don’t know what does.

  So, with those things in mind, I present my thoughts on their relationship and what might have happened if these characters lived in modern times.

  PS: See if you can figure out which character is which… it shouldn’t be too hard.

  CHAPTER 1: DEAL WITH THE DEVIL

  People were screaming. They were always screaming, though, so that wasn’t unusual. It was always the first thing he noticed. Every time they saw his face they would start screaming and wouldn’t stop. It attracted more and more people. They were swarming, like bees. One would see him and scream and ten more would show up. He was surrounded by a crowd of them, the faceless screaming people.

  So much noise! It almost had a presence, striking out at him and making him feel sick and filled with agony.

  He runs, but they follow. The people. The noise.

  They scream and yell and throw things. The fear is gone and anger remains. The anger is what makes them chase him, but he didn’t do anything! Why are they so angry?

  They chase him with heavy steps, sounding like his hammer when he is making something new at the forge. They carry fire and wave it at him, but it isn’t comforting like it usually is. There is no warmth or beauty, no dancing grace. No, even fire has deserted him. It reaches for him, striking and clawing at his face, burning and searing with cold and heat and shooting through him like lightning. It jerks and snaps and moves resolutely forward without it’s usual grace and beauty.

  Then he sees them. But, of course he would. They always come, the only faces that he can truly see. All others are faded and out of focus, but he always sees their beautiful, cruel faces. The haughty smiles on their red lips do nothing to lighten their faces or hide the disgust in their eyes.

  His heart breaks a little more. And the pounding begins again… but in a pattern. It almost sounds like…

  “E! Wake up!”

  Ethan groaned as he sat up.

  He’d had another nightmare and that was never a good way to start the day. The dreams were getting more vivid and more frustrating, not to mention more frequent. He could never seem to remember the dream, but he always remembered the emotions. Fear. Hate. Disgust. Pain. Apparently it wasn’t enough to be hated in real life. No, he had to feel that same emotion while he slept as well. All part of the joy of being him.

  Although, now that he thought of it, he hadn’t really felt ashamed of his facial scars until he found himself married to JJ and heard her complain about them constantly.

  “E! Come on man, wake up and let me in!”

  He groaned and moved toward the door, his rocking gait always more stilted first thing in the morning. When he reached it, he flipped the lock and walked away without opening it. Then again, he knew he didn’t need to. Geo never let a closed door stop him before.

  “Man, you need to give me a key. It would be so much easier to get in and throw your grumpy self out of bed,” Ethan’s half-brother grumbled as he came in.

  “No,” E growled back. There was no way that he was going to make it easier for Geo to bother him. The man was too good at his task already.

  The smell of coffee greeted them as they entered the kitchen and nothing more was said until they had each finished their first cup. At that point, Ethan was awake enough to ask a very important question.

  “What do you want?”

  Geo snorted and shook his head. “You, my friend, are an idiot. I told you a week ago that I would be by this morning to pick up the exhibit.” Seeing the blank look on his best friend’s face, Geo groaned and continued. “I am showing your work at my vineyard so that we know what to send to the art show in May? Remember? You wanted to know what people were responding to so you could make some new stuff? Geez, man, where is your head?”

  Ethan sighed. “Sorry. I’ve been a bit out of it lately. It won’t take long to get everything ready.”

  “You’ve been a mess for years, but it’s gotten worse since Nancy left. Why haven’t you hired a new PA to replace her yet? You know you need one.”

  Ethan just glared at Geo. “You know why. Finding someone I trust with my life is next to impossible. And I live too far away from town for them to do anything but live here. The commute would be ridiculous otherwise. And, really, who’s gonna agree to that?”

  Geo scoffed. “Please, we both know that isn’t the big issue. The nearest town is only a half-an-hour from here. The real problem is you’re just too scared to do interviews. Admit it!”

  E growled again, and he could feel the tightness in his muscles. “You try being stared at like you’re some kind of villain in a Disney movie!”

  “Ha! If you stopped acting like you are part-grizzly bear, part-mountain lion, part-human, they probably would. But man, you gotta get someone in. You can’t do it and you’re gonna start losing money if you don’t have a babysitter of some sort. You at least need someone to handle the paperwork, cause we both know that you aren’t going to. You’re too busy to deal with it yourself.” Geo paused before venturing, “You know I wouldn’t suggest it if I saw another way, but maybe you should call Neil? You can technically pull one of his secretaries. You are a part of the company still.”

  Ethan winced but nodded. He was worse than he thought if Geo was suggesting calling their father for help. Neither of them was keen on their old man or his ‘help’. It usually came with strings that never quite went away.

  Still, it did seem to be necessary…

  “Fine. I’ll call him. I ma
y not trust him, but I do trust his hiring process and background checks. Plus, he’d never risk sending someone here who I might send back. He’d lose the toehold I’m giving him.” Ethan paused and asked, “How are the girls?”

  Geo smiled softly. “Busy. School and work, you know?”

  Ethan just nodded before grabbing his cell phone. He didn’t want to let himself chicken out or waste any more time, so he sighed as he found Neil’s contact and hit ‘Send’.

  This is gonna be fun.

  ~

  Neil looked down at his phone and raised his brows as he saw the name. Ethan was one of his most independent children and hated talking to him.

  “Morning son. What can I do for you?” Neil heard the snort when he said ‘son’, but chose to ignore it. It wouldn’t do to piss the kid off before he found out why he’d called.

  “I need a PA. Mine quit.”

  Neil shook his head at the lack of detail given. Ethan always seemed to believe that the fewer words he used, the less he’d be called upon to speak.

  “All right. When do you need ‘em? And do you even have an office down there? Or are you still working out of your home?”

  “Live-in situation. Guesthouse on the property with complete privacy.”

  It’s like pulling teeth from an alligator. “All right. I’ll send one round in the next few days.” He was rewarded with a grunt and then the line went dead. Still, Neil smiled as he looked down at his phone.

  He had an in. Now he just needed to place the right person under his son’s roof.

  Now, who do I have that I can use… but before he could complete the thought, someone knocked on his office door.

  “Come in.” Neil sighed when he saw his oldest walk through. “What do you need Cayden?”

  “I need you to talk to HR. They are refusing to give JJ a new PA,” the kid said as he sat down. It was like looking into a mirror for Neil, but one that showed him when he was 20 years younger. Unfortunately, Cayden’s personality was wildly different. He was far too argumentative, not cunning enough or calm enough to play the long game. It was almost enough to make Neil ashamed of his son, but the kid was a great pawn, so that counted for something.

  “What happened to her last PA?”

  “I told you! They had a falling out and JJ put in for a new one. That was nearly 6 months ago and HR is still refusing to do their job and assign her a new one.”

  Neil snorted. “Maybe because she doesn’t work for this company? Son, if she wants a PA, she’s just going to have to hire one herself. The only reason she was using ours before was because she was still family then.”

  Cayden bristled. “And what is she now? She gave you grandchildren, what more is needed to be considered family?”

  “For her to share our last name. For her to marry to one of my sons and stay married to them.” Honestly, Neil thought JJ was a great gal, but her divorce from Ethan had blown a lot of his plans, so he was less than enthused about her inclusion in the family business. It was particularly unfortunate when he considered everything he’d had to do to get them married in the first place. It’s hard to stage a “drunken elopement” when one half of the couple didn’t drink. Still, it hadn’t been working out the way he’d wanted, even before the divorce.

  At this point, Neil was willing to see just how serious Cayden was about her. After all, they had a set of twins together and his oldest son still seemed in no hurry to actually marry her. If he were though… some pressure might be exerted to keep Cayden in line the next time he thought about causing problems. The boy did so enjoy going off script.

  “God, Dad! Don’t start harping on that. Mom does it enough as it is. Why are you two so stuck on the idea of us showing our commitment through marriage? Isn’t it enough that we are happy together?”

  “Not if you want to give her an employee of this company, it isn’t. There are rules for a reason, Son.” Of course, they both knew that Neil would bend those rules whenever it suited him. That was his prerogative though. After all, he was in charge. Sometimes he had to prove that though. Thinking of the bubble-headed blonde made him wonder though… “Out of curiosity, what happened to her PA from three years ago? You know, the one the company provided?”

  “Still here, as far as I know. I know that they had some personal issues that made them a bad fit. She made sure to find a replacement before she left though and it was that girl that left JJ in the lurch,” Cayden said as he stood. “I guess I’ll go break the news to JJ then. See you at 11 for the meeting?” Neil nodded and watched as his son left.

  After a few minutes research, he had Ethan’s new PA called into his office. It was time to get to work…

  ~

  I sighed as I put my lunch away in the break room. I was exhausted from helping my sisters organize one of their parties, but knew I shouldn’t mention working a side job around the office. Corporations were weird about stuff like that, even when it wasn’t an issue of working for a competitor. My sisters owned a party planning company. It was perfect for them, as Joy was a very talented caterer and Bloom was one of the best wedding and party planners in the city. Unfortunately, that meant some late nights for me when they dragged their little sister in to help.

  “Agatha?” Rick called as I passed his office.

  “Yes sir?”

  “Mr. Montgomery wants to see you as soon as possible. It sounds like you have a permanent placement, and a high-level one at that!” My boss may have been excited, but I wasn’t. I just felt worried. You see, unlike most of the office, I had actually met Neil Montgomery before. I’d seen the interaction between most of his family members and I was not impressed. If he was calling for me by name, it couldn’t mean anything good.

  “Alright,” I said. “I’ll head right up.” And I headed for the elevators. Now, normally, I would take the stairs, but 30 flights would take a while and make me sweat through most of my make-up. Not what you want to do when meeting with the CEO, not even when you don’t like him.

  Although, I thought, it might stop him from flirting. I laughed quietly. I was almost positive that it would take an act of God to stop that man from flirting.

  Stepping off onto the boss’ floor was always a shock to the system. The rest of the building was pretty standard in it’s decorations. Honestly, it looked like any other office you might walk into, anywhere in the country. The top floor, however, was a study in excess.

  The floor was done up in large white and grey marble tiles. Not the porcelain ones that people use nowadays to save money. No, these were real marble. Following the theme, the reception desk was sleek and futuristic and all white with grey accents. The lighting was strange gold rings that marched down the hall toward the main office. It always looked to me like someone had stolen a bunch of halos from angels and decided to use them for decoration. And I had no doubt that that was his plan all along. After all, I’d known for a while now that Neil Montgomery liked to pretend that he was God.

  Mr. Montgomery’s secretary nodded to me and waved me on without even checking with our boss. That meant he was not only expecting me, but also had avoided starting on a project until speaking with me. Again, I wasn’t feeling super confident.

  The fact that the doors were carved to look like a large gate with a winding road behind it and inlaid with gold and mother of pearl didn’t help. It just made me more nervous that I would do something stupid, like laugh at his décor. In front of him.

  Oh, this is not going to go well.

  I knocked and walked right in, hovering in the doorway as I waited to be addressed.

  “Ah! Agatha, please, have a seat! How very prompt of you! I hope I didn’t interrupt anything?” he asked with a friendly grin.

  “No, sir. I’d just arrived.” I stepped forward and noted that the entire floor was made up of a huge slab of white and grey veined marble. The grey armchair I took faced his desk and showed off a stunning view of the city. A chandelier made of large gold rings floated like an oversized halo above Mr. Mon
tgomery’s desk and reflected off the glass-cased bookshelves to my right. It was clearly meant to make you feel like you were floating on clouds.

  Or maybe he just likes circles. A lot… yeah, probably not.

  “Now, you are probably wondering what I needed you for, right?” he asked as he stood and moved to the chair beside mine. “I mean, the CEO doesn’t usually assign secretaries and personal assistants.”

  I nearly snorted but held it in. Mr. Montgomery was famous in the office for disappearing for weeks at a time and then micromanaging everything when he came back. He’d assigned projects to everyone from VPs to janitors, and he was often very interested in the secretarial pool. Granted, that was usually because he liked to give his former lovers better jobs, but still. Him meddling was not a surprise. Him meddling with me was. But he was right about most CEO’s not involving themselves like that.

  And he was clearly expecting me to say something, but I wasn’t sure what. He kept stating obvious facts and rhetorical questions, so my input wasn’t exactly needed.

  “Well, I just got an interesting call from my son Ethan. Do you know Ethan? Of course you do, you worked for his ex-wife when they were still married.” He laughed lightly and patted my arm like I’d just said something clever. Then, he left his hand there. “Anyway, he called to ask for a new personal assistant. It seems his quit and he hasn’t had much luck finding a new one. And I thought to myself, why not give him someone he’s familiar with already? That’s where you come in.”

  Of course, I could see just what he meant. After all, it only made sense to assign someone to your son who was present when he went through an extremely painful divorce, someone who was working for his ex-wife and heard every horrible thing she had to say about him. Yes, clearly the logical choice.