My Olympian Brothers Loved Me Too Late

Kora grew up in the sacred hall of Goddess Anthea alongside her sons, Elio and Zephyr, believing one of them would claim her as his bride. The brothers had sworn an oath on her birthday—a promise that shattered when Lyra arrived. In just three months, the nymph turned the brothers against Kora with calculated cruelty. Lyra took the proposal crown meant for Kora, offered Kora a frost bloom designed to freeze her from the inside out, and when Kora tried to defend herself, Elio and Zephyr forced her to apologize. When Kora reminded them of the unicorn goring that nearly killed her—the wound that made them kneel before the gods for three days—Zephyr coldly replied they should have let her die. They exiled her from her chambers to scrub temple floors, threw out her belongings and threatened to shred her mother's cloak, then used their divine powers to crush her into the dirt. Kora endured the abuse for two more days, bleeding and broken, until she finally spoke the words she never thought she'd say: yes to Hades, Lord of the Underworld.

Hades had proposed ninety-nine times; the hundredth finally brought her home. He ordered the underworld vaults lit with glowstones and her chambers turned into spring with wildflowers from her mother's earth. He remembered the single tear she shed a century ago when she wandered into his realm—a tear that bloomed into the first flower the underworld had ever seen. On Olympus, Kora erased her face from the portraits, burned three hundred years of memories, and told Elio and Zephyr they'd never have to see her again. She swore on her divine blood that she would never set foot on those steps, not even if she died. As Hades took her away, Elio felt his heart splinter, losing the most important person in his life forever. No god can cross the river Styx without his leave. Kora is gone, and the brothers who loved her too late are left alone with the ruins of everything they broke.