All Chapters of King of the Gods’ Regret After Abandoning Me: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

Aetheon didn't show the slightest trace of guilt. His voice stayed calm."Last time, when you couldn't take the trials of Olympus and got hurt badly—when you called me on the speaking stone—I was flying her through the clouds.""That kind of little-girl game stopped being fun a long time ago. But she clung to my arm and squealed, and I felt… sorry for her, somehow."I stared blankly at the man in front of me. My mind slipped back a month.I was just an ordinary mortal. To become his queen, I had to pass the trials of Olympus.The trials were brutal. The three-headed hounds tore me open. I bled everywhere.But to stand beside him properly, as his wife, I gritted my teeth and held on.At the brink of death, I opened the speaking stone.His side was loud with wind. He said he was busy putting down monsters from the Abyss.So that he could focus, I swallowed the blood in my mouth and told him to be careful.Now he was pulling the wound open without flinching."I heard you cough up blood, a

Chapter 2

My hands were shaking as I picked up the speaking stone and asked Aetheon to explain himself.His voice came back lazy, drenched in a god's arrogance."Elara, if you want to be my queen, you'll have to get used to it."The gods of Olympus were still outside, waiting for an answer.I shoved the doors open and walked out, and suddenly I remembered the day, ten years ago, when he'd taken the throne.Aetheon had stood at the peak of Olympus, drenched in blood, and announced to the gods that I was his only betrothed—the queen he'd chosen.They were furious. They denounced my mortal blood. They demanded he take a goddess instead, a noble one, to secure his throne.But Aetheon had drawn his lightning blade without hesitation, and pulled me behind him."If she's not with me, I don't want the throne. I'd give it all up first."Back then, every god wanted to know how long this lovestruck king and his mortal could possibly last.Less than ten years, it turned out. And everything had changed.When

Chapter 3

The temple guards smelled the blood. They sent for Aetheon immediately.He appeared at my side the next instant, frowning, pouring his power into me.His own face grew paler as my wound closed and the poison left my body.He let out a breath. "I admit I went too far these past few weeks.""But I told you to choose, didn't I? If it's truly unbearable, you can leave Olympus on your own. I'll pay you whatever you want. I never wanted to push you this far."My mind went back, without my permission, to the days when he was being hunted in the mortal world.His power had been sealed. He was wounded everywhere. To keep me safe, to keep the gods off both of us, he had dragged himself, half dead, into the deepest pits to fight demons for coin.For half a month he survived on bitter bark, and stuffed every scrap of stale bread he could beg into my mouth instead of his own.Until one day he collapsed in his own blood.I cried, running my hands over the torn flesh of his back, begging him to leave

Chapter 4

The fire burned me, but I didn't try to escape it. The pain on my skin couldn't touch the pain in my chest.My consciousness was already going. I was smiling.If it ended this way, so be it.But just before my eyes closed, I saw Aetheon's face go pale with terror. He was running into the burning temple, the flames eating at him, and it looked like he was screaming my name.I didn't understand.Aetheon—isn't this what you wanted?When I woke up again, he was sitting at my bedside.He looked at my pale face, my burns, and he laughed."Sweetheart, next time you really want to die, don't pull a stunt like setting yourself on fire. Pick something cleaner."I looked at the careless smile at the corner of his mouth and the last hope I had cracked."As you wish," I said, dead inside.Then I swallowed the hydra venom I'd hidden.That poison is brutal. Even a god can't withstand it, much less a battered mortal like me.But the second Aetheon saw me drink it, his face changed.He slammed his palm

Chapter 5

(Aetheon’s POV)The Goddess on the golden silk couch rubbed her eyes.She had an exquisite face. Aetheon looked at her and felt nothing but boredom.She wound herself around him like a snake and pouted. "King, who are you thinking about? Aren't I enough for you?"Aetheon looked down at her.This wasn't Elara. He couldn't even remember who she was.He pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose and reached for a cup of wine.He thought of the days when they had run together in the mortal world.He had just turned ten when the Fates prophesied that this child was destined to kill his father.His father, Cronus, was enraged by the prophecy and ordered his death.With his mother's help he'd escaped Olympus and fled to the mortal world.His power had been sealed. Killers were on his trail constantly.Every night he was eaten alive by fear. He dreamed of his father's cold face, ordering his death.No one had any sympathy for him. They all called him an ungrateful little monster who would m

Chapter 6

(Elara's POV)After giving the deed to the seaside city to the temple of Athena, I drifted alone all the way to a quiet village on the border of Arcadia.I rented a small stone house with a few copper coins.There was nothing of Olympus here. None of the gold. The four walls were bare enough that even my own footsteps echoed lonely.I was exhausted. I curled up on the wooden cot, on its bed of dry straw, and tried to sleep myself numb.But every time I closed my eyes the memories came right back.I thought about the time, when we were running from the gods, when his royal bloodline had been sealed and he'd had to do common labor for a mortal lord to feed us both.He'd been born with a face that drove women out of their minds.It wasn't long before there were rumors that some proud princess of a city wanted to take him for her king-consort.I had cried alone in the ruined temple where we were hiding, telling myself he deserved a higher-born partner. Better than me.But that night, he ca

Chapter 7

I tossed the parchment into the fire and watched it crumble into ash.I found a mortal trade caravan heading far away.There was only one person on this earth who would search for me like a madman, and that was Aetheon, sitting on his divine throne.I was never going to look back at him again.The caravan life was rough—open sky, hard ground.I sat on the jolting wagon and stared out at the horizon.I thought about all the times I'd curled up against his knee, sketching out the map of where we would travel together someday.I had said I wanted to look at the sands beneath the pyramids in Egypt.I wanted to chase the auroras in the far north.I wanted to see the Pillars of Heracles at the end of the world.And Aetheon would always frown a little and stroke my hair, distracted."Elara, the business of Olympus is endless. Once I've made my rule secure, I'll take you to see all of it."Back then I'd been naive enough to believe that a long love had to lose its fire. That was just what happ

Chapter 8

I walked every corner of the world.The bottomless hole in my chest got filled with mountains and rivers and sunlight.I never wanted to set foot on Mount Olympus again.I went ahead and gave the other cities Aetheon had assigned me to the temple of Athena, all of them.I picked a quiet little town that sat in the sun and grew good grapes, and I settled there.Clio came to see me sometimes, riding her donkey through the hills.We would sit in my courtyard under the wisteria, set out a few plates of goat cheese, pour cups of fruit wine I made myself, and talk all afternoon.One day, taking the household scraps out past the edge of town, I heard a faint whimpering in the brush.I parted the thorns and found a baby centaur, covered in blood.One of his horse legs was crooked at birth. Probably why his herd had left him.Winter was coming. Something in me bent. I scooped the little thing up and carried him home.The little centaur turned out to be tough. He had a sweet temper. He latched o

Chapter 9

(Aetheon's POV)In the end, Aetheon left.The endless ache of regret and despair was something he would taste, day after day, hour after hour, for the rest of his existence.He understood. Elara was never going to forgive him.He rode the storm back up into the divine court above the clouds.The private temples she'd handed off to the priesthood—the mortal villas she'd given away—he bought every single one of them back, in secret, paying terrible prices to hide his identity.But once they were his again, he avoided them. He couldn't make himself walk in.Until one day, something pulled him there—and he found himself pushing open the doors of an old temple.It hadn't been emptied. Everything was still where she'd left it. Only a thin layer of dust on it all from too many years without a mortal to live there.Aetheon was like a treasure hunter who had lost his mind.He pulled through every object she'd touched, looking, searching.He didn't know what he was trying to find. Maybe nothing.

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