With a sigh Hermes spoke "I swear upon my arcaenum that so long as there is nothing out of....." he started but I cut him off.
"Ah ah ah, I specified that only if I had done something truly wrong you could spill what you see. Don't think you can wordplay your way out of this." I said and he glared at me angrily before fixing his oath.
"I swear upon my arcaenum that if Alexander Drake has not done anything wrong I will not share the details of his status. There happy?" He asked and I nodded.
"Perfect, my dear goddess if you'd please." I said.
Hestia just sighed and walked up to my back before running a finger down my spine causing my status to manifest on my back. Hermes eagerly started to look over the glorious list of my existence and his face turned red as he coughed blood. Not in anger but because in his shock he almost spilled the beans and his arcaenum backfired a warning. He struggled to regain his composure for a moment before reading the rest with a face that got paler and paler as he went.-
"And just think, you can't tell anyone what you saw. Oh how you deserve this for sticking your nose where it doesn't belong." I said with a grin to the pale god as Hestia sealed my status back up.
"I fucking hate you." Hermes said with a red face full of rage and a gaze that would have killed me many times over if it could.
"That's fair. They're waiting still." I said motioning to the host of deities who were practically bursting with curiosity.
"There is no foul play involved." Hermes said to the gods who didn't settled down at all with the announcement but started actively trying to get Hermes to spill the beans out of undying curiosity.
He almost did too a few times before getting wise and making a hasty retreat after having lost at least a liter of blood. I meanwhile watched the spectacle with a smirk enjoying his suffering. In case it wasn't immediately obvious I REALLY didn't like Hermes. He was nosy and manipulative and DEFINITELY unscrupulous. Even after warning him about messing with my familia, Bell in particular, he still occasionally showed up in a way that lead to trouble.-
Oh he was clever about it sure as he didn't leave any evidence of his direct manipulation but the fact he showed up right before shit went down for Bell was more than a little suspicious. It wasn't enough to justify putting the hurt on his familia but anyone paying attention would notice I "coincidentally" rejected any commissions related to him. It didn't mess with his familias delivery business too much but I knew for a fact it grinded on him something fierce. Especially since Freya confirmed it for me through her subtle manipulation of him.-
For all the cautiousness the god had around her his perverted nature left him unable to help himself when in her presence. He was particularly susceptible to her divine charm as a result and he knew it. Naturally he was aware of the connection between me and her but the exact depth of that connection was a secret from everyone except Freya herself, Hephaestus and Hestia. Ironically of the three goddesses two of them were romantic rivals seeking to possess me for themselves. Anyways I was approached by many gods and goddesses who thought they could try and weasel information on my status out of me.-
It was amusing to be honest as I let nothing that wasn't already more or less public knowledge slip. That didn't even begin to cover the goddesses who got more than a little touchy feely since I was without a top and built like a sculpture. The mysteriousness of the many tattoos covering my body certainly didn't help either as more than a few traced them as though that would let them know their secrets. When both Hephaestus and Freya reacted like cats protecting their territory I couldn't help but laugh. -
It was beyond amusing to see these two puff up and posture angrily to chase away any goddess trying their luck. That didn't exactly work with one particular goddess that almost EVERYONE gave space out of fearful respect, Nix.-
"You were wonderful in playing Hermes like a flute.~ And you are so much more tempting now, why I almost can't resist stealing you for myself!~" the dark goddess said with a desire filled gaze.
Oddly I could actually FEEL a sort of attraction to her but not her body, her soul. It was hard to describe and weak at the moment but definitely there. The best way I could explain it was two magnets being draw together.-
My own soul was now much more close to hers in nature and that likeness caused a draw to exist. Personally she gave me the heebie jeebies still but I could finally understand why she seemed so obsessed with me. Nix might hold the domain of night as a goddess but what she represented wasn't a time of day so much as the void between the stars themselves, that primordial darkness that has always been. In a manner of speaking my own souls nature fit that role as well but leaned towards evil and corruption due to the hell aspects of it.-
She was true neutral though in the scariest way, absolute evil and absolute good in one nice neat package. That might even be why she bothered me so much in fact. The attraction to her absolute evil was there but so was the revulsion to her absolute good. It also didn't help she acted like a not so stable stalker. That said she seemed more than willing to just kinda drift about me without truly trying to grab me for herself.-
"Hmph! The nerve of all those sluts to try something like that!" Freya said with a huff of annoyance once we left the venue.
"You can't blame them for trying, he did go toe to toe with Ottar and made Hermes almost break his oath in shock at what was on his status. Speaking of is it really that bad?" Hephaestus asked curiously.
"Individually not terribly but all together? That's the sort of thing that would definitely create a massive splash if it got out. It's why I had him fix his oath rather than ignoring the loophole he tried to throw in." I said honestly.