Pandora's Mistake (Fate of Eros #0) (The Fate of Eros Series) by E.B. Black Page B

promise to me and now he's taken fire away from the humans. They shiver in cold every day. They eat raw meat. They're barbaric and miserable."
    Prometheus had created humans to be works of art. They were made to entertain and befriend the gods. Zeus had reduced them to animals.
    Hecate narrowed her eyes at him. "That's what this all comes down to? The humans? You can't even be happy for me, can you?"
    Prometheus sighed. "It's why I betrayed Cronus in the first place. I was trying to protect everyone."
    "Then let's start over. We tried our best to save humanity, but their fate is out of our hands." Hecate grabbed him by both hands and squeezed them. "We have an eternity together. We can create other creatures. We could even raise a family and have children."
    "Children?" His eyebrows shot up his forehead. "Are you insane?"
    Hecate shrugged. "I don't see how it's so different."
    Prometheus crossed his arms. "So are you saying, if Zeus wanted to steal our children's powers and let them suffer, you'd allow it? Because it's all the same thing to you? He did it to humans and those are my children, so he might as well do it to everything I create?"
    "I never said that!" Hecate yelled.
    "Then you need to understand why I can't allow this either! These humans came from me. They are a part of me!"
    Hecate's lips thinned tightly. "That's all you talk about-these humans and what they mean to you. I was the one who followed you when you decided to betray everything I knew and loved. I turned against my sisters and brothers. I betrayed my family and I did it all just so you'd love me. But it's like you don't care about me at all. All you care about are the humans."
    "Maybe you're right," Prometheus growled and walked away before she could respond.
    *** *** ***
    Prometheus was angry. He knew he would eventually forgive Hecate for the argument they had, but in the meantime he needed to cool off. He decided to visit the village and talk to some of the men. Not that they would understand why he was so upset. They were happy to be ordered around by a goddess as long as that goddess slept with them later. Still, they were nice company.
    They didn't understand morals or laws, but he would teach it to them. They'd find ways to be strong, even though they were scared. He'd give them structure and a way of life. Things would get better.
    He was on a mission. Every time Zeus ruined part of humanity, he would make it better.
    When he entered the town, though, he noticed a commotion in the middle of all the tents. He didn't know what could be worse than all the things that had already happened, but people were screaming like it was horrific. He charged over.
    People moved out of the way to let him through. A man was lying still in the middle of everyone, facedown. People were poking him with sticks and he wasn't moving. He was so slender that he was barely skin and bones.
    Prometheus yanked the sticks out of their hands. He had cuts and holes from being poked so much. "What are you doing? Leave this man alone! Isn't it bad enough that you must go hungry? Don't further Zeus' torture of humanity by picking on one another."
    Several people backed out of the way. He'd never harmed a human, but they respected him.
    He walked up to the man. "Do you need help getting up?" He tried to grab the man's hand. His palm was cold and stiff.
    Prometheus' forehead wrinkled. It couldn't be, could it?
    He flipped the man over. It was Ronius; his eyes were open, but he was unresponsive. His pupils were glazed over and he wasn't breathing. Prometheus shook him, but he didn't move.
    "What's wrong with him?" one of the men asked.
    But Prometheus' words were trapped in his throat. This man was dead. He had heard that it was possible for a creature to cease to exist, but he hadn't created humans to be this way.
    He saw parts of animals scattered around and the head of a deer on a skewer. It had infected the animals as well. In the past, humans didn't need to kill the deer they