“Oh, now that is not true at all, is it?” she said in deceptively quiet tones. To one that did not know her, Hera would have sounded calm, almost sweet. But those that had spent any time with her would know that now would be a very good time to duck. Well, if she were able to reach anything that could be thrown.
His words were like daggers to her heart, though probably not for the reasons he intended. There was so much anger in Hephaestus, so much pain. She could hear it in the jealousy in his voice. It was very evident as he spoke of Ares. He was so smug about the fact that his brother had been unable to free her, there was too much glee in the fact that he'd bested Ares for it to be anything but jealousy. When he spoke of all her beautiful children, he wasn't including his sisters, he was focused on one sibling in particular.
Perhaps part of that was natural. Brothers had been vying against one another since time began. Zeus and his brothers were prime examples. So even had she kept Hephaestus with her on Olympus, he probably would have butted heads with Ares in the end anyway. But would it have been this bitter? Would it run this deep? If she could have done it differently, she still would not have kept him on Olympus where he would have been ridiculed and mocked. That would have hurt him and reflected back on her, and she could not afford that. But perhaps she would have placed him in a loving home, rather than throwing him from her if she'd been... well... at the time. Would that have changed his attitude? Towards Ares? Towards her?
Hera could not second guess, not at this point. What was done was done. And though she wanted to tell him some of what she was thinking, he made it impossible to do so. Because he hadn't addressed her as his mother. Perhaps if he had, she would have given into the urge to be lenient because she understood his motives. But he'd addressed his queen. And she could not let this insult pass.
A calm, cool smile graced the queen's face, even as she acknowledged her familial relationship with the god standing before her. “I do have a beautiful child that can get me out of this throne. He knows all its secrets. After all, he created it. And since it would be the height of foolishness to come here with no purpose other than gloating, and I do not believe him in any regard foolish, then he must have a proposition. I would be happy to hear it.”