Destined. Part 24

Eros's eyes flattened. "You might have clued me in to that little detail before you agreed to help." He threw up his hands and raised his wings to fly.

"Wait!" Iris said. "All we have to do is get Helios to drive behind one of the clouds." She pointed to a rocky grey-colored cloud near the horizon. "That one has rain in it. It would work."

"Oh. So all we have to do is get the sun to fly off course and we're in business. Sure. No problem." Eros rolled his eyes.

"For a G.o.d, you aren't very clever about using your gifts," Iris said. "Helios would gladly take a jaunt behind that cloud if something tempting enough were up there."

Eros and Iris looked at each other. "Who?" they said in unison, then laughed together.

"A girl would have to be pretty dazzling to get the sun's attention," Iris said.

"Of course!" Eros said. "Aglaia." The Grace of Radiance. "Helios would be drawn to her even without my arrows."

Iris gave him an quick, excited hug. "Perfect! Now how do we get her up there?"

"I'm the one who's not very clever?" Eros asked. "I can make him think Aglaia is up there, but the illusion won't hold when he tries to talk to her. Can you work quickly?"

Iris burst into the air, calling back for Eros. "What are you waiting for?"

With a jump and a flap of his wings, Eros sped past her. "Work fast, remember?"

Iris answered with a laugh as the G.o.ds sped toward the lone rain cloud.

When they got to the cloud, Eros reached for his arrows and Iris perched on the edge like a diver about to jump into the sea. Eros's arrow caught Helios in the shoulder and his head snapped around toward the pair.

Helios's gaze tightened on a hologram of dancing light. The mirage took shape in the figure of a sparkling girl whose hair moved with the wind and whose eyes flashed with the brilliance of the stars. A perfect duplication of Aglaia. She tip-toed across the air toward the rain cloud.

"It's working," Iris whispered as Helios turned his solar steeds toward the girl.

"Get ready," Eros said. "Helios won't stay enchanted after she disappears."

Helios's chariot drew closer, shooting spikes of heat toward the G.o.ds as he neared. Iris flinched. "I can't believe I'm doing this for a human."

In a flash of searing light, Helios was behind the cloud. Iris dove, drawing her palate of colors across the sky as she fell. Her rainbow illuminated the sky and just for a moment, Eros thought he saw a red-dressed girl looking up in awe.

As Iris touched down behind a hill and tucked away the tail of her rainbow, an accusing boom of a voice call out. "Eros!"

Iris had only just spun around to look when Eros tore down from the sky and swooped her up in his arms.

"Let's go," he said, furiously flapping his wings back toward Olympus. When Eros set Iris down back at his palace, they both burst out laughing.

"I a.s.sume Helios wasn't pleased?"

"You could say that."

"Aren't you worried?" Iris asked, wide-eyed.

"Nope. He can't hurt me. Besides, that was fun." Eros looked at Iris. "Thanks for playing along with me. I needed that."

Iris took a step closer to Eros. "I could be a lot of things you need."

The smile fell from Eros's face, but kindness remained in his eyes. He ran his hands down Iris's delicate arms and clasped her hands. When had her hue changed from blue to pink?, he wondered. She looked almost edible flushed with a more natural color.

"I'm just not ready yet," he breathed, looking down at their hands laced together.

Iris pulled one hand free and raised Eros's chin until his eyes met hers. "It's okay. I said a lot of things yesterday that I shouldn't have ... If you can forgive me, I can wait. Deal?"

Eros looked off in the distance. "I forgive you."

Iris raised up on her toes and kissed Eros on the cheek. "Good night."

He watched her sultry aura of s.h.i.+mmering colors trail her out the door.

That night, alone in his palace, Eros relaxed with the pleasant tiredness that comes from a satisfying day. He'd answered a prayer and used his arrows on a G.o.d other than Zeus. What more could he ask for?

The thought was barely out of his head before Eros regretted it. He could ask for Psyche to have loved him enough to trust him. He'd forgotten her while he was out playing with Iris, but memories of her came cras.h.i.+ng back in the solitude of his home.

Eros was angry with himself for being so easily amused by Iris. Yesterday he had hated her, but today ... not so much. And he was shocked to think he could so easily be drawn to her after the devotion he'd held for Psyche. Was giving Psyche up really as easy as wiping away the magic of his arrows?

As Eros mulled it over, the little flicker of a thought he'd ignored back at the wedding crept to the surface.

They're human. They only see what their eyes can comprehend.

Even if she had some divine blood running through her veins, Psyche was still human. She could only see what her eyes could comprehend. "Yeah, so," he goaded himself. There was something there. What was he missing?

Eros thought through everything that had happened leading up to Psyche's betrayal. They'd fought. Then made up. Psyche's sister came to visit, but Alexa said Psyche hadn't listened to them.

And then he remembered. Alexa told him she'd shown herself to Chara. And when Psyche was trying to explain herself, she's started to say something about Alexa, but he'd cut her off.

What if Psyche had seen Alexa too? Psyche's eyes would only comprehend betrayal. She'd see a palace built on lies. A supposed best friend stabbing her in the back.

Hope too painful for words grabbed Eros's heart and squeezed. He had to find Alexa. If his hunch was right, Psyche was the one who deserved his forgiveness.

Perhaps he would need some forgiveness of his own.

Chapter 45 - Psyche.

When I woke up the next morning, my mind instantly clamped down with the fear of facing Aphrodite. There was nothing to do though except busy myself with getting ready.

Ceres floated in with her carefree nonchalance as I wound my hair neatly into a bun. When she opened her hand, a tiny white daisy materialized. She tucked the delicate flower behind my ear before taking my hands in her own.

"You can do this," she a.s.sured me, squeezing my palms.

I closed my eyes and exhaled while bobbing my head and forcing a tight smile. "I know," I said and bit my lip. "Might as well get this over with, huh?"

I didn't mean a word of it, of course. I'd have taken any excuse to delay.

Ceres straightened the flower behind my ear. "No time like the present," she confirmed. Her dark eyes danced again with motherly a.s.surance.

Unable to stop myself, I threw my arms around the G.o.ddess. Everything about her was comforting. Her skin smelled fresh like the Olympian air and her smile radiated warmth. She encircled me with her own arms as I shuddered against her.

"Oh, Psyche," she sighed as she rubbed my back. "You must believe that everything will work out. All is lost if you lose hope now."

I stepped back and blinked at Ceres. "I don't understand," I muttered, now furiously chewing the corner of my lip.

"When you stand before Aphrodite to apologize, she'll know your heart better than you do. If there is any hesitation in there, she'll sense it."

Gulping, I nodded. This had better be the best apology of my life.

"And the same is true when you tell her you love her son and deserve his forgiveness," Ceres continued. "You must go to her with the conviction that you are Eros's destiny. You do believe that?"

"More than anything," I whispered.

"Then you can do this." She tilted her head so she could look at my downturned face. "Putting it off won't make it easier."

I looked up into her eyes. "I believe that too," I muttered with a sigh.

Ceres's laugh was as light as b.u.t.terfly wings. She squeezed my hand once more and led me out of her palace.

Xanthy was grazing in the flower-filled field beside Ceres's home. I headed toward her but Ceres stopped me. "Leave Xanthy with me."

Stopping short, I swung around to meet Ceres's command. My heart broke. I didn't want to leave my horse behind. She was the only link I had to humanity on this mountain of G.o.ds.

Ceres glided up to me. "I'll take good care of her until you return," she promised. "Now come."

When her hand touched mine again, we fell into Ceres's sickening flight, floating and diving through the glorious morning air. But this time our flight was quick, and we landed with a gentle touchdown on a gilded path. I followed the glinting metal under my feet up to the entrance of a palace.

Her palace. It was grotesquely ornate, and nothing like the down-to-earth persona she'd had when visiting me. But now it made sense why Eros thought I'd like golden everything - he'd been raised in it. The palace dripped with golden columns, golden doors, golden statutes. It made my stomach sour and I glared at it from behind furrowed brows.

"Yeah, we all think it's a little over-the-top," Ceres whispered in my ear, "but don't you dare let Aphrodite catch you making that face at her home."

I wiped the dissatisfaction from my face just before Aphrodite's gilded door opened.

"Ceres, is that you I hear out -" Aphrodite stopped mid-sentence when she saw me. The G.o.ddess stood in her doorway, seeming to fill it with her aura. She was even more astounding on Olympus than she'd been back in my home. Soft blonde ringlets cascaded down her back and spilled around her shoulders. Her eyes sparkled like the ocean waves from which she was born. Her delicate porcelain skin seemed to radiate light.

As Aphrodite glared at me, a small, cruel smile tugged at her lips. When the smile broke, she chuckled, then laughed, then tossed back her head with maniacal laughter that rang out like cries from a flock of hungry gulls.

"You see the irony, don't you daughter?" Aphrodite spat when her laughter subsided. "All you had to do was listen to me in the first place, and we'd both still like you."

My shoulders slumped. She was right, of course. She'd tried to bring me and Eros together from the start and we'd both refused. His heart had obviously changed once since then, but I feared it'd changed back already.

Scrambling forward, I dropped to one knee beside her golden-sandaled foot. Being so near her was overwhelming in a way it'd never been in my room. For one, she no longer needed my lotions: her own scent was as calming and powerful as being surrounded by blooming jasmine. But there was a charge vibrating off her skin, threatening to shock like an eel. I closed my eyes and pressed my forehead against the back of her hand.

"Get up," she snapped at me. "You're embarra.s.sing yourself."

Obeying, I slowing rose, never letting my gaze tear from hers. "You know me," I whispered. "Once, you liked me enough to consider me your daughter. To marry your son. I know I've messed that up now, but you know it wasn't supposed to happen this way." I pulled her hand over my heart. "You know I acted with the best of intentions, even if I was stupid."

For a second, I thought her armor would crack. A smile tugged at her lips and she looked at me like she could almost see us being friends again. But the tone of her voice told me I'd misread her.

"That, my dear, was before I realized you were just as much of a s.l.u.t as your mother."

"How dare you!" I screamed. Immediately, I clamped my hand over my mouth.

"What did you just say to me?" Aphrodite grabbed my arm, digging into my skin with nails like talons. "How dare I? I tried to set you up in a legitimate marriage and instead you just ran off and slept with my son behind my back."

"We never slept together, I swear it." The muscles in my arm began to cramp as she squeezed tighter. "But I wasn't talking about me anyway. I meant my mother. Please. Leave her out of this."

"She can't be left out. She started it the night she slept with Poseidon." She squeezed again before freeing my arm and I stumbled back a few steps.

My mom had done what? No, Aphrodite was lying. She had to be. Mother loved my father. She wouldn't betray him like that.

"I wondered if he could make a daughter as lovely as Zeus had." Aphrodite s.n.a.t.c.hed one of my curls between her thumb and finger. "It seems he can, only you're not a blonde."

Whoa. What? The world went blank as I pulled inside my head. Was that even possible? If she was telling the truth, Father wasn't my father at all then. Which could explain why Mom was so upset when she found out Aphrodite had made me her daughter. And why...

"That's why you picked me then." My eyes filled like warm pools. "Not because you liked me, but because I was already part immortal."

"Let me put the question back on you, Psyche. Have you ever heard of an immortal spending her free time with a full mortal? And I'm talking about more than a night here."

I shook my head "no." G.o.ds hung around with other G.o.ds and demi-G.o.ds. As a rule, they only meddled with people's lives, not partic.i.p.ated in them.

"Then I believe you've answered your own question."

After that, I couldn't meet her eyes. I couldn't even ask to see Eros. There was too much information to process and I wanted to escape and think it over. Turn it in my brain like an odd-shaped rock and study every side.

"I can feel you're struggling with this, Psyche. I understand."

Aphrodite's changed tone got my attention. It must've resonated with Ceres too, because she took the opportunity to drift to my side and slide her hand into mine.

"Here's the problem, as I see it," Aphrodite continued. "You're my niece by Olympian standards and I did actually like you. But first you refused my command and then you tried to kill my son. I'm pleasantly surprised that you didn't sleep with him, but that's not enough to redeem yourself."

"Please," I begged her. "All I want is a chance to talk to Eros and tell him how I feel." My voice trailed off as I remembered the horror of our last night together - the raw emotions sweeping every arc from fear to deseration to betrayal and even to love. "He deserves to know I love him."

"Don't tell me what he deserves." Aphrodite's voice hissed out with a chill as she rose and stormed down the stairs. "What he deserves is a wife who won't try to stab him while he sleeps."

"I know," I admitted. "I know. And maybe I'll never win back his heart, but I need him to know that he won mine."

Aphrodite paced. "Ceres, we've got a problem. You brought her to me, so it's your problem too. I think I'm calm enough not to want her dead anymore, but I can't just let her go back to Eros. Or even run around with everyone thinking she's still my daughter. What am I supposed to do?"

"Hmmm..." Ceres s.h.i.+fted from one foot to another. "Perhaps a test? If she pa.s.ses, you let her talk to Eros. If not, you can turn her over to Ares."

My eyes probably could've doubled as fat olives as big around as they got at that suggestion. A test? I had no skills outside of being able to read, how on earth could I pa.s.s any sort of test? And who knew what dreadful, unspeakable things Ares would do to me before I died.