“He will take after you in most all ways,” she said, voice reed thin and wispy as the hairs on her head. “Rules by his heart, he will be passionate in all ways.”
I smiled. That wasn’t so bad. Plus, if he didn’t take after Ares, I could hide the fact that he didn’t belong to the troll. Eventually I’d tell the whole Pantheon the truth, when the time suited me. But for now, I needed Hera to believe I was actually in love with her beast of a son.
“But beware, goddess of love. One will come along who will challenge all that you are. She will win away the heart of your child if you’re not careful. Your power rests in his hands. Choose wisely.”
Bloody hell, the Fates were always so vague. What Atropos had said could mean any number of things. But I could tell by the way they were staring at one another in silent communication that they had no more to share with me.
Oh, I could push the issue. But it would get me nowhere with them and they were enemies I could not afford to make.
I dipped my head. “Thank you, sisters.”
Then I turned and fled to my palace, chewing over what I’d learned.
So, my son would be much like me. But a woman would vie for his heart? And if I chose wrong, she’d not only take him from me, but take my power with it? Gods. I rubbed at the base of my neck as nerves wormed through my belly. There was just one way to make sure that never happened then.
My child could never, ever, under any circumstances fall in love with a woman. If he did, I would simply have to kill her.
I smirked.
Too simple.
Aphrodite (current timeline)
* * *
Glancing at Hephy’s sleeping form, I felt a soft smile grace my lips. We hadn’t made love last night, but we’d held tight to each other. I was plagued by worries, worries that I’d hoped would lessen now that I was taking more of a backseat and letting Caly take the reins with the happily ever afters.
Scooting off the bed as quietly as I could, I grabbed my golden robe that I’d slung over the footboard last night and quietly walked toward the wall of windows that made up one entire section of our bedroom.
Nyx and I had a deal that she kept this section of my home always bathed in twilight. Not quite dark, but none of Apollo’s rays to spoil the beauty of its tranquility either.
I enjoyed studying the stars, looking out at the vastness of space. Knowing how large a world it was that I actually lived in. It had always helped me to put my personal problems into perspective.
I slid my palm up the glass, gazing mournfully up at the ever dueling ursa major and minor, as bears were often wont to do, they slapped and roared at each other, each vying for predominance of the night sky. But it was a battle they would never win. The gods had seen to that. It was a pointless battle, but one they were doomed to repeat over and over and over.
Their longstanding war made me think of my own.
Eros despised me. No matter how much I tried to show him that I wasn’t the awful mother of the other time he simply wasn’t interested in hearing it. I’d tried so many times in so many ways to show him that I was different. That I could be trusted, but when he deigned to come, he always seemed like he wanted to be anywhere but here.
Large, warm hands suddenly slid around my waist. And my husband’s overwhelmingly huge body hugged mine from behind. I sighed, leaning the entirety of my weight on his chest. He’d put on his prosthetic legs, as he was currently towering over me.
“Drachma for your thoughts,” he murmured, before laying a tender kiss on the outer shell of my ear.
I sighed, wrapping my hands over his arms and pinning him fast to me. Squeezing my eyes shut, I simply allowed myself to breathe and be in the moment. The simple act soon began to quiet my nerves enough to allow me to speak.
“Hephy, when I was cast into this new world, and you did not know me. The real me. I thought my life would end. I thought everything I’d ever known as truth was over. And that I was doomed to walk this new world alone. Forever.”
He gently turned me, so that I was facing him. And he himself shifted so that he was now leaning against the window. His thighs were spread wide, I was being cradled in my husband’s arms and I felt like a treasure. I smiled softly.
“I almost let the best thing walk out of my life and I will forever regret those dark days. But eventually I saw you, Dite. The real you. So, will he.”
I hadn’t had to say a word and he’d already known why my thoughts were so heavy. I shook my head. “It’s been well over a year now, Hephy. At some point I thought that circumstances between us might improve.
Tipping my chin up so that our eyes locked, he took a deep breath, prompting me to take my own. He didn’t need to tell me to follow his lead, because he’d known without fail that I always would. The quiet that grew between us was a comforting sort of mystery. I didn’t understand how it was that he could always so easily calm me, but I was grateful he had that ability with me. All the nerves and tension, the stress of months of worrying began to slowly ease out of my body with each exhalation, until finally I could smile a genuine smile at him.
“How do you do that? Every time?” I asked, a tinge of awe in my tone, not bothering to conceal how very much he meant to me.
His smile was soft, small. “I can’t seem to do it with anyone but you. Though, if I could only share my calm with one person, I am glad it is you.”
Then he pulled me into his body and kissed the top of my head. A feeling of being cherished and loved came over me like a warm blanket. Closing my eyes, I felt my heart beat align to his own, in moments I’d gone from being a tensed and crazed being to one full of peace.
Snuggling my nose into his chest I felt a tiny stab of guilt that I got to be home with him again. For a while at least. Because Caly was still fighting the good fight. It hadn’t dawned on me just how stretched thin I’d really been, as a goddess of love I not only gave love, but I probably needed to feel love more than any other being on Olympus. It was what fed me. Probably why no one person could satisfy me before Hephy, it would have taken a being so much more than most to give me what I needed.
Thinking of that, I wondered about Eros again. He was my son. My blood ran through his veins. So did Ares’, but I didn’t detect Ares’ warring nature in him. His powers were much more closely aligned to my own.
If he was like me in the obvious ways, was it possible that he was also like me when it came to needing love?
I frowned.
“You’re tense again,” Hephy rumbled in that gravelly tone of his, and I quickly shook my head, assuring him that it wasn’t what he thought. I patted his chest, looking up at his beloved face once again.
“It’s not what you think,” I said.
He lifted a brow. “Then what is it?”
I shrugged. “I was just thinking that so few people know how much I need to feel love to feel whole. It’s imprinted in my chemical make-up; I need to know that I am not only wanted but that I am loved beyond all sense and reason.”
His full lips thinned. “And you’re wondering if Eros is the same?”
Again, I shrugged, but nodded. “It would make sense, right? Of all my children he and I are the most similar.”
Hephy nodded, but didn’t say anything for a moment, just simply mulled on my words. Finally, he blinked, and looked at me. “It does make sense, love. But I’m not sure if trying to set him up with anyone right now is the right thing to—”