Arcadian Nights (4 page)

Aphrodite sipped her wine slowly, but
Hermes could tell she was angry he’d rambled off so many objections
to her plan.

“
Don’t you see all
that?”

She nodded. “Yes. I don’t see you
bringing ideas to the table though. Just compliments.”

“
Compliments?”

“
You called her a
complicated woman.”

Hermes waited for her to continue, but
she just stared at him. “That’s it? That isn’t a
compliment.”

“
Yes, it is. Men only say
that about women they’re interested in.”

“
That’s
ridiculous.”

“
How would you know
anything about her? You’ve obviously been thinking about her a
lot.”

Hermes tried to keep his voice even.
“Because she put a spell on me to make me think about her all the
time. Or have you forgotten?”

Aphrodite smiled. “I love it when you
just barely have control of that temper.”

“
I’ll let it loose if you
don’t take this seriously.”

“
Okay, okay, but you do
know it is possible you might develop some feelings for her, don’t
you? It’s hard not to when someone is always in your thoughts. It’s
like living with someone almost. You can’t help caring.”

“
I don’t mean her any ill,
but that doesn’t mean I care.”

“
You don’t hate her for
doing this?”

Hermes tried to collect his thoughts.
Surely if anyone deserved his hate, it would be Eris, but he shook
his head. “No. I’m angry. That’s all.”

“
Did you find her
attractive before?”

Hermes knew he could probably lie to
Aphrodite, but he thought he’d stand a better chance of getting
fast help if he cooperated. “Yes. She’s beautiful and has an
amazing body. She’s attractive. So?”

“
Then fuck her and see
what happens.”

“
I don’t want
to.”

She rolled her eyes. “I beg to differ.
Isn’t that your problem, how much you want to?”

He took a deep breath and let it out
slowly. He’d learned to think carefully before saying anything to
Aphrodite. Better to deal with a little mocking than to actually
argue with her. “You know what I mean.”

“
I do, but this is
fun.”

“
I’m glad I amuse you so.
Are you happy now? Yes, if she came on to me in the normal way I’d
be tempted, I suppose, but not exactly dying for it. How can I be
any clearer?”

She looked at him seriously. “Why not
sleep with her? Really? There must be some reason.” She lowered her
eyes and then looked back up at him.

“
I know what you’re
thinking, but I’m not in love with you, Aphrodite. We’ve had this
discussion many times.”

She shook her head. “That’s not what I
mean. I know you aren’t. I want to know why you object to sleeping
with her. Are you afraid?”

“
No.”

“
Then what?”

How could he explain it to her? She
could have a different partner every day and not care. He couldn’t
do that. All of Olympus knew what was happening. They’d never stop
laughing at him if he gave in. He did have a sense of pride and
honor he felt most of them simply could not understand. He would
not give in to this spell.

“
I’ve already given in
more than I wanted to. I shouldn’t have had sex with you in the
woods.”

“
No one thinks less of
you.”

“
But now Ares is
angry.”

She waved the comment away. “So what?
He’s in a bad mood most days anyway.”

“
Well, besides the fight,
I’m sure he trusts me less now. He never sees his sister for what
she is.”

“
It’s not about Ares. It’s
about me.”

“
No, it isn’t.” He was not
going to admit that she was right, not on this issue.

“
Don’t give me that. All
of Olympus knows, you said. Yes, they all know you fucked me. You
see it as humbling, as if you want me back. It really gets to all
of you, not knowing which of you is Eros’ father, doesn’t
it?”

“
I don’t understand why we
can’t know.”

She crossed her legs and looked down
into her glass. “I don’t want you to.”

“
You don’t want to be tied
to one man.”

She snapped her head up. “Excuse
me?”

“
You heard me. You don’t
want to be tied to one man. If everyone knows who the father is,
they’ll wonder why you aren’t together. They’ll always think of the
two of you together.”

“
That’s not
true.”

“
Now who’s being proud?”
He leaned forward and made her look at him. “Admit that you like
being mysterious and elusive. Admit that you’re scared of being
like everyone else.”

“
Admit that you want to
know if Eros is yours, that it hurt your pride to fuck me like that
and have everyone wonder if you love me.”

He glared at her. “I don’t care what
they think.”

“
Yes, you do. You care if
anyone sees you as weak. Just like me.”

“
You’ll admit I’m right?”
He never liked holding out too much hope where she was concerned,
but she seemed ready to open up to him like never
before.

“
If it makes you happy. I
didn’t have to say it for you to know it’s true.”

He raised his eyebrows. “I think I
did. You’re a complicated woman yourself.”

She smiled. “So we’re both flawed.
Point taken. Now can we get back to your problem?”

“
Yes, though I doubt it
will do any good.”

“
You never know. Why not
go talk to her?”

“
Because I can’t trust
her. Don’t you see that?”

She stared at his lap. “Good
point.”

He took a deep breath. “Yes, I know I
have an erection. Fighting with you always did that anyway.
Combined with the images in my head, it couldn’t be
helped.”

She seemed intrigued, leaning closer.
“So what do you see? Is it your imagination or images she gives
you?”

He decided to indulge her, for the
moment. “Both. If I go to see her, I’ll sleep with her.”

“
What if she said no? What
if she wants to torture you and not fuck you at all?”

He had to admit he hadn’t considered
that. For just a moment, he felt terrified at the thought of her
turning him down. He shook his head. “That would be cruel. I don’t
know what I’d do.”

“
Hmmm. I hate to admit it,
but that could be it. Cruelty is something she’s good
at.”

He was having a hard time
concentrating. He needed to get off very soon. “Look, you can make
fun of me if you like, but I need to take care of this.” He
gestured to his swollen cock. “I can’t think. Excuse me for a few
minutes.”

She smiled. “I could take care of it
for you.”

“
Didn’t we just discuss
this?”

She shook her head. “We discussed the
time people knew about. Who would know about this?”

The thought of fucking her made his
cock harder, but he didn’t want to do that to his emotions
again.

“
I don’t want to
complicate things further.”

He thought she would object again, but
she didn’t. “Okay. I’ll try to think of something.”

He walked down the hall to her
bathroom, questioning whether he was right in turning her away and
wondering what the Fates had planned.

Chapter Two

Eris opened the door for Aphrodite.
The blonde goddess looked up and smiled at her.

“
May I come
in?”

“
Yes.” She stepped aside
and then closed the door. “Let’s go into the living
room.”

Aphrodite sat on the loveseat, while
Eris took a seat on the couch next to Cosmos. She rubbed the cat’s
back as she began to purr.

Eris glanced up. “Since you’ve come to
see me, you’ll have to tell me what you want.”

“
That’s what I want to
know. What do you want?”

Eris wasn’t sure what Aphrodite’s
intentions might be. She seemed passive, which was unlike her. It
made Eris cautious.

“
I don’t want anything.
And I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“
You put a spell on
Hermes.” The goddess still showed little emotion, as if the fact
she’d just stated had little significance.

“
Yes. And what harm has
that done? I didn’t make you two fuck.”

Aphrodite took a breath. “But what did
you intend to do?”

Eris wanted to laugh. “Get
him to fuck
me
.
That’s really it.”

“
That can’t be all you
want.”

“
Why not? He’s incredibly
desirable, and you’ve said dozens of times how good he
is.”

Aphrodite didn’t answer.

“
Come on. Why
not?”

Aphrodite gave a slight shrug that
looked a bit too stiff, as if she were actually quite tense under
her mask of nonchalance. “Well, I suppose I assumed it wouldn’t be
that simple.”

“
Well, it is. I didn’t
want to be invited to Eros’ wedding, but I went because it would
seem I was slighting you if I didn’t.” Eris shook her head and
finally laughed. “Do you even know why I wasn’t invited to that
wedding?”

“
Peleus and Thetis?”
Aphrodite raised her eyebrows. “Well, no. Not really.”

Eris moved over on the couch to be
closer to the loveseat. “Thetis was my friend. Zeus wanted her, but
she resisted him. I told her she should give herself to him. He’s
boring and egotistical, but he’s marvelous in bed and she could
have had anything she wanted. She didn’t listen though. When he
heard the prophecy about Thetis having a son who would eclipse his
father, he sent her away and gave her to Peleus as a bride. She was
so angry and ashamed at being married off to a mortal she didn’t
want to see me.”

“
But it wasn’t your
fault.”

Eris shrugged. “She needed someone to
be mad at. She didn’t want to get married and didn’t care one way
or another about having a son. That all changed afterwards, but she
was not a happy bride. She thought I would come to the wedding and
gloat.” She smiled. “I would have been smug, but I would have been
respectful. The Fates had great plans for that boy.”

“
You made him the hero of
a war that spanned his lifetime. He profaned the temple of Apollo
though. You should have let him be a great king
instead.”

Eris wanted to roll her eyes, but she
resisted. “So I’m so powerful I knew a war would start because of
what I did? Who do you think gave me the idea? You think I cared
about you three bitches fighting? I agreed to perform a task for
the Fates because I was angry.”

Aphrodite narrowed her eyes. “I’m not
here to fight about this. I’m here to help Hermes.”

Chaos hopped onto Eris’ lap. She
stroked him under the chin. “I’m not trying to fight. I am trying
to tell you to stop judging me. Clotho and Atropos looked on as
Lachesis carved the words ‘to the fairest’ into that apple. When
was the last time you visited the Fates, or even saw one of
them?”

Aphrodite blushed.

“
Something wrong?” She
tried not to smile, but she’d always known just how to hit a nerve
with Aphrodite.

“
I spoke to Lachesis last
year.”

This should be
good.
“And what did you talk
about?”

Aphrodite locked gazes with Eris. “I
asked her if Poseidon and Layla were meant to be
together.”

“
Oh yes, important matters
of state, I see.”

Aphrodite huffed and folded her arms.
“So you do the will of the Fates? Always?”

She shook her head. “Some of my
mischief is my own. You should know that, knowing my brother as
well as you do.”

“
I can see
that.”

Eris ran her hand over Chaos’ ears.
Aphrodite had basically admitted she was right. Eris couldn’t help
wondering if she had it wrong about the love goddess and Hermes.
Perhaps she was the one who couldn’t get over him. She was being so
civil it only made sense she was worried about angering Eris. The
feisty blonde didn’t tend to be a respecter of persons. She never
cared who she angered or slighted as long as she got her
way.

“
Look, I’m not going to
hurt Hermes or anyone else. Just mind your own
business.”

“
He asked me for
help.”

“
So what?”

“
He’s my
friend.”

Eris smiled. “You sure that’s
all?”

Aphrodite’s face flamed red. “Look,
Hermes is favored by Zeus as his most loyal friend and most dutiful
servant. He won’t let you torture him like this.”

“
How am I torturing
him?”

“
He doesn’t want
you!”

Her smiled faded. “He doesn’t want you
either.”