Chapter 2 - Psyche
Before I could fully process what was happening outside my window, my name erupted from down the hall like a Santorini volcano. “PsyCHE!” Father always emphasized the “K” part of my name when he was angry or excited, and I wasn’t sure which way this was going.
After a quick goodbye wave to the crowd, I slammed my shutters closed and pressed my back against them. Sucking in a deep breath, I put on my best serious face and marched from my room and into the scroll-lined walls of the library. As always, my parents were there, waiting to count the treasures I received that morning. The cold sweat trickling down my spine evaporated when I saw their faces.
Ebullient.
Aphrodite’d taught me that word earlier this week. She thinks beauty is even more powerful when it’s backed with knowledge. And she insisited that I “certainly ought to know a word that described a cheerful and energenic person like myself.” Today, the word fit my parents’ expressions. Their eyes shone like a thousand candles blazed inside their heads and their smiles threatened to permanently engrave laugh lines into their cheeks.
“Today. At the window...” Mother covered her mouth with her tiny hands.
“Well, you know what this means?” Father cut in. “Aphrodite has spoken.” He crushed me against his chest in a spine-crunching hug. He released me when my bones actually popped.
“Sorry, baby,” he said. “It’s just -- we’ve waited so long for this news. All the signs were there, the crowds, the tokens. Still, we were starting to think you weren’t going to be chosen.”
Mother reached out her hand. Taking it, I sunk down next to her on the couch. “Of course,” she said, “we never doubted you. But it’s only been two generations since Helen, so we thought perhaps she was still biding her time before picking another daughter.”
“What do you mean -- daughter? I’m not her daughter,” I stammered.
Tears leaked from the corner of Mother’s eyes. She rubbed them away while trying to smile. “It’s a figure of speech. More symbolic than anything. Aphrodite has a history of picking a mortal girl to serve as her daughter. Kind of like how Apollo has the Pythia in Delphi.” Her gaze settled on my face as she studied my features, so like hers.
“I’m surprised she didn’t explain this to you already.” As her emerald eyes shifted to Father, she bit her lip. “Is it a bad sign that she didn’t come to Psyche before the announcement?”
Here we go -- signs, omens, superstitions. Mother was about to get on an unstoppable tangent unless I stepped in.
Father stroked his beard. “I’m not sure I’d call it a --”
“It’s not a sign,” I interrupted. “She’s visited me before. She just made me promise not to tell anyone, and well...” I threw up my hands at their incredulous looks. “What’d you want me to do? She’s a freaking goddess.”
I’d read enough to know that crossing the gods was bad news. Do something they tell you not to? Game over. No way would I blab Aphrodite’s secret, even if her visits were the coolest and most terrifying things I’d ever experienced.
Father smiled at Mom. “Well, I guess we didn’t need to worry about the decision, now did we?”
Releasing my hands, Mother smoothed out the folds of her tunic before slowly rising and pacing over to the window. I thought she’d be relieved to hear there were no evil omens descending on our palace.
“Phoebe? Are you alright?” Father asked.
She sniffed as she waved him off. “I’m just...I’m worried. There’ll be a lot expected of Psyche now. The mortal daughter of Aphrodite. It’s a big responsibility.”
Father gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “And the first pure mortal too.” His gaze, so full of pride -- the same expression he wore whenever he returned from a successful duel or a neighboring king came to pay homage -- washed over his face. “Helen was so beautiful because she was half-immortal.”
And I’m not.
I wondered if that made me more or less special.
“Wow.” I tucked my legs in close to my chest and gave them a squeeze. “You guys should’ve told me. I had no idea. I don’t even know what to say or do when she comes back.” I looked up and met Mother’s eyes. She was the one who always had answers for me. “Am I supposed to act like I’m part of the Olympian family now or something?”
Flinching, Mother spun into Father’s arms and sobbed. Shudders wracked her tiny frame; all he could do was smooth her hair and whisper to her.
“What’d I say?”
Father looked over at me. “She’s just upset because you’ll be getting married so soon now. I’m sure she thought she had more time with you girls.”
Wait. What? I’d just been adopted by a goddess today - wasn’t that enough of a status change to last for awhile?
I rubbed at the bridge of my nose as the tinges of a headache started to bloom behind my forehead. “How does me being Aphrodite’s adopted daughter require that I get a husband?”
“Honey, your Mother and I already talked about this. We decided that if Aphrodite did pick you, then both of you girls should be eligible for marriage immediately. She is the goddess of love, so naturally she’ll want our family to represent that for her.”
“So what? I have my whole life to do that. But I know Aphrodite didn’t match Helen up with Paris of Troy until long after she’d already been married to Menelaus.” And inadvertantly starting the largest war in history. “So why do you guys think...”
Then something Aphrodite said that morning registered in the back of my mind. I learned from my mistakes with Helen. Maybe that meant she wasn’t planning on waiting with me, letting me find my own course before she intervened. She was going to control it from the start, wasn’t she?
Father was yammering on, probably answering my question even, but I’d stopped listening. Chara was older than me, and she wasn’t married yet -- didn’t want to be. We loved living in Sikyon. We didn’t want to leave behind the artists who painted portraits for an obol, or the tragic plays that flowed through our theaters with the changing seasons. This was my home, and though I always knew I’d someday have to leave, I wasn’t ready to go yet.
“Psyche, are you listening to me?”
Father’s voice shook me out of my trance. “I said, go tell Chara we’ll start accepting suitors tomorrow.”
If there’d been any color left in my face before, it had to be gone. Tomorrow? I blinked, forcing back the edge of panic I felt rising in the pit of my stomach. “We don’t need to rush into this. I mean, Aphrodite hasn’t even dropped by to see her ‘daughter’ since the big annoucement.”
Father leaned forward and whispered, “You’re obviously pretty good at keeping secrets, so I’ll trust you not to share this with your sister. But in addition to honoring Aphrodite in her union, Chara’s bride price will be a lot higher right now because of your news.”
I’d have been less surprised if the roof of our palace collapsed on my head. Mother and Father wanted to sell us off now because we were at the peak of our bride price? Seriously?
Thankfully, Maia found me before I could start shrieking at my parents or tearing out my hair like a raving lunatic. “Psyche, child, I need your help for a minute. While I was making up your bed, your pet returned.” She lowered her voice so only I could hear. “And it’s brought a friend.”
The constriction in my chest lightened even as my heart skipped erratically. Maybe Aphrodite would have some better answers. Surely she’d say my parents were insane and forcing the princesses of Sykion into early marriages hadn’t been part of her grand plan.
“A pet?” Father mused. “Psyche doesn’t have a --”
Mother broke away from her sobs long enough to figure out what Maia really meant. “Aphrodite’s back in her bird form, isn’t she?”
“Probably,” I admitted, already hurrying to the door. “But I want to see her alone first. Have some mother-daughter bonding time.”
And see who in Hades she brought with
her.
Maybe it was one of my goddess aunts? Would Athena show up as a dove too, or did she only do the owl thing? What about Hera?
Brushing past Maia, I raced down the hall. Curiosity aside, my new mother and I had some issues to discuss about certain forthcoming wedding plans. After reminding myself that I needed to thank her for choosing me before unloading all my family drama, I pushed open my door and stepped inside.