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  Chapter 5 - Eros

  Eros whipped through the cool night air, still struggling to control his temper. His mother’s audacity had hit a new low.

  He couldn’t believe she’d told him to marry a mortal. She knew how he felt about them since --. He couldn’t bring himself to even think her name. That scar had finally healed and he wasn’t about to tear it open again. Especially not over Psyche, a girl who apparently detested him on sight.

  What he needed was a distraction. Something to keep his mind from circling back to the arc of attraction he’d felt when he touched Psyche that morning. Or the way just seeing someone as beautiful as her made him want to seal his heart up in a metal box. He wouldn’t let himself be hurt again. Ever.

  Trimming his wings, Eros landed just outside a throbbing mass of people. Bacchus’ all-night party would certainly do as a distraction. In the midst of half-naked women who actually wanted him, he figured he’d drink himself stupid. And find someone who’d make him forget Psyche’s green eyes and how much they reminded him of ... her.

  Pushing through a crowd of gossiping nymphs, Eros sidled up to Bacchus. As Eros hoped to be by the end of the night, Bacchus was draped in girls. He held a goblet of wine, sloshing its crimson contents to the ground.

  “Bacchus, old friend,” Eros said, clapping the beefy immortal on the back, “looks like you started the party without me.”

  Bacchus swung his wobbly head toward the voice and worked to squint Eros into focus. “Zou made it...” he slurred. “Have some wine!” Bacchus raised his glass and wine splashed onto the chest of the woman sitting to his right.

  While Bacchus made a mess of helping the lady dry her toga, a reveler whisked over and placed a goblet in Eros’s hand. He downed the wine in one long drink.

  “Here, let me get that for you.” Eros turned to find a nymph he’d known for years refilling his glass.

  “Kalliste!” Eros threw an arm around the nymph. “Good to see you again.”

  “You too, Eros.” Her auburn hair sparkling in the torchlight was almost as captivating as her smile.

  Eros leaned closer to Kalliste and lowered his voice. “Since when did you become one of Bacchus’s followers? I didn’t think you liked this sort of thing.” He nodded his head in the direction of a group of swirling women.

  “A girl has a right to change.” Kalliste brushed her bangs off her forehead. “Probably a lot has changed about me since I saw you last.”

  “Do tell,” Eros replied, finishing off his wine and raising his cup for another refill.

  “Maybe. First I want to know about Eros. Have you changed any?” Kalliste asked as she poured.

  Eros raised an eyebrow. “Me? Why should I change?” He bumped her shoulder with his. “I’m pretty prefect as is, don’t ya think?”

  “Mmmm...” Kalliste ran her hand up to his shoulder. “You are a treat for the eyes, but you’re murder on the heart.”

  Eros laughed and threw back another gulp of wine. “Me? You don’t know the half of it.” He’d seen murder on the heart, but it wasn’t his doing.

  Kalliste narrowed her eyes as she leaned in to hiss in his ear. “You’ve got to stop with the arrows, okay? I know you’ve been laying low for a few weeks, but Zeus sent me to confirm that you’re done. He’s serious this time. No more mortals for him.”

  No more mortals for anyone, if Eros had any say in the matter.

  “And you need to make things up to Hera,” Kalliste continued. “You’ve been quite the homewrecker.”

  Eros let his head fall forward. He wished he weren’t having this conversation tonight. Or ever.

  “What does she want?” he groaned.

  Kalliste laid her arm over Eros’s shoulder. “Just let some nice goddess make an honest man out of you. You know how she is about family. Settle down, stop sending her husband chasing after mortal girls, and all will be forgiven.”

  Talk about a joke. Zeus has been chasing women since long before Eros was born. But what could he say to the little messenger-nymph that wouldn’t make it back to the Olympian rulers? Nothing.

  Eros snatched the jug of wine and refilled his glass. “You know, Kalliste? You’re the second person today who’s tried to set me up.”

  Kalliste’s lips twisted into a pout. “Oh. Did someone else already talk to you about Iris then?”

  Eros about spat out his wine. “Iris? That multi-colored freak show? Gods, that’s almost worse than a mortal.”

  Kalliste bumped her knuckles into his shoulder. “Don’t be an ass. It was Hera’s idea.” When Eros didn’t respond, she added, “She’d really like to see you settled down.”

  “Yeah, well, so would my mom.” He threw back another gulp of wine. “People are going to have to learn to deal with disappointment.”

  Kalliste’s face paled as her gaze locked on something behind Eros.

  “What?” he asked, turning.

  Aphrodite was so close, he had to stumble back so he didn’t step on her. “Disappointment is a bit of an understatement, don’t you think?”

  “Not here,” he said. “I’m not talking about this tonight. With either of you,” he added, glaring back at Kalliste.

  Aphrodite’s eyes cut to the nymph as she spun her son in the opposite direction. “You’ll excuse us.”

  “I said not now.” Eros jerked his arm loose from her grip and stopped. “I don’t care what you say, I’m not marrying a mortal, okay?”

  Aphrodite leveled her intense blue eyes at him. “Okay.”

  Um, what? Eros rolled his shoulders and tucked his wings back into place. “So why’re you here?”

  “It’s painfully obvious that there’s not much I can do to you for refusing my arrangement. She, on the other hand, is a different story.”

  “And you came here to tell me that?”

  Aphrodite snatched the goblet from Eros’ hand and threw it to the ground. “No, I came here to tell you to take care of her punishment. She rejects my son? Fine. Make her fall in love with some dispicable and hideous mortal. I don’t care who, frankly. Just make sure he’s as awful to the women in his life as you are.”