Out of Cake Aphrodite (The Goddess Chronicles Book 6)

by S. E. Babin

  His other arm wrapped up my waist and around my shoulder. He pulled me so close our forms were melded. Hades swayed with me, and my body responded. My eyes fell closed. My heart beat faster. I had no idea what song was playing. I didn’t care what song was playing.

  The beat of the bass pounded against our bodies. His deft fingers undid my braid and magic allowed the rest of my hair to fall free. White magic. Hades’ power flowed around me, surrounding us in a brilliant haze of white. My eyes opened.

  We were no longer at the party.

  He made no move to let me go. His hand fell lower until it was slightly above the swell of my hips. I opened my mouth to speak.

  Tension fell between us. Tight and taut. A wire that would snap our connection if someone made the wrong move. My head swam, high and free. My heart, conflicted.

  My body knew exactly what it wanted.

  And it wanted this heavenly, hellish, tall dark drink of water that was terrible for me.

  And so very, very married.

  I cleared my throat and pushed against his chest.

  He was a rock.

  “Just.” He licked his lips. “Just stay with me like this for a moment.” Hades’ face was stricken. With regret. Hope. Concern. All the emotions that shouldn’t be on his face.

  And me. What was I thinking?

  I sent a burst of magic through my veins hoping to break down the mescaline. To no avail. The drug was bound into my veins, sparkling with a pink and golden shimmering light.

  Hades’ arms were still around me. I tilted my head up. He was so terribly close to me.

  I leaned in. I knew it was wrong. I couldn’t help myself.

  He was strung tight with tension. The smell of him intoxicated me. I waited. I watched. His face flickered with too many thoughts and emotions.

  His lips touched mine.

  The world exploded around us.

  The touch of his lips against mine was warm and heated. We stayed like that for a moment, both of us afraid to move.

  “We shouldn’t,” he whispered against my lips

  “I know,” I whispered back.

  A light flick of his tongue against my lips.”Shouldn’t,” he whispered.

  I blossomed against him like a flower hopeless to unfurl against the warm light of the sun. I opened my mouth and drew him in.

  A groan, a shift, a tug in my hair. Lost. Found. Together.

  It was over before it had even fully started.

  A blast threw us away from each other.

  “Well, I see all those declarations of love for my son were absolutely useless, now weren’t they?”

  I knew that damned voice too well. I sat up and rubbed a sore spot on my head from my impact against the wall. I still had no idea where we were, but it didn’t matter. Zeus had still managed to find us.

  “Your son is currently making out with Dike. They can go have little winged babies for all I’m concerned about it.”

  Zeus looked handsome as usual. His dark hair was immaculately groomed and he was dressed like he was on his way to a business meeting. The beard he sometimes sported was shaven this time. He looked far younger than he should for being the semi-retired King of the Gods. Or was he retired? I couldn’t keep up with this crap anymore. His brow furrowed as he took my statement in, but he waved a hand. “Although it’s nice to poke at you about him, that isn’t why I’m here.” His gaze lingered longer on Hades, who had managed to stand up. Grief was written all over his face and I couldn’t tell why. The effects of the mescaline were still making me fuzzy, and I knew had I not been under its influence I wouldn’t have made out with Hades, but it wasn’t the time to think about it. Later was always a good time to examine poor decisions. And in the dark. And with lots of ambrosia.

  No. Be strong, Abs. Step away from the ambrosia.

  I stood and crossed my arms over my chest. “Then why are you here?”

  A quick grin crossed his face. “Ah, but I’m not really here, am I? Thanks to my brother here.” He sneered the last word. “In the few moments you two escaped to play hanky panky, someone managed to undo the seal on the door where you stowed my daughter.” Anger flickered over his face for a moment, but he stopped himself from a full bout of temper. Mainly because Artie didn’t like him all that much and probably wouldn’t be amused by him coming to her defense.

  Hades’ mouth dropped open. “Impossible.”

  “Improbable,” Zeus corrected. “Artemis has been taken.”

  “Taken?” I echoed? “Who would do that?”

  Zeus waved a hand and against the wall a series of images projected like a screen. Artemis lay silently on the bed in the exact same position. I frowned and looked over at Hades. How long had we been gone?

  The light shimmering against the door fell and the lock turned. A shorter man with blond curly hair entered the room and shut the door behind him. He stopped for a few moments and stared at my friend.

  “Cupid,” I growled. Of all the low down dirty things someone could do…

  “I’ll kill him,” Hades muttered.

  Zeus’s magic stuttered at Hades’ curious words. He turned to him in silent question, but with a sharp hand gesture, Hades waved the pictures on. Moments later, Cupid scooped an unsuspecting Artie up into his arms. He staggered slightly under the weight and I couldn’t help but chuckle even as rage boiled in my veins.

  Cupid was not a large guy and Artemis was not a small woman.

  They disappeared in a shimmer of soft pink light.

  Of course his magic was pink and frilly. “Little girly man,” I muttered under my breath. I was angry, yes, but I had no doubt I could take Cupid on and pound him into the floor if I needed to.

  “You’re going to have to use your words with him, Abby,” Zeus said as if he was reading my mind. “He’s sneakier than he looks.”

  I’d reserve judgment on that. “Where did he take her?”

  Zeus, as helpful as always, shrugged. “No idea. I’m here because you two idiots let your hormones...and mescaline get the best of you. Find the Huntress or I’ll find Persephone and tell her all about what I caught you two doing.”

  Hades went white at that, and I immediately regretted our impromptu makeout session. What in the hell had I been thinking?

  Zeus hit us both with a burst of magic and his avatar or projection or whatever it was disappeared in a shower of emerald light, leaving us standing there staring at each other in an awkward manner.

  Whatever Zeus hit us with had mitigated the mescaline. Thank the gods.

  He reached behind him and rubbed the back of his neck. “Should we talk about this?”

  I snorted. “Never. We should never talk about this.”

  “Abby, I-”

  I shook my head. “Zeus is right. You are married. I’m heartbroken. There couldn’t be anything worse than the two of us getting together. Even for a momentary respite.” As pleasurable as that may have been, it was a terrible idea. I rubbed my face and laughed in frustration. “Plus since Hermes is tangled up in Dike, it looks like I’m promised to Typhon.” That hadn’t occurred to me even after seeing them together. There was no way Hermes was going to bother with a battle for my heart. He didn’t care about my heart. He cared about a dark-haired skank who called people honey. Not that Typhon was bad. He was anything but bad. But...my heart couldn’t take it anymore.

  Despite the fact that our impromptu makeout session moments ago was completely interstellar and intense, I had no intention of ever repeating it.

  “Abby.” He tried again.

  “Please don’t. Let’s keep to the letter of my contract. Once I nab Artie and get some things straightened out, I’ll find Persephone.”

  My gaze met his. I prided myself that I didn’t cry. I didn’t pout. I didn’t even blink. “Deal?” I said in a firm voice.

  “Fine,” he said. His tone was clipped and angry. “I will respect your wishes.”

  “Good. Please send me back to the party.”

  With a
nod, Hades waved his hand and I was propelled back into the room where I’d just caught my former lover making out with his new one.

  Legendary probably wasn’t the word I’d use for this particular Dionysus party.

  Chapter 4

  Wherever Cupid had gone, he’d done a good job of disappearing. No one saw him enter and no one had seen him leave. Perhaps copious amounts of mescaline had something to do with that. Once I found Artie, I was swearing off anything that had the ability to mess with my senses. I was going straight and narrow. No funny stuff. No matter what happened or who made me angry.

  Of course, I always said that when crazy things happened as a result of something like this. Perhaps the mescaline had taken it a little too far.

  I reexamined the bedroom as if I were the female equivalent of Sherlock Holmes. Or I pretended to. I had no idea what I was looking for, if anything. He came, he saw, he took. I knew Cupid was a squirrelly sort but I didn’t think he was the kind of guy who would intentionally place someone in danger. Especially someone like Artie. But I didn’t know him that well. I don’t recall there being a grudge between them, but I could be wrong. Sometimes our grudges went back thousands of years until they were merely fuzzy memories in my head.

  Cupid was a bit of a loner and I guess with a job like his, maybe I would be too. While I was more involved in the day to day operations of love, or I used to be, Cupid was the guy who shot people with arrows. It required good aim, patience and the ability to stay concealed. The first person the intended target saw after being shot with the arrow would be the person the victim fell in love with. After a few times of being the recipient of some seriously strange stalking, Cupid had gotten a whole lot more careful about his hiding spots and his anonymity. I had gotten the better end of the stick with that one. I had no magical arrows and I had no compulsion to make people constantly fall in love. For me it was more if I felt like it...which when I thought about it might have been more dangerous than Cupid’s compulsions. I’d had some pretty terrible matches in my day and when I thought about them they’d all occurred when I’d been lonely, depressed or in a particularly sour mood. Good thing I hadn’t done that in awhile.

  The only thing I could find in the room was Artie’s fake wand. That did me absolutely no good so I made one more sweep before I left the bedroom and went out to do some more investigating. Dionysus was my first target, but I found him slumped against the wall halfheartedly making out with Ariadne. I stifled a snort when I saw them. Even mescaline couldn’t solve all your problems, I guess.

  With a limp wave, he motioned me over. Ariadne leaned against his shoulder when she saw me and gave me a sour look.

  I held my hands up. “Sorry about the glamour. It’ll take a day or so to fully wear off.”

  Ariadne glared. “Great. I can’t have sex with my guy because he’ll be thinking about you for the next 48 hours.”

  Crimson spread across my cheeks and down to my neck. A burst of laughter erupted from Dionysus as he ruffled Ariadne’s hair. “I suspect she didn’t think that one through before it happened.”

  I avoided eye contact. I couldn’t even think about Dionysus in that way although it did make me feel eons better to know the odds were good that Hermes was thinking about me while he was making out with Dike.

  I couldn’t help the small smile that found its way onto my face.

  Dionysus’ grin widened. “I see you figured that one out. The best revenge is silent, eh girl?”

  Even Ariadne smiled at that even as she commiserated with Dike. “Poor girl.”

  I sobered as I thought about something else. Hades. So that explained it. Never once had he approached me in that way and never once had I felt like he’d been flirting with me or wanted something else between us. The only blame for what happened lay upon my shoulders.

  I was no better than any of these other people around here forcing others to do things for them. I’d compelled Hades to kiss me. He hadn’t stood a chance.

  Dionysus’ gaze narrowed. “Abby?”

  I shook myself out of it. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to bother you, but I was wondering if either of you saw Artie recently?”

  “Not since I saw Hades dump her in a room.” Ariadne straightened and attempted to brush some of the tangles out of her messy hair.

  “Cupid?” I asked hopefully.

  Dionysus snorted. “Please don’t tell me they ran off together.”

  I blinked. “Not quite.”

  He straightened to his full height. “Everyone is as safe as they want to be at my parties. If something has happened, I need to know about it so I can make sure it never happens again.”

  I grimaced as I thought about his justice versus mine. “I can handle it.”

  “It’s my responsibility.” Anger darkened his face.

  I tried another tactic. “I would take this as a personal favor if you allowed me to handle it.”

  Interest sparked. I had him.

  The gods never liked owing anyone else favors, even though favors were our currency. I watched him as he worked it out for himself. If he kept this discreet and allowed me to handle it, he would no longer feel an obligation toward me for saving his life.

  “And people say you aren’t clever.”

  I huffed out an annoyed breath. “I’m blonde. Not an idiot.”

  He tugged Ariadne closer to him and kissed the top of her head. She was still annoyed with him...and me, but a soft smile appeared on her face as she snuggled into his massive chest.

  “Very well,” he said. “I shall endeavor to stay out of this, but I will ask that you report to me once the situation is under control.”

  I nodded. “Deal. Now, have you seen Cupid anywhere?”

  Both of them denied even seeing Cupid enter the party much less swipe a goddess out from underneath their notice.

  Great.

  I thanked them for their time and began to make my way through the crowd, discreetly asking people who looked so whacked out they wouldn’t remember any of my questions later. Of course, this made it likely their recollections would be altered, but the consensus was no one had seen either Artie or Cupid.

  It appeared this winged little cherub had been watching us and waiting for the right time to swipe her. Time to figure out what his motive was and what in the world it had to do with my best friend.

  Chapter 5

  The lore on Cupid was vast and most of it was false. I was not his mother, nor did I hold any true grudge against him. I’d only dealt with him a handful of times and nothing serious for that matter. He annoyed me, it was true, but I hadn’t even spoken to the guy in probably two thousand years so it was possible he had changed and maybe for the better. The gods knew I had.

  Who did I always turn to when I didn’t know who to turn to? The tiny bells whispered a cheery tune as I pushed through the door of Curiosities and Brambles, my favorite Fate’s shop. We weren’t exactly friends, but we were kind of friends. We were the kind of friends who told each other the truth so we couldn’t hang out together for very long because when we did one of us would inadvertently want to murder the other one. As long as Clotho wasn’t spouting out prophecy, which was pretty often mind you...she was, after all, a Fate, then we were good.

  I hoped today was one of the good days because every time her eyes went all weird, I knew shit was about to get real. And I was real tired of shit getting real.

  Clotho burst out laughing as she rounded the corner to greet me.

  Befuddled, I stared at her. “What?” I asked as I looked around.

  “You made the Asheville Courier main Facebook page,” Clotho pointed out, her eyes crinkling in amusement.

  “Facebook?” I sputtered. “You use Facebook?”

  She tutted at me. “Everyone is on Facebook these days. It’s how I keep up with my people.”

  My jaw dropped in disbelief.

  Clotho rolled her eyes and motioned me toward her. With a wave of one hand, she produced a wall-length mirror. I stared at my
self in all my Princess Leia glory.

  “Well, crap.” I’d forgotten to lower my glamour and change my appearance back.

  Clotho snorted and pointed out to the window of her shop. A small crowd of mostly males had gathered outside, their faces pressed to the window all trying to catch a glimpse of me.

  “Sorry,” I muttered sheepishly.

  The window shades slammed down and the locks on her doors whooshed shut. “Be calm, child. There’s obviously something that has you so distraught you forgot normal protocol.”

  I had forgotten. And I was lucky Zeus or Hermes hadn’t caught wind of it yet. Using my glamour around mortals was enough to earn me a severe punishment. Even though I wasn’t working for him anymore, he still seemed like he was kind of in charge. I’d have to ask Hades about that later.

  Hades’ magic had fixed my hair for the most part. I focused on shortening my limbs to their normal stature, lightened my skin and changed into a pair of black leggings, a cheery teal and white flannel shirt and a pair of riding boots. I pulled my hair up into a messy bun and plopped down onto the couch Clotho had produced for me.

  She offered me a cup of tea and in the past I would have refused it. She hadn’t tried to poison me yet, so this time I gratefully accepted it.

  I sipped in silence and waited for Clotho to get comfortable. Once she’d adjusted her broom skirt around her folded legs, I pounced.

  “What do you know about Cupid?”

  Her brow furrowed. “Of all the people I thought you’d be here about, Cupid never crossed my mind.”

  I drank my tea and waited.

  Clotho twirled a long light brown curl around her finger. “He was an impulsive lad. Bright, cheery and intelligent. Or...he used to be.”

  I perked up at that. “Used to?”

  Clotho nodded and blew on her tea to cool it down. “Before he got tired of his powers.” She slid her silvery gaze my way. “In fact, he reminds me a lot of you.”

  The tea burned my lips as I jolted when I was about to sip. “Me?” I asked in disbelief. “How is he similar to me?”