Out of Cake Aphrodite (The Goddess Chronicles Book 6)

by S. E. Babin

  It could be worse.

  I could get stuck with Hephaestus again.

  I shuddered in distaste.

  Dike could go smell her sneakers for all I cared. I wasn’t going to help her. If I could figure out a way from a dungeon, I could figure out how to get out of this cage even if I had to Shawshank the crap out of it.

  Fortunately, Luck was smiling upon me today.

  Literally.

  The soft whisper of wings caught my attention and I looked up only to see a tiny woman floating above me. Sparkles poured from her wings.

  “I see you’re in another pickle,” the tiny voice proclaimed.

  “Fortuna,” I acknowledged and tried not to sound too grateful. I wasn’t sure what she wanted but you didn’t last long in this world by expecting things for nothing.

  “Aphrodite.”

  I didn’t ask why she was in the guise of a fairy. Wasn’t sure I wanted to know, really. All I was concerned with was getting out of here. I didn’t think Dike was going to kill me, but I did think she’d keep me here until I agreed to her terms.

  Which meant I’d be here until I withered into a husk because that bitch could go choke herself.

  I said nothing further and waited for her to tell me why she was here. A small flame of hope began low in my belly. The Goddess of Luck never showed up to gloat. She was here for a reason and one that might be in my favor.

  She flew down from her perch above me and alighted on my dirty knee. “You are a very fortunate woman. This is the second time in only a few months you’ve been caged by someone who hates you.”

  “What can I say?” I muttered. “I’m a popular gal.”

  One teeny little perfect brow arched. “I wouldn’t go that far, dear.” Sparkles of magic piled on my knee into a tiny pile and if I blew it, Fortuna would be covered in glitter. And that would amuse me. Because I was stuck in a cage.

  Seeing my look, she snapped a tiny finger and made it disappear.

  I couldn’t help my look of dismay. Why was it everyone took away my entertainment options when I was trapped in a cage?

  Fortuna rolled her eyes. “A friend of yours has paid my fee. When I leave here, your cage will be opened and your powers restored. Do not squander this opportunity.”

  Dread filled me. “Who paid your price?”

  She shrugged. “It is not for me to say.” She burst into flight and hovered at eye level. “Do not kill Dike, no matter how much you wish to. She plays a pivotal part later.”

  I sighed. “Stupid prophecies.”

  But Fortuna didn’t say I couldn’t hurt her. She winked at me and disappeared from my site.

  And she knew it. I grinned at my sudden good fortune. I’d try to find out later who had hooked this girl up, but right now, I had to get out of here and jack up a brunette.

  A lock I didn’t know existed snicked open and the door creaked loudly. I cursed under my breath and stepped out, immediately feeling the magic roaring back in my veins. I cloaked myself under a shield and quietly opened the door to the room I was in.

  I snickered silently to myself as I stepped out. How dumb was Dike to have brought me to her house? Or I assumed it was her house. Piles of paper and legal books spilled out onto the kitchen table. This had to be her home.

  Even though I was invisible, I could still make noise so I tried to tiptoe quietly through the house. I was going to find her if it killed me.

  I perked up at the sound of voices. Dike was talking to someone. I stepped closer to a closed door and leaned in to listen.

  “I don’t know why you won’t ask her,” she whined. “She’d do it if you asked her.”

  “She won’t. We’ve already spoken about it. This is not your concern.”

  I froze. Hermes was here.

  “It is my concern. You’re mine now. I don’t want another woman getting between us.”

  Hermes snorted in derision and I cringed for her. “I am no ones. You are a distraction. A beddable, pliable woman. Nothing more.”

  Oh. Snap. Hermes sure could be a prick when he wanted to be. His tone hurt my heart. I had done that to him, I knew. She was merely a victim.

  But even if you’re a victim you don’t force someone into a magic dampening cage.

  That’s just wrong.

  I slammed open the door with a burst of power and lassoed Dike in a coil of magic. I directed the other half of my concentration at Hermes to keep him in place. I didn’t think he would hurt me, but I wasn’t taking any chances with either one.

  “What the hell? Abby?” He tried to step forward and when he couldn’t he speared me with one of the glares I’d so gotten used to.

  “Sorry,” I murmured. “Let me deal with this and I’ll let you go.”

  One golden eyebrow rose in curiosity before he gave me a short nod. He crossed his arms and waited.

  Dike bucked against my magic.

  “Stop,” I told her.

  She didn’t.

  I zapped her with more magic. Nothing. She screeched and bucked and squirmed, making it harder for me to hold on to her. But as she did, I noticed something.

  Something that made me very, very relieved. I had liked Dike before all this, but love can make you stupid. Her fascination with Hermes had been fast and quick which didn’t seem at all like the bright-eyed sassy girl who had visited me just a few short months ago.

  But you know what else besides love made you stupid? Well...stupider, I guess.

  A love spell.

  Stupid Cupid had hoodwinked us all. And I knew the dark-haired jackass behind it all.

  Zeus.

  I pursed my lips and thought furiously. She wasn’t going to stop until I found and destroyed the spell.

  “Hermes.”

  One eyebrow rose. He was staring at me like I was a bug he smashed under his shoe.

  I rolled my eyes. “I need your help and I need you to not ask questions.”

  I relinquished a little bit of my hold on him and he immediately threw his arms up in annoyance. “Oh no you don’t, you little minx. Don’t get me involved in your crazy issues!”

  I snorted, half in amusement and half because I was pissed off. Dike was over here bucking like a rodeo bronco and screeching like a harpy and he was refusing to do something that could only help him.

  “Hermes!” I snapped. “Dike is the goddess of justice and morality. Didn’t you think it was a little bit strange she was so wrapped up in you? Do you think it’s in her nature to hook up with people, willy-nilly?”

  His arms fell as he considered. Hurt flickered over his face at my words but his expression slowly settled into one of stunned realization. “Release me,” he snapped after a moment.

  “With your word you will not hurt me.”

  Hermes glared at me. “If I wanted to hurt you, you’d be dead a hundred times over. Release. Me.”

  I let go of the magic holding him and focused the rest on Dike.

  “What in the Hades happened?” he asked me as he called forth his Caduceus.

  “Payback, I think,” I said.

  “From whom?” He wrapped Dike in his magic allowing me to release her.

  “Thanks.” I wasn’t going to answer his question.

  “Abby.” His tone was short. Hermes was irritated with me. Which was the usual state of things. Normally it was an exasperated but fond sort of irritation. Today it was sheer, aggravated annoyance. Hermes was done with my shenanigans and I couldn’t say I blamed him.

  I shut my eyes, focused on my magic and tried to hone in on the bright red spot placed smack in the middle of Dike’s chest. A powerful love spell from the looks of it. In the exact shape of an arrow head. Cupid’s mark. I owed that guy a visit once this was all done.

  “Abby!”

  I sighed. “Zeus.”

  His magic wavered. “What?”

  “You heard me!”

  Dike was screeching so loudly I had to scream to be heard.

  “Why on Earth would he do something like that?”


  There were a million reasons. Because he disliked me. Because he didn’t trust Hermes not to show up to the challenge. Because he wanted me to be with Typhon. He wanted me far, far away from him. He was angry over the contract I now held with Hades. The reasons were vast. But one thing I couldn’t explain was why he’d given me the means and ability to make myself mortal.

  Unless he just wanted me out of the way.

  He was a hard guy to figure out sometimes.

  “Because he wants me to marry Typhon, I suppose.” It was both the easiest and the hardest response I could give him.

  I glanced over. Hermes’ jaw tightened. He remained silent.

  Figured. I again focused on the spell and sent a tendril of love magic toward her heart. Dike screamed even louder as she sensed what I was doing. I broke the spell in pieces, shattering one shard of it at a time until there was nothing left. When it was over, Dike blinked at both of us in confusion.

  “You can release her now, I think,” I said to Hermes.

  He gently brought her down and set her on her feet.

  “Better?” I asked.

  She stared at Hermes.

  I glanced at him once and let myself out of the room.

  Whatever those two had to say to each other was none of my business.

  It was time for me to leave. And time to find that pain in the ass cherub

  Chapter 8

  I blinked into Cupid’s house under a cloak of invisibility. I’d crushed up another one of Clotho’s pills to continue hiding my power signature. I didn’t know if it would hide me from someone like Zeus, but I felt pretty safe with Cupid.

  However, when I showed up in his living room, Zeus was standing there. I should have been surprised but I wasn’t. Nothing with the gods surprised me anymore.

  I tensed, ready to get the hell out of there if he sensed me, but...nothing. Clotho’s herbs were a freaking miracle. She needed to bottle these and sell them on the black market.

  “Dike should have her now,” Cupid said.

  “Good.” Zeus wasn’t smiling or even acting cordial. “Maybe she’ll keep her out of my hair for awhile.”

  “What about Hermes?” I cringed as I watched Cupid lounging against his dirty couch. They ignored the captive women still sitting against the wall whimpering and watching them with wide, sad eyes. Sometimes when I thought Zeus might be mellowing out, he’d do something like this or...not do something. In this case, release the innocent women that Cupid was holding hostage. I gritted my teeth and stayed silent.

  For now.

  “Make the spell fade over the next two weeks. They won’t know what happened. Hermes will consider it a rebound thing. Dike will chalk it up to sowing wild oats.”

  “Very well. Anything else, my lord?”

  Zeus looked at the exact spot I was standing and grinned. Widely.

  Shit.

  “Yes,” he said to Cupid. “Duck.”

  The look on Cupid’s face was pricelessly confused. I grinned even though I knew Zeus couldn’t see me. He had somehow sensed me, though, but didn’t seem too worried about my presence. At least, not for himself.

  “Duck, my lord? I don’t follow...” His voice trailed off.

  Zeus disappeared from the room. I lobbed a massive wallop of straight pink magic at Cupid. I so rarely used my love magic anymore I had forgotten the full extent of its power. It sank right into his heart and lit up his entire body. He blinked once. Twice.

  I dropped the concealing cloak and stepped in front of him.

  “Hello.”

  He sank off the couch onto his knees. “My lady. My queen. My-”

  “Shut up, Cupid.”

  He lowered his head and stayed silent. I wouldn’t leave him like this forever. I did plan to use this to my advantage, though. I had no idea the extent of his magic. It was dumb on my part to assume the arrows were his only power especially when mine was so whacked out.

  My gaze fell on the women once again. “What was your plan with them?”

  Cupid swallowed hard but he was unable to resist answering my question. “They were to stay with me. But no more. I only want you, Queen.”

  My upper lip curled in distaste. “You’re a pig, Cupid. You know that?”

  “I’m a pig,” he repeated.

  “That’s right.”

  I walked over to the women and undid all of their restraints. I put my finger up to their lips to tell them to be quiet and called over my shoulder to the person responsible for most of this. “How much money do you have?”

  His brows knit together. “I don’t understand.”

  “Treasure. Gold,” I snapped. It was likely he wasn’t carrying human currency, but I figured several pounds of gold would translate nicely into a change of life for these women. I’d do my best to erase the trauma, and hopefully, there wasn’t anything more than just the kidnapping. I stopped and appraised Cupid.

  “I’ll have to see, Queen. I’ll have to -”

  “Did you do anything to these women?”

  His eyes slid away.

  I exhaled heavily. One of the women - a tiny brunette in the middle of the rest of them let loose a loud sob. I kneeled down next to her and reached out to touch her filthy hair. I’d been doing this job for only a little while and it was the second time I’d found something like this. I sent a small burst of healing magic into her body. The most I was capable of now. I’d have to practice a little more with Hecate’s power before I’d feel comfortable enough to do a full healing. It was enough to start the healing of her worst injuries. Her mind was something else entirely.

  I wasn’t a violent person. I wasn’t someone who felt I had to answer vendettas.

  But I was sick and tired of watching innocents become victims to something they didn’t understand.

  “Only her?” I asked quietly.

  “Ye - Yes.” I couldn’t see him, but his fear permeated the air around us. As it should.

  I sealed the room preventing anyone from entering or leaving before I popped out to make an unscheduled visit.

  “He assaulted one of them.”

  I didn’t say hello. I didn’t apologize for barging in to his vacation home, the one he thought I didn’t know about. He had several of them scattered around the world. I didn’t know about all of them. Yet.

  He could have killed me in a single blow but…he didn’t. Thank the gods for small favors.

  Zeus blanched and looked like he was going to throw up.

  So he hadn’t known. This made me feel a smidge better.

  “I’ve rarely asked you for anything, but I ask this of you now. Cupid deserves to be punished.”

  “And what punishment shall you bring upon him?” Zeus rubbed a hand over his tired face. As many centuries as he’d spent playing games, sometimes people still surprised him. Except this one was a sickening surprise.

  “I think we should leave that up to the victim.”

  His gaze met mine. Serious and solemn. Zeus was a lot of things, but he respected the virtue of women. Yes, he used to be a notorious womanizer, but he did not tolerate crimes of this nature.

  He sighed, a world of sadness and regret in it. “If it is any consolation to you, Aphrodite, he held those women long before I enlisted his help.”

  “But you did nothing to stop him once you knew.”

  His mouth tightened.

  “You are as much to blame.”

  A stricken look flickered across his face before it settled into blankness. “Try as I may, I cannot seem to escape you. I am sorry it happened in such circumstances. Very well, Abby. You may play judge and jury. Allow the woman to be the executioner if you must.” He paused and steepled his fingers close to his face. “Allow no one to find his remains.”

  With a nod, I disappeared.

  The scene was exactly how I’d left it. Cupid trembled in fear, his normally cocky expression wiped from his face and replaced with something that told me he knew I was having none of it. Regardless of his feelings f
or me, magically put there by yours truly, Cupid knew there was a reckoning. All my magic did was warp his feelings and allow me to control him. It didn’t allow me to control his deeper thoughts. Unless it came to me. He could only speak well of me and could not resist my bidding.

  I wanted to get back to my old life. Or at least get some kind of a break from seeing horrific things, but as my gaze found the woman again I knew that my whining was nothing...absolutely nothing compared to what she was going through. I could take it away from her if she wanted. Make it so she never remembered it. I couldn’t make it go away. Only the memory of it, not the actual act. Few of us could…

  A light bulb came on. Maybe Clotho could.

  I scrambled through my pockets for the stone she’d given me oh so long ago. The one I never used but always remembered to carry. The one where she reminded me she wasn’t a servant.

  This was no ordinary request.

  I held the stone in the warmth of my hand, ignoring the curious gazes of the people around me and summoned her.

  Moments later a gentle breeze surrounded me and Clotho’s unnerving silvery gaze fell upon us all.

  She took one look at the woman. “Aphrodite. You ask too much.”

  “I know.”

  “If I change this one thing, it has the potential to change other more important things in the future. Things I cannot begin to explain.”

  I took in the woman’s haunted gaze and how her eyes flickered to and away from Cupid. No one should ever have to live with that. “I know.” Now that I’d seen the women and knew what happened firsthand, I couldn’t live with only taking the memories away.

  “You will owe me a great boon,” Clotho said.

  “Don’t I already owe you several?” I quipped but bit my lip in remorse. This wasn’t the time for jokes.

  “A boon sealed with your immortality.”

  Oh. That kind of boon.

  I knelt down to the woman and slowly reached to brush a dirty curl away from her face. I explained who I was and, while most people would have scoffed and dismissed it, all of these women knew I was speaking truth. There were some unexplainable things happening tonight and sometimes truth was stranger than fiction.

  “We can make this so it never happened. Do you want that?”