by Marie Medina
Chapter Two
Aphrodite looked at the table to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything. The wine was chilled, and she had lit the candles. Everything looked perfect. Despite that, she almost wished she had someone to ask her if she knew what she was doing. She didn’t, not at all.
Hephaestus would arrive shortly, and she wasn’t sure what kind of mood he would be in. If he thought she was giving in, he might be smug or he might be amorous. If he thought she was trying to manipulate him somehow, he’d most likely be very hostile. Despite his impatience, he’d been very kind to her recently. Everyone else thought she was being stubborn and pouting. Hephaestus at least understood she was truly upset about lots of things.
Over the course of the past year, many things had happened. Her affair with Ares had come to a definite halt. She’d revealed to Hephaestus, Eros, and everyone else who had been in doubt, that Ares was indeed Eros’ father. She’d been forced to come to terms with her longstanding infatuation with Hermes when he fell in love with someone else. She’d stopped pursuing him long ago, but memories of their days together and her feelings for him had made that harder than she’d let anyone see. She’d tried to help Ares win the girl he loved, but her spell had backfired and she’d almost killed him. Every bit of discord that had ever existed between her and Hera came back up again when Aphrodite nearly killed Ares, her favorite son. They had made up, in a way, since then, but of course Hera had no idea Aphrodite was secretly married to Hephaestus, her other son. Carrying on with her affair with Ares for so long had meant that when all was said and done she’d cheated on and hurt both of Hera’s sons. Now she’d botched yet another attempt at helping someone with the spell to free Apollo and Daphne. She could hardly stand to leave her bedroom some days. Everything she did seemed cursed.
She adjusted the silverware yet again. Two strong hands gripped her shoulders.
“You’re shaking. Has something happened?”
She turned to look up into Hephaestus’ dark eyes. “I was thinking about everything. And I do mean everything. I’m a little surprised I can stand.”
“Everyone is talking about it.”
“Daphne?”
“Yes. She’s with Zeus in his palace now. He won’t let anyone near her.”
“Why isn’t she with Hypnos?”
“No one knows. Her father is waiting for a summons.”
Aphrodite shook her head. “He should go to the palace. They would let him in. He should ask to see Hera.”
“He should, but the natural deities tend to be a little old-fashioned.” He rubbed her shoulders for a moment and then stepped back. “I was very pleased to get your note. I didn’t want you to be alone.”
She took a deep breath and turned to fully face him. He always did things like that. He’d do something intimate to remind her he was in love with her and they were married, but then he’d pull back as if he just then remembered she didn’t want him to act like that. She found it very confusing some days. “That’s why I want you here. So I won’t be alone. I trust you the most.”
He held her gaze for several seconds, but he smiled. “That’s enough for me. I’d prefer you sitting by my side to being in another’s arms.”
She shook her head vehemently. “Let me assure you that you have nothing to fear. I don’t even want to look at another man, not even a mortal one. It’s been the cause of so much strife.”
“Does that mean there’s hope for me?”
She considered her words very carefully. “I do not plan on starting any new affairs at all. I’m sure you think I can’t go very long without sex though.”
“Don’t try to start a fight. I know you can go as long as you want to. I said harsh things around the time Eros was conceived and at other times as well, but it was always because I had been hurt. I didn’t mean them. We were already married then, that night you spent with Ares, so I felt betrayed. It was made worse when I found out you were pregnant because I knew it couldn’t be mine.” He stroked her face. “I wanted him to be mine. I know you very well. Ares, Hermes, and all the others fucked you. I made love to you.”
She turned and moved away as her face grew very hot.
“You wouldn’t do that if it weren’t true. You know I was different. They desired you. I loved you.”
“You were different, yes. I wasn’t. I was just like I was with the others.”
She heard him walking toward her, but this time he didn’t touch her. She turned back to him. “Can we have dinner and talk about other things?”
He took a deep breath and let it out. He smiled. “We might be pressed for subjects.”
She knew that smile very well. He was trying to be patient, but he wanted to say more. “I’m being completely honest. I want you here so I’m not alone. I want to talk about anything besides all the mistakes in my life. I don’t want to find comfort in your arms, in case you’re wondering. Given our situation, it wouldn’t be right.”
“I know you’re being honest. Can I be honest as well?”
“Yes.”
“I think you need that kind of comfort very much. If the need becomes too great, I wouldn’t hold it against you. You’re my wife.”
“I’m not your true wife though. I would be using you.”
“You wouldn’t. Letting me give you pleasure would be a start. I want you to be my true wife.”
“I can’t be. That is why it would be wrong. I love you enough not to treat you that way. Show how much you really love me and respect that.”
The moment she’d said it, she felt awful. She’d never asked him to prove his love because she’d never wanted it. To ask him to do so when she was refusing to try to love him back seemed cruel.
He touched her cheek again. “Don’t look like that. You are worrying yourself to death. Maybe you can’t have a heart attack or a nervous breakdown like mortals, but filling your mind with worries cannot be healthy.” He tilted her head up. “I will wait for you as long as I have to.”
She closed her eyes so she didn’t have to look into his. “Do you want to say anything else? On this subject, I mean?”
He pulled his hand away. “No.”
She opened her eyes and headed for the kitchen. “Then give me a hand. I cooked.”
“Naturally? No magic?”
She held her breath, hoping. “Yes.”
“Hmmm. I’m not sure that makes it any safer.”
She smiled. The serious god everyone avoided, the solitary blacksmith many feared, always knew how to make her smile. She opened the kitchen door and looked around. She picked up a casserole dish and handed it to him. His willingness to be patient and just be her friend meant more than anything any other man had ever done for her. “I knew I could count on you,” she said softly.
Instead of saying something filled with meaning, he nodded matter-of-factly. “Of course. Always glad to help in the kitchen. I’m a good feminist that way.” He carried the dish back into the dining room.
She sighed and picked up the platter holding the main course. For tonight, at least, she would know a little peace.
* * * *
Apollo tried to focus on the girl beside him, but he couldn’t quite manage it. Something about her felt familiar though.
“You’re a…um…you’re—”
She put her hand on his arm. “I am like you, yes. And you are talking very loudly.”
He tried harder to focus on her. She had long white-blonde hair. She had sparkling green eyes and a nice smile. He felt as if he’d met her before.
“Does I know you?”
She smiled. “Yes, you ‘does.’ I’m Harmonia.”
“Harmonia? Eris’ sister?”
The girl gave him a puzzling look. He couldn’t tell if she was amused or annoyed. “Sort of, in the same way she and Ares are brother and sister. I didn’t have a father either. Aphrodite gave birth to me, but we were always more like sisters than mother and daughter. Does that ring a bell at all?”
He groaned loudly.
“Just what I need. Aphrodite’s kid. You been sent to take me home?”
“No. But I will, if you’d like.” She gestured to the bartender. “Can we settle his bill?”
The man brought back a long slip of paper. “You might want to keep an eye on him. He should have fallen over a while ago.”
Harmonia looked at the man. “Then perhaps you should have stopped serving him.” She handed the man a gold credit card and turned back to Apollo.
“S’not his fault,” Apollo said in a low voice. “Can’t see how drunk I am. Little spell.”
“That’s what you think. It’s actually fairly impressive. If you were human, he’d be in pretty big trouble. You would have been on the floor and in need of an ambulance, based on that bill.”
“Well, I’m not.” He watched her sign the receipt and stand up. He gestured at her. “I may need help doing that.”
She giggled. The sound was like tinkling bells, a little annoying, yet kind of nice. He shook his head. The last thing he needed was to seduce Aphrodite’s daughter. The very idea of the possible trouble stopped him from focusing on her touch too much. She was remarkably strong and helped him up easily. After a few moments and lots of blinking, he was able to make the door out.
She patted his shoulder. “Lean on me. I won’t break.”
He did, and again he was surprised how strong she was. “Harmonia. Harmony, then, I guess?”
“Yes. Harmony, concord, balance. I am the opposite of Eris, who represents discord and strife and all things dark and gothic. Lots of people add giggling and silliness to the list of my attributes. Eris thinks I’m a whiney airhead who smiles and laughs too much.”
After he’d managed to absorb that information, he shook his head. “Oh no, Eris is wonderful. The queen bitch is long gone now she’s with Hermes.” He sighed. “She’s so beautiful. I’ve always wanted to sleep with her.”
She shifted his weight and tossed him onto a bench. He was a little disoriented at being thrown down so suddenly.
“Something I said?” he managed to slur.
“You like her a lot, don’t you?”
He sobered a tiny bit. Since Eris was about to marry Hermes, he wanted to make sure his answer was very proper. He was in enough hot water with Ares over his affair with Alala. “I’ve always had a bit of a…thing for her. There’s something very special about her. It’s not just that she’s beautiful, and I don’t like assertive and domineering women at all, so it’s something a bit more…vague.”
“Maybe you like those things more than you know. Gets your attention when we get on this subject. You said all those big words right and everything.”
Apollo suddenly felt as if he understood. “Ah. Yes. Concord and … discord. Don’t really go together, do you? That’s why you’re ‘sort of’ sisters. Bet you hate each other though.”
“I never said that. The world needs both of us.”
He finally got a good look at Harmonia. She wore a light blue slip dress, and she had the most beautiful breasts he had ever seen. It was not the alcohol. They were truly stunning. They were bigger than average, but not too big, very perky for their proportions. They pushed together softly, and he’d have loved to cover the lush crests with his mouth as he toyed with her nipples.
“Lush? Like greenery?”
He froze. He was sure his mouth had not opened. “You’re in my head?”
“Well, I lost you once you got a good look at my breasts, so I decided to check in mentally.”
He groaned and let his head fall into his hands. “Just leave me, okay? I’m a jerk and all women should steer clear of me.”
“You are bitter and selfish, but not a jerk. If you weren’t drunk and wallowing in self-pity, I’d let you see exactly how amazing my breasts are.”
Despite the unbelievable amount of liquor he’d had, his cock twitched. He looked back up at her. “You are definitely Aphrodite’s daughter.”
She giggled again. “Look, I promise to accept you as you are and not judge you, okay? Let me help you home.”
He knew he would not get a better offer. He had to get one thing straight though. “Do you know why I am so drunk?”
Her smiled faded, and she nodded sadly. “Yes. All of Olympus knows.”
“I feel like I’m…splitting in two. I’ve loved no one but her for so long. And now? It feels like I have a crush on her. This is how I felt before. I knew I was falling for her, but I hadn’t, not completely.” He looked up at her. “I think this feels worse. It’s so uncertain. I’m so scared that I’ll lose her again. I’ve wanted other women. I’ve had hundreds. She was the one who was different. Now all that’s…confused.”
She knelt down in front to him. “I’m sorry. She’s all right, as far as I know. You two will get a chance to talk when she’s ready.”
He focused on her quite easily. “Did you do something to me?”
She smiled. “Little spell. You’re sobering at twenty times your normal rate.”
“I see. I thought this was a very different kind of lousy suddenly. I’d rather feel drunk.”
“Oh well.”
He didn’t know what to say when he once again noticed how amazingly green her eyes were. He stood up and tried to stagger away.
She grabbed his arm. “Even if you are sobering, you’re weak. Let me take you home.”
“Take me straight there and leave.”
She linked her arm with his and laughed. He’d never met anyone so happy. She gave his arm a tug and headed down the street.
“I’m not kidding,” he said. He’d tried to sound stern, but his words had come out a little whiney.
“Apollo, I promise not to take advantage of you in your vulnerable state. You aren’t terribly popular, and you need a friend. Let me help you for a bit.”
Despite their differences, this woman did seem like a reflection of Eris in many ways. Completely different disposition and personality, but the same strength shone through.
“Fine. Knock me on my ass if I try to get a look at those breasts.”
“No promises there.”
He smiled. Tempting or not, she was funny and sweet. He needed something positive in his life very desperately. “You’re gonna get me in so much trouble with your mother if we’re not careful. God knows what she’ll do to me this time.”
“Don’t worry about that. We don’t talk much, but she’s changed a great deal the last few years.”
Apollo didn’t comment. He looked up into the night sky. He’d had quite a day.
* * * *
Daphne sat next to Hera in a large Victorian parlor. Burgundy plush covered almost every inch of practically everything, except for the three tables. Zeus had agreed they should contact Mnemosyne since Daphne wanted to fully regain her memory. She had insisted she didn’t need to come and that in fact she did not want to return to Olympus at all. She’d given Zeus a small bottle for Daphne to drink. After ten minutes, she’d found the courage to drink it.
Now that the lead arrow and its spell had no influence on her, she saw Apollo in a very different light. She’d never felt so sorry for anyone her whole life. It had all flooded back to her with shocking quickness, unfortunately triggering another spell of vomiting. Then she’d been unable to stop crying. She now understood why she’d wanted to forget.
It had been about twenty minutes since she’d stopped crying. She still hadn’t said anything about Apollo or her situation. Hera had been trying to offer her things to make her feel better, and she’d politely declined everything. She finally accepted a cup of tea.
She took a slow sip and then turned to the woman she now remembered as her queen. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now.”
“You can do whatever you want to do. You should talk to Apollo, but you aren’t obligated to him in any way.”
“I know, but I can’t even give him a chance.”
“Because of Hypnos?”
She nodded. “I’d never been in love, or even had a lover before. I
wasn’t interested in love or marriage. I didn’t really want children, and I had little interest in sex anyway. Apollo’s attention was flattering, but I didn’t have very strong feelings for him. I fell in love with Hypnos a long time ago.”
Hera smiled sadly. “He’s a good man, but complicated.”
“He explained to me what happened, but it’s still confusing. I did notice the change in him though. It gave me hope he might finally return my feelings. I can’t explain that.”
“I think I understand. Hypnos was separated from that darker part of himself when he first encountered you. You knew him that way. You didn’t know anything was missing. Right? You only thought he didn’t return your feelings?”
Daphne didn’t feel it was that simple. “Sort of. Repressed is the word I keep thinking of. Before he was…rejoined or whatever it was, he repressed things. He always thought and acted based purely on logic. He had emotions, and he did express them, but never fully. He would never have made a decision based on emotion. He would help someone out of duty or honor or even morality rather than love.”
“Or at least he saw it that way? Talked about it that way?”
Daphne considered. Hypnos did seem more conflicted and confused now, but was that all due to being more open or in touch with his emotions? “I think so. I have no idea if we could work out or if he returns my feelings, but I know I love him.”
Hera poured herself a cup of tea. She stirred sugar into it and took a long sip. “You may need to be careful with him. His sense of duty and honor still control him. He feels guilty for Thanatos’ actions because he sees them as his own. He seems to actually feel bad because he’s been forgiven.”
“But he shouldn’t. Thanatos was a separate being. The separation would have been pointless if he hadn’t been. It does sound like him though. I can imagine him trying ten times as hard to please everyone for a long time.”
“When he thought we’d hurt you, he didn’t give a damn about pleasing us,” Zeus said as he strode into the room.
Daphne looked up at the blond god, who still wore the dark blue business suit he’d put on to go to the mortal world to talk to Mnemosyne. “I noticed he was angry, but I was very confused.”