by Tina Folsom
The morning at the shop was quiet, and Psyche busied herself with changing the water for the cut flowers and repotting several plants, which had outgrown their pots. She was about to run out to grab a sandwich from the deli next door, when the bell over the door tingled, announcing a customer.
She turned around and wiped her hands on her apron. “Triton?” she asked in surprise. “Is there a problem with the garden?”
“No, no, the garden is perfect,” he said quickly and approached the counter.
Suddenly her heart began to race. Was Triton annoyed with her behavior toward his guest the previous day? Had he come to have a word with her about it?
“About yesterday,” she started.
“Yeah, I’m really sorry about that. Eros isn’t himself right now. I hope you’ll forgive him.”
“Oh, uh, yeah, sure.” So Triton hadn’t come to reprimand her and tell her she didn’t have a job anymore. Relieved and curious at the same time, she stared at him—after all, he’d never visited her shop before.
“You were talking to Sophia yesterday about… about your living situation. She told me.”
“Oh. Yes, well, I’m sure it’ll sort itself out. I didn’t mean to burden her with it.”
“I’m glad you did, because I have a solution for it.”
“You do?” Involuntarily, Psyche took a step toward him.
Triton nodded. “How would you feel about housesitting?”
“At the Olympus Inn?” she asked incredulously.
Triton chuckled. “No, not there. Trust me, that would involve work. I was thinking of my friend’s house. It’s south of Broad. He had to leave on business on short notice and hates to have the house empty while he’s gone. He asked me if I could find somebody who could stay there for a couple of weeks and just make sure the place doesn’t burn down.”
Psyche pressed her hand to her chest, where her heart thundered excitedly. “Are you serious? Oh my god! I’d love that. That would help me out so much. I don’t know how to thank you.”
Triton grinned. “No need to thank me. You’re actually helping me out.” He motioned to the door. “I can show you the place right now if you have time.”
“No time like the present,” she answered cheerfully and took off her apron, still unable to believe her luck.
Maybe things were finally looking up.
6
Eros took another gulp from his wine and leaned back on the comfortable chaise longue he’d been lounging on in Hades’ Underworld for the past two days and nights. His host occupied a couch opposite him, though Hades wasn’t alone. A nymph was his playmate today.
Hades, dressed in black pants and a black, unbuttoned shirt that showed off his chest, grinned as he groped the beautiful nymph’s breast. “Eros, you sure you don’t want company? I hear this one has a very pretty sister.”
The woman giggled and threw her head back.
Eros reached for the plate of grapes on the low table next to him. “What part of I’m not interested did you not get?”
“Everybody has the right to change his mind,” Hades drawled. “Even you. Just figured maybe a bit of wine would put you in the mood for some female companionship.”
“You’re starting to sound like my married friends.”
Eros jumped up and walked to the large window. In the distance, beyond a patch of dark forest, he could see the red flames behind the river Styx illuminate the constant darkness of the Underworld. There was nothing appealing about this place. Hades’ palace was gaudy and screamed of bad taste—yet was still the most comfortable place in the Underworld. The desperate souls who were condemned to spend eternity down here lived in miserable conditions. After all, they’d committed atrocities. They deserved no better. Still, a tiny part of Eros wished this place didn’t exist. But it wasn’t for him to judge. This was Hades’ domain, and he made sure everybody knew that he was the master down here.
“It’s a shame, my dear nephew, that you let a woman cause you so much pain,” Hades suddenly said from behind him.
Eros whirled around and found Hades only steps away. “I’m not your nephew,” he deflected so he wouldn’t have to respond to his great-uncle’s statement.
Hades made a dismissive hand movement. “But we’re family.”
Eros rolled his eyes. “All the gods are family.”
Hades chuckled. “But that’s not the point, is it? The point is that you let a woman get to you and destroy everything you once believed in.”
“What’s it to you? What I do or don’t do hasn’t affected your life.” Eros motioned to the scantily-clad nymph on the chaise longue. “You’re still getting all the pussy you want.”
“Oh, that’s crude,” Hades claimed and cast a leering look at his playmate. He smirked. “But correct.”
“So get off my back.” Eros walked past him and poured himself another glass of wine. “I thought you of all people would understand if a fellow just wants to forget.”
“Sure, but most men who want to forget do it by indulging in carnal pleasures. And I don’t see you doing that, which begs the question why you came down here in the first place.”
“You mean I can’t just come pay a visit to my uncle?”
“Oh, now I’m your uncle?” Hades shook his head. “You came to hide, because this is the only place where dear old Zeus can’t just march in without an invitation.”
Eros shrugged. “So?”
“I don’t appreciate being used.”
“Did Zeus put you up to this?”
“Put me up to what?”
“To start a fight with me so that I’d leave?”
Hades grinned appreciatively. “You still have your wits about you. Gotta give you that.”
“It’s not like you made much of an effort.”
Hades motioned to the nymph. “That’s ‘cause I use my energy for better things. As should you.”
“Thanks, but no thanks.” He toasted with his wine glass. “This will do just fine.” Though as a god his tolerance for alcohol was high, and he was barely buzzed, let alone drunk.
“Well, then—”
Hades was interrupted by the ringing of a cell phone. Eros glanced at the table.
“Yours,” Hades said.
Eros set down the wine glass and picked up the phone, reading the display. With a sigh, he answered the call. “What is it, Dio?”
“Hey, buddy, I saw light when I drove by your house so I figured you’re still up. Listen, Ari and Thoas are asleep, and if you want to go out for a nightcap, I’m up for it,” his friend said.
“You saw light where? I’m not home.”
“Sure you are. I just saw you walking around behind the drawn curtain in the living room. So don’t lie to me. If you don’t want to go for a drink, just say so,” Dio grunted.
“Hey, listen,” Eros replied, tense now. “I’m not fucking home. I’m with Hades.”
“He’s telling the truth,” Hades yelled.
“Then who the fuck is in your house?” Dio asked, then he sighed. “Shit, man, it could be burglars. You know there’s been a rash of robberies around Charleston lately. Luxury homes getting cleaned out.”
“Ah, damn it!” Eros cursed. That was all he needed: somebody stealing from him.
“I can check for you. You want me to take the asshole to task?” Dio offered.
“No, I’ll do it myself. I’ll be there in a few minutes.” If somebody had broken into his house, he wanted to be the one to dole out the punishment. Maybe that would make him feel better. “Just watch the house and make sure the burglar doesn’t leave. Call me if he does.”
Eros disconnected the call and shoved the phone into his pants pocket. “Gotta go.”
Hades nodded. “Have fun.”
Without another word, Eros rushed out of the palace and through the dark forest. Normally, he teleported when he was in a hurry, but there was no teleporting in Hades. Down here, deep in the belly of the Underworld, there was only one way out: via the fer
ry over the river Styx. Luckily, Hades had improved transportation over the river recently. And the new, and very efficient operator of the ferry, was none other than Hermes’ father-in-law, Bert Galloway.
Eros waved when he saw Bert standing near the ferry landing, tying up the boat, while the newcomers to the Underworld waited to disembark. None of the souls looked particularly happy about their new digs, and Bert had to herd them like cattle toward an area where several registration clerks were signing in the new arrivals. When all the souls had finally left the boat, Bert waved to Eros.
“Ready to go home, Eros?” Bert asked.
“Yep, got some urgent business to attend to.”
“Well, then give me a hand and untie us.”
Eros did as Bert had asked, then followed him onto the bridge. “How are things?”
Bert grinned. “Never been better.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out two letters. “You think you could give these to my daughter? One’s for my mother.”
“Sure. Penny will be happy to get some news from you.”
Bert chuckled. “Let’s not kid ourselves. She’s got her hands full with the baby, her work at the university, and that insatiable husband of hers. Not much time to think of her old man.” He lifted his hands off the steering wheel for a moment. “But hey, I’m not complaining. She and Hermes came down to show me my grandson a week after he was born. That was a nice touch.”
“Hades treating you well?”
Bert gave him a you’re-shitting-me look. “When has Hades ever treated anybody well? This is hell after all, or have you forgotten?”
He hadn’t. Neither had he forgotten why Bert was spending eternity down here. It was part of a deal that Hermes had struck with Zeus, both to spare Bert’s human life, and so Hermes could stay married to Penny, Bert’s daughter. It had been a match that Zeus hadn’t approved of, because not only had Penny stolen Hermes’ winged sandals, her father had in turn stolen them from her, causing havoc in the gods’ world. In the end, Hermes had negotiated for Bert to take over the ferry service over the river Styx and deal with the backlog of souls, as well as oversee the construction of a bridge over the river. Bert had agreed to the deal for his daughter’s sake. After all, he’d only caused her heartache and pain when he’d lived in the human world. But down here, in Hades’ Underworld, he was useful—and still alive, which allowed him to visit his family in the human world once a year, a concession Hermes had been able to wring from Zeus.
“Guess it’s different when you’re a god. We can leave whenever we want, unlike everybody else.” Eros pointed to the souls on both sides of the river, and those who’d foolishly tried to swim across it. Trying to escape their hellish afterlife, they were now caught in the Styx’s treacherous rip tides and would most likely never reach the other bank, condemned to swim for eternity.
Bert nodded, a solemn look on his face. “Yeah. But I’m luckier than them. I get to see my family once a year. Gotta be grateful for that. Could’ve turned out worse.”
“Yeah, could’ve.”
Bert pulled the ferry alongside the pier. “Here we are.”
“Thanks for the ride, Bert!”
Eros waved back and rushed past the waiting souls, who were lined up along the river to get aboard the ferry. The line was several miles long and wound along the river, but Eros didn’t follow it. Instead, he veered right and headed toward a wall of fire. The scent of brimstone was as strong here as anywhere in Hades. When he reached the wall of fire, he marched into it. The fire didn’t burn him, didn’t singe his hair or skin, because it was only an illusion, a Fata Morgana Hades had erected to greet the condemned. On the other side of it was a solid wall of concrete. Even if one of the souls dared to cross the wall of fire, it would never be able to penetrate the wall to return to the mortal world. Only gods had that power. Eros used it now to cross the threshold between the Underworld and the mortal world. He emerged in a boiler room.
Not wanting to lose any more time, he immediately teleported to his home in Charleston. He checked his phone. Dio hadn’t called again, which meant the burglar was still inside. There was no light in the living room like Dio had claimed, but when Eros lifted his head, he saw light upstairs in one of the bedrooms—incidentally the very bedroom where he’d stashed his magic bow, the one he hadn’t used since his breakup with Gloria. And even though he wasn’t going to ever use it again, he couldn’t allow it to fall into a mortal’s hands.
“Let’s teach you not to screw with a god!”
Eros entered the house silently. It was a large, two-story villa in the Mediterranean style with way too many bedrooms. He’d bought the house a year and a half ago in anticipation of settling here with his mortal love, Gloria. He’d chosen a house that could accommodate a whole horde of kids—kids he’d hoped to sire. Now the house often stood empty while he traveled around the world or spent time on Olympus.
It was dark on the first floor, but Eros didn’t switch on any lights, not wanting to alert the burglar that he wasn’t alone anymore. The only sounds he heard were coming from the upstairs, where the bedrooms were located. He walked up the old wooden staircase which was covered with a soft, new carpet that now absorbed the sound of his footsteps. At the landing, he stopped briefly. To the left was his master suite, but it was quiet there. Instead the sounds were coming from one of the guest rooms at the other end of the corridor. He approached and put his ear to the door, then eased back again.
Was that the sound of water running? Or were his ears deceiving him?
Carefully he turned the knob and pushed the door open a sliver, peering inside. He could see the bed, its covers pushed back. But it was empty. He opened the door wider, but the room was empty, though the light was on and the door to the en-suite bathroom was ajar. He stepped into the room, and could hear it clearly now: the shower was running.
What the fuck?
What brazen burglar took a shower in the house he was robbing? How dare this guy invade Eros’s privacy like this? This was even worse than just getting robbed!
Pissed off, Eros pushed the door to the bathroom open and froze. Paralyzed, he stood on the threshold and stared at the unexpected scene. The intruder was a woman. A naked woman. She stood in the glass-enclosed shower, water pearling off her perfect skin. Her chestnut hair was wet and reached down to her mid-back, drawing Eros’s eyes lower to a heart-shaped ass so perfect the sight robbed him of his breath. Like a perfect goddess. He took all of her in in a mere second, before the door he’d pushed open hit the wall, and she whirled around.
Their eyes met, and she let out a high-pitched shriek, trying to cover what she could with her hands, but she wasn’t fast enough. Eros had already taken in her luscious breasts with their pert, rosy nipples, her flat stomach and flaring hips, and the dark triangle of neatly trimmed hair at the apex of her thighs. She was just as perfect from the front as from the back—with one exception: he knew that face.
“You?” Eros ground out.
Surprise and panic registered on her face as she frantically looked around, searching for something. “You!” she yelled back and reached past the glass panel to pull a towel from a hook, which she swiftly held in front of her to cover her nakedness.
Eros glared at her. “By the gods! You broke into my house? Is that why you bumped into me, to steal my keys?”
“Your house?” The words came out in an almost helpless gasp.
7
This couldn’t be happening. She was housesitting for Eros? The man she’d had an unpleasant exchange with only two days earlier? And now he was suddenly back, and not only was he accusing her of having stolen his keys, but he’d seen her naked? How much more embarrassment could she take? And why was he back anyway? Hadn’t Triton said he would be gone for two weeks?
“You’re not supposed to be here,” she croaked, trying to make sense of the situation.
Her heart beat like a jackhammer, and her hands trembled as she held onto the towel for dear life, trying to shi
eld herself from his penetrating gaze. How long had he stood there, watching her? She wanted to sink into the ground and disappear, but there was no place to hide or escape. He was blocking the only exit.
“I live here. You, on the other hand, do not. So explain yourself. What are you doing in my house?” He crossed his arms over his chest and gave her an expectant look, his forehead furrowed.
“I’m housesitting,” she started, her voice unsteady. Normally, she was no shrinking violet, but being naked with only a towel for protection, and facing an angry, self-righteous man, wasn’t something she reveled in.
“Housesitting? I would know if I’d hired a housesitter. Try again!”
“But it’s true. I’m—”
“You’re an intruder,” he ground out and stepped closer.
Involuntarily she shrank back under the continuing spray of the shower. It started soaking the towel. “Triton, he gave me the key. He said—”
Eros stopped his approach. “Triton?”
She nodded quickly. “He said a friend needed a housesitter, and he knew I needed a place to stay. He didn’t tell me that this was your house…” If he had, she would have refused the offer.
“Triton,” Eros grunted, as if talking to himself now. His mouth set into a grim line, and he let his gaze travel over her again, as if examining her—to what end, she didn’t know. “Figures.”
Psyche felt the towel become heavier from the water and knew it was pasted against her body now, outlining her curves, though at least it wasn’t turning transparent. Nevertheless, she felt as if Eros’s eyes could penetrate the wet cloth. Why else would he be staring at her so intensely?
“What else did Triton tell you?”
“What?” She shook her head. “Nothing. Just that I should look after the place while you were gone.”
Eros blew out a breath, indicating that he neither liked nor believed her answer. “Did he tell you to run around naked? Did he ask you to seduce me?”
“What?” Why would Triton ask her to seduce Eros?