Destined (4 page)

Running past her, I dove into her bed and pulled the silk blankets over my head. Almost instantly, Chara tackled me and the bed shook under her continued jumping.

“What are you doing, silly? Come out.” Chara’s voice sounded light and airy enough to fly.

When I didn’t answer, she finally stopped her incessant bouncing.

“Psyche?” She shook my shoulder. “Is everything all right?”

No. It’s not all right. Not for me. Not for you. Nothing’s even close to all right.

“Not really,” I croaked.

The covers yanked away and I peeked up to see Chara standing over me. “Spill it. What’s up?”

I recovered my face with my hands. “You don’t even want to know. Seriously. It’s that bad.”

She tugged my hands free. “Come on. It can’t be that bad. You
are
Aphrodite’s daughter now.”

I nearly puked on the bed.

“Fine.” I sat up and took a deep breath. “Here’s the short version. Everyone wants me to get married. Like yesterday. Aphrodite demanded I marry Eros, but that didn’t work out—”

“Whoa. Wait,” Chara cut in. “
The
Eros? She wants you to marry her son?”

“The correct word is
wanted
. Past tense. He pretty much hated me, was a jerk and I kicked him out of my room.”

My sister’s silence confirmed that yes, it did sound as bad as I thought. I forged ahead, determined to get to the part affecting her too. “So, that was her and now she’s pretty ticked and all, which is one thing. But Mom and Dad are still on a rampage, planning a double wedding or something and sending out announcements for both of us.”

Chara dropped my hands in favor of slapping them over her soundless scream. Or maybe she was about to puke too.

When she finally spoke, her words tumbled out fast and reckless as rapids. “That’s imposs—. Are you sure? I was supposed to have another year.”

All I could do was huddle with her as we formed our own pulsing pile of tears, sobs and runny makeup. “I’m so sorry,” I moaned. “I knew she’d want something, but I didn’t know it’d be this. I should’ve asked.”

Chara looked up at me, her gaze telling me I’d slipped up before the accusation even came out. “What do you mean, ‘should’ve asked?’ You knew Aphrodite before today?”

Swallowing hard, I realized Chara had gone from sharing in my agony to looking ready to toss me to the lions. “It’s not what you think.”

Liar, liar
.

 
“She’s just been visiting. Mostly as a bird. Sometimes helping me with the window.” I rubbed at my nose with the back of my hand. “It wasn’t that easy, you know?”

“How long?” she demanded.

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Two months. Maybe three.”

“Three months!” Her shriek almost frightened me more than Aphrodite. “You’ve been having visits with a goddess for three months? What’d you think was going on? You
had
to have known.”

“I didn’t. I swear. She just told me it added to her power when beauty was important and that I was helping her. That’s all I knew.”

Chara thrashed off the bed, jerking the covers with her. “Unbelievable.”

“I know,” I pleaded, “help me. What am I going to do?”

“You?” Chara’s look was incredulous. “Help
you?
I’m supposed to be at least a year out from having to play nursemaid to some ancient king. I like it here, thank you very much. But now what? Now I have to suffer because you were too dumb to see the obvious?”

As I searched for the words that could possibly explain myself, Chara tore out of the room. “I can’t be here right now.”

The door slammed behind her like the crack of an axe.
 

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. Dionysus’ 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 Dionysus. As Eros hoped to be by the end of the night, Dionysus was draped in girls. He held a goblet of wine, sloshing its crimson contents to the ground.

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

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

While Dionysus 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 Dionysus’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 perfect 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 home-wrecker.”

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 despicable 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.”

* * *

A doorman peeked into the dining room as Eros was finishing breakfast. “My Lord, Aphrodite sends word that she’s gone to holiday at sea. She said to make sure you do your job quickly so she won’t have to be bothered with the details.”