Chapter 34 - Eros

Eros not only missed his chance to watch Psyche and her sister, but he wasted three otherwise perfectly good hours of his life listening to Iris chatter away in meaningless babble. His stomach nearly lurched when she pursed her thin lips together and batted her eyelashes in obvious hopes of receiving a kiss after Council. But Eros dropped Iris at her door, giving her only a quick, "See you at the next meeting," before launching himself back toward his Olympian palace.

Eros tore through the door and darted to his couch, perching on the edge. With his fingers tented together, he started scanning.

A swirl of purple mixed with cloud caught his attention first. Favonius was carrying Chara back up the mountain. Eros didn't know whether to be relieved that she was gone or angry that he'd missed the entire visit.

Before he could decide, his thoughts returned to Psyche. How had she held up?

Eros scanned through the palace courtyard and gardens. No Psyche. He searched the dining room and library with no luck either. He squeezed his fingertips more tightly together. Finally, he checked her bedroom, and there she was. He hadn't thought to find her there since it was the middle of the day. But now, his near-panic at not immediately finding her seemed foolish.

She'd shown him just a few days ago that he didn't need to worry about her going missing.

Convinced that Psyche was asleep, Eros ignored the sunshine and flew down to his palace to find Alexa.

"Well," he whispered when he found her, "tell me what happened."

Ack! Alexa started, poking herself with her sewing needle hard enough to draw blood. "Look what you made me do!" Alexa stuck the wounded finger in her mouth. "Donth sneakth up on people," she said.

Eros let out a long sigh. "Sorry. So what happened?"

Alexa's eyebrows pinched together. "Weren't you watching?"

"I had Council today," Eros explained as he flopped into a leather- covered chair in the corner of Alexa's room.

"Well, you missed a show. Psyche's sister tried to turn her against you, ke you thought she would. Chara made her so upset she got a migrane even. But Psyche was strong. She changed the subject and she'll be fine."

Eros exhaled the breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding. "Is he okay?"

"It was just the stress. I'm sure she'll be better now that Chara's gone."

"Guess that explains why she's napping," Eros mumbled.

"Want to hear the really good part?" Alexa's eyes were wide with excitement. "Psyche was already resting when Chara left, so as I was showing her out, I showed her me." Her teeth sparkled from under her impish grin.

"I appreciate the gesture, but I'm not sure she deserves what's coming now."

"You don't understand," Alexa whined. "She kept calling you a monster. And she tried to get Psyche to leave with her. She definitely deserves whatever bad luck she gets."

Eros crunched his teeth as he thought. Chara tried to take his Psyche away. He'd rather be shot than lose her. Finally, he nodded. "You did the right thing."

Perhaps sensing his tension, Alexa turned solemn. "Favonius didn't drop her on the way back up the cliff, did he? I wasn't trying to kill her or anything."

"I know," Eros assured her. "And no, I saw Chara make it back. But you know something is coming. No human ever escapes the bad luck that follows seeing a nymph."

Chapter end