Chapter 45 - Psyche

When I woke up the next morning, my mind instantly clamped down with the fear of facing Aphrodite. Therewas nothing to do though except busy myself withgetting ready.

Ceres floated in with her carefree nonchalance as I wound my hair neatly into a bun. When she opened her hand, a tiny white daisy materialized. She tucked thedelicate flower behind my ear before taking my hands inher own.

“You can do this,” she assured me, squeezing my palms.

I closed my eyes and exhaled while bobbing my headand forcing a tight smile. “I know,” I said and bit my lip.

“Might as well get this over with, huh?”

I didn’t mean a word of it, of course. I’d have takenany excuse to delay.

Ceres straightened the flower behind my ear. “No time like the present,” she confirmed. Her dark eyes danced again with motherly assurance.

Unable to stop myself, I threw my arms around the goddess. Everything about her was comforting. Her skinsmelled fresh like the Olympian air and her smileradiated warmth. She encircled me with her own arms as I shuddered against her.

“Oh, Psyche,” she sighed as she rubbed my back.

“You must believe that everything will work out. All is lost if you lose hope now.”

I stepped back and blinked at Ceres. “I don’t understand,” I muttered, now furiously chewing the corner of my lip.

“When you stand before Aphrodite to apologize, she’ll know your heart better than you do. If there is any hesitation in there, she’ll sense it.”

Gulping, I nodded. This had better be the best apology of my life.

“And the same is true when you tell her you love her son and deserve his forgiveness,” Ceres continued. “You must go to her with the conviction that you are Eros’s destiny. You do believe that?”

“More than anything,” I whispered.

“Then you can do this.” She tilted her head so she could look at my downturned face. “Putting it off won’t make it easier.”

I looked up into her eyes. “I believe that too,” I muttered with a sigh.

Ceres’s laugh was as light as butterfly wings. She squeezed my hand once more and led me out of her palace.

Xanthy was grazing in the flower-filled field besideCeres’s home. I headed toward her but Ceres stopped me. “Leave Xanthy with me.”

Stopping short, I swung around to meet Ceres’s command. My heart broke. I didn’t want to leave my horse behind. She was the only link I had to humanity onthis mountain of gods.

Ceres glided up to me. “I’ll take good care of her until you return,” she promised. “Now come.”

When her hand touched mine again, we fell into Ceres’s sickening flight, floating and diving through the glorious morning air. But this time our flight was quick, and we landed with a gentle touchdown on a gilded path. I followed the glinting metal under my feet up to theentrance of a palace.

Her palace. It was grotesquely ornate, and nothinglike the down-to-earth persona she’d had when visitingme. But now it made sense why Eros thought I’d likegolden everything — he’d been raised in it. The palacedripped with golden columns, golden doors, goldenstatutes. It made my stomach sour and I glared at it frombehind furrowed brows.

“Yeah, we all think it’s a little over-the-top,” Ceres whispered in my ear, “but don’t you dare let Aphrodite catch you making that face at her home.”

I wiped the dissatisfaction from my face just beforeAphrodite’s gilded door opened.

“Ceres, is that you I hear out —” Aphrodite stoppedmid-sentence when she saw me. The goddess stood in her doorway, seeming to fill it with her aura. She was even more astounding on Olympus than she’d been back in my home. Soft blonde ringlets cascaded down her back and spilled around her shoulders. Her eyes sparkledlike the ocean waves from which she was born. Her delicate porcelain skin seemed to radiate light.

As Aphrodite glared at me, a small, cruel smiletugged at her lips. When the smile broke, she chuckled, then laughed, then tossed back her head with maniacal laughter that rang out like cries from a flock of hungry gulls.

“You see the irony, don’t you daughter?” Aphroditespat when her laughter subsided. “All you had to do was listen to me in the first place, and we’d both still likeyou.”

My shoulders slumped. She was right, of course. She’d tried to bring me and Eros together from the start and we’d both refused. His heart had obviously changedonce since then, but I feared it’d changed back already. Scrambling forward, I dropped to one knee besideher golden sandaled foot. Being so near her was overwhelming in a way it’d never been in my room. For one, she no longer needed my lotions: her own scent was as calming and powerful as being surrounded by blooming jasmine. But there was a charge vibrating off her skin, threatening to shock like an eel. I closed my eyes and pressed my forehead against the back of her hand.

“Get up,” she snapped at me. “You’re embarrassing yourself.”

Obeying, I slowing rose, never letting my gaze tear from hers. “You know me,” I whispered. “Once, you likedme enough to consider me your daughter. To marry your son. I know I’ve messed that up now, but you know it wasn’t supposed to happen this way.” I pulled her hand
over my heart. “You know I acted with the best of intentions, even if I was stupid.”

For a second, I thought her armor would crack. A smile tugged at her lips and she looked at me like shecould almost see us being friends again. But the tone of her voice told me I’d misread her.

“That, my dear, was before I realized you were just as much of a slut as your mother.”

“How dare you!” I screamed. Immediately, I clamped my hand over my mouth.

“What did you just say to me?” Aphrodite grabbed my arm, digging into my skin with nails like talons. “Howdare I? I tried to set you up in a legitimate marriage andinstead you just ran off and slept with my son behind my back.”

“We never slept together, I swear it.” The muscles in my arm began to cramp as she squeezed tighter. “But I wasn’t talking about me anyway. I meant my mother. Please. Leave her out of this.”

“She can’t be left out. She started it the night she sleptwith Poseidon.” She squeezed again before freeing my arm and I stumbled back a few steps.

My mom had done what? No, Aphrodite was lying.

She had to be. Mother loved my father. She wouldn’t betray him like that.

“I wondered if he could make a daughter as lovely as Zeus had.” Aphrodite snatched one of my curls between her thumb and finger. “It seems he can, only you’re not a blonde.”

Whoa. What? The world went blank as I pulled insidemy head. Was that even possible? If she was telling the truth, Father wasn’t my father at all then. Which could explain why Mom was so upset when she found out Aphrodite had made me her daughter. And why…

“That’s why you picked me then.” My eyes filled like warm pools. “Not because you liked me, but because I was already part immortal.”

“Let me put the question back on you, Psyche. Haveyou ever heard of an immortal spending her free timewith a full mortal? And I’m talking about more than anight here.”

I shook my head “no.” Gods hung around with other gods and demi-gods. As a rule, they only meddled withpeople’s lives, not participated in them.

“Then I believe you’ve answered your own question.”

After that, I couldn’t meet her eyes. I couldn’t evenask to see Eros. There was too much information to process and I wanted to escape and think it over. Turn it in my brain like an odd-shaped rock and study every side.

“I can feel you’re struggling with this, Psyche. I understand.”

Aphrodite’s changed tone got my attention. It must’ve resonated with Ceres too, because she took theopportunity to drift to my side and slide her hand into mine.

“Here’s the problem, as I see it,” Aphrodite continued.

“You’re my niece by Olympian standards and I did actually like you. But first you refused my command andthen you tried to kill my son. I’m pleasantly surprisedthat you didn’t sleep with him, but that’s not enough to redeem yourself.”

“Please,” I begged her. “All I want is a chance to talk to Eros and tell him how I feel.” My voice trailed off as I remembered the horror of our last night together - theraw emotions sweeping every arc from fear to deserationto betrayal and even to love. “He deserves to know I lovehim.”

“Don’t tell me what he deserves.” Aphrodite’s voice hissed out with a chill as she rose and stormed down thestairs. “What he deserves is a wife who won’t try to stabhim while he sleeps.”

“I know,” I admitted. “I know. And maybe I’ll never win back his heart, but I need him to know that he wonmine.”

Aphrodite paced. “Ceres, we’ve got a problem. You brought her to me, so it’s your problem too. I think I’mcalm enough not to want her dead anymore, but I can’t just let her go back to Eros. Or even run around witheveryone thinking she’s still my daughter. What am I
supposed to do?”

“Hmmm…” Ceres shifted from one foot to another.

“Perhaps a test? If she passes, you let her talk to Eros. If not, you can turn her over to Ares.”

My eyes probably could’ve doubled as fat olives as bigaround as they got at that suggestion. A test? I had no skills outside of being able to read, how on earth could I pass any sort of test? And who knew what dreadful, unspeakable things Ares would do to me before I died.

Aphrodite shrugged. “It worked for Heracles, I suppose. What’d you have in mind?”

Chapter end