seen it. Just like everyone else did.”
“Alternate dimension Aphrodite. Right.” He snorted. “I’ve heard it before. It’s just another one of her games.”
“You really think she could have fooled Themis? Your father? Me?” I frowned, studying his eyes, seeing the flash of uncertainty in them I knew he had wondered that same thing many times before. I took a step toward him, holding my hands palms forward to show him I meant him no harm. “Think about it, kid. Me, who had every cause to hate her, I was through with her, Eros. I was putting your mother aside. Even knowing what a move like that would do to my reputation in the pantheon. Because I’d had enough of her games and her hate. But that woman,” I pointed in the direction of my palace, “that woman isn’t the same person. She is everything. She is my heart. My soul. And she desperately wants to fix this rift between you and her. Just give her a chance.”
He laughed, the sound was shrill and high pitched, full of anguish and the agony of despair. “You’re going with that then, huh? You’re really going to tell me she doesn’t know what she did. That this other version of her that existed did that, not her. It’s the same woman! Wake up!” He snapped his fingers, looking at me like I was a love struck fool too stupid to see the truth right in front of his eyes. “I can’t believe you fell for her lies. You and dad, and everyone else. People I admired, looked up to, how could you fall for her games again! And this time when she burns you, I won’t be here for you.” He pointed a long finger at me. “Or for dad. You guys might not have learned from the first disastrous go round, but I have. Fool me once, shame on you. But fool me twice…” He shook his head.
There was a wildness in his face, in his stance, and how he spoke. This wasn’t just rage that he was feeling, it was a depth of sadness that I’d once known myself. Long ago. Though the alternate Aphrodite had hated my very guts, ironically Eros and I had always had a good relationship. Hidden, and deep in shadow (he’d had to be careful around her too) but maybe because of all that secrecy we’d forged something stronger. He was like a son to me. A true son. My adopted child. And I did care for him, as a true father would.
“Riddle me this, boy, how long was your mother able to feign innocence? How long could she pretend to be the docile, sweet natured goddess of love before that house of cards came tumbling down? Be honest now.”
He clamped his lips shut, and I knew that I’d struck a nerve, but I was relentless because I believed in this new version of Aphrodite. I held her in my arms, sank deep into her willing and loving warmth, I looked into her soulful eyes each and every night. I saw her. Really saw her. It’d taken an unbelievable iron will on my part to be willing to admit that maybe I’d been wrong about her all along, but I was better for that act of faith. I couldn’t imagine my life without that woman.
“You know,” I said deeply, “as well as I do that she could never pretend for long. It’s been a year, Eros, a year that she has shown me to be the best and most wonderful person I’ve ever known in the entirety of my existence. She is working to fix everyone else’s problems both day and night, with no rest, and no breaks in between until just now. Tell me, would your mother have done so? Would she have sacrificed her own happiness for that of anyone else’s? Even yours or mine? I think if you’re honest, you and I both know the answer to that question.”
He stood, looking at me in a way I’d never seen him looking before. And then he began to shake. And soon those muscle spasms turned more violent, harder, into full blown trembles. That started first at his shoulders, before moving down his arms, into his torso and finally into his legs. And then he dropped to his knees, heaving with a sorrow I’d never heard before or since.
“She’s dying. She’s dying and there’s nothing…” he stuttered, “nothing I can do to stop it.”
I raced to