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WHERE THERE IS A RESOLUTION AND A RESOUNDING SPEECH IS GIVEN (AND TEARS ARE SHED)

Looking back at how her problems had multiplied during the week, it was a strange sensation to only be down to one. A massive one, but that was a minor detail. She breathed again. Her head was, while not clear, at least no longer fuzzy.

“That’s what getting laid does to you.” Like an echo from a few days ago, Erato stood behind her, as Aphrodite made last-minute adjustments before the floor-to-ceiling mirror in her suite.

“Does that mean you are neither breathing easily nor seeing clearly?” Her friend’s strange disappearances and even stranger behavior during the week had not remained unnoticed. No cupid reported having been seduced, no mortals had succumbed to Erato’s considerable charms. And she was decidedly subdued.

“This isn’t my book, Dite. This one is all about you.”

Aphrodite threw a long glance over her shoulder, observing her friend without the interference of a mirror. Centuries of trials and tribulations passed between them in one look.

“You’ll tell me?”

Erato gave her a smile that probably tried for easy and rakish, but it did not reach her eyes.

“One day. The same day you tell me what happens after the 80% drama in your book.”

Aphrodite sighed and applied perfume to her pulse points, “You may not have to wait all that long. The Closing Ceremony starts in half an hour. I am thankfully unattached. Zeus will blow a gasket or two.”

Erato’s derisive laughter sounded mean. “Zeus can go do anatomically impossible things to himself.”

“Be that as it may, I’m sure he will try something. The cupids failed, and now he will have all the excuses to meddle with the affairs of love. Maybe that was his plan all along.”

But as they walked into the immense conference auditorium, where thousands of cupids and the Olympians looked visibly bored with all the surrounding hoopla, the impressive Perfect Match board over the stage shone with particular brightness.

After three years, they had a True Perfect Match Queen once again. Aphrodite closed her eyes as the room was suddenly sapped of oxygen and she felt dizzy.

When everything came back into focus, Sabine Goddard’s name was still at the very top of the list with the perfect 100% score. One shot, one perfect match. Damn her.

“Do you want me to take her out back or something?” Erato’s whisper was decidedly shaky.

“No. I will deal with it. With Sabine and Zeus and everyone else. Nobody makes my choices for me, Erato. Not anymore. And a perfect match arrow will not sway me any more than Zeus’ orders.”

“I’m so proud of you. I know you’ve had problems all week…” Erato’s warm palm on the small of her back seemed to propel her towards the microphone. She looked at her friend, whose face held such faith in her it gave her a measure of succor. Yes, she’d mangled and mucked up so much during the last seven days. But Erato’s eyes were reverent, loyal, and told her the mostimportant thing: she was the Goddess of Love and this was her show.

“And this is how I will finally deal with most of them. Erato… Thank you.”

The smile she got in return was dazzling. “No mushy stuff. Go be you.”

If it was possible to straighten more, she definitely accomplished it, and as she walked across the stage, thousands of eyes were glued to her figure. Her hips swayed gently, her heels clicked, sore ankle be damned, and her hair fell over her back in gentle waves.

The Goddess of Love had made her entrance. She could hear shouts of fascination and deafening applause. A cupid jumped from her seat, only to faint on the floor the next moment. Several more were standing with their hands extended towards Aphrodite, as if in prayer.

Oh yes, nothing reinforced her self-confidence like seeing all these people fawn and fall all over themselves at her feet. She deliberately did not look at the section of the crowd that held the Olympians. Athena was surely there, and Aphrodite was not yet ready to face her. She still had a couple of seconds to brace herself for that particular impact. She’d take them.

As she reached the microphone stand, the applause turned slightly hysterical. Her heart swelled at such displays of fannish loyalty and admiration, the cupids surely incensed by Zeus’s pretense and the standing ultimatum. But it was time to show Zeus and everyone else who exactly was in charge here.

Without a word, Aphrodite extended her hands, and complete silence fell over the thousands of cupids. In her peripheral vision, she caught sight of another one of them fainting and being dragged away by two muses.

“Welcome to the Closing Ceremony of the Cupids’ Convention.” More applause interrupted her, but one subtleshake of her head, and the audience was silent once again. Yes, she was rarely this showy in her power plays, but this time she had something to protect, and every single small and large victory was worthy of being shown off.

“Today is very important, perhaps more so than any other Closing Ceremony.” She had their attention before, but now thousands of eyes drank her up greedily and curiously. Hands were clenched and wrung, and Zeus sat up straighter in his chair. Aphrodite still did not look at the graceful figure lounging just two seats to his left. But she inhaled deeply, remembering that exquisite, comfortable, mysterious scent, and it grounded her, even if it was only in her memory.

As always, Athena’s presence, the sole idea of her, gave Aphrodite the much-needed clarity, lifting the anxiety, the fear. And with her courage up, she did finally look into those calm features. They held nothing but kindness. A kindness she perhaps did not deserve, but the wonderful eyes were so full of it, she smiled and Athena, in her wisdom, in her tenderness, in her ever-present support mouthed,‘You got this,’a second before Aphrodite once again addressed the crowd.

“First, it’s my absolute pleasure to welcome the return of an icon.” She placed a satisfying accent on ‘pleasure,’ and saw several cupids’ eyes roll back in their heads, simply at the sound of her voice. Oh yeah. “After three years, Sabine Goddard has proven she has not lost her perfect touch. I give you the returning Queen Of The Perfect Match!”

The cheers were loud and boisterous, drowning out Maddison St. James’s boos entirely, as evidenced by her miserable face. Sabine, however, did not get up on the stage, and Erato had to deliver the crown to her seat in the first row.