Page 4 of Loved by Aphrodite (Gods and Beasts #4)

Chapter 4

Hephaestus

H ephaestus massaged his temple with his forefinger and thumb, then slumped back in his chair.

What the fuck did you do, Eros?

He’d been working on undoing the layers of magic and code woven through the app’s systems for hours non-stop. But the program was vast and complicated, not to mention, he had to work carefully. One wrong move could trigger an alarm and cause the system to kick him out and put up stronger firewalls.

At first, he tried to do everything manually, but it was taking too much time. So, he switched tactics and instead created a separate program to automate the process. This would take even longer, but at least he didn’t have to spend another couple of hours hunched over his keyboard. All he had to do now was wait.

He blew out a breath. Why was he helping Aphrodite anyway? This wasn’t his problem.

But then again, since the beginning, he was making her problems his.

Initially, he hadn’t noticed the bruises. As they stood in front of Zeus that day he announced they were to be married, Hephaestus had been so struck by her breathtaking beauty he couldn’t even think. However, a breeze had caused one of the gauzy sleeves on her dress to lift up, revealing purple-blue marks on her upper arms. As he looked past her dazzling presence and aura, he scrutinized her and made out the cakey white powder on her cheekbone that was meant to conceal any discoloration under it. His awe had quickly turned to rage. The thought of anyone hurting his future bride had sent him into fury, but he managed to hide it.

In the weeks leading up to the wedding, she began to disappear from Mount Olympus for long periods of time. Then, one day, she’d been late to a brunch hosted by Hestia. While he had not been thrilled about attending the engagement festivities himself, it was very rude to be tardy to a celebration thrown in one’s honor by the goddess of the hearth.

So, he had confronted her, and that’s when he found out about that bastard who had kept her a virtual prisoner by holding their son hostage. He’d been enraged at that odious creature for hurting her and vowed to help her in any way he could.

She had protested, of course, and refused his help, even offered to break the engagement as she didn’t want him mixed up in her business. But he wouldn’t hear of it and even suggested they continue with the marriage—in name only—as it would allow them to stay in Zeus’s good graces while they formulated a plan to retrieve the boy and keep him safe until he was old enough to eat the golden apple of immortality. After that, they would go their separate ways. Aphrodite agreed, and they were married.

Taking Eros away from his father hadn’t been simple or easy. Cyncus had placed a blood spell on the boy, which prevented him from being separated from Cyncus without causing extreme pain and eventually death. Blood spells could not be undone by anyone but the person who cast the spell, and even upon the death of the spellcaster, it moves to the next of kin, which means the only way to truly break the spell was to kill anyone related by blood to Cyncus—and their children—which they didn’t want to do.

So, Hephaestus came up with a different plan. He built an enchanted pyxis that would draw out Cyncus’s magic and trap it. Of course, that meant they would have to get him alone and away from his guards. So, Aphrodite devised a ruse and pretended that she needed to speak to him privately, drawing him into her personal quarters. While she kept him busy, plying him with wine and food, Hephaestus had set off the device. By the time Cyncus figured out what was going on, Hephaestus already had the boy and Aphrodite, whisking them away from his palace.

There was also the problem of where the boy would live until he became immortal. While Aphrodite could go to Mount Olympus, Eros as a demi-god could not. But Hephaestus had already thought of a solution. He knew of a sparsely inhabited island where they could stay, hidden away from Cyncus or anyone who might seek to harm him. After a decade and a half of living there, Eros finally gained his full god status after eating the golden apple.

To an immortal god, fifteen years was a mere blink of an eye. But the divorce Aphrodite obtained seemed to have come even quicker than that. While they had agreed to stay together only until Eros could live on Mount Olympus, but he didn’t expect Zeus to grant their divorce so soon.

Since then, they had somehow avoided running into each other, though for Hephaestus it was more a conscious effort than not. He even skipped attending the sealing ceremony every ten thousand years, as he wasn’t needed there anyway after he constructed the door that held the Titans inside their prison.

But seeing her again, it was difficult not to be caught up in her orbit once more. She was like the sun, and he had no choice but to revolve around her.

A ringing jolted him from his thoughts. Grunting, he glanced over at his phone, Artemis’s name flashing on the screen. “Yes, Artemoula?” he answered.

“I need your help, H,” she said as soon as her face appeared on screen.

“What is it?” His body went on full alert. “Is it the babies? Are you having any contractions? Where’s Cade?”

“Don’t you say that name to me right now.” Artemis’s bottom lip stuck out like a pouting child’s. “I’m not speaking to him.”

He let out a sigh. “What is it? What did he do?”

A tear—an actual, honest-to-goodness tear—appeared at the corner of her eye. “He forbade me to leave the house while he’s away. Can you believe it?”

“Uh-huh.” He glanced at the clock, hoping this wasn’t going to take too long.

“I mean, come on, I’m pregnant, not an invalid.” She tsked. “I just wanted to go to town and do some shopping. How could he even….”

Tuning her out, he turned to his keyboard to check on the progress of his program, making a few adjustments here and there, and once in a while, muttering an “oh yeah” and “really?” to Artemis.

“You’d do that for me?” she squealed so loudly, the tiny speakers on his cellphone blew out. “Thanks, H, you’re the best.”

“Sure…huh?” His head whipped back toward the screen. “Do what for you?”

She laughed. “Get me some pears from Hestia’s garden. You know, since I’m craving some fruit but Cade won’t let me leave the house. Thank you for offering to bring them here for me.”

“Get you pears from…” He scrubbed a palm down his face. “What am I, DoorDash? Why can’t you just buy pears from your supermarket?”

“Because they’re not the same, and it’s the only thing I’m craving right now.” Artemis pouted. “You promised, and you can’t break a promise to a pregnant woman, or you’ll get seven years of bad luck.”

He was pretty sure that wasn’t true, but there was no reasoning with Artemis when she was like this. Besides, it wasn’t like he had anything better to do right now. “Fine, fine. I’ll get you those pears.”

“Make sure you pick the ripest ones, okay? The one from the upper part of the tree.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll see you soon.” Tapping the call off, he put the phone in his pocket, grumbling under his breath. Transporting himself to Hestia’s home, he knocked on the door, and when the goddess of the hearth answered, explained what he needed. Hestia was only too happy to let him pick some pears from her garden, as well as a few other fruits she knew were Artemis’s favorites.

“Here you go,” he announced as he popped into Artemis and Cade’s living room, next to the couch where Artemis was curled up, watching a show on the massive TV mounted on the wall. He dropped the basket of fruits on the coffee table with a loud thud.

“You got them for me! Yay!” Throwing the blankets off, she wrapped her arms around him. “ Thank-you-thank-you-thank-you .”

“Alright, well, I should get going?—”

“What?” She released him and glanced up, eyeing him carefully. “So soon?”

He prayed for patience silently. “Yeah. I thought you just wanted the pears.”

“I did but…” Her shoulders dropped. “Cade had to attend an emergency meeting with a few of the West Coast Alphas, and I’m all alone until he comes back tomorrow morning. Can’t you please stay for a bit?”

“Artemoula—”

“Please?”

He expelled a breath. “Alright. Fine.” Plopping down on the couch, he looked at the TV. “What are you watching?”

“ My Instant Fiancé .”

“ My Instant Fiancé ? What is that?”

“Oh, my gods, you’ve never heard of this show before?”

“No.”

She let out a squeal as she grabbed the remote. “It’s a reality show. I know it sounds stupid, but I swear, mortals produce the most addicting stuff. It follows couples who get engaged after knowing each other for a short period of time.” Navigating through the on-screen menu, she selected the show and pressed play. “Here, we’ll watch the first episode, I don’t mind.”

Hephaestus grumbled under his breath but hunkered down anyway, turning his attention to the screen.

“On the premiere season of My Instant Fiancé,” began the narrator, “we follow five couples as they navigate the triumphs and trials of being…My Instant Fiancé!”

“Who the hell would get engaged after two weeks of dating?” he said.

Artemis didn’t say anything, but raised a knowing eyebrow.

He crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s different and you know it.”

Before his arranged marriage and divorce, Hephaestus had never spent much time with the former goddess of the hunt. They had been cordial before then, and of course, during the war there was no opportunity to make friends. However, sometime after the divorce, Artemis had come to him for help on one of her bows. It was during this time that they had formed a bond, unlikely as it may have seemed. She was like an annoying little sister he couldn’t get rid of at first, but he found that he enjoyed her company and didn’t mind her pushy nature. Surprisingly, she never asked him about Aphrodite or what had happened, but if she had, he likely would have put an end to their friendship.

“Humans watch this trash?” he commented.

“I think they watch it because it is trash. Just keep watching, I swear it gets better. This is my favorite storyline—Tulip and Jed.”

Hephaestus turned back toward the screen, focusing his attention on the show. How anyone could be entertained watching this, he couldn’t understand. There surely were so much better things to?—

“What in the world?” he exclaimed. “He told her to shave her unibrow?”

Artemis laughed. “I know right! The nerve of this guy, it’s not like he’s a catch. Jed’s thirty-five, has no job, and still lives with his mother.”

“Tulip’s so sweet too.” Anyone would be lucky to have a fiancé like this woman, who apparently had moved halfway across the country. “I hope she leaves his ungrateful ass.”

“It gets worse.” She wrinkled her nose. “But—no wait, I won’t spoil anything.”

Hephaestus glanced at the clock. He supposed another forty-five minutes wouldn’t hurt.

“He was sending the money to his side chick back home?”

Artemis threw her hands in the air. “It’s incredible, isn’t it, after all she’s done for him?”

“She’s so blind.” Hephaestus reached into the popcorn bowl and took a handful, popping one into his mouth. “Why would she even put up with this?”

“I know, right?” she said, exasperated. “Goodness knows, she could have any man she wants. So, one more episode?”

He glanced at the clock. “Fuck, it’s been five hours?” How the hell did time pass by so fast?

“We’re only halfway done through the season,” she said. “Don’t you want to know if Steven and Lillia are gonna make it down the aisle?”

He groaned. “Don’t tell me his ex-girlfriend is going to object at the wedding.”

The corner of her mouth tugged up. “Alright, I won’t tell you. So, this trash isn’t so bad, is it? Or rather, it’s so bad, it’s good.”

Apparently, it had been good enough for him to forget that he had wasted five hours of his time watching it. “Fine,” he grumbled. “Just play the next—” The buzzing from his pocket interrupted him. Taking his phone out, he looked at the caller ID, which didn’t show any name, but rather an unfamiliar number. Who could be calling him? This was his Olympus phone, so the call was coming from someone who lived there.

Artemis pointed the remote at the TV, pausing the show. “Go ahead.”

Tapping on the green button, he answered it. “Hello?”

“Um, Hephaestus? It’s me.”

Shock jolted through him at the sound of the familiar melodic voice. “Aphrodite?”

“Yeah. I hope you don’t mind. I got your number from Apollo.”

“Is that Aphrodite?” Artemis squealed. Grabbing the phone from him, she hit the camera button. “Hey, Aphrodite! How are you?”

“Damn it, Artemoula! Give me back my phone.” He attempted to take it back, but she yanked it away from him.

“How are you? What are you doing? You should totally join us if you’re not doing anything. We’re watching this show—hey!”

He glared at her as he plucked the device from her hand. “Well, excuse you .”

“Aww, no fair, H!” She crossed her arms over her large belly. “You know what? I’m going to watch this next episode without you and I won’t share my password with you so you can’t watch it. Nyeh, nyeh , so there.”

Seeing the former goddess of the hunt pouting like a child who didn’t get her way and threatening him was so ridiculous, he could barely smother his laugh. “You know, just because you’re having a baby doesn’t mean you can act like one.” Shaking his head, he padded to the kitchen. “Sorry about that,” he said to Aphrodite.

“I should be the one apologizing. Am I interrupting anything?”

Only the order in my life. “What? No, we were just watching some stupid reality show. What is it? Is everything alright? Do you need anything?”

“N-no, it’s nothing.” She chomped at her lower lip. “I was just checking if there was any progress on that app.”

“I’m afraid not. Nothing solid anyway.” He explained what he had accomplished so far, including the program he created to automate the process of unraveling Eros’s work. “So, that’s about it. Just a lot of waiting for now.”

“I see. How could he do this?” She clucked her tongue. “I mean, how did he even know how to do this?”

Aphrodite had no idea what her son was capable of. “I may have…taught him some stuff.”

“You taught him?”

He scratched at his head. “A couple of decades back he saw me learning how to code. I showed him a little bit of it. I mean, I was still using those punch cards.” That had been in the seventies and that first computer had taken up an entire room. “Every now and then he comes by and we look at the latest gadget or whatever and I teach him how it works.” Guilt crept into him. “Maybe I shouldn’t have encouraged him to?—”

“What, oh no, no,” she protested. “Don’t feel bad about teaching him how to code or anything else. You know, I don’t resent him spending time with you after we…” She cleared her throat. “He’s an adult, he can do what he wants. And as such, he’s also responsible for his own actions.”

“True.” He rubbed his thumb at his chin. “In any case, it looks like he picked up a few things on his own. I’ve been having a heckuva time figuring it all out.”

“Do you know when your program will be done?”

“Nothing solid. Twelve hours maybe? Check in after then, and I’ll have more to tell you.”

“Alright. Thank you, Hephaestus.”

Even after she hung up, he found himself staring at the phone, as if her image was still burned on the screen. Or maybe it was in his brain. How could one woman be so beautiful that it could affect him so, even after thousands of years? Sure, he had been with other women after the divorce, many of them stunning, but none of them made him feel this way. Like he’d been empty and?—

“So, are you guys getting back together?” Artemis interrupted as she skipped over to him.

He spun around. “What did you hear?” For now, they had kept Eros’s misdeeds under wraps, but if the council found out…

“Nothing, I wasn’t eavesdropping. That’s why I waited for you to finish your call.” She grabbed onto his arm. “Well? You guys are talking again, is it a good sign?”

“Er…” Fuck, he hated lying to anyone, especially to Artemis, who had been a great friend for the past thousands of years. But if he told her about the app and the chaos it caused, she was bound by the rules of the council to report it. No, it was best to keep her in the dark. “I mean, I don’t know how she feels, but I’ve been, uh, thinking about it.” Not exactly the truth, but not an outright lie.

“Oh. My. Gods.” She covered her mouth with her hands as if she couldn’t contain herself. “That’s so great! I mean, you don’t talk about what happened with you guys, which is totally okay, by the way, because that’s your business, but I always wondered if there was something there.”

“Er—”

“So, what are you gonna do? Will you ask her out? Do you think she knows you want to try again? Have you told her how you feel?”

“Artemoula, calm down.” He rubbed his hand down his face. “We just saw each other a few days ago after a couple millennia.”

Her jaw dropped. “My baby shower brought you together? How cool. Ah!” She hopped around like an excited child. “We need to make this happen.” Pursing her lips, she narrowed her eyes at him. “But that won’t happen if you look like that .”

“Excuse me? Look like what?”

She rolled her eyes. “Like a mountain man who hasn’t seen civilization in years. I mean, no offense, H, but when was the last time you had a haircut?”

He thought for a moment. “I chopped off a couple of pieces…three months ago?”

“You cut your own hair?” She slapped a hand to her forehead. “Of course you do. No, no, no.” She tsked. “That won’t do, not if you wanna bag a woman like Aphrodite.” A gleam appeared in her eye, and she rubbed her hands together. “What you need is a glow up.”

“A…glow up?”

“Yeah. A makeover.” She let out an excited cry. “And I know just the place! Roberto, my hair guy in San Francisco, works wonders!”

He grunted. “I am not getting my hair cut at some girly salon. No thank you, I’m fine.”

“B-b-but…” Her eyes rimmed with tears. “I’m so bored here. You have to let me give you a makeover. Please?”

“What about Cade? Didn’t he say you can’t leave?”

“He said I couldn’t go into town to shop,” she qualified. “Besides, he’s in San Francisco right now. After your makeover, I’ll show up to his hotel room and make him forgive me for leaving the house.”

“Then why don’t you just do that and leave me out of it?”

“Because you need this.” Tapping her foot, she looked him up and down. “And maybe some new clothes. Come on, we should get going. Roberto will fit me in, no worries. Unless…”

“Unless what?”

“There’s a different reason why Aphrodite is calling you?” The former goddess’s keen blue eyes zeroed in on him. “It wouldn’t happen to have something to do with Eros crashing my party, would it?”

“You know what, my beard’s starting to itch,” he said quickly. “Do you think your guy could trim it back a bit? I don’t want it shaved, just tamed.”

Her face brightened as she smiled. “Of course he can. Roberto’s a miracle worker, he can do anything.” Artemis slipped her arm into his. “Now, let’s go.”

I hope I won’t regret this , he grumbled to himself as they disappeared from the living room.