Page 12 of Eris

"Are you that nervous to bring a girl home?" Eris teased.

"You're not a girl. You are a goddess. I'm mentally preparing myself for how she's going to react. I have an adjoining apartment, but she likes to interfere with my love life as much as possible." Enzo laughed awkwardly. "You were the first person I asked out in over a year, and she's never going to let me hear the end of it."

"Really? A year?" Eris looked him over, trying to figure out what was wrong with him. "Why?"

Enzo's expression shut down. "It's a long story."

Eris wanted to know what made him close up so fast, but she knew better than to push it. They were going to be stuck on a sailboat together for days if not weeks, and she would have time to get it out of him.

Enzo got out of the elevator and walked to a white and gold trim door. He took a deep breath. "Prepare yourself."

Eris's laughter died on her lips when the door opened, and a woman of indeterminate age appeared. Her hair was perfectly set in large golden bronze curls, and she was wearing a peach satin nightgown with feathers on the sleeves. She looked like she could be Sophia Loren's blonde baby sister.

"Enzo! What time do you call this?" she said and then saw Eris standing behind him.

Enzo cleared his throat. "Nonna Bianca, this is…"

"Eris," Bianca said, her perfectly groomed brows going up.

"How did you know?" Enzo asked, looking between them.

"Humpf, the divination shells told me I was going to have a visitor," Bianca said, gesturing at them. "Come in and have some brandy with me."

"Don't mind if I do," Eris replied, grinning at a flustered-looking Enzo. "You didn't tell me that your grandmother is a devotee of Aphrodite."

"And La Madonna. As I said, she's hard to explain," Enzo whispered back.

The room felt like Eris had stepped into an enchanted seashell. Sure enough, on one wall was a large print of 'The Birth of Venus' by Botticelli in all its glory. The colors in the room matched the painting, and everything that could have a glint of gold on it was gold.

"Goddess of chaos and discord, what brings your dark shadows to my house?" Bianca asked, pouring more brandy into tiny crystal glasses. She didn't look a day over forty-five, and Eris would have bet any money that she enchanted her beautyproducts. This was definitely a woman who didn't need Enzo worrying about her so much.

"I need to borrow your grandson for a quest to return the palladium to Troy," Eris replied. Enzo shot her a look. "What? She is a devotee of the goddess. She doesn't need to have it sugar-coated."

Bianca served the brandy and sat down on an apricot and cream velvet loveseat. "Enzo likes to fuss and think that I am made of glass in my old age. He even makes me carry this ugly thing." She held out an emergency monitor that had indeed been decorated with tiny diamantes and pearls.

"I thought you were joking about the hot glue gun," Eris said.

Bianca's smile widened. "Ah, you were the one my dear Enzo was on a date with? Enzo! How dare you not tell me it was Eris?"

"Because I didn't know who she was until tonight when she kidnapped me, Nonna," Enzo replied.

"Tch. No excuse,nipote. I taught you better. He thinks I'm crazy," Bianca said, turning her attention back to Eris.

"You are," Enzo shot back fondly, making Bianca tilt her head back and laugh prettily.

"You will have to excuse my moment of gloating, Eris. He's never listened to me about his destiny, and I need to lord it over him that I was right," Bianca said with a wicked grin.

Eris grinned back. "Please go ahead."

"You know, nonna, you could be even a little bit upset that I was kidnapped tonight," Enzo said, crossing his arms.

Bianca shrugged her delicate shoulders. "Why? You seem fine."

"Did you at least eat something for dinner?" Enzo asked and headed into the kitchen. "Nonna! What did I say about charcuterie not being real dinner?"

"Enzo Enea Silviano, I am a grown woman, and I will eat what I wish!" Bianca called back. She gave Eris an apologeticlook. "Don't judge the boy too harshly. He's been a worrier since his parents died a few years ago. He thinks I'm to die at any second."

Eris thought it rather sweet. "His name is Enzo Enea? King Aeneas? You must have seen a lot further than they all believed to name him that."

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