Page 18 of Loved By Aphrodite

“In English, please?”

He spun around to face her. “My magic and his magic simply aren’t compatible. But”—he rubbed his beard with his thumb and forefinger—“but yours might be.”

“My magic?” She shook her head. “No, that’s not how it works. Only the person who cast a spell can undo it.”

“That’s not always true,” he countered. “Only the person who cast the spell knows how it was made, which makes it easier for them to undo it. But anyone who knows how it was cast could, theoretically, undo it.”

“I’ve never used such a spell before, and certainly not on computers. How would I know how he formulated it?”

“Because he’s your son. You know him best, out of everyone in the entire universe. You also taught him everything you knew once he became God of Love and Desire.”

“H-how did you know?”

“He told me. When he comes to visit me, I would ask him about you.”

Her heart stuttered. “You asked about me?”

“I mean, his lessons with you, yes,” he said quickly.

Oh, right.“I just don’t know, Hephaestus. What if I do something wrong and trigger a counter curse instead?” That was one way that magic users prevented other people from messing with their work. “What if I make things worse?”

“And what if you don’t?” Rising from his chair, he towered over her, yet she didn’t feel cowed by his massive frame. “What if you succeed and fix everything?”

Dark eyes fixed on her, and she found herself staring up, lost in the depths of those onyx pools. “I suppose I could try.”

The corners of his mouth twitched up. “Alright, let’s do this.” Swiveling his chair around, he motioned for her to sit. “Okay, place your hands over the keyboard.”

“Like this?”

“Yes.”

She glanced up at him. “Do I have to type anything?”

“No, just use the keyboard as a conduit to access the magic within.”

“I’m not sure how to do that.” Her nose wrinkled.

Leaning down, he brought his head closer to hers so they were at eye level. “Remember how you use healing magic? How you let your powers flow through someone and find the sick or wounded parts and fix it with your magic? Do the same. Except this time, you’re doing it to a computer.”

“I’ll try.” Calling up her magic, she allowed it to flow through her fingers and into the keyboard. The energy flowed forward, moving through the wires and to the various electronic systems. However, being unfamiliar with how computers worked, it all looked like a jumbled mess to her.

“I can’t do it,” she cried. “It’s too much. I’m lost.”

“You can do it, Aphrodite.”

“How do you know? I’m just the goddess of love. What do I know about these damned things?” She clucked her tongue. “I’m just not as smart as you.”

“Don’t say that.”

A heavy palm landed on her shoulder, the warmth of his skin penetrating the thin layer of her top. Thank goodness she was sitting down as her knees had turned to jelly at his touch.

“You’re much smarter than you give yourself credit for,” he whispered, his mouth so close to her ear she could feel his breath. “Love isn’t frivolous or stupid. It’s done so much to change the world, made so many things possible. Death can stop a heart from beating, but it will keep on loving until the end of time.”

His words stirred up something inside her, something she had thought she’d buried so deep and so long ago that she would never have to think about it or face it again. She wanted to respond, but feared the words that threatened to spill from herlips. So, instead, she turned back to the computer and began to work.

She let her magic flow back into the computer. Healing magic was one of the most complex to perform because she first had to know what was wrong with someone to fix them. A broken arm or a bullet wound was easy, but internal injuries and ailments were much more difficult because it wasn’t something you could see. In that case, she had to send her magic far and wide, like casting a net to catch fish, to find whatever sickness or damage was inside the body. So, she did the same here, casting her magic like a wide net, looking for something that was out of place inside the computer.

There.

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