Page 3 of Loved By Aphrodite

Aphrodite’s stomach did a little flip.Uh-oh,she thought, managing a laugh. “Oh, he’s twenty. And as for me…” She leaned back, sidestepping the question. “Thank you for saying I look young. You really know how to charm the ladies, don’t you?”

“Hey, I do what I can.” He reached for another handful of olives. “So, if Hephaestus isn’t Eros’s dad….”

As Adonis idly mused aloud about Eros’s dad, a familiar, bittersweet ache twisted inside her. She couldn’t help it—thoughts of her past drifted back, memories of a time far darker and more dangerous than she liked to remember.

She took a shaky breath. “Hephaestus…he isn’t Eros’s father, but he was there when we needed him most.” Her fingers fidgeted with her glass, her gaze somewhere far beyond CentralPark. “Before Hephaestus, there was someone else. Someone I…Eros and I had to escape from. He helped us get away.”

A look of worry flashed across Adonis’s face. He reached over, his arm wrapping around her shoulders in a warm, solid hug. He held her close without saying a word, just letting her take a moment to gather herself, and she leaned into him, grateful for the comfort he offered.

Her mind wandered, lost in memories she’d long tried to bury. Thoughts of Cyncus resurfaced unbidden, stirring up a whirlwind of emotions she hadn’t felt in ages. They’d fallen hard for each other—intensely, passionately—and she’d been swept up in it all. She could still remember the thrill of their early days, the way he’d looked at her, how she’d thought he was the one. Then she’d found herself pregnant, carrying his child, and the world had felt even brighter. Eros’s birth should have cemented their happiness.

But everything had changed once Eros was born. Cyncus had become someone she barely recognized; his warmth turned cold, his words cutting where they’d once been sweet.

She glanced down at her drink, swirling the liquid as she sighed, almost in disbelief at how quickly things had shifted. “It’s strange,” she murmured, her voice barely a whisper, “how someone can turn into a stranger right in front of you.”

Adonis, who’d been sitting quietly, looked down at her, his brows knitting with concern. “Do you ever think…there were signs? Things you might’ve missed?”

She took a deep breath, her lips pressing into a thin line. “Sometimes, yes. Other times, I think…maybe he changed, or maybe I just didn’t want to see who he really was.” Her fingers tightened around her glass as she looked back at Adonis. “When you’re in love, you can be…blind. You tell yourself stories about someone, and you ignore the parts that don’t fit.”

He nodded slowly. “So…what happened? If it’s okay to ask.”

She forced a faint smile, though the pain was still there, just beneath the surface. “I don’t know if there’s one answer. He grew resentful—of Eros, of the time I spent with him. Everything I did seemed to set him off. Nothing was enough.” She paused, her gaze hardening as she looked down. “And when I wanted to visit my family and bring Eros with me, he absolutely forbade it. He said Eros would never leave Vale Crossing alive.”

She hated how, all these millennia later, it still hurt to think of him. “I stayed longer than I should have, believing he would come back around. But he never did.”

She could feel Adonis’s hand cover hers, a quiet, reassuring presence. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “No one should have to go through that.”

She gave a small nod and lay her head on his shoulder. “Thank you. Sometimes I wonder how much of it was my fault. Like…if I’d paid attention, maybe I would’ve seen it coming.”

He shook his head. “Don’t do that to yourself, Aphrodite. Love’s not about second-guessing, right? It’s about trusting. And you did. That’s not something to regret.”

A warmth spread through her, a reminder that she wasn’t as alone with her memories as she sometimes felt. After a moment, she pulled back, pushing the memories of Cyncus to the edges of her mind. “It’s another reason I can’t be mad at Hephaestus. He did so much for us. He didn’t have to, but he did.”

“He sounds like a good guy. I’m glad you had him to help you both through that.”

She nodded, feeling a little lighter, though her heart still carried the weight of that past. It had been so long since she had thought about Cyncus. And then there was Hephaestus. It had been millennia since they’d crossed paths, since he never went to any of the council meetings. It wouldn’t surprise her if he’d become a hermit by now.

But then, as if sensing the need for a change, Adonis pulled away from her, his face alight with amusement. “You know what? I’ve got an idea. How about we do something crazy with your hair?”

She blinked, surprised, her hand instinctively touching her long blonde locks, which had cascaded nearly to the floor since before the Titan War. “My hair?”

“Yes!” His grin widened, clearly excited at the idea. “You’ve got this whole golden goddess vibe going on, which is awesome, but maybe you need a little shake-up. Something fresh!”

She hesitated, then, seeing the excitement in his eyes, let herself go with it. Why not? She could use a change, something lighthearted, to shift her mood. “Alright, what are you thinking, stylist?”

“Oh, I’ve got a vision,” he laughed, taking her hand. “Trust me. You won’t regret it.”

Chapter 2

Hephaestus

In the quiet solitude of his workshop, Hephaestus, God of Forges and Fire, trained a keen eye on his latest invention. Rubbing his scruffy chin, he observed the machine as it rocked back and forth.

Not quite done.

The movement was still not smooth enough, and the motor made too much noise. This simply would not do, because this had to be theperfectgift.

After a few manual adjustments to the arm to fix the torque and minor tweaks to the motor with the help of his magic, he flipped the “on” switch. The machine began to move, swinging to and fro silently and fluidly.

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