Page 53 of Loved By Aphrodite

“Fine.” Eros rolled his eyes. “What punishment will you mete out? A thousand years having my eyes pecked out by ravens? Or maybe you’ll give Sisyphus a break and have me roll his boulder for a couple of centuries?”

“Oh no, nothing quite that easy.” A serious expression crossed Poseidon’s face. “If you recall from your immortality ceremony, Eros, one of the tenets we emphasize for all demi-gods who wish to partake of the golden apple is that divinity is a privilege, not a right. You swore an oath to use your powers responsibly. And now that you’ve proven that you cannot do so, we have no choice but to revoke your status as a god and return you to what you were.”

“What the fuck?” Eros exclaimed. “You can’t do that.”

“Oh yes, we can.” Poseidon looked to the others. “With one vote, we can do just that. So, shall we get on with it?”

“No!” Eros turned to his mother. “Please, Mama. Hephaestus. You can’t let them do that! You can’t let them take my divinity and turn me back.”

The hollow look on Eros’s face made Hephaestus’s chest ache. For a moment, he looked like that scared, vulnerable child once more.

“Please,” Aphrodite whispered. “They can’t…you know what will happen if they do that.”

It was rare that a god or goddess was stripped of their immortality, but it did happen, usually to former demi-gods. Had it been anyone else, they would simply revert to being a mortal human. But, in Eros’s case, he would revert to being part geryon, which meant he would lose the ability to hide his wings.

“He’d have to live in Vale Crossing,” Aphrodite whispered. “He won’t have any of his powers either.” Trapping Cyncus’s magic in the pyxis made sure of that. “And if any of the geryons found him, who knows what they’d do.”

While Hephaestus believed that finally being accountable could help Eros be the god he was meant to be, he did not want the boy to die. “Wait, before we take a vote on the matter, might I suggest an alternative punishment?”

“Alternative?” Poseidon sneered. “You bargain for him now? Why would we even consider such a thing? Why should he not be held to the same standard as every other god and goddess?” His gaze flickered at Aphrodite, very briefly, but the contempt in them was unmistakable. “Had he been brought up in the right way, perhaps we could have avoided all this.”

Hephaestus took a deep breath, resisting the urge to strangle the god of the sea. “Eros is a product of his upbringing. Yes, he grew up as a mortal geryon, but he’s been a god of Olympus for thousands of years. All this time, he looked to us, his elders, as an example of how to be and how to act. Did any of us even try to show him and the other demi-gods what it truly meant to be divine? Or were we all caught up in our own realms and petty squabbles these last thousands of years?” He looked at each and every one of the gods and goddesses who voted withPoseidon. “How have we kept up with these ‘standards’ we hold him against?”

An uncomfortable silence filled the room until Hades spoke. “What alternative do you suggest then, Hephaestus?”

The idea had already begun to form in his head the moment Poseidon decided to revoke Eros’s immortality, though he hadn’t fully formed the plan yet. Still, with everyone looking at him right now, he supposed he would have to do his best. “I agree, we should take his divinity and immortality but”—he looked at Aphrodite, sending her a silent message and hoping she would understand—”not forever. We should allow him a chance to earn it back.”

“And how would he do that?” Hera asked.

“He’ll…” He searched his brain for a moment and said the first thing that popped into his head. “He’ll have to live with the humans on the Upperworld, as one of them.”

“What?” Eros exclaimed. “You can’t be—mmph!” His mouth clamped shut, his entire body going stiff.

“This is for your own good,” Aphrodite soothed as she waved her hand, though Eros’s eyes could not hide his fury at being silenced.

“And what purpose would this serve?” Hades asked.

“So he can fully understand how his actions have affected the lives of the people he so casually toyed with. Some say we are gods and, thus, are above all in the universe. But when you think about it, can we really exist without the mortals? Would we even be here if it were not for their prayers, for their need to believe in something? Perhaps it is not just Eros who has forgotten this.” He paused. “By living as a human being, he will learn how tobehuman.”

“I think it’s a great idea,” Hestia piped in.

“Wise words,” Athena said. “But we all know Eros does as he pleases. How would you make sure he won’t just do whathe wants and cause even more chaos? How would we enforce the punishment if he could just charm his way around the Upperworld into a cushy life?”

“I have an idea.” It was Geri who spoke up. “Eros can live in Alaska, with my former pack.” She cleared her throat. “A wolf pack, both shifter and animal, survives when everyone works together, equally. It is only as strong as its weakest link, which is why we all pull our weight. We must follow our Alpha, because he or she watches out for the good of the entire pack. I believe pack life will help Eros learn not just sympathy, but how his actions affect the lives of others.”

“That sounds like a wonderful idea,” Apollo quipped, sending Eros a smug look. “A good ass-whooping from Cade is exactly what you need. I vote for it.”

“Wait a minute.” Poseidon held a hand up. “We haven’t agreed to a vote. Besides, how long would we give Eros?”

“How about the span of a mortal life?” Hera suggested. “At his age, what’s that? Fifty years or so? It will be over in the blink of an eye.”

“But how will you know if he’s learned his lesson?” Aphrodite asked.

“When he’s shown us that he knows what it truly means to be human,” Hestia said cryptically. “We will know, right?” She glanced at the other gods and goddesses, who simply nodded or hummed in agreement.

Aphrodite turned to Hephaestus. “What do you think?”

“I think it’s the best chance he has,” he replied. “But ultimately, it’s his decision.”

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