Page 7 of The Perfect Matchmaking

“I welcome you all to my event to celebrate love. I don’t believe that love is dead. Neither do I believe my cupids are slacking.” She began tentatively. “My romantic involvements have never influenced them before?—“

Ares drained his glass and gave her an indulgent, patronizing smirk before interrupting. “If only you had any, maybe they’d encourage your disciples to be more diligent in their duties. Lead by example, I always say. Release a sex tape or something. I’m sure that would be inspirational.”

Artemis’s gagging sounds from across the table made Hermes and Apollo burst into laughter. The warm pressure on her skin became almost painful before Athena lessened her hold, perhaps realizing that her palpable anger was inadvertently hurting Aphrodite.

She bit her lip, but when she finally replied, her voice was steady. “I’ve led my cupids since time began, Ares. Your choice in partners is your own, however, so don’t blame my subjects for all the STDs you’ve had to seek medical attention for.”

“Zing! Dite 1, Macho War Dude 0!” Hermes high-fived Artemis.

“Children!” Zeus’ bellow made all of them flinch and settle down. “I mean, you’re not wrong regarding Ares’s medical history, my dear, but he’s not wrong either when he says your prolonged singlehood isn’t setting the best example for mortalsand cupids. I completely understand that your marriage to Hephaestus left you traumatized?—“

“Hey!” Hephaestus’ indignant shout didn’t deter Zeus from continuing.

“—but it is time to get over all that, and to look around you and choose a mate.” He deliberately overextended the word ‘choose,’ and it resonated in her mind in all its fake glory. No, there wouldn’t be a choice for her. As she lowered her gaze, he continued, “Surely, with your cupids excelling—as you insist they are—one of them will find you a perfect match.”

She lifted her head so quickly at his words that the hitherto rather steady room, whirled again. She allowed herself to turn her palm in Athena’s hand and grip right back, taking solace where she could. Meanwhile, Zeus simply winked at her once more, his smile sly, his eyes shrewd, no sign of the daft old man that he often played to get out of whatever he needed to. No, this was the cunning god who had ruled the roost since the dawn of time. He knew his family, and he had played her into a corner.

With silence reigning over the table, Zeus signaled for the food to finally be served before turning to her one last time. “I think a week, surrounded by the best and the brightest two thousand of your subjects, my dear, will be sufficient for you to find your perfect match?”

It had been a trap.Aphrodite chose not to dwell on her relived trauma, panic attacks, and anxiety-ridden visions of herself being bartered to the highest bidder again, all in some sort of accursed power play. Instead, she decided to find someone to blame. Well, that would be easy. Because whatever trap was being laid, she had walked into it with her eyes and brain fogged by the foolishness that had possessed her to drool over horn-rimmed glasses and chiseled arms. For shame. Outplayed at herown game. Aphrodite threw back two fingers of Glenmorangie, placed the tumbler next to the three empty ones, and signaled for another.

“I heard the evenings before the Convention are particularly stressful, but I didn’t realize they were quite this bad.” Sabine Goddard gracefully sat down on the barstool close to Aphrodite and raised her hand for the bartender, who promptly filled a glass.

“Are you here to make jokes?” Aphrodite gulped down her next whiskey and turned to watch the audacious cupid take a gingerly sip of hers.

“Well, your summons were terse. One could say downright brusque. Considering how I was engaged at the time of receiving your message, I would even go as far as saying they were rude.”

“Oh please, I have no idea when a good time to summon you these days would be, since you’re always face down in your wife!”

Sabine’s expression could only be described as smug.

“I was about to do more than that and was cruelly interrupted?—”

“You’re just milking it now, Goddard.”

That earned her another self-satisfied look before Sabine sobered.

“I assume I’ve been summoned because you’ve been summoned?”

“So you know?” Aphrodite signaled for a new tumbler.

“Apollo let slip in strict confidence that it’s open season, with Zeus challenging the cupids to deliver a perfect match for you. So of course, it’s now known to any and all, as all Apollo’s strictest confidences are.”

“Fucking idiot.”

“Which one?”

“All of them. The whole damn family.” The whiskey was doing nothing to dissipate the fogginess over her heart and brain. If anything, everything was getting more and more blurry.

“Well, Maddison St. James is just about losing her mind over whom she’ll pair you with.”

“If I catch her and her quiver anywhere near me, I’ll pluck her wings myself.”

“Just keeping you abreast of current events...”

There was so much compassion in the cupid’s voice that Aphrodite almost blanched. She didn’t need anybody’s damn commiseration! She was still the Goddess of Love. And nobody pitied her.

“Mind your business, Sabine. And do your job. I’ve noticed you have not cast a single arrow in the two months since I ordered you to come out of retirement. How are you going to win the goddamn crown with no arrows shot?”

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