Page 63 of Ungodly Rich

He blinked. For a moment, the woman’s outline seemed to flicker, as if she were an old-fashioned movie whose film reel had gotten stuck. Hermes saw Abby, with her short dark hair and square jawline.

But at the same time, like a ghost overlaying Abby’s form, he saw Aphrodite.

“Wait for us here, Julia. We’re going to get you some water,” Hermessaid gently. “Abby, would you come with me?” He put a warning hand on Aphrodite-as-Abby’s arm, squeezing it hard, so that she bit back her protest.

It was a sign of Julia’s drunkenness that she didn’t question this strange new pairing. She just nodded agreeably and kept dancing.

As soon as they’d retreated toward the bathrooms, Hermes whirled on the goddess. “Aphrodite. What are you playing at, shape-shifting into a mortal?”

She looked like Julia’s friend again, but her eyes narrowed in a way that was distinctly Aphrodite. “I’m afraid I don’t understand—”

“Your illusion is guttering out like a dying candle,” Hermes snapped. “I’m starting to see you, which means the mortals will soon.”

Only Hermes would have seen that flicker; magic worked better on gullible mortals than it did on gods. But Aphrodite was approaching burnout.

She cursed under her breath. “I’ve used too much power tonight.”

“Doing what?” Hermes asked, but Aphrodite ignored the question. She lifted a hand to her brow as if checking her own temperature.

“Do I feel overheated to you? Maybe I should get Hestia to make me a cup of tea,” Aphrodite rambled. “I’m so weak that I couldn’t even dig into Julia’s desires, the way I did at Olympus.”

“You magicked her at Olympus?” Hermes asked, surprised.

Aphrodite rolled her eyes. “What are you going to do, tattle on me? All I did was make Julia sleepy, so she would go to bed and get out of my way.”

Hermes decided not to make a big deal of this. “You should get back. Why don’t you go grab a cab, and I’ll grab another one for me and Julia.” He lifted an eyebrow. “Don’t forget to change back into yourself.”

Aphrodite flickered once more. She must have felt her magic draining, because she winced. “Fine. I’ll go.” But as she started to turn away, something occurred to her, and she glanced back. “Hera sent you, didn’t she? Is she tracking me with the Argos Eye?”

“I used a nonmagical tracker. Julia’s phone.” Hermes jerked his thumb back toward the dance floor. “When Julia went totally MIA,Ares got worried, so I logged in to her laptop and pulled up the Find My Devices page.”

Ares had offered to come with him, but Hermes had insisted on making this trip alone.Don’t be the groom who shows up at a bachelorette,he’d said flippantly.That’s a job for the fabulous cousin!

The truth was that Hermes had wanted to find Julia himself. Knowledge was power, especially knowledge that you alone possessed.

And maybe, a small part of him admitted, he’d been worried about Julia.

He watched Aphrodite start toward the door of the club. Near the exit, she stretched her arms overhead and then—with a flash of light that Hermes knew only he could see—she became her own glorious self once more. There was obvious relief in the set of Aphrodite’s shoulders, now that she’d shed Abby’s form like a snake emerging from its skin.

Hermes started back across the dance floor, his mind racing. Aphrodite couldn’t magic Julia either. It wasn’t just him. But why would Aphrodite’s enchantment have worked on Olympus and not work now?

Could Julia be ademigod? Hermes had encountered plenty of half-divine offspring in his travels. He always felt the magic coiled within them, radiating like heat from a stove. He’d gotten nothing of the sort from Julia. No, he thought, she was purely mortal.

But how could a mere human resist the power of two Olympians? Was another god shielding her? Perhaps she was under some kind of protective spell.

One thing was certain: He couldn’t keep this from Hera anymore. Not to mention that he should probably share the news with Hades, too. At least Aphrodite had blamed her own exhaustion, rather than assuming there was anything unique about the mortal woman.

Poor Julia, Hermes thought, glancing back in the direction where Aphrodite had disappeared. It was bad enough to have attracted the enmity of a god or goddess.

Far worse to be the target of their envy.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Aphrodite

Aphrodite felt distinctly pleased with herself as she stepped out of the club. Not only had she led Julia into distinctly non-Ellene-approved behavior, she’d collected some crucial tidbits about the woman’s past. An ex-boyfriend who’d betrayed Julia, broken her trust? Aphrodite knew that information would prove useful, even if she wasn’t sure how just yet.

She peered down the darkened street, wishing that she had Ares’s nighttime vision. Where were all the taxis? The street felt eerily deserted. Graffiti lined the neighboring buildings, which might have housed basement raves or tattoo parlors or, for all Aphrodite knew, overpriced apartments.