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The goddess didn’t seem to mind. She grinned broadly.
“Such a nice girl,” she said.
“I’m the madam of an escort service.”
“I’d hardly hold that against you, dear. I had a whole cult of temple prostitutes in Corinth in service to me. Ah...the good old days.” She patted Lia’s cheek.
Lia recoiled.
“No, don’t touch me. You’re making August get married to someone he doesn’t want to marry. You have to let him out of it. I’ve already told my parents everything, anyway. I don’t need your help.”
“Do you like my perfume?”
“What?” Lia asked, shaking her head in supreme confusion. She had conversational whiplash from the sudden change of subject.
“My perfume? Do you like it?”
“It smells very nice. Hermès. My mother wears the same sort.”
“I thought it was very kind of you to give it to me,” Aphrodite said.
“Give it to you?” Lia asked. “When did I... Rita. With the catering company. That was you? No...”
“Yes,” she said, and curtsied in honor of her own acting prowess. “Just a disguise. My own son didn’t even recognize me. You read your myths. I know you know how it works. If you do a kindness to a god or goddess in disguise as a lowly mortal in need, the god or goddess will reward you. I was about to get sacked for stealing from you and you defended me against your housekeeper’s accusations and even gave me the perfume. Because you showed hospitality to a visitor in your home that even Zeus would applaud, I will honor you by granting you a boon. I can either release my son from his promise to come home and get married and give up all this mortal mischief he’s been doing the past thirteen years. Or... I can pop downstairs and take care of your little mess you’ve made. I’ll blow in David’s ear and make him forget all about you, blow in your mother’s and father’s ears and make them forget everything that happened tonight. I can even paint over the mural on your parents’ bedroom ceiling, and it will be as if David never stepped one foot into this house or your life. What shall it be?”
Lia didn’t even have to think about that for one second.
“Let August go,” she said. “I mean, Eros.”
“You want him for yourself?”
“Of course I want him for himself. But even if I never see him again, I don’t want him forced to be someone and something he doesn’t want to be—especially because of me.”
“You’re certain? All Hades is about to break loose downstairs. Your David is threatening to call the police on your father. Perhaps he already has. Is that a siren I hear?”
Lia heard the siren, too. Her stomach sank. But she had no choice.
“August said the gods envy mortals because our actions have consequences. Even when the consequences are bad,” she said, “they’re still good because they give weight and meaning to our lives and choices. I don’t believe I did anything wrong—everything that happened was consensual, nobody got exploited, everybody had fun. But I know what I did was illegal. I’ll take the consequences, no matter how ugly it gets. And...what happened this week with August and me, I want that to mean something, too. I don’t want to magically make it go away, not even the pain. Even the pain of losing him reminds me I had him for a while... As for the mural, yes, David’s a wanker but the painting is magnificent. And it’s August and me, I suppose. Leave that alone, too.” Lia squared her shoulders. “I’m sorry to rush you off, but if it’s as bad as you say, I better get downstairs and stop Daddy from committing murder.”
“Your father does love you more than life itself,” Aphrodite said. “I saw that the moment you were born, and he called on my name to breathe life back into you. You’ve been like my own goddaughter. You make me very proud.”
“Thank you,” Lia said. “I think.”
“Before I go...” The goddess bent to pick up the broken statue of herself. Except it wasn’t broken anymore when she placed it back on the mantel. “Your great-grandfather loved this little statue of me. And I loved your great-grandfather. He would have been very proud of you, too. Defying convention, thumbing your nose at all the stupid rules imposed on women that never get imposed on men, living the bawdy life of a...what did you call it? A congenial pervert? My kind of girl. I like you so much better than Psyche—pretty girl but no backbone. You, child, have backbone.” Aphrodite placed her hands on Lia’s shoulders, and this time Lia didn’t brush her off. She couldn’t, not with the way Aphrodite was looking at her, her great dark eyes full of love.
Aphrodite bent and kissed Lia on the forehead.
“All I ever wanted,” the goddess said, “was for someone to love my son as much as I do. You’ve made me a very happy lady.”
And with those strange final words, Aphrodite was gone.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Stunned by what had just happened, the dazzling strangeness of it all, Lia could only stand there in her room basking in utter astonishment. She felt like she’d been staring straight at the sun for an hour and it was going to take a long time before her vision cleared. She leaned back against the door, pressed her hand into her stomach and breathed and breathed.
She nearly jumped two feet into the air when someone knocked on her bedroom door. She turned and threw the door open. Her mother stood across the threshold.
“Mummy,” Lia said. “It’s you.” She slapped a hand over her heart in relief.
