For the Love of God

μ | twelve

I'VE NEVER HATED MY DRESS as much as I did then. I was out of breath as I ran towards the mansion, Tyhi following me hot on my trail. My heart was thumping so hard that I worried it might leap out of my chest. I was pretty sure that it wasn't only because of me running. I was afraid of what might happen. In fact, I was terrified.

What if Aphrodite saw through my pretense? What if she found out that I was growing butterflies inside me that only fluttered for Tyhi? Will she ask me to kill them all?

The guards opened the doors for me and Tyhi and I raced to climb up the stairs. Before I could, he grabbed my arm and pulled me back to his chest.

"Mae," he panted. He stared at me with hesitation and then mumbled, "Be careful. Come to me when Lady Aphrodite allows you to leave. I'll be by the garden."

I nodded. He looked like he wanted to say something else but he simply squeezed my hand twice and let me go. I tore myself away from him and hurried up the stairs. The doors to Aphrodite's chambers were wide open.

"Is he challenging the Goddess of Love herself? How foolish has he become?" Aphrodite seethed, facing the windows. Sunlight painted the room a golden yellow, casting another set of black doves on the wall, parallel to the ones which hung from the ceiling. Aphrodite's earrings reflected bright circles on the closet which danced along with her.

I shut the door slowly. The sound caught her attention and she turned towards me. "Ares has challenged me. He has dared me to make a man fall in love with me. I mean, I am the Goddess of Love. How hard could it be to make that happen?"

"Then, why are you angry? You can prove him wrong, right?" I offered, coming around her.

"Ares irks me so much! I am done with him," she exclaimed.

I chuckled. She glared at me.

"I'm sorry. I understand now what you meant by thrill. If it can get you so mad and you can still be so in love with him, then good for — I mean, I am happy for you, if I am allowed to be," I murmured.

"I hope you aren't mocking me because you know what might happen to you," she said, coldly.

My eyes widened. "No, no, I am definitely not mocking you. I am sorry if it seemed that way."

Silence followed. "You said Ares wanted to make someone fall in love with you. Who is it?" I asked, carefully guiding the conversation to the matter at hand.

She grumbled. "The son of Nereus and Doris. He is one of the Nereids."

Nereus. Nereids. Ugh. "Doesn't he have a name?"

"Nerites."

"Well, that definitely helped," I muttered. "What are you going to do?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm going to pay Nerites a visit." A sick smile played on her face as the gears in her mind moved to form a plan for seduction. In her wine-coloured dress and her long earrings, she made justice to her title as the Goddess of Beauty. Her dark hair cascaded over her bare back, forming a veil above it. But, the dress dipped lower until the end of her spine — clearly a trap for people's curiosity and temptation to feel the skin there and lower. But Aphrodite's merciless beauty didn't end there.

The lower part of the dress hugged her shape like a second skin, tracing her luscious curves. In the front, the neckline of the dress plunged into a tunnel through the valley between her covered breasts and ended with the fabric just below the mark. The straps on both the sides were tied up in a tight knot around her neck. The fact that that single tangle of knot was holding the dress together made my head spin. What was Blissia thinking while designing this?