Forsaken Deity

Chapter 10

As Thea drifted off to sleep, she felt herself falling into a dream. Rather than fearing it this time, she jumped right in, curious to know more about Lissandre and her past.

When the darkness melted, she was surprised; she wasn't in her forest but in the middle of some sort of market. Stalls were set on the sides of the dirt street, stall owners shouting their wares as throngs of peoples surrounded her, their chatter drowning in her ears.

Slipping through the crowd, she ran through the market and saw Aphrodite just ahead her.

"Hurry up!" Aphrodite hissed. "The sooner we figure out who it is, the sooner I can get out of this awful place!"

Thea looked at her, confused. How did she know that was Aphrodite? The woman was certainly beautiful though she wore rags to fit in with her disguise. Again, how Thea knew that she was wearing a disguise, she didn't know. She wanted to look around more but she couldn't control her body. It moved of its own accord and she sensed other emotions swirling through her mind that weren't her own; annoyance and disgust at the smell of civilisation. She longed to be back in her forest, away from these dirt clad mortals.

Aphrodite shoved her down as they reached a corner and she glared at her. "Look!"

Her head poked around the corner and she saw Hermes, the older version she'd seen in her dream, and he was talking to a young woman. Judging from what she was seeing, she guessed she was in Lissandre's body. It felt strange not being able to control what was essentially her own body.

Lissandre looked on as Hermes smiled at the young mortal and a flash of jealousy shot through her that did not belong to Thea. Thea laughed in disbelief. Lissandre was jealous. She had liked Hermes, which judging from her previous vision of them didn't make any sense. Thea had thought for sure that Lissandre hated him. Hermes certainly hated her.

The young woman speaking to Hermes was beautiful; she had light olive skin with black hair that fell to her waist. Her blue eyes gazed at Hermes with what could only be love and Thea felt the jealousy this time. Hermes looked like he loved her. She'd never seen such a look of fondness on his face before. It hurt to see him looking that way at someone else.

Her hurt mixed with Lissandre's, and Aphrodite grabbed her arm as she started to move. "Just wait, Lissandre, we need to wait until Hermes has gone."

"Why?" she snapped. "Make the bastard watch us destroy his love."

Thea gazed at the couple with new understanding; this was the woman Lissandre mentioned in her previous vision. Thea watched as Hermes leaned down and he kissed the woman, crushing her body to his. It made the kiss he'd given her look tame and the tightness in her chest doubled. After a moment, he released her and vanished with the air, leaving the girl looking properly smitten.

"Alright," Aphrodite grinned. "Time to teach that wench a lesson."

Thea fought with everything she had, screaming at Lissandre to stop but it was no use. She was merely a spectator to this show and all she could do was watch.

The woman looked surprised as Aphrodite and Lissandre approached. "Hello, can I help you?"

"You can't help us child but we can certainly help you. How would you like to fall in love?" Aphrodite purred. Her hand was on the poor girl's arm and Thea could see the look of fear on her face.

"That's alright, thank you, I'm already in love."

"Tsk tsk," Lissandre sneered, "but that man was no good for you, you deserve someone much more worthy of your...charms."

"I don't understand," the girl said nervously, trying to back away.

"You don't need to understand, my dear. Oh, and I know just the match for you!" Aphrodite giggled. "The stone maker's son on the road over, he would be perfect for you."