The Trials of Aphrodite: Righting the Wrongs

Victory is Bittersweet

The Trials of Aphrodite

♦ Chapter Sixteen ♦

"Via?" I whispered. There was no reaction from the daughter of Mercury. Her eyes were glassy and her expression devoid of emotion.

Khione smiled coldly. "She can't hear you," she said. "Because I have this."

The snow goddess stepped further out of the fog, and I caught something twinkling. An exquisite golden belt cinched her waist, with a small red gemstone glittering in the center. My anger returned, fierce and quick. It was my girdle.

"How in the name of love did you pull this off?" I cried.

Khione traced the swirling designs on the girdle, as if she enjoyed my pain. "It was simple, really," she said sweetly. "I have gifts too, you know. Snow and ice . . . they don't take long to find ways under you, even with all the protection in the world. They burrow under your skin and make it cold. My snow does much more than that. I whispered into the mind of Zeus before, and now I've convinced this demigod to steal the girdle for me. It wasn't very hard. This girl . . . Well, she's stored a lot of resentment inside her for a long time. I only coaxed that anger and jealousy out."

I blinked. "Via would never do that!"

"You may not know her as well as you believe," Khione said. "Olivia felt that her father, and several other gods, were being neglected even after the war. After all, who cares about a mere daughter of Mercury?" Her eyes flickered. "Who cares about you?"

"We care," Reyna growled, moving to stand by my side. Hylla did the same. I felt a surge of warmth in my heart.

Khione tutted. "I'll deal with the two of you soon. You'll become as ice-solated as my father and the other statues in this room."

"You've been waiting to use that pun all day, haven't you?" Reyna hissed.

"Wait," I said, my blood running cold. "You froze your own father? Boreas?"

Khione snorted. "Of course I did! He was standing in my way! Wouldn't have you?"

"No," I said. My confidence might have been my undoing, but I didn't care. "Now I know what love truly means. It was never winning someone's heart with your beauty and getting them to love you, it was something much deeper. It was the binding of two souls as one person. I know that now. And I know a love just as strong."

Khione's nostrils flared. "And what might that be?"

"Friendship," I said, smiling at Hylla and Reyna. They smiled back.

Khione's dress billowed behind her. "I will have none of this," she commanded. "Surrender to me and you and your friends won't be harmed."

"I refuse," I snarled. "You're going down, ice princess."

"Now that is much better," Hylla griped. "Less talk and more action."

Khione's lips stretched into a wide smile. "I'm afraid I'll be the one surviving this encounter," she said, her words sickly sweet as a bowl of sugar.

Then she attacked.

I barely had time to dodge as Khione shot a blast of ice and snow my way. I hefted my spear.

The goddess laughed with delight, and it echoed through the great room, bouncing off the jagged icicles. "A toothpick? Against me?" she taunted.

Reyna unsheathed her sword, and Hylla flicked up her heel and snatched the hilt of a hidden dagger out of her boot. She twirled it in her fingers. "Against us. You're about to eat your own snow, Khione!"