Finding Cupid

Chapter 3

Eros:

Her eyes fluttered open as she finished the last drop in the vial, and the beautiful gray color glossed over until she looked like she was under the influence of a drug. Her already large pupils expanded until they nearly took over her eyes and her face flushed a light pink, the kind of rosy color that men write poems about. She gasped for air, her arms quivering for a second before she let out a gust of a breath and stilled. She looked around the room, blinking as if to clear her vision, before she looked at me.

No one had ever reacted this way when they drank the cure. It was normally the kind of thing that knocked them out; those who drank the cure normally fell asleep and I sent them back to their beds. When they woke up, they rarely had any idea of what had happened, and I liked it that way. It was far too difficult for me to explain, and, besides, if I let people know where I really lived, then people could come and hurt Hedone, and that was unacceptable. I snapped my head back to Alice and saw that she had recovered from the effects of the cure. She stared at me, her eyes wide as saucers, waiting for something.

"Well, how do you feel?" I asked. She just looked at me some more and I started to get nervous. She wasn't reacting at all how she was supposed to, and if the cure didn't work, I had no idea what I was going to do. 

"Um... I don't feel any different. Is it supposed to make me feel a bit nauseous though?" She clutched her stomach. I noticed the way her skin paled and her eyes lost the mischievous sparkle that they had held prior to drinking the cure. 

All of a sudden, she dropped the vial and ran to the garbage can by the door. I stared at the shattered glass for a second before running over to her and pulling her curls back from her face. Oh Gods, what have I done? 

Hedone came running in to see her new favorite person throwing up into the garbage can and immediately ran to her side. 

"Alice! Alice, what happened?" She turned to me. "Papa, what happened to Alice? Why is she getting sick?"

"I don't know baby, I don't know." I looked down at the sick girl again. She had stopped vomiting, but she sank down to the floor and pressed her cheek up against the metal outside of the trash can. I knelt down next to her and pressed my cold hands to her face. She closed her eyes groaned in pain at my touch and I immediately pulled back. Bruises started forming on her face and then going away, flickering on her skin all over her body. Oh Gods. A slick layer of sweat coated her body and she began thrashing on the floor. "Hedone, go get Iris and see if she can call Asclepius. We need him to figure out what's wrong with her."

She scurried out of the room, toddling as fast as she could on her short little legs. Alice let out a piercing shriek and her eyes opened widely, her pupils nearly consuming her eyes before they fell shut and she stilled. I was scared for a second that she might have died but I could still hear her breathing and when I pressed my fingers to her wrist, her pulse was strong and steady. I scooped her into my arms and carried her out of the hallway.

"Gods, for a silly mortal, you sure cause a lot of trouble. Damn it." When we finally got to the spare bedroom, I placed her gently on the bed and tucked her in. I pressed my lips to her hairline, feeling for a fever. She felt hot, but I didn't know what I could do to stop that. Aria, Hedone's nanny, came in, bearing a cold washcloth and a glass of water.

"I wasn't sure what to do, so I brought you these and I called Asclepius for you, darling." Aria smiled, her wrinkles deepening. She was a sweet, grandmotherly lady, and Hedone positively adored her. I thanked her and sent her to go make sure Hedone didn't go get into trouble. 

"Look, Alice," I started, not sure if she could hear me now that she was sleeping. "I'm sorry I shot you with the damn arrow. I'm sorry I gave you the cure and I'm sorry that it didn't work. But, look, I have my reasons, I promise you, and I would love to tell you them. But I can't, because trust isn't something that comes easy to me. I was out there for a reason, and I swear all that I was trying to do was make you happy because it's my job here. And--"