Finding Cupid

Chapter 5

Eros:

The best part of my house was easily the windows, especially on mornings when the sun shone through the stained glass and painted my floor in an array of colors. It made getting out of bed much easier. It was Psyche's suggestion— she loved colors and pretty things, especially when they were art. She told me that she always wanted to wake up to something beautiful, and I told her all I ever wanted to wake up to was her face. Being the God of love has it's perks, as I do tend to have rather good pick-up lines, if I do say so myself. I rolled over onto my back, shoving my hands behind my head and looking at the clock on the wall in front of me. It was still only 6:30 in the morning, but it felt later than that. Gods, I don't want to leave this bed. Leaving the bed meant waking Alice up, and Zeus only knows how she might be in the morning, if she's obnoxious enough after she's been awake for hours. 

Begrudgingly, I dragged myself out of the bed, groaning as I padded down the hall to Alice's room, not even caring about the fact that I certainly didn't look anything like the God I claimed to be. My curls were in complete disarray, and no amount of running my fingers through them would make them look better. Oh well, it's only Alice. I peeked into her room, not quite wanting to have to deal with a cranky Alice in the morning, only to find that her sheets were tossed back and her pillows were scattered around the floor. Crap, she's run.

"Oh my Gods, she's run away, and she's going to have to deal with the side effects alone, and she might die, and—" I continued to ramble, stomping around the room and knocking pictures and books off the shelves in anger. The damn demigod was more trouble than she was worth. Words couldn't even describe the rush of emotions, mainly anger and annoyance, that I was experiencing right then. It was a rock in the pit of my stomach, knowing that, with the distance from me, she might die. And as much as I disliked her, I was completely not okay with her dying on my watch. I had only been responsible for a few deaths, almost as few as Hestia, and I was planning to keep it that way.

I was fuming at the irresponsible, stubborn, troublesome demigod when I heard bubbling laughter coming from the kitchen. I knew that it was Hedone, but the person laughing with her did not sound like Iris or Hedone's nanny. Who on Earth would Iris bring here? I couldn't worry about it though, I had more pressing matters.

Such as the missing demigod.

Alice.

Groaning, I stomped through the halls and down the stairs to see if she left any indication of where she might have gone near the door. I hired guards for a reason, but I guess their main job was to keep people out, not keep them in. After all, this was a home, not a prison.

The house smelled suspiciously of chocolate cookies and tomato sauce—a weird combination, but not altogether unpleasant. But I knew for a fact that Iris was absolutely terrible at cooking, and I was generally the one who cooked meals. For once, I was glad that I had stairs instead of an elevator, because it meant that I got to spend longer smelling this tantalizing combination.

I certainly was not going to complain about not having to cook.

I stomped into the kitchen, still annoyed about Alice, because now I was going to have to go look for her instead of eat whatever was cooking, and slammed my hand down on the counter. Hedone ran up to me and jumped on me, trying to get me to pick her up, but I simply smiled down at her, not in the mood for anything.

"Papa! Papa! Alice is cooking and it smells so yummy!" She giggled and I jumped, looking over to see a girl by the oven. I was so incredibly relieved that I picked Hedone up and swung her around, making her laugh harder, and then I walked over to Alice and hugged her too. "Why are you hugging Alice, Papa? I thought you didn't like her!"