Aphrodite's Flame

18.

Corinth is a bustling town overlooking the glittering Mediterranean Sea. The people here worship Poseidon, god of the Waters. They also have a temple in my name, gifted to me by intimidating Poseidon when he wanted to charm me into his watery bed. It's a beautiful temple, so it needn't be said it worked in his favour.

Nowadays sailors of all the places in the world would land at the busy docks in the Corinthian harbour and would immediately find their way up the thousand ancient steps toward my temple, known for the hundreds of men and women selling their bodies. I love what they have done to the place.

I don't really remember arriving here, but it must be two days ago. Hundreds of whores are walking around and I walk amongst them until I reach the Acrocorinth. There's a statue of me overlooking whatever is happening down at her feet. It's fair to say she doesn't look like me. Sure, we both have those eyes and that hair and I'm sure they even got the breast size correct - but this Aphrodite is larger than life. She is armoured and awe-inspiring, whereas I am only a shell of whatever woman I used to be.

'How much?' a deep male voice asks. I turn around to look at him, he is certainly handsome, but apparently as dumb as an ape.

'Leave her alone,' I hear a woman sigh before I get the chance to respond. 'You can clearly see she is not one of us. I, however, am happy to be of service.' The man shrugs, taking a last look at me before walking in front of the mortal woman. Before leaving she glances over her shoulder and winks at me.

***

In the twilight my temple looks even more magical. The indigo and navy of a darkening sky are displaying thousands of stars above and around it. I'm sitting on the highest step, from where I can look out over sea. I'm thinking about whatever land is on the other side. I should visit sometime.

'Still here?' I can smell her flowery perfume before I see her. The courtesan sits down beside me and offers me some wine to drink. I accept and smile at her.

'I don't really know where to go from here.' Home is not an option. Not yet.

'I think a lot of us don't know. It's okay if you don't know where you're going, as long as you keep moving forward.' I study her closely for a second. She couldn't be a random whore.

'Why are you doing this kind of work?' I ask. She lets out a laugh and gestures toward herself.

'Total nymphomaniac, me,' she lies, but I don't push her. 'What about you? I mean, people normally come to Aphrodite's temple when they lost love or never got it. That, or one of the many priestesses.'

'Love lost,' I whisper. 'He died. But I don't see how... Aphrodite, of all goddesses, could help me.' She redirects her gaze toward the sea.

'Yet, here you are. You could have gone anywhere, you could have prayed to Hades, but you came to Aphrodite for advice.' I smile wryly. If only this so-called Goddess of Love could help me.

'Fuck Aphrodite,' I snort, 'what would you tell me?'

'Honour him in any way you can and don't close yourself off. One day your heart will have healed and you can look back without regrets. I'm pretty sure Aphrodite would have said the same thing.' I laugh and look at her again. She has dark curls framing a heart shaped face, sprinkled with freckles on suntanned skin. Her eyes are intensely green and curious.

'What's your name?' I ask her.

'Cato, daughter of king Lycaon of Arcadia, sister of Callisto.' I put my hand on hers. Her flame is high, in the light of her self-confidence, and yellow, hot. How did the daughter of a King end up in the shadows of my temple in Corinth? I'm not going to ask her today. Some other time, maybe.

'Nice to meet you, Cato. I'm Aphrodite.'

To a mortal, there is something divine about gaining a god's favour. It is an advantage many of them would kill for. Ironically, there are gods that ask you to do exactly that. Not me. I don't want to see death, yet passionate love is sometimes able to destroy a life. The second Cato's hand touched mine and I told her my name, we were bound.

Quickly she retracts her hand and looks at me with big eyes.

'Are you lying?' she whispers. I just look at her, letting the truth sink in. She looks at her hands, which touched me not a minute ago.

'I can see your grandest desire,' I tell her solemnly. 'I'm sorry she hurt you. I'm sorry it made you a pariah from your family.' Cato smiles at me.

'Not my sister, though. She saved me.' I smile. I know. I can see her love for her sister.

'If I wanted anything in this world, it would be that Sappho loved me as much as I loved her, and that I could have the power to hurt her just as much.' Her voice breaks and she swallows. She hasn't allowed herself to cry for a long time now, for I recognise women who haven't. I put my hand on hers.

'Done.' In fact, she will be so hurt, she will write a million poems about it.