important to you, you will have your answer. But we will allow . . . a mortal to decide.”
Smiling, Aphrodite quickly totaled up the number of mortal lovers and suitors she’d known and thought, again, that she was a shoo-in. Athena and Hera both opened their mouths to protest. But a look from Zeus silenced them.
“We will need someone young; someone with little to lose and naive enough not to know the danger in which he’ll be. Someone several arrows short of a full quiver. Fortunately, I know just the boy. You will go together, with Hermes as your escort, to Mount Ida in Phrygia and find the shepherd named Paris. It shouldn’t be too hard . . . he’ll be the one who’s dressed the surrounding trees and several of his flock to resemble residents of his village. He’ll probably be yelling at them for moving too slow . . . trying to dance with them or some such nonsense. Aphrodite, for the life of me I don’t know why, but in this instance I trust you to safeguard the apple until then.”
“Not fair!” Athena yelled.
“QUIET!” Zeus bellowed.
Pandy felt her stomach flip at the sheer size of his voice. Zeus paused for a moment, his brows suddenly furrowed.
“If two relatively sane immortals and my wife are so ridiculous over this bauble, I suffer to think what its power would do to a human. Therefore, to mitigate the destructive power of Eris’s spell, I am enchanting the apple with an invisible shield,” he said when he spoke again. “Which will be broken only when one of you receives it in your big, greedy hands. Give it to Paris and let him judge.”
At once, Aphrodite felt the apple heavy in a silver silk pouch hanging from a new hook on her enchanted girdle.
“Well,” Zeus said, when no one moved. “What are you three waiting for? Time is ticking . . . and some of you need all of it you can get.”
Athena and Aphrodite vanished straightaway, but Hera shot one last look at her husband, murmuring something inaudible, and then she was gone.
“Blah, blah, blah,” Zeus said softly. His gaze went to Thetis, who mouthed the words “thank you.” Zeus nodded his head, then he swept his arms wide to include all the guests.
“Well, the boy is in for it, I’m certain, but at least we’ve avoided our own little war, yes?”
The immortals cheered.
“And the best part of all is that now I may have one dance with the bride without my wife wanting to peck out my eyes!”
To which everyone laughed and agreed.
“That is, of course, if her husband will permit me?”
King Peleus bowed low and assisted Thetis off the dais. The new queen did not go rushing into Zeus’s arms as she might have only several hours before, like an infatuated schoolgirl. Instead, she walked slowly and regally, mindful of her husband’s feelings, to the Sky-Lord.
“Friends?” Zeus asked her.
“Always,” she answered.
“Orpheus?” Zeus called out. “How about something with a little kick?”
“At once, Cloud Gatherer!” Orpheus cried, then softly to his orchestra, “Boys, ‘I Found Love in a Syrian Spice Shop’ on three. A one, a two . . .”
Soon almost everyone was out on the floor, feet stomping and arms waving.
But Pandy was slumped over the railing at the top of the stairs, her mouth slightly open . . . in complete and utter shock.
CHAPTER TEN
Departure
Pandy stared blankly at the guests, celebrating madly in the great hall. By now, she thought, she should be used to this particular feeling . . . she’d felt it so many times before: she was completely at a loss.
“Pandy?”
Iole was nudging her, but Pandy was oblivious. It had been so close, right in the room, only several meters away: the golden apple that was Lust . . . or contained it . . . or led to it. And she’d done nothing. She could have quietly tiptoed up behind any of the three most powerful goddesses in the universe and tried to take it. It shouldn’t have mattered that they would have killed her on the spot. She could have kicked
Smiling, Aphrodite quickly totaled up the number of mortal lovers and suitors she’d known and thought, again, that she was a shoo-in. Athena and Hera both opened their mouths to protest. But a look from Zeus silenced them.
“We will need someone young; someone with little to lose and naive enough not to know the danger in which he’ll be. Someone several arrows short of a full quiver. Fortunately, I know just the boy. You will go together, with Hermes as your escort, to Mount Ida in Phrygia and find the shepherd named Paris. It shouldn’t be too hard . . . he’ll be the one who’s dressed the surrounding trees and several of his flock to resemble residents of his village. He’ll probably be yelling at them for moving too slow . . . trying to dance with them or some such nonsense. Aphrodite, for the life of me I don’t know why, but in this instance I trust you to safeguard the apple until then.”
“Not fair!” Athena yelled.
“QUIET!” Zeus bellowed.
Pandy felt her stomach flip at the sheer size of his voice. Zeus paused for a moment, his brows suddenly furrowed.
“If two relatively sane immortals and my wife are so ridiculous over this bauble, I suffer to think what its power would do to a human. Therefore, to mitigate the destructive power of Eris’s spell, I am enchanting the apple with an invisible shield,” he said when he spoke again. “Which will be broken only when one of you receives it in your big, greedy hands. Give it to Paris and let him judge.”
At once, Aphrodite felt the apple heavy in a silver silk pouch hanging from a new hook on her enchanted girdle.
“Well,” Zeus said, when no one moved. “What are you three waiting for? Time is ticking . . . and some of you need all of it you can get.”
Athena and Aphrodite vanished straightaway, but Hera shot one last look at her husband, murmuring something inaudible, and then she was gone.
“Blah, blah, blah,” Zeus said softly. His gaze went to Thetis, who mouthed the words “thank you.” Zeus nodded his head, then he swept his arms wide to include all the guests.
“Well, the boy is in for it, I’m certain, but at least we’ve avoided our own little war, yes?”
The immortals cheered.
“And the best part of all is that now I may have one dance with the bride without my wife wanting to peck out my eyes!”
To which everyone laughed and agreed.
“That is, of course, if her husband will permit me?”
King Peleus bowed low and assisted Thetis off the dais. The new queen did not go rushing into Zeus’s arms as she might have only several hours before, like an infatuated schoolgirl. Instead, she walked slowly and regally, mindful of her husband’s feelings, to the Sky-Lord.
“Friends?” Zeus asked her.
“Always,” she answered.
“Orpheus?” Zeus called out. “How about something with a little kick?”
“At once, Cloud Gatherer!” Orpheus cried, then softly to his orchestra, “Boys, ‘I Found Love in a Syrian Spice Shop’ on three. A one, a two . . .”
Soon almost everyone was out on the floor, feet stomping and arms waving.
But Pandy was slumped over the railing at the top of the stairs, her mouth slightly open . . . in complete and utter shock.
CHAPTER TEN
Departure
Pandy stared blankly at the guests, celebrating madly in the great hall. By now, she thought, she should be used to this particular feeling . . . she’d felt it so many times before: she was completely at a loss.
“Pandy?”
Iole was nudging her, but Pandy was oblivious. It had been so close, right in the room, only several meters away: the golden apple that was Lust . . . or contained it . . . or led to it. And she’d done nothing. She could have quietly tiptoed up behind any of the three most powerful goddesses in the universe and tried to take it. It shouldn’t have mattered that they would have killed her on the spot. She could have kicked
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