The Head and the Heart by Kerri Keberly

Author:Kerri Keberly [Kerri Keberly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dragonfire Press
Published: 2024-03-24T00:00:00+00:00

12

Eros watched his mother walk across one of Olympus’s many gardens toward him. Prisms of light emanated from the crown of her golden hair like the finest cut crystal, her movements so fluid and graceful she seemed to float.

She came to a stop before him, but he did not look at her, too afraid she would see the torment in his eyes. It had been weeks since he’d flown to the top of the mountain in a rage. He preferred to be alone in his suffering, and so he’d avoided her in order to hide the wallowing that would follow. So that she would not see his anguish and insist on prying open healing wounds. But it seemed his attempt had been futile.

“My son. Why do you languish?”

There was no sense in hiding what he had done. He could keep nothing from her, always compelled to confess his misdeeds in time. Besides, with the inhabitants of Olympus’s insatiable thirst for gossip and penchant for taking matters of indignation to Zeus, she would find out soon enough.

“I did not smite Psyche as you asked.”

“I know,” said his mother coolly.

Eros switched his gaze from the ground to his mother’s face, and she answered his question before he could ask it.

“I am your mother. You were born unto this world as part of me. I bequeathed to you love and lust and passion so that you may be the guardian and keeper of hearts. Did you think I would not know when yours was broken?”

“Then why do you ask such a question?”

“Because I do not understand. You are a god. Why should your heart bleed for a human?”

His chest tightened. She spoke the truth, but he could not find the words to explain the bittersweet song that was love. The joy and torment, the elation and despair. “I should have listened.”

“Yes.” His mother nodded solemnly. “You should have. We are powerful, but we are not impervious.”

He had been foolish, no doubt, and lamented his impulsive nature. Even so, he did not regret his time with what he knew in his heart to forever be his one and only true love. “Will you punish me?”

His mother’s eyes softened. “No.” An instant later, they hardened into the darkest aquamarine jewels. “But I will punish the girl.”

Panic raced through Eros, the thought of Psyche enduring a terrible death almost making him shudder. Instead, he kept his emotions in check, so as not to stoke the embers of his mother’s smoldering rage.

This conversation must end now. He stood, and though fear made his heart pound, he said, “Let her live out the rest of her days pining for the love she has lost. That will be punishment enough.”

His mother contemplated his words as he held her gaze. Finally, she sighed. “I will do as you bid. Apart from this, you have served me well, my son, and have not caused me unrest. That is more than I can say for some of the others on this mountain.”

Eros bowed his head, grateful.

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