Cupid Collections

11. Peyton - 3: The Drink

“Straighten up, dear.”

“I’m trying.”

“And smooth out the wrinkles in your clothes.”

“I did.”

“Make sure you do not speak unless spoken too.”

“Grandma,” Peyton whined. “I know!”

Eros chuckled lightly at the two girls before him. He placed a gentle hand on his wife’s shoulder.

“Calm yourself,” he whispered comfortingly. “Everything will go perfectly well.”

“You cannot say that for certain,” Psyche whispered back. “The entire council is assembled in there. Your mother does not think too highly of me still. We may have made civil amends but her opinion of me still stands as it did before.”

Eros kissed her softly on the cheek. “You worry too much. It will drive you mad if you allow it to. Relax, my love, and breathe.”

Psyche begrudgingly crossed her arms but complied. The three of them stood outside the council room of the Twelve Olympians. They were in their best clothes and ready to impress. After all, minor gods and goddesses didn’t get to ask for things by strolling into the council room in torn excuses for clothes and a rude attitude.

“Now, this is something you want, Peyton?” Eros asked suddenly. “There is no use in going through this process if you do not want it.”

Peyton stared up with her wide hazel eyes at her grandparents. This decision seemed to make itself.

“Grandma said I could live with you forever if I do this,” Peyton mumbled.

“Absolutely,” Psyche answered immediately going to hug the young girl. Psyche couldn’t imagine outliving her granddaughter. She loved the young teen too much to part with her on mortal terms. Even if Eros hadn’t suggested the idea of her immortality, she would’ve brought up the idea within a few more years. Her husband had just beaten her to it.

“And Grandpa Eros is having troubles with his work,” Peyton continued while in the midst of hugging her grandmother. “And I can help because I’m related to him. Isn’t that right?”

“Absolutely,” Eros replied with a much lower enthusiasm than his wife. He gave the two girls a small smile before glancing down at the ground and sighing. He didn’t need the help but it was surely appreciated and no one would be more qualified for the job than his own flesh and blood. Still, he felt bad for deceiving the poor girl. Little did he know it wouldn’t be the last time he would do so.

“You may enter,” a voice announced from overhead. The large marble double doors opened on their own accord and allowed the three of them to enter. The room was circular with twelve chairs lined in a semi-circle away from the door. Each god and goddess had their own throne in the room and a round of servants ready to tend to them.  All the thrones seemed to be on a raised platform meaning one would have to step up or step down to move from them.

In the center of the round of gods sat Zeus in the easily the largest throne in the room. He was a tall man with brunette hair slicked back professionally and kind blue eyes. He reminded Peyton of a fatherly type figure.

To his right was his wife and the Goddess of Marriage and Family, Hera. Next to her sat the God of Light, Apollo. Next to him was his twin sister, the Goddess of the Hunt, Artemis. Then came the Goddess of Knowledge, Athena and next to her was The God of War, Ares.

On Zeus’s left side was his brother and God of the Seas, Poseidon. Then the God of Wine, Dionysus, then the God of Fire, Hephaestus, and then his wife, Goddess of Beauty, Aphrodite. She narrowed her perfect crystal blue eyes at the oldest woman of the group. She could already feel the attention draining away from herself and being given to the undeserving girl before her. Next to Aphrodite and finishing off the row was the Messenger of the Gods, Hermes, and the Goddess of Fertility, Demeter.