The Love of Aphrodite - Book 1

True Wife

My son is born in a fit of rage, but a beautiful one. I couldn't have been happier! It felt as if my life was finally beginning the moment I grasped my son in my arms.

I could feel the energy radiating off of him. Wonderful, loving energy that would only indicate that he has inherited his powers from my side and not his father's vicious, war-crazed side. Such a fact subtly pleased me - though I would have been pleased either way! He is a creation from both of us. Only this time, he is my loving, beautiful, blonde boy. 

I don't think I'll ever be able to let this one go. 

"He's unbelievable." Are my only words to the daughter of Hera, Eileithyia. 

"That he is." She merely agrees, bustling in the background of my world...the world I am now looking down at. 

"Oh, I can't wait until his father sees-" 

"Ahem."

We are both startled by Hephaestus' presence in the open doorway. "I see you've had the boy." He says neutrally, hinting at such a painfully little amount of his emotions, the anxiety burns me. What does he feel? After all, there's hardly any way of telling anymore. 

"Yes. I have." I blush and look down at the child to avoid his intense stare. "Isn't he...beautiful?" 

To my surprise, Hephaestus steps closer and peers down at the little infant. "Bit pinkish, but I suppose he looks like you a great deal from what I can tell." He remarks oddly affectionately. "Doesn't resemble his father." He says then, catching my gaze sternly as if he was darkly hinting at some secret meaning in his words. 

"Well, you can't expect him to look like both." I cuddle Eros closer to my bosom and away from the man I married. 

He leans back, accepting my rejection smoothly. "Thank you, sister. Send my regards...to mother." Hephaestus continues awkwardly. 

"Yeah. Right." His sister responds smoothly. "Your wife and I became quite acquainted before the birth. She's now already one of my favourites." She smiles at me warmly. "It's a pity you weren't able to be here for the birth." 

I whiten. Well, I suppose she will play along to the charade that Hephaestus is the father. 

"Shall I tell mother that your son has been born?" Eileithyia questions her brother sweetly. 

He grimaces unpleasantly. "I'll tell her if I see fit." He gestures to the door and opens it up for her. "Thank you for your service, but I believe my wife needs her rest." 

My face hardens as a rare friend of mine makes her exit without any sign of me ever seeing her again. I likely won't unless I have a child on the way. Such a sad friendship it would have become regardless...

Hephaestus closes the door loudly but appears to remain calm as he returned to the bedroom. He leans against the doorway and watches me lay there in the bed with my son in my arms. "Do you...need anything? Water?" 

I only nod silently, unsure of where his anger may take him. I can't even blame him for being upset at facing the child of another. I was honest with him about Hermes and his child, but he knows he has something to suspect this time around. 

He returns to the bedroom and sets the glass beside me on the bedside table. He pauses as if considering his options miserably before sitting down on the free space of the bed. "What is his name?" He asks the question without looking at me as if it made it easier to force out the pleasantries. 

"Eros," I whisper lightly, unable to stop myself from gushing at the name. "He takes after me in gifts. I can already tell-"

"That's great. Aphrodite." He grumbles sadly, facing me for a moment before standing and making his way to leave. 

A part of me wishes to not be left alone. My son is beautiful and I am thankful for him, but another part of me isn't ready to be alone with him. 

"Can you stay?" I blurt it out before I have a chance to reconsider or word my question more politely instead of a demand. 

He stops in his tracks and inhales impatiently. "Why would I stay, Aphrodite?" He looks over his shoulder, disappointment evident on his tired expression. "The child is not even mine, and I'll be the laughing stock of every God in Olympus the moment everyone figures it out." 

"No, I promise you won't." I instantly refute his comment. "You're a good man. Everyone knows it." 

"None of that matters if I cannot even have a son or a daughter by my wife before she gets knocked up by someone else." He replies snarkily. "Someone who could be anyone. I have absolutely no way of knowing." He continues suspiciously. 

"Is that why you even came home?" My voice shakes as I accuse him. "To simply see if my child resembled the man I said was the father? Or if he resembled anyone else to catch me in a lie?" 

"You can't blame a God for being curious." He shrugs without denying it. "However, with this child's looks, it could be anyone. All that I have for proof is that you are obviously the mother." 

We stare at each other as the words of his distrust sink in. Warranted distrust,  of course. It still stings no matter what the closer I come to being found out before I am able to leave him honestly with both of our dignities intact. 

"There is no one else now." I snap back at him. "No one but you. I have no one to entertain myself with except you. Is that what you wish?"

He sighs and shakes his head. "I wish for nothing but for a wife to love me willingly." 

"Stay home and speak to me more than once a month and perhaps you may have one." I fire back mercilessly. 

"I serve the people, advancing their technology and the quality of their life with my inventions. What do you do? Mess with people's lives and fool around with Princes before you give them a love match with a girl less beautiful than you? Or do you just fool around with everybody at any given time while preaching that you know a speck about what love is?" Hephaestus gives the final blow. 

"I tried to love you." I only whimper after a moment of stunned silence. "It just proved to be impossible at the time, but if you want just one more attempt I will give it." I look up to him with tear-filled eyes. "I'll try - maybe even bear you a child if that is what you want - as long as you treat me as a wife again." 

Hephaestus doesn't verbally answer. His eyebrows only crinkle with a slight impression of interest. 

"That's right," I confirm my statement. "Treat me like a true wife, and I will act like one. A loyal one." 

He merely appears stunned. Genuinely so. He swallows and ponders on his response while I cuddle Eros to me and look down at him emotionally. 

The things I will do for him to someday be with his father. I can feel it already.