The Wrath of Aphrodite - Book 2

The Big Talk

The next few days are lonely, but I needed time with my son to show him his new surroundings. He needs to learn how to be on his own eventually so that I can dedicate myself to the mortals again.

He's also started to grow like crazy, as if he was stunted down in the sea, a place he clearly did not belong. Now that I see him turning into a man, more panic of losing him to a woman that will catch his fancy one day fills me, but I can't do anything to stop it. Nor, can I lock him in some tower somewhere. He'll be a gorgeous young man soon enough, and women will throw themselves at him.

I have to teach him to resist them. I have to teach him his duty, working with me. That's what matters.

"Eros! Rise and shine!" I stroll into his bedroom, as he lay on his stomach dead asleep, somehow even more grown since I saw him last night.

I watch him for a moment in the doorway. Amazed, yet sad. It's irritating how he is all I can worry about, but at least I don't have to focus on Ares in the meantime.

It's been a while since he was here; enough time for Eros to look like an entirely different person since then.

"Eros!" I call again. My last attempt is to classically throw the blankets off of him. "You have to start getting up in the morning if you're finally going to take on the responsibility you were born for."

"It's just mortal relationships. Who cares?" Eros crams his pillow over his head.

"Who cares about the point of your existence? Well, I don't know!" I nag, tugging the pillow off of him. "You still haven't picked up your bow. You're old enough now, why wait?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Such simple comebacks from my own son. You have got to improve your vocabulary." I lightly criticize him. "Now, get up, eat, and we're practicing all morning and afternoon."

"And evening and night?" He rolls his eyes and finally sits up.

"If you need the extra practice. Depends how much you suck at it." I smile knowingly, speaking his level of language.

He smirks, and I know I've amused him.

"Fine." He agrees minimally.

We eat breakfast together wordlessly, as he prefers to stuff food in his mouth rather than speak. I can't wait until he's fully grown and his brain can produce normal conversation.

Once we've finished, I go and retrieve his bow and hand it to him. "Show me what you've got."

* * * *

Five hours later Eros has mastered his aim, hitting every target without a moment's thought, with absolutely no time needed to focus.

"You're a natural." I applaud him. "Soon, you'll be putting it to good use."

Eros shrugs his shoulders. "Whatever that means."

I pause for a moment. "You've never witnessed love." I comment, realizing this for possibly the first time. "Of course it does not matter to you."

"I don't even know who my father is." Eros says darkly, throwing his bow to the ground, suddenly angered by my comment. It's obviously a soft spot for him that I paid no attention to.

"I'm sorry for that. Your father and I...we didn't part in the best way." I say calmly...and sadly.

"But why? Did you even love him? Does such a thing even exist if you did not will it to happen with your stupid belt?" Eros scoffs before heading back to the house.