Eros, please listen to me! Eros, help me! Eros! Searching for the source of the voice, I see nothing but blackness. 

Eros, please! 

The feeling of a feather trailing across my skin pulls me out of my dream. Moaning at the sunlight I feel from behind my closed lids, awakening me from my fitful dreams. Groaning, I roll over away from Helios’ obnoxious rays, pulling my pillow closer to me, burying my face into its softness. 

Which is when my pillow squawks. 

My blurry eyes flash open, and immediately I know I’m in deep shit. And when I say that, please understand, there’s usually no situation I can’t find my way out of. Usually. But not now. Because you see…

I’m surrounded by peacocks. 

Fuck me. When I do something wrong, I don’t just do something wrong. I do the wrongest wrong that was ever wronged. Because there’s only one place in the OA with so many peacocks, and it’s a place all gods know never to trespass without an express invitation. 

My grandmother’s peacock palace. 

Like I said, I’m in deep shit. 

Releasing the bird I had cuddled and tried to crush underneath me, I attempt to assess the situation. Apparently it was not enough for me to sneak in to my grandmother’s sacred sanctuary, I did it naked. Completely naked. Well, except for my quiver and arrows still strapped to my back; even completely blacked out, I always held on to them. 

When I fuck up, I really fuck up. 

 If I can get out of here before anyone sees me, I’ll somehow find a way to blame this on Dinlas, then call it a day. Ideas and plots whirling through my mind, I prepare to sneak out unseen. 

Which is when I realize I’m not alone. The sound of a tapping heel echoes as someone clearly waits for me to wake up. 

Please, please, please tell me that is not who I think it is. Praying to every dark god, I slowly look over my shoulder to the source of the noise. When I catch sight of her, a slow, disarming smile spreads across my face, “Hi, YaYa. Any chance you didn’t see me?” 

Hera, queen of the gods, wife to Zeus, goddess of marriage, and my grandmother, stood in the entrance of the Peacock Palace. Her entire body shaking with rage. 

I should take this moment to inform you that my grandmother and I have never got along. When you shoot your grandfather with a love arrow a time or two – or twenty – you tend to end up on your grandmother’s shit list. Especially when such incidents tended to result in a passel of demi-gods.

Grabbing one of the peacocks, I use the squalling bird to cover my naughty bits, coming to a stand. I have mentioned it before, but it bears repeating: there are only two gods who have the ability to make me uncomfortable with just a look. One is my father, the other stands before me, appearing as if she is picturing the various ways to murder me. 

Keeping the struggling bird in front of me, I head towards Hera, intending to duck out of the Peacock Palace without another word to her. Mostly, I’m praying my grandmother would let me pass and write this whole incident off as a one time thing. 

I should have known better. 

When I try to pass the infuriated goddess, she growls, “Make yourself decent. Then come to my office. We need to talk.” 

I nod my head at her, acknowledging her request before heading down to my floor to get dressed. I’m tempted to show up in full armor to my grandmother’s office, but that might send the wrong message. 

What could YaYa possibly want to talk about?

Eros (Jeanette Rose)
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