"She's like a modern-day Helen of Troy," The twins sat side by side on the counter of the wine shop, Eros swiping through an assortment of photos and videos he had taken from the night before.

"Important question," Himeros said, raising a finger into the air, "Does she have a sister?"

"I don't know," Eros shrugged, "But she does worship Athena."

"She does not," Aphrodite jeered. "Humans do not worship the true gods anymore."

Eros eyed his brother and spoke in a whisper, "She does too, she even declared it at one point. Watch!" He gestured to his phone again, as if Aphrodite couldn't see or hear him.

She blew out an exasperated breath and leaned back into her chaise. "Enough about the tall one, how about my little Ember and Apollo?" When Aphrodite said she was going to fix a mortal's love life she fixed a mortal's love life!

"Oh!" Eros slid from the counter and uncorked a bottle of wine, pouring it into the glass Aphrodite held in an outstretched hand. "There was archery, and you know my history with Apollo, it's always a tie, it's so frustr-"

"The girl!" Aphrodite boomed, "Why would I want to hear a story of an event I've personally witnessed several hundred times?"

"Well let's see," Eros hummed for a moment, his eyes floating to the right, "In my professional opinion if I didn't know better, I'd have sworn she'd been struck with one of my arrows."

Aphrodite's head snapped in his direction.

"I didn't shoot her!" Eros barked. "But I could have done so days ago and we'd already be back home."

"If I hear the idea even cross your mind, you'll be delivering supplies to Hephaestus for a month. He still owes me an apology and a favor for putting me in that net and parading me in front of Zeus, which was honestly the hottest thing he had done to me in the entire marriage if we're being transparent here." A menacing smile danced across her lips, "Either way, I do know how much you love the heat and soot, and Hephaestus, the poor thing just toils away at his forge, I'm sure he wouldn't mind the company."

"Don't worry, I'm not going to talk about shooting anyone again, especially because I'm hanging out with Bel again tonight."

"Hanging out?" Himeros asked, his lip curled in disgust, "Are you adopting their colloquialisms now?"

"Who knows bro, maybe I am!"

"Enough you two, it's 10:30."

Eros and Himeros shuffled into the stockroom while Aphrodite slipped into her apron and stood behind the counter with a smile.

"Oh my god, Amara!" Ember was practically screaming from the door, she skipped toward the counter and pushed a black garment bag across. " Your dress, shoes, and everything, I had them cleaned already!"

Aphrodite slid the bag back towards Ember. "Listen, my love, the dress was dead to me the moment it draped that tight little thing you call a body. It's yours, consider it a bonus. Now, what really matters is that smitten look you just waltzed in here with. Did someone enjoy themselves last night?"

"I mean, it wasn't totally awful. We held hands and like danced and stuff. He was really nice."

"Really nice?" Aphrodite leaned forward, placing her elbows on the table so that her head was properly supported as she stared Ember flatly in the face.

"Yeah, nice. Am I supposed to be in love with him or something? It was a date at a bar, we had a good time. I'm not trying to rush into anything. He does smell like his clothes wanna get ripped off though." Ember's eyes glazed over and Aphrodite wondered if she'd start drooling if left to her own devices.

Either way, Apollo was going to have to speed things along because if she was being honest, Dionysus was right, she did throw a fabulous party and If she had to go another week without an ice sculpture and catering in her life she might just snap. "So it's a little crush, that's good." She forced the words through gritted teeth and a strained smile.

"Yeah, it was perfect until I saw Tyler and Miranda Mildew on the dancefloor."

River Styx! She was going to have to do something about those two. Tyler needed to take his bad decisions and live with them elsewhere, she had a woman's life in my hands here. And Miranda, that girl was rotten, and her face kind of reminded her of Hera's but not in a good way, but she couldn't smite them both. No, murder was bad, and she was a modern goddess, that other stuff was too biblical.

"How unfortunate."

"At first, yeah," Ember nodded with a sullen expression, "she hit on Jude."

Aphrodite's mouth curled into a devilish smirk, "And what did our darling Jude have to say about that?" She swore to Hera, if Apollo so much as made one wrong move and lost what footing Aphrodite had she'd poison his sister and blame it on him.

"He defended me," Ember said, and she seemed thoughtful as if lost in the memory. "He told her she was ugly and sad, and then she just left and never came back." Ember seemed to relish that final part, but who could blame the girl when Miranda had almost completely ruined her love life?

Thank the gods, Apollo wasn't an idiot after all. She feared his historically womanizing ways were still present but luckily for Ember and Apollo, even if he didn't know it, he had matured. God or not.

"Even though I can't help but daydream about ruining Miranda's life," Ember said listlessly and then her eyes widened and she clapped a hand over her mouth.

"Vengeance you say? How grand are we talking? Broken bones? Poisoning? Perhaps some old-fashioned sheep's blood on her door?"

"What? No, I shouldn't think about that kind of crap, it's terrible."

But it was too late, Aphrodite had already heard Ember's wish, and if she wasn't the first woman ever scorned, then who was she? She knew exactly how to solve the problem of Miranda Milton... or was it, Melton?

"If only that girl had the same regard for you," Aphrodite arched an eyebrow, "but, clearly, she could care less if you cry yourself to sleep at night. Don't chastise yourself, love, you're only human."

The rest of the day dragged on with Ember regularly thanking Aphrodite for coming to her aid the night before and fumbling through awkward apologies for having shouted and stormed out. If nothing else, Aphrodite did appreciate the groveling, it was so vexing when people didn't recognize how much of a blessing being in her favor was.

In the late afternoon when Ember had finished refilling the wine glass fountains a delivery man entered holding the most exquisite bouquet. The flowers were in different shades of light and dark pink with white blossoms peppered throughout the arrangement.

"Delivery for Ember Michaelson," The young man said.

Ember spun around and gaped, "For me?"

"If you're Ember..."

Ember signed for the bouquet, her smile widening with each stroke of the pen, "Thank you!" She buried her face into the blossoms and sighed. "Are they orchids?"

"Gladiolus," Aphrodite laughed, "They're the flower of Apollo."

"Like the god?"

"The very same."

"He's the God of sunshine or something?"

Aphrodite's eyes narrowed reflexively at the slight. "The sun and archery in fact. Although his sister would be vehement at the insinuation that anyone other than herself should hold that title."

"No way!" Ember nearly dropped the bouquet, "He and Eric played archery like Olympians last night, and then he sends me Apollo's flowers, what a weird coincidence, I wonder if he's trying to tell me something."

Aphrodite pursed her lips. Gladiolus from his personal garden? She could smell the Olympian soil on their stalks. It was one thing to play with and bed a human, but you cannot love one! Those were the rules, she'd etched them out herself.