Page 78 of Desired By Eros

“So. Cool.” Psyche snapped twice. “I’m so excited to meet a real gorgon. I’m Psyche, Eros’s mate.”

“Can you really do what Eros says you can?” Bob interjected. “Not turning men into stone, but the other thing.”

Her head snapped toward him, his face reflecting off her sunglasses. “If you’re talking about detecting non-mortals, yes.”

“How does it work?” Psyche asked.

Medusa paused, sliding a finger down her jaw. “It’s difficult to explain, really, but I’ll try. When I meet someone, I just get this feeling. It’s like, let’s say, a Geiger counter, but instead of radioactivity, I can detect how far away someone is from being amortal, if that makes sense? A pure mortal, for example, would rank as a zero. But you, Psyche, as a shifter, you rank about a four or five on my scale, as would any creature without any active magic.” She turned to Bob. “But you, hmm…are a three.”

“J-just a three?” Bob sputtered.

“That’s actually pretty high for someone with mixed blood. A one or two means very diluted. Lord Eros is a ten.”

“As I should be,” he joked, though, no one in the room laughed.

“So, you can help us detect if someone we meet is like Bob?” Perseus asked.

“Yes, I can—” She paused, her entire body going still. “Oh.”

Psyche cocked her head to the side. “Oh?”

“Hmm.” Her head bobbed up and down, as if assessing Perseus. “An eight. No, a nine.”

“Nine?” Psyche’s nose twitched. “What’s a nine?”

“Demigod,” Medusa stated. “And…oh my, quite a powerful one. Which one of your parents was a god? Do you know who he or she is?”

The atmosphere shifted all of a sudden, as a dark look crossed Perseus’s face. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to take care of something.” Turning on his heel, he strode out of the meeting room, the door slamming behind him.

“Did I say something wrong?” Medusa asked, sounding confused.

Eros’s gut told him something wasn’t quite right here. He had worked with Perseus for a year now, but he had not said he was a demigod. But now that he thought about it, the first time they met that weekend of Leo’s birthday, he knew there was something different about him. “Psyche, you said Perseus was adopted, right?”

“Yeah. But we don’t know who his father is, only that he abandoned his mom even before he was born.”

“That tracksss,” Medusa hissed.

Psyche continued. “She and my mom were best friends and were pregnant at the same time. Theo and him were actually born a few days apart, but his mom died right after giving birth to him, which is why my parents adopted him.”

“Does he know who his dad is, perhaps?” Eros asked. Perseus’s reaction was quite extreme, which made him think that he either was shocked by the news or…he knew exactly who his father was.

“I don’t…think so?” Psyche said. “We’re not exactly close, you know. I mean, he’s my older brother, I grew up with him around, but we don’t share deep personal secrets.”

“Would you be able to tell who it was, Medusa?”

She tsked. “No, I’m afraid I can’t give you an exact name, but from his level, it has to be a very high-ranking one.”

“Hmm.” Eros couldn’t think of who could have been Perseus’s father right now, though he had an inkling. And if he was right, he would have to contact his parents. But that was a problem for another day. “In any case, Medusa, if you’re interested in the job, I’d love to offer it to you.”

“For what you’re paying me, I can hardly resist.” Her lips curved into a smile. “And besides, I like a challenge. I’ve been so bored lately.”

“Great. Welcome on board. We can start early Monday morning and we’ll brief you on what we have so far.”

“Why don’t you stay for dinner?” Psyche said.

Eros placed an arm around her. “She really is excited to meet you. She’s also been bugging me to bring her to Vale Crossing, but I said not until after she eats the golden apple.”

“I think it’s so cool you’re a gorgon. Can I ask you what it’s like? Have you turned anyone to stone?”

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