Page 10 of Perfectly Matching Again

“You insult me, since I already forgot all about Vegas, Demeter.”

Her words were met with a frown and a huff.

“I think you are the one who just insulted me.”

If it had been only arrogance in the tone, Erato would’ve made another joke, but that little something, that whisper, that shadow of some sort of doubt, of indistinct vulnerability was back on Demeter’s face. Erato, never one to hurt, gave the fingers in hers a last squeeze before placing a gentle kiss on the knuckles and letting go.

“I just did what you wanted me to do. What you, in fact, instructed me to. ‘Forget this ever happened,’ weren’t those your words right before you slammed the door in my face in Vegas?”

Demeter furrowed her brow, but Erato merely shrugged.

“You set the parameters of this. Hera is on the tear and I assume you’d want to pacify her. Hence, here I am. At your service. As for the rest? The sooner we get this spring business of yours done and over with, the sooner you will be free of me. And by the way, where are we even off to?”

Demeter sighed and then pulled out her phone, opening the calendar app. It was chock-full of appointments, all color coded to the extent that Erato’s eyes crossed.

“Well, we missed Nowruz and Holi. Baba Marta has come and gone in Bulgaria. And you can’t pay me to attend whatever eggs they are rolling this Easter.” Demeter actually shuddered and Erato nodded in wholehearted agreement. “This late in the season, we have a few options left, even if it will mean crisscrossing the planet.”

Erato chewed on her lip. She did not watch whether Demeter’s eyes followed the gesture. They did, but Erato didn’t want to focus on that. Well, she did but maybe later.

“Nowruz, Holi, Easter, Baba Marta… Are you actually attending spring festivals and celebrations?”

Demeter’s smile was cagey.

“Not bad, Muse.” Then she shook her head and pointed at the door. “Shall we? And please no shenanigans.”

Erato gasped, all theatrics now.

“Me? Shenanigans? Not that that is my middle name or anything… But again, I would never!”

The dripping sarcasm and tomfoolery managed to draw a smile—a tiny one, but a smile nonetheless—out of the Goddess of Harvest, and Erato felt that utterly wrong and surely foolish feeling of lightness in her chest.

“You don’t have a middle name, Muse.” Demeter was all business now, moving purposefully towards the front of the cabin.

“See, you call me Muse, but you sure called me something else two months ago. I’m fairly certain the entire floor of the hotel knew my name and how amazing my tongue was as it swirled around your cli?—”

“Would you be so kind and get on with it!”

Erato laughed and lifted her hands, palms open.

“Just making conversation. I hear traveling with a companion is much more interesting if you engage in stimulating, ahem, discussion.”

Demeter threw her the most vicious side-eye.

“I bet you know all about those stimulating—” Before Erato could confirm, Demeter simply waved her away. “I do not wish for any sordid details of your proclivities.”

Erato knew her smile was forced and judging by the way Demeter was eyeing her, she hadn’t exactly managed to fool the Goddess, either. Still, a jester had a role to play, and so she did.

“A lady doesn’t kiss and tell, Demeter. I wasn’t going to regale you with my innumerable adventures. I do, however,object to the word “whoring” since none of the women I’ve been with deserve such an appellation.”

She said the last part almost as an afterthought, but it felt like drawing a line and Demeter nodded, her eyes going just a touch wide. Was it respect Erato saw in them? The mercurial gold was so expressive, so full of secrets, Erato would gladly drown in it, if this had been anyone but this particular off limits Goddess. In that moment, with Demeter giving her yet another long assessing look, under the light of those golden eyes, Erato felt her millennia worth of luck with women finally run out.

5

WHERE A GOD IS DRUNK, A LAP DANCE IS PERFORMED AND A GODDESS GETS JEALOUS (THE MUSE IS JUST ALONG FOR THE RIDE)

Hades fainted yet again upon being informed that her mother-in-law was off to “deal with business” in the company of the lowly muse. Persephone, always the more perceptive of the two, hugged Demeter and winked at Erato. The other attendees of the Purgatory cabal did not care, too busy being self-involved prats to give a flying fuck about anything around them.

As soon as the thought crossed her mind, Erato marvelled at it. Hadn’t that been her just a few months ago? Partying with Aphrodite and the Cupids, teaching at the Academy when it suited, disappearing to do some freelance work on the side as it pleased her and above all enjoying as many women as possible, guzzling nectar off their navels?

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