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“I’m sorry for all of it.” Carl hangs his head, unable to look at me anymore.
“Hermes, you have meddled in these two mortals’ fates,” the Fates say in chorus. “Lift your psychic block so we can see what’s in this man’s heart.”
Hermes waves his hand, and all the gods’ attention is on Carl, reading his soul. I almost try to see into his heart, but I’m nervous about seeing what resides inside him.
Is the loneliness that I endured all these years because of Hermes? Did Carl love me and Hermesforcedhim to act callously toward me, tainting our love? Or is Carl’s affection not what it needs to be for an actual mature relationship?
Eros curses. “I don’t understand.” Sounding completely baffled, he asks Carl, “Why aren’t you in love with her?”
Carl doesn’t look at Eros, but at me. “I care about you, but not the way you need me to love you.”
“Then this last week was all an act?” I ask, tears ready to fall from the betrayal.
“No. Not all an act.” Carl casts his eyes down in shame. “Iwantedyou, but…”
“You aren’t in love with or without Hermes’s influence,” I finish for him when he can’t.
Hermes steps between us. “Now, she’sfinallymine.”
“What?” both Eros and I ask at the same moment.Finally?
Eros figures out what Hermes meant before I do. “Is Dee the mortal you wanted me to shoot with my arrow?”
Apparently, Hermes never had time to tell Eros the name of his target. He must have turned him down cold when Hermes asked.
“If you would have done what I told you, then we wouldn’t have had to go through all this.” Hermes turns to me. “As I was about to claim Carl as an agent, I found you with him at that party. You kissed him, putting all your love in that one moment.It was pure beauty. I’ve wanted you ever since, watching and waiting, but you kept lovinghim,” he sneers with disgust as he points at Carl. “I had to make you see that he wasn’t the man you thought he was. He’s a fraud and not worthy of your pure love.”
“No,youdon’t deserve her. You tortured her all these years by manipulating Carl!” Eros shouts, his usually loving vibe turning into a passionate rage. “You idiot. If I had used my arrow on Dee, she wouldn’t have felt pure love for you!”
“So what?”
Eros’s eyes flare. “You only wanted Dee to destroy her—to fucking break her pure heart.”
“You don’t know shit about me. Besides, she’s mine now.” Hermes grabs my hair at the nape of my neck and tries to pull me in for a kiss.
“Get off me!” I screech, and somehow, I shove him away—hard.
As Hermes falls back on his ass, I glance down in shock at my own hands, then the image of Cupid’s bow on my neck flashes in my mind. Do I have the strength of a god now?
“Mercy,” Carl hisses and kneels down to help his god up.
“Oh.” I shake my head.He’sMercy?
Mercury…How stupid have I been?
The blond hair in Carl’s bathroom… Hermes put it there for me to find. This was all a setup. Carl knew what was happening to me this whole time—or most of it.
Carl flicks his gaze up to me.
“It appears that Carl is not the love of Dee’s life,” the Fates announce.
“Which means that I get her now,” Hermes blurts and steps toward me again.
“No, it doesn’t. I also have a chance to win her,” Thanatos grumbles and blocks Hermes’s path.
Hypnos raises an index finger as if making a bid. “I would like to court her as well.”
The three Fates cut them a deadly look. “As per the parameters of the bet, Eros was supposed to award Dee the love of her life within the week. The allotted time is notquiteover yet. She cannot be claimed by any of you until such time.”
