Forbidden Love

Chapter 3

Peitho stood outside of Vulcan's temple, watching him with Venus. As handmaiden to her Mitera, Aphrodite, she had been charged with the task of spying on Vulcan tonight. Aphrodite had caught wind of the news that Venus was now engaged to him, and it so happened he was the one Hephaestus had to compete with for the honor of building the new volcano in Pompeii. Aphrodite had said that Peitho could kill two birds with one stone by spying on them both since, much like Venus, Aphrodite had been forced into marrying Hephaestus for punishment. 

As she watched them make love, Peitho was surprised by the flips her stomach was doing. Vulcan was the most hideous God on Capitoline, yet she found herself attracted to him. She assumed that Venus must as well, or else she wouldn't be making love to him like that. Peitho had been standing there long enough to see that it was Venus who started the whole thing. As the Goddess of seduction and persuasion, Peitho had her pick of both Gods and men to choose from, but per Aphrodite's request, she hadn't been with anyone. She suspected Aphrodite might be afraid of competition from her daughter. She bid that Peitho live out her days as a virgin Goddess. Peitho had agreed but wasn't sure she'd keep that promise.

Like most deities in both Pantheons, she enjoyed hovering above her temples, watching as both men and women alike worshipped and prayed to her, leaving gifts at the foot of her statues. Lately, she'd taken a liking to visiting Pompeii. Yes, it was in Italy and therefore a Roman Pantheon territory, but there are the occasional Greek temples there. Mostly though, she wanted to see what the big deal about Pompeii was. So, she would often disguise herself as human and walk amongst them. She knew she wasn't the only one. Gods and Goddesses who partook in this activity could be sensed by one another, but she nor anyone else she knew had been outed for doing it. As she stood there, she could feel the energy of their auras radiating off of them. Because she felt it, she knew that Vulcan often wandered about Pompeii himself, but Venus had never disguised herself as a mortal as far as she could tell. 

What Peitho didn't know was whether or not she and Vulcan had crossed paths while exploring the mortal realm. She found herself wondering what his human form looked like. As higher beings that could make themselves look however they wanted, Peitho completely deviated from her normal appearance. She was curvy with long wavy dark hair and ocean blue eyes. As a human, she had eyes the color of honey and hair golden like the sun. Her figure as a human was the perfect hourglass shape. 

When Venus and Vulcan finished, she stood there and watched as he turned the light out. Venus turned her back to him, which he returned in kind. When Peitho was sure they were asleep, she turned to leave so they wouldn't notice her, but she had no such luck. As Peitho turned, she nearly bumped into Vulcan himself. It was so dark in his temple that she hadn't realized he'd flashed to her side before she turned to leave. Teleportation was another gift that was common among all pantheons. She stood frozen, staring at Vulcan in disbelief. Unable to speak.

"What are you doing here, Peitho?" She was stunned at the sound of her name on his lips. As an underling to Aphrodite, she was surprised he knew it. "I just…." she started. "You just came to spy on me per your Mitera's request?" "n-no I…heard tell of your transformation, and I wanted to see it for myself." She lied, hoping he believed her. She gave him a sultry smile. Peitho wasn't sure if the powers of a Greek Goddess would work on a Roman God but figured it might be the best way of wiggling her way out of this without confrontation. He laughed at her while he moved forward, making her back away in fear. 

"Well?" He questioned, "You've now seen me. What do you think of my transformation, as everyone seems to call it." Swallowing the lump in her throat Peitho gave him a quick once over. While she did, she couldn't believe that this was the God everyone compared to Hephaestus. While they were similar in stature and possessed long red hair and beards, Vulcan was much more chiseled and had significantly trimmed his hair and beard. His eyes were indeed captivating. Peitho was sure that if he had managed to turn Venus's head, he could probably do the same to Aphrodite. Hephaestus would never make such changes to himself for her to make their marriage bearable. 

Her heart was pounding so hard she could swear she could hear it. Peitho tried to act as though he did not affect her whatsoever. "You look adequate, sir." She said, practically spitting the words at him as her mother would have if she were the one standing in front of him now. He laughed again. "Adequate, huh? That's refreshing. You're the first woman not to fawn over me so blatantly since I made these changes. But so you know, princess, your waiving speech and flush face tell me you're more attracted to me than you want to admit," he said. He had tilted her chin up with his hand as she spoke, causing her to stare him straight in the eye while she listened. 

"Give your Mitera my regards and tell her that if she has something to say to me, she should get off her ass and tell me herself."

In a flash, he was gone, and Peitho was left standing in the dark by herself.