Chapter 19Aphrodite curled a lock of hair around her finger. The flickering light of the candles chased shadows across her face. ‘Hera. You honour me with your presence. But where are your furies, your horrors? I hear they follow you wherever you go.’
Hera gave no reply but a glare.
Aphrodite laughed. ‘It is tradition for a suppliant to kneel.’
‘There is nothing traditional about this. And I am no suppliant.’
‘Of course. Have you come to… What was it you said last time? Oh yes, you’d make me taste a mother’s vengeance.’ Aphrodite sniggered, filled with wicked glee. ‘No. You’ve come because you need me. I never dreamed of this. You enter my abode willingly, humbly. Strange, the workings of fate.’
Hera found her hand drifting to cover her scar. ‘It was not fate. It was a boy. Your grand
