"I hope that was useful," Kelsia says on our way back.

I mull over Artemis's words from earlier. "I think it was, thank you."

"Don't thank me, it was your idea. For the record, I still think you're better off with somebody else."

I watch her brush a curly strand of hair behind her ear. Her skin glistens under the sunlight, and her eyes shine. There's a slight pinch to her brows, like she's sad or annoyed. Something tells me that doesn't happen often.

"What?" She demands.

"Huh?"

"I thought you'd have something clever and self-defeating to say. Something along the lines of 'Oh, but I don't need love waa! Nobody else would love me if I did, waa! Give me my fries back and let me wallow in self-pity, waa!'"

"I don't sound like that!"

"Keep telling yourself that."

Stopping, I frown and put my hands on my hips. She comes to a halt a few steps ahead of me. When she turns and I see her frown deepening, I shake my head.

"Why are you so negative?" I ask her. "What happened to Glass Half-Full Kelsia?"

She shrugs. "Looks like you rubbed off on me. And not in a good way."

"There's a good way?"

Her eyes widen, and her cheeks blush at my words. "You're gross."

Seriously, what is her problem? I'm doing this for her, gods dammit! It's like she doesn't even want her wings back.

"Gross? Why are you—?" I feel my eyes go wide as I process her meaning. "Oh, you think—? No. No! That's not what I meant—!"

"Sure it isn't," she snaps, "you know what? Forget it. Let's just set up that gods damned date and get this over with."

With those words like a slap to my face, she starts walking again.

Maybe I'm just out of practice with women after all these years in a relationship. Are they all like that, or did I really sound like a creep right then?

Hold on.

"Hey, wait just a damn minute!" I jog up to her. "You're the one who brought up rubbing off on each other, don't pin that on—"

"Who brought up what in the who now?"

My metaphorical heart sinks to my knees and shatters at the voice uttering those words, taking with it all the warmth of my being. Like an ice sculpture, I freeze, staring into Kelsia's widening eyes.

"Is he bothering you?" That voice creeps closer, and its speaker comes into my field of view. She approaches Kelsia, hand gently pressing to her arm. I only see the back of her head with brown, elaborately braided hair embellished with fragrant flowers. I know that hair like the back of my hand, and I hear that voice in my dreams still.

Psyche.

"Lovemuffin, come on!" A new voice calls. "We'll miss the mirror exhibition!"

Standing off to the side, just in my periphery, is a man with aggravatingly perfect hair, an irritatingly perfect jawline, and an incredibly annoyingly perfect six pack on full display. And yet, he whines like a little girl.

Narcissus.

"Just a moment, Honeycake!" Psyche calls. To Kelsia, she says, "you can tell me if you need help, it's okay."

Kelsia's eyes soften as they go from Psyche to me, and everything goes dark. I should say something, must say something, but nothing comes to mind as she purses her lips. This fucking pity is the last thing I ever want to see from her, but this fucking pity is what I get. Because when do I ever get what I want? When do I ever deserve to get what I want?

The succubus turns to my ex and frowns, yanking her arm back. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure? I know this man, and he can be—"

"I said I'm fine! And you owe this man an apology."

Psyche blinks as something in my heart warms. "Excuse me?"

"This man is the god of love." Kelsia crosses her arms. "But you already knew that, didn't you? This man made you immortal, and how do you thank this man? By throwing the thing he loves most—love itself—in his face and abandoning him with hardly an explanation. And for whom?" She turns to Narcissus, who's sitting on a rock and staring at himself in a compact. "Him?"

Psyche's mouth moves as I begin to thaw. "Is that what he told you?"

"It's what all of Olympus is talking about. You'd know if you unglued your eyes and ears from a walking self-absorbed mannequin for one second."

"Hey!" Narcissus calls. "I'm not walking!"

"You're a selfish moron is what you are!"

"Okay, that's enough," Psyche interjects. "I don't know who you think you are or what you think you're doing here, but I'm not gonna stand here and listen to you berate me and my partner."

"Like how you stood and berated Eros before you broke his heart for no good reason?"

"No good reason?" my ex scoffs. "Girl, you have no idea what happened. You heard a bunch of third-hand lies and maybe his side, but that's it. How long have you even known him for? I was with him for thousands of years. Don't act like you know him better than I do."

Kelsia looks at me again, and my stomach roils with butterflies like I just swallowed a Disney princess. There is no doubt in those eyes. She didn't let Psyche get to her. There is no doubt in those eyes.

"I know one thing." She faces my ex again. "And it's that he deserves so much better than you. That he loved you more than life itself and you broke his heart, threw it off a cliff, popped a squat, and shat on it. And that you and that imbecile deserve each other."

Okay, she didn't have to go that far with the heart-shitting bit, and that was more than one thing, but otherwise I may have just fallen in lo—

Found my new best friend. I may have just found my new best friend.

"I wonder who that imbecile is," Narcissus muses, glancing around for someone else.

I catch Psyche's eye. Or would have, if she weren't purposefully avoiding looking my way. How did this bitch dump me for someone dumber than the rock he's sitting on?

"Come on, Eros," Kelsia spins toward me, "we're leaving."

She doesn't let me answer as she grabs my hand and yanks me in the other direction.

"Oh, and by the way," she snaps and spins, nearly dislocating my shoulder in the process, "his wings are perfect. Yours suck. Oh, wait, you don't have any!"

She yanks me again, spinning us around and moving on. As we walk hand-in-hand, I can't help but smile at her. She truly is beautiful, inside and out, awful roasts and all.

WC: 1,143
TWC: 9,733