Born In The Palace

Chapter 4: Eros

I stared at the tall man in front of me, processing what Thief-- no, Eros had just told me. 

He was a God. A God of Love.

Thinking back to all the odd moments I've witnessed ever since the day I'd met him, what he said must have been true. His sweet as honey voice had an entrancing effect on me the first time I heard it. Though compared to Lena, mine was very brief. 

It explained why he'd called me 'human' so often, and why his soul had the same blinding glow as my grandfather's, who was also a God. It also explained why he knew Nephos, who was one of my grandfather's dragons before he became my mother's. 

But the most convincing proof of his identity stood right beside me. Hector was gazing at me with intense adoration in his eyes which were void of any emotion until Eros shot him in the heart with his arrow. 

"You're a God of Love," I said with a confirming nod of my head. 

"Yes. Though my specialties lie in carnal love," Eros explained. "My mother specializes in the rest, but she's been teaching me how to master them as well."

"Why didn't you tell us who you really were?" I asked. 

"You never asked," he repeated the very words I'd said to him when he asked why Lena and I didn't tell him that we were princesses. 

"Fair enough," I sighed. "I never did ask. I never even asked what your name was. I assumed that you were simply a--"

"Thief?" Eros smiled in amusement. "I quite liked that nickname. But what I enjoyed even more was your complete disinterest in me. You're not a mere human, are you? If you were, you wouldn't have escaped the allure of my voice as fast as you did when we first met."

"God Helios is my grandfather," I said. 

He nodded. "I've suspected as much when Nephos came to get you. If he's your grandfather, enough of his blood must run in your veins to resist me."

"She resists you because she is my love," Hector interrupted, taking my hand in his. "I freed her from that cage and now we can be together."

At his mention of the cage, I suddenly remembered where we were. A dimly lit room with a single cage in the middle of it where I was locked in only moments ago. 

"I have to find Lena," I said, pulling my hand out of Hector's grasp and walking toward the door. If Rib was looking for the Helm piece, he would have taken her too, possibly locking her in the same magical cage as he did with me. 

"Wait," Hector said, making me halt. "I know the way around this place. I know where your friend is kept. I can help."

Before I could respond, the door opened with a creak, and Lena walked in with a sword in her hand and a headband with the bandits' embroidery around her forehead. When she saw me standing beside Hector and Eros, she let out a sigh of relief. "You made it out that damned cage too."

"How did you get out?" I asked. Eros only had one arrow and he used it on Hector. 

Lena shrugged. "I seduced the guard into unlocking the cage. Then I knocked him out as soon as he did and took these with me before coming to find you two." She pointed to the sword and the headband. "Were you locked in this cage together?"

"No," Eros said. "I came in here after getting out of my own cage. I too seduced my guard into releasing me."

Lena laughed. "We all had the same idea then. Is he the one you seduced, Cassia?" She looked at Hector, who wouldn't stop staring at me with lovesick eyes. 

I felt my cheeks heat up in embarrassment. While they were able to escape from their cages with their own abilities, I'd required an arrow of the God of Love. Seduction simply wasn't something I excelled at.