Chapter Text
Hebe worked meticulously, her bottom lip caught between her teeth as she measured and poured various liquids into a shaker glass. It was only a few days after the trial that the Goddess of Youth showed up at her big brother’s house with a satchel of supplies and a look of determination on her face.
Setting up in the kitchen, Hebe took her time making sure she had all the supplies she needed in order to make the Elixir of Life. Sitting at the kitchen table with Eros at my side, I watched in patient silence, not knowing what else to do or say. After months of build up, and weeks of uncertainty, the time had finally come and I couldn’t help but notice how anticlimactic it was.
At the end of the day, everything that we had worried over the last few months was being ended by a little girl with a martini shaker and a highball glass.
“So… what happens exactly?” I asked uneasily as Hebe began adding ingredients to her shaker glass. Eros took hold of my hand.
The little Goddess shrugged as she continued mixing. “How am I supposed to know? I’ve never done this before.”
I shared a look of concern with my partner. “You’ve never done this before… as in you’ve never made this drink?” Eros clarified, sounding more than a little horrified.
Hebe sighed and picked up her now filled shaker. “I’ve made the drink before, but I’ve never drank it. What happens to those who drink it is between them and the Fates.” She began to aggressively shake the contents, the ice rattling around to chill and mix the drink.
The Fates? I blanched, no one had mentioned them being involved in all of this. While I had come into contact with a lot of deities since coming to Olympus, the three deciders of life and death had never come around and for that I was thankful.
“You mentioned Phanes being involved?” Eros asked.
Hebe continued to shake the drink. “He gave me the thumbs up and gave his blessing. He loves the idea of giving deserving mortals immortality.”
“Phanes… the God of New Life?” I asked, glancing between Hebe and Eros.
Hebe nodded. “He’s cool, but a little odd. Dad doesn’t like him because of how much he covets all lives, not just the new ones,” Hebe rolled her eyes. “They argue over the morality behind Gods killing humans.”
Just as nonchalantly as she had been when she began to mix the drink, Hebe poured it into the highball glass and slid it across the table towards me. The Elixir of Life was golden in color, with a soft iridescent shimmer to it. For a moment I sat silently and stared at it. This was it. This was what would allow Eros and I to spend the rest of eternity together. This would keep me alive, heal my scarred and broken mortal form and give me a new life.
“You have to drink the whole thing,” Hebe explained casually as she began to pack away her belongings. “It will make you extremely tired. You need to sleep it off, give your body time to adjust and, in your case, heal.”
With all of her belongings packed away, the tiny golden Goddess bid us farewell and left the house. Then we were alone.
Both of us sat in silence, staring at the drink.
Eros cleared his throat, his gaze never wavering from the glass between us. “You’re 100% sure you want to do this?”
“Of course I am.” Although I was nervous, I was positive this was what I wanted. I wanted Eros. I wanted forever. If that meant drinking a strange, shimmering liquid mixed by an eight-year-old then so be it. I picked up the glass. It was chilled.
“No going back,” I joked lightly as I raised the glass to my lips.
It was sweet, and tasted vaguely of lemon, something I might order at a high end bar on a date night. Eros starred in wide-eyed silence as I drank. When I drained the glass, I set it back down and took a deep breath. I hadn’t expected to feel much of anything at first, but the tiredness Hebe warned about was almost immediate. I felt exhausted, as if I had just gone through a rigorous workout. I wanted to lay down.
“How do you feel?” Eros asked, reaching out to caress my cheek.
“Fine… Just a little sleepy…” As the words left my lips, the darkness of sleep crept over me and I surrendered without a second thought.
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“Psyche…. Psyche….?” The voice was distant and unfamiliar, as if they were calling out to me from a mile away. “Psyche…?” Again the unfamiliar voice.
“Come on, we don’t have all day!” A second voice came through, a lot clearer than the first. She sounded like a young girl.
“Go easy on her, give her a minute to wake up on her own.” A third chided. “Oh wait, look…” My eyes began to flutter as consciousness took back over. I opened my eyes, staring up at the ceiling of my bedroom. Yawning, I stretched and sat up, feeling as if I had just taken the best nap of my life. Glancing around my bedroom, finding nothing out of place, I felt a wave of calm. That is, until I found three unfamiliar blue deities at my bedside.
Three women looked no older than me, and dressed like Aphrodite did in some old photos she had shown me of herself and Ares from before they’d had kids. They looked kind, with bright smiles and curious gazes, but something about them was…
“Who are you?” I asked hesitantly.
“Oh, you haven’t met us have you?” The first slapped her palm to her forehead.
“I’m Clotho,” the third introduced. “These are my sisters Lachesis and Atropos.”
The Fates.
I cleared my throat. “My name is Psyche.”
“We know.” They spoke in perfect unison.
Clotho continued. “We’ve come to welcome you to your new life, as well as share some good news.”
My brows furrowed. “Good news?”
“We’ve deemed you worthy of a domain!” Atropos giddily announced.
Lachesis sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Seriously, one step at a time. We discussed this.”
Atropos blushed. “I’m excited.”
Clotho sighed. “Anyway! Atropos is right. You have earned the privilege of not just being an immortal, but being a Goddess as well.”
“A lesser Goddess, but really it’s a potato/potahto thing—Goddess is Goddess.” Lachesis explained. I was speechless, but that didn’t seem to phase the sisters, so they continued on.
“A God or Goddess’s domain is decided at birth, by us.” Clotho explained. “Since you were technically ‘reborn’ as an immortal, we decided to look at your past life and found you would be perfect to fulfill a vacancy.”
I was dumbfounded. “Vacancy?” Was all I could manage as a question, although I had so many. How in the heavens had I proven myself worthy to be named a Goddess? My human life had been unremarkable and brief.
“Yes, you see, since the Titans fell from power we’ve been doing our best to assign roles and domains to all the Gods that come along, but they have to be worthy.”
“Or good fits.” Atropos added.
Nothing was making sense. I was only meant to become immortal, now I was a full-fledged Goddess? Something felt wrong. This all seemed too good to be true.
“I don’t understand how this is possible,” I admitted sheepishly. “But I don’t wish to question your judgments…”
“Then don’t.” Lachesis said with a firm tone and unblinking gaze. Something about the look in her eyes told me that they were not to be questioned on any of their judgments, by anyone.
“For too long Love has been alone in this world.” Clotho explained. “For true, passionate love to sustain, there needs to be more than the surface attraction. The Gods are embodiments of their powers, Eros needs someone beside him to ground him, make him whole, strong and lasting.”
“You are who Eros needs.” Lachesis added.
“So it’s only fitting that you are the Goddess of what Love needs.” Clotho continued.
My brow furrowed. “But what could love itself possibly need?”
Atropos smiled softly. “Soul.”
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As if planned out, the moment that the Fates disappeared from my bedroom, Eros appeared in the doorway with a tray holding tea and breakfast.
He beamed. “You’re awake!” Closing the door behind him, Eros brought me the tray of food and set it down in front of me.
“How long did I sleep?” I asked as I picked up the tea cup. I felt like I had just awoken from the best nap of my life, you know the kinds that leave you forgetting what year it is?
“Only about an hour,” Eros reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. He stared at me, not in the way he does in a heated moment, but more like he was fascinated, seeing something for the first time.
“What’s wrong?” I asked uneasily.
“You’re skin… it’s the same color,” Eros picked up my hand. “But now it’s somehow different.”
Looking down at my arm I gaped. He was right. My skin was the same warm, earthy, copper tone it always been, but now it was shiny, as if I had been polished. Setting down my tea cup, I touched my skin to find it felt the same as well. As I inspected my skin, the slight movement of my joints was easy, smooth and without pain. Feeling daring, I reached my arms high above my head, something that had left me crying in pain in the weeks prior. Now all I felt was the delightful stretch of muscle.
Eros had not been present for my discussion with the Fates, something I was more than a little upset over. How would I ever explain to him that I had been named a Goddess? Would he take it well, or would he be upset that I was now his equal in all ways?
I internally shook my head. No. Eros would be thrilled that we were made equals, having never wanted me to feel lesser than him even as a mortal. Why would he want that for eternity? Even though he would be happy, I knew we needed to discuss things. What would change, if anything, about our lives?
“Immortality looks good on you,” Eros teased before leaning in, capturing my lips in a heated kiss. Eros’s lips were a familiar comfort.
All thoughts of rehashing my discussion with the Fates fled from my mind.
As I melted into Eros, I reminded myself what I had been taught as a mortal; we may not always understand the design of the Gods, but we must keep faith and trust that the Fates make no mistakes. Eros and I were meant to be together, side by side, for all eternity as heart and soul.