Free Goddess of Love by P. C. Cast

thread of fire followed Pea, so that Hera could see her embarrassment. Vulcan watched, too, and made another angry sound low in his throat. Hmm…he was clearly identifying with the mortal woman. A sudden thought struck Hera. Perhaps that was it! Perhaps Vulcan had seemed unable to love because he had long been surrounded by the perfection of Olympus, and perfection had always rejected him. Perhaps he simply needed someone with whom he could identify—someone who might actually need him. She studied the mortal woman with the odd name more closely. It certainly looked like she needed something. Could that something be the love of the God of Fire?
    â€œWhat is she doing?” Vulcan continued to mutter at the scene within the flames. Hera saw Pea standing at a sink, staring at herself in a mirror while she almost manically recited a—
    Hera smiled. The child was a careful reader. She was reciting, over and over, an invocation spell that could only have come from the book that still lay open on the table where Pea had left it. Now wasn’t this becoming a lovely twist on an already interesting situation? Hera’s mind whirred with ideas…schemes…Wouldn’t it be deliciously and ironically just if the invocation actually bound Venus’s aid, which would in turn assure that Vulcan would continue to watch the mortal woman who had so unexpectedly captured his attention? It was, after all, Venus who Vulcan’s magic thread was following. Yes, this was working out perfectly!
    When the mortal began reciting the invocation again, Hera was ready to finish putting into motion that which she’d already helped to begin. From the shadows behind Vulcan she concentrated, calling to her the power of the Queen of Gods.
    The child said, “Pleasure, joy, delight and bliss, oh dear Venus, grant me this.”
    Hera raised one hand and felt her divine warmth build on her palm as she whispered, “Hearth and home I call on you. With my divine magic make this rite binding and true.”
    Pea said, “With love and hope I call to thee, work your magic just for me.”
    Hera continued, calling forth more and more of the power that was her birthright. “Open Vulcan’s eyes—let his heart be new, so that Love can finally pay her debt, which I now call due.”
    Closing her eyes, Pea earnestly spoke the final words of the invocation. “Beautiful Venus, blessed be, happiness and ecstasy are the gifts I ask from thee!”
    Almost at the same moment Hera concluded the binding, casting invisible power directly into the thread so that only she was aware of the weight of it as it sizzled from Olympus to Tulsa. “By my command, hearken to Pea. Bind Venus’s aid so that trapped in Tulsa she shall be, until true love sets our mortal free!”
    Instantly Hera felt the drain of such an immense use of power that she stumbled. Vulcan glanced over his shoulder and the image in the fire wavered, then disappeared.
    â€œMother? I did not hear you come in.”
    Smoothly Hera covered her unaccustomed weakness and her eavesdropping by frowning down at the bottom of her silky white robes. “I believe I’ve stepped on and torn the hem of my new gown. Vulcan, dear, can you not make the stairs down to your realm a tiny bit little less barbaric and not so steep?”
    Vulcan smiled indulgently at his mother as he guided her from the flame room and into his rarely used reception chamber. “Mother, the descent is steep. You should have just had a nymph summon me.” He poured her a glass of wine and was too busy soothing her to notice that her robe was not torn at all, and her smile was smug.

C HAPTER F IVE
    â€œT hat poor mortal! I feel just awful for her,” Venus said, gazing after the woman who had let out the tremendous belch.
    â€œShe has extraordinarily bad hair,” Persephone said.
    â€œIt’s not that bad. It’s just thick and curly and she hasn’t