THE SILK OF THE GODDESS'S ROBES GLIDED LIKE HONEY ON THE YOUNG LEAVES OF THE MEADOW.

She tastefully glanced at the layers of tulle adorning her lithe form, and let out a peal of giggles.

"Get on with it, Aphrodite," rumbled a voice from beside her. "I am the King. The King of Gods has better things to do than gallivanting in meadows."

Aphrodite delightfully looked at him, blue eyes shining like fresh pearls. Zeus watched her warily, face creasing into a frown as she raised an ivory finger to a space in the gardens of Olympus.

"Feast your eyes upon that, my King," she pointed to the spot under a jaded spruce.

At the boundaries of the rosewood bushes, two young gods stood waiting with a bunch of roses spilling from their arms. The tender buds were a creamy crimson, breathing out the fragrance of the heavens.

The first man's hair gleamed like bronze in the skylights, the second one had wings of alabaster hovering on his back.

"Apollo and Hermes," Zeus snorted angrily. "Those fools must be fighting over a new damsel. What of it?"

Aphrodite's toes bounced on the grass as she carefully arranged herself behind Zeus, her red lips lingering near his ear.

"Don't you know which damsel they are fighting over, my King?" she whispered.

"Why should I care?" the King of Gods tossed his sturdy shoulders, tapping his jeweled staff on the ground.

"As a matter of fact, my King... I think you'll want to care about this," she said gleefully. "They stand there waiting to woo the flower of Olympus."

"The flower of Olympus? You mean my daughter?" Zeus spat out the words from his royal lips. The electric blue of his eyes shone to dark sapphire as the cynical mind registered the fact.

"Persephone, indeed, my King. Hermes and Apollo have taken it upon themselves to coax your little flower... out of her chaste cave."

"Never!" Zeus hissed, his tongue lashing sharper than a snake. "You know that Demeter has kept our daughter guarded all these years; you think I'm going to let some street urchins woo her out of her cave?"

"Persephone is her mother's prisoner, Zeus," Aphrodite softly whispered in his ear. Her lipstick left behind ruby smears as they touched his holy skin. "A pet she lets loose indulgently to pluck orchids like a puppy running after bone. Apollo and Hermes court the dear child with their gilded arrows and gilded bodies, but Demeter throws them both away and sends her little girl to gather more lilies. Do you really think your little flower is going to remain pure forever, my King?"

"She will," the King swore. His fingers moved up and down the tip of his crown, thinking, thinking. Finally he gathered his impulsive wits. "I will wed her to Hermes. The rogue is the messenger of gods, he will never have time to pursue... intimacy with her. No god will touch her otherwise."

"Not Hermes," Aphrodite murmured hotly.

"Why?"

The Goddess of Love did not reply, instead fixed her eyes on the hem of her satin sleeves painted with roses.

"Ah," Zeus slowly rumbled. "You conniving woman. You want him for yourself, don't you?"

The skies slowly darkened to an inky black, washing away the slivers of sunlight as the King of gods slowly enraged to fury.

"The light headed fool ignores my affections because he has laid his eyes on your daughter, Zeus!" she defensively clenched her white fists. "I want him returned back to me! And for that - I - I - want you to wed her off so that Hermes can stop swooning over Persephone this and Persephone that and come back to me!"

"Hermes is not your husband. You will stop lusting after him, do you understand?" Zeus slowly drew himself up and bared his anger filled eyes to meet her gaze. "And you will stop interfering in my grand scheme of things; or I will ask your husband to hang you upside down from the skies the way I did to Hera."

"Hephaestus will never do that to me!" Aphrodite let out a shrill cackle as the white planes of her marble throat shone in the night. "Wed your daughter to someone else, Zeus," she threatened, her subtle fragrance wafting into the air.

"No," the King refused, his muscles gleaming like silver as he wrapped his arms around her swan white neck.

"Yes," the goddess choked out slowly, her voice slowly fading as the pressure of his fingers chained her neck. "I want Hermes. He's mine. Your daughter can find another man. Leave him. Please."

"No."

"Please. Please, Zeus."

Her words tumbled down into a moment of silence like the quiet moment before a thunderstorm before the sky cracked open with rain. The large blue eyes pleaded like glassy orbs, fixing a steely gaze right at the King who held her wicked neck in the dust of his palms.

"Which other man?" he finally asked, thoughts lingering in the depths of his eyes.

"Your brother. Hades," she laughed, and her laughter tasted like victory.