Chapter Text
“Come now, Artemis, must you try so hard to evade me?”
Artemis doesn’t turn around. She continues her swift departure from Mount Olympus, yearning for the solitude of her forests, trying to put as much distance as possible between herself and Aphrodite without looking like she’s outright fleeing the goddess. But Aphrodite surely knows she’s running away from her, and she resents conceding that Aphrodite has even this small of an influence over her.
Just a bit farther until Artemis reaches her golden chariot and the comforting presence of her golden-antlered deer, and then she’ll be flying down from this accursed mountain and settling back into her forests.
But when Artemis rounds the corner of the last palace, she finds Aphrodite floating beside her chariot, running her fingers through a golden-antlered deer’s soft pelt.
Exasperation pricks at Artemis’s temples. Of course she wouldn’t be able to leave Olympus without Aphrodite cornering her. In an undeserved display of graciousness, Artemis doesn’t draw her bow一yet一and instead settles for gripping it tightly at her side until her knuckles turn white.
This is a familiar game for them, or at least Aphrodite probably thinks it’s a game. Aphrodite follows Artemis to tease her and talk to her and try to get a reaction out of her, and despite herself Artemis lets her keep coming. It’s not that Artemis likes the attention, it’s just that she chooses not to protest it with anything more than barbed words. After all, Artemis is the one who transcends the scope of Aphrodite’s powers and trickery in the end.
Aphrodite smirks at her. Her long pink hair barely conceals her nude body. “Your deer are as lovely as you are, little huntress.”
“I don’t remember giving you permission to touch them. Or to be near my chariot at all.”
“Sending me away so soon? But I have much to discuss with you! I see you’re in a hurry to leave, so you can simply take me with you.”
The suggestion catches Artemis off guard. No one asks to ride with her. “I’m leaving alone. And stop petting my deer!”
“You can’t expect me to resist such gorgeous creatures.” Aphrodite strokes the deer’s neck. “Even from afar, they look simply stunning as they draw your chariot, and they are even more beautiful up close.”
An odd warmth blooms in Artemis’s chest to hear her deer appreciated, which makes her hate this situation even more. She knows Aphrodite has an agenda. The praise only makes Artemis more suspicious of what that agenda might be.
“Just tell me what you want so I can get back to my forests,” Artemis says.
Aphrodite shakes her head disapprovingly. “Always in such a hurry to find a target to shoot at. I was thinking we could turn this into a little occasion, enjoy each other’s company before getting down to business, hm? What do you say?”
“We just came from another of my father’s interminable banquets. I’ve had enough of other gods’ company for the next few ages.”
“You’re so cute when you lie. I know you’re running right back into the arms of your wood nymphs.” Aphrodite steps into Artemis’s chariot and leans over its side, silky hair flowing down like running water over her body. “Why not invite another woman along?”
The sight of Aphrodite in her chariot should make Artemis furious, but instead it kicks up a swirling mix of emotions that she can’t interpret.
Not knowing what else to do, Artemis draws her bow and aims it at the center of Aphrodite’s forehead.
Aphrodite just laughs. “Are you really so frightened of me that you need a weapon?”
“I am not scared of you.”
“Then do tell me what it is you feel about me.” Aphrodite raises her eyebrows, as if she knows the answer and is keeping it secret from Artemis herself. She can’t stand it when Aphrodite does that. It makes her second-guess herself.
“Annoyed,” Artemis snaps, but it lacks force, and her bow has slackened.
“Well, we can’t have that, can we?” Aphrodite waves her over. “I’ll do things your way this time. Come, share your chariot with me, and I will indulge you right away with what I’ve come to you for.”
Slowly, Artemis steps into her chariot and clings to the opposite wall, standing as far away from Aphrodite as is possible in the enclosed space. Naturally, Aphrodite glides over immediately, pressing her hip against Artemis’s and letting her hair fall on the bare skin of her arm. Sure, it doesn’t feel unpleasant, and Aphrodite smells nice, but she could at least give Artemis some fragment of personal space, especially when she isn’t wearing clothing. Not that she's ever wearing clothing.
Artemis clears her throat. “Well?”
“I’d like you to do a favor for me.”
“Wow, could’ve never guessed that. And what makes you think I’ll do a favor for you?”
“Because I’ll do you a favor in return, of course.”
“What do you want?”
Aphrodite pets the raccoon fur shawl across Artemis’s shoulders, smoothing it methodically. Artemis stiffens at the touch, if it is even possible for her to stiffen more.
“There is a prince whose next hunt is in need of a personal blessing,” Aphrodite says.
Artemis pushes Aphrodite’s hand away. “Oh no, I am not getting involved with another of your favored mortals. They’re nothing but trouble!”
“And your favored mortals aren’t?”
“My devotees commit their lives to chastity and heroism. Yours live lives of insanity. Honestly I don’t know what you see in most of them.”
A dark look flickers across Aphrodite’s face. She floats upward, gaining even more height over Artemis. “Such as whom?” she asks, a hint of tension in her voice. It’s a dare, not a question.
It’s probably a bad idea to take the bait. But Artemis is exhausted from the banquet and frazzled from dealing with her loud-mouthed father and uncles and half-siblings, and all she wants is to hide alone in her woods, and Aphrodite has been making her feel nervous and off-center and weird every time they talk, and she doesn’t want to be mean to Aphrodite but maybe it’ll make her go away sooner.
“Paris, for example?” Artemis says. “He had the nerve to call himself an archer when he was too cowardly for a fair fight and too unskilled to land a killing blow without Apollo guiding his arrows一and on top of all that, he was a wife-kidnapper who started an entire war!”
“A war in which you supported Paris’s side, do not forget. Hypocrisy is not becoming of you.”
But Artemis pushes on. “I’ve even heard that Helen was under your spell一”
Aphrodite’s hair seems to swell with her anger, forming a ring around her. “Do not speak ill of my subjects. Paris and Helen were the most beautiful mortals in the land, and they loved each other dearly!”
“Whatever. Just count me out of your deal.”
“Fine,” Aphrodite says in a way that means it is very much not fine and Artemis will be hearing about this again very soon. She delicately cups Artemis’s chin in her hand, causing Artemis’s breath to hitch. “How foolish, to not even hear what I would offer in return for your blessing. Those who receive special treatment from me consider themselves very lucky.”
“Then I wonder why I can think of so many who would say you have cursed them.”
The taunt doesn’t land. Aphrodite’s anger has already dissipated, her sly smile back in place as she steps out of the chariot. “I’ll let you ponder it for a while. I just thought it would be nice for us to have a common cause for once, that’s all.”
“Our causes are rarely compatible.”
“Dearest, I know much more about compatibility than you do.”
Aphrodite is gone with a flash, leaving the scent of roses on the breeze.